Category: Malbec

This past year I tasted a tremendous number of wines from around the world, but some wines really resonated with me.  It may have been the great balance of fruit, sugar, acidity for a white wine, or the fruit, tannins and minerality in a red wine, or something else. Something that made the wine stand above the other wines.  Could…

Who We Are Moraine Estate Winery is a family owned winery and vineyard overlooking Okanagan Lake, located just minutes from the City of Penticton. From its shelf-like location above striking clay bluffs, Moraine peers over the landscape and water. These iconic glaciated white clay cliffs comprise the breathtaking Naramata Bench and inspire the winery’s land-formed name. The winery owners are…

Bench 1775 Winery is located in on 1775 Naramata Road, on the Naramata Bench.  They believe that great wines start in the vineyard, so all of their vineyard sites were analyzed in detail before being planted with clones and rootstocks best adapted to their soils and site climate. Val Tait, the viticulturist, wine maker and GM of Bench 1775, tries to…

Having lunch with a wine maker, and listening to his or her story, about each wine, makes you appreciate it even more, and maybe even add to the deliciousness of the food pairing.  It is not too often that we get a wine maker coming up from Argentina, but standing among us media types, was Rodolfo “Opi” Sadler, from La…

Two years ago I was fortunate to meet wine maker Izele van Blerk from KWV, the largest winery in South Africa, at a Trade tasting in Vancouver 2 years ago.  I talked about my experience with South African wine through the South World Wine Society, where I was the President and cellar master at some time.  I’ve continued to watch…

Top Drop Vancouver is a collaboration between Vancouver’s wine industry, that focus on smaller boutique and terroir-focused wineries from BC and around the world, and offers these wines to taste at a public event, this year held at the Roundhouse in Yaletown on September 8.  I was fortunate to be able to attend this walk-about event, with a glass in…

In 2015, I only rated 7 wines with 5 stars.  There were many wines that came close to my idea of perfection in a glass, and many of these I gave 4.5 stars.  These are amazing wines still and I highly recommend purchasing any of them.  There are 77 wines that I classified as 4.5 stars.  All of these wines…

5 Star wines are the top of my rating scale.  It takes a lot to convince me to give a 5 star rating to a wine.  I look for a balance of acidity, tannins, sweetness, fruit, oak and alcohol, as applicable for red, white, fortified, and sparkling wines.  These 7 wines below have everything I am looking for in a…

The Wines of Argentina recently held their Country’s wine awards. Here in BC we were lucky to taste 21 of the awarded wines during the BC Hospitality DishNDazzle wine and food event held a few weeks ago.  From these 21 wines, I picked 4 wines to present to you; a Torrontes, a Malbec, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a red blend. …

We all can learn.  Nothing stays the same.  Things change.  This is true about ourselves, but also about wine regions.  In this case, I attended a seminar to learn about what changes have been going on the last few years in Argentinean wine making.  Barb and Ian Phillps, from Barbarian Wine Consulting, were our hosts for this seminar; both having…