Category: france

I had not heard of Domaine Saint Jean du Barroux until recently;  a winery located between the Dentelles de Montmirail and Mont Ventoux in the Southern Rhone, owned by Oenologist, winemaker/grower, Philippe Gimel. A tiny vineyard with 4 of 16 hectares covered with fruit trees and shrubbery.  The remaining 12 hectares of vineyards are planted along an eroded fault line…

“The Hart House Restaurant really cares about their food and user experience”, I thought as I sat there on a Saturday night with my dining companion.  The white cotton patterned table-cloth, the beautifully decorated rooms, the knowledgeable servers, the beautifully plated food, all caught my attention. I came as a guest to try their Seafood Celebration Prix Fixe menu, which…

A portfolio tasting is a great place for a restaurateur, liquor store staff, and wine media, like me, to find out about the latest vintages of wines, and brand new wines, for a wine agent’s portfolio.  With a change in season, for example, restaurants may want to change their cooked dishes, and to these dishes they should match up /…

At a certain quality level of wine, which typically comes from wineries that have decided to spend the extra effort on selecting grapes from the best vineyard plots, hand picking and sorting the grapes, and letting the grapes express themselves in the wine without an over agressive human hand, you get shades of perfection (note that I am not talking…

One of the definitions in The Free Dictionary of “portfolio” is “A group of investments held by an investor, investment company, or financial institution.” I thought that for a wine & spirits agency those bottles of wines and spirits are an investment to them.  They search out and try to find value, and then share these gems with the public. …

Everyone probably knows what is Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay wine if it is mentioned.  But there are many grape varieties that maybe not that well known, outside of the wine geeks like me.  Time for that to change.  Mt. Boucherie Family Estate Winery, located in West Kelowna, near Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, has been producing wines from well-known as…

Can you match the French wine region with the following grape varieties? Region:  Bordeaux, Alsace, Rhone Valley Variety:  Pinot Gris, Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah If you can’t figure it out, scroll to the bottom of this article for the answer.  Assuming you guessed correctly, or checked with the answer below, All four grape varieties are grown at Perseus Winery, located…

I dare say, I love French food and wine.  I’ve been twice to France, and in both trips, found myself spending part of my trip in Provence, enjoying seafood and sipping rose wine from the area.  So it was with great anticipation that I opened the cover of “Provence Food and Wine, The Art of Living” by François Millo and Viktorija…

Do you switch the types of wines you drink throughout the year?  Lighter, brighter White, Sparkling, and Rosé wines for the longer spring and summer, and fuller bodied reds for the cold, rainy (or snowy) winter days?  Of course the fuller bodied reds also go with BBQ in the summer, but in general I think most of us like a…

A friendly competition never hurt anyone.  Well maybe egos.  Today’s friendly competition is between Okanagan Crush Pad’s Haywire Rose 2011 and Bartier Scholefield (BS) Rose 2011.  Both wines are produced from Gamay Noir grapes grown from the same vineyard in Oliver.  What is different is the style of rose.  The grapes were harvested two weeks apart and vinified differently.  Let…