Category: Marquette

At the Vancouver International Wine Festival, in the Tasting Room, I did have a chance to go through a flight of Monte Creek Winery wines with Winemaker Galen Barnhardt.  Below is a discussion of the wines with Galen.  Mostly Galen speaking, which is how an interview should be.  Enjoy. Galen:  Here we have our sparkling Rosé.  It is 2020, from the…

When we drink wine, we probably think of wines made from vitis vinifera grapes like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Syrah.  But there are grapes that are a hybrid between vitis vinifera and another vitis species, such as labrusca or riparia. Why would you do this?  One reason is to make the vine more resistant to cold winters which…

Hands Up if you like BC Red blends and Rosé wines.  That is what I have for you from Monte Creek Ranch from Kamloops.  The Monte Creek Ranch Hands Up Red 2017 recently won a gold medal at the 2020 All Canadian Wine Championships.  And won 8 medals all together for their wines. Congratulations. My Tasting Notes Monte Creek Ranch…

Taking a last-minute trip to Kamloops before summer holidays was a great idea.  Over two days you can very pleasantly visit the four wineries that are in the area, plus do some sightseeing and enjoy a few meals at the variety of restaurants in the city.  My first stop was to Monte Creek Ranch Winery which is located about a…

The Monte Creek Ranch Winery is located just east of Kamloops in the new GI of the Thompson Valley.  A region with cold winters, requires hardy grapes.  Monte Creek Ranch has a variety of red and white hybrid grapes that can stand these winters.  I talk about these grapes in the tasting notes for the wines.  And they also grow…

BC’s emerging wine regions is rather large and encompasses different climates and terroir.  From my tour to the region, the places that I visited I think can be divided into two sub-regions: the hot west, and the cooler northeast.  There is still an area to the southeast that I did not visit on this trip, so cannot comment on its…

Everyone knows about the Okanagan Valley as a wine region, and some may also know about the Similkameen which is on the southwestern edge of the Okanagan, but what about BC’s emerging wine regions, covering the Kootenays, Lillooet and Thompson Shuswap?  I had a chance to go on a trip hosted by the Wines of BC to visit Lillooet and…

Monte Creek Ranch Winery, located just east of Kamloops, is one of our emerging regions wineries.  They have put out a few vintages already. The 2016 vintage started with their earliest bud-break yet and a warm spring.  A rainy June and July slowed the growth of the grapes, but still harvest began early. Two weeks early, on August 22.  The…

Who is Monte Creek Ranch Winery? Monte Creek Ranch Winery is a 10 minute drive east outside Kamloops City limits, and is owned by the Sidhu family.  Since 2009 they have been growing their vineyards (100+ acres) and raising beef cattle. Last year they opened their Tasting Room up to the public. Beside wine and beef, you can also try all natural…

New BC wineries appear quite regularly.  Some I hear about before hand, while others take me by surprise.  Monte Creek Ranch is one of the wineries that falls in the latter category, plus they are in the Kamloops area, which has recently had a few wineries set up their homes; Harper’s Trail, Sagewood, and Privato. Who is Monte Creek Ranch…