Category: chardonnay

It’s Spring!  I have at least 5 tulips blooming in my front yard, the sun is out, and I’m looking to find some new and exciting white wines for the patio for me and for you.  Last week was the latest Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) Trade tasting to introduce the wine & spirits trade to the new libations…

A daunting task, picking my favourite wines from a total of 1750 wines being poured at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  Thankfully I was able to visit the Acura International Festival Tasting Room 4 times as Media, splitting time between France and the rest of the world.  I have already covered my favourite French wines in a separate article.  In…

Since Bartier Scholefield started producing their wines in 2011, in the Okanagan, BC, I have been fortunate to try them and write about them for you.  They have been keeping to their “Wine As Narrative“, telling us a story about the terroir, from where it was produced.  Their wines are produced as much without wine maker intervention, so that you…

While the big draw for many people to the Vancouver International Wine Festival this year was sparkling wine, and French Champagne, specifically, there were many other wonderful wines to sample.  For this article, since France was the Theme Country, I would like to concentrate on their wines, sans Champagne.  My Champagne article is here. Every region in France is known…

Happy New Year! Happy Birthday! Happy Anniversary!  Happy and sparkling wine seem to go together quite often.  Who can argue with bubbles in a glass?  I was very excited to hear that the Regional Theme for this year at the Vancouver International Wine Festival was “bubbles”.  Of course Champagne first jumped to my mind, but also all the other variations…

Iconic wines from France.  Your mind probably jumped to Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Champagne.  But there are iconic wines across each of the wine regions of France.  During this seminar at the Vancouver International Wine Festival, we were introduced to an iconic wine from each region.  The wines and their regions are: Champagne Taittinger. ($163.99) Champagne. Comtes de Champagne, Blanc de…

When you think of Chablis, elegance comes to mind for me.  Floral and citrus fruits, stone fruits, whey and honey are all flavour descriptors for these wines, and one in particular; flint.  The flint (some may say smokiness) comes from the Kimmeridgian soil, a mineral-rich clay, that also contains marine fossils which are responsible for its lime content. With the…

You may be a Champagne lover like me, but have you ever considered how the bubble gets in the bottle?  Why some bubbles are small and creamy, while others are much larger and dissapate faster?  It all depends on how Champagne is made. First off, Champagne is a sparkling wine that is made in the Champagne region of France.  The…

Which region is known for their award-winning Pinot Noir? Sonoma County, California Burgundy, France Marlborough, New Zealand Champagne, France If you answered, all the above, you would be right.  Burgundy being the most famous region in the world for Pinot Noir.  But what about Champagne?  Isn’t that sparkling white wine?  Yes, but the grape that is used for many Champagnes…

When did you last try a bottle of Australian wine? For some of you, maybe today, but for others maybe quite a while.  People find favorite countries or types of grape and stay with that for a while. Sometimes it is nice to break out of your pattern and retaste wines from other countries.  It has been a while since…