Category: Malbec

Do you think that a Rose wine can pair with BBQ pork ribs, cornbread, and slaw? I put the Poplar Grove Lakeview Rosé 2020 to the test. It is a blend of 81% Merlot and 19% Malbec made in the Saignee method. As a reminder from my previous post, $2.50 from the sale of each bottle ($30 per case) will…

This summer has gone haywire with all the forest fires. I hope they get under control soon. But Haywire wine is something we can all enjoy now. I received a bottle of Okanagan Crush Pad‘s Haywire Garnet Valley Ranch Pinot Noir 2018 and their Narrative Malbec 2018 to review. Both are wines that age in concrete or clay amphora and…

With the heatwave we are experiencing in BC, and specifically in Vancouver, I decided to open a bottle of Terrazas de los Andes Reserva Malbec 2018 and pair it with grilled steak, vegetables, and salads.  This bottle of Malbec comes from Argentina, which some say is the best place to grow Malbec grapes.  Let me give you my tasting notes,…

My last wine to taste from Seaside Pearl Farmgate Winery is their 2018 Landing Road Red Blend from the Okanagan Valley. It is made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec grapes; a Bordeaux blend. I have been mentioning their labels in my previous articles and this one is titled “Landing Road”.  According to the winery, “Landing Road was…

One thing that I learned from my time being a part of the South World Wine Society many years ago was that Chile produces many premium wines, but at the time the entry-level wines were only making it into BC liquor stores.  Things slowly change and you can now find more premium Chilean wines, usually from Cabernet Sauvignon, which is…

April 17 was World Malbec Day, and coincidentally a few days prior, I received a copy of “Malbec, A Tumultuous Wine Journey from Woe to WOW” by Vanda Jackson. Vanda, a Canadian from Nova Scotia, is a journalist by training and a lover of Malbec wine, in particular from Argentina.  This love of Malbec guided her to writing this book…

If someone asks you for a wine from Argentina, they would probably mention a bottle of Malbec, from a producer, such as Catena, Norton, or Luigi Bosca, but did you know that this red grape originally comes from the Bordeaux and Cahors regions in France?  It is a permitted blending grape in Bordeaux, but it had a hard time ripening,…

My final two wines I’m tasting as my tribute to the Vancouver International Wine Festival are from Argentina, as the theme region for this year’s Festival would have been South America. I have the Bodega Vistalba Corte C 2017, a Malbec with Cabernet Sauvignon blend, and the Bodega Luigi Bosca Malbec 2018.  Malbec is the signature red grape of Argentina,…

Here I have two bigger red wines from Hillside Winery, located on the Naramata Bench. One is their Heritage Series Cabernet Franc 2017, while the other wine is their Merlot Malbec 2018. The former is under cork while the latter is screwcap. These are two good indications of whether these wines are ready to drink now or can benefit from…

Have you tasted wines made from the Cabernet Libre grape? If not, you can have a chance if you buy a bottle from Enrico Winery on south Vancouver Island. Cabernet Libre is a hybrid developed by Valentin Blattner in Germany by crossing Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir. This hybrid, and Blattner’s other hybrids, are developed to be disease resistant for…