Category: Muscat

Hillside Winery on the Naramata Bench was the last winery on my wine-tasting tour.  The founders of the winery were Vera and Bohumir Klokcka who had emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1979, buying the property but did not plant the first grape vines till 1984.  Although no longer owners, I’m told that winemaker, Kathy Malone, still talks with Vera, who is…

My last winery visit in Okanagan Falls, before getting back to my visit to the Naramata Bench, is Blasted Church Vineyards. They have very colourful and expressive labels, with a religious bent or Renaissance theme to them, as the winery is located on Parson’s Road.   All their wines are unfined and unfiltered, so some wines may have a dull appearance…

When we talk about BC wine, many people think about the Okanagan, which does have a majority of our vineyards and wineries.  But, there are other regions across BC with wineries.  The Fraser Valley around Abbotsford is one of those areas.  Tourism Abbotsford helped organize a trip for me to visit a few wineries and a cidery so that I…

It has been four years since I last attended Taste Washington in Seattle.  COVID shut down the event, but now Taste Washington is back and maybe even better.  This is the event where you can taste the wide variety of wines made across Washington state, without having to drive yourself.  Winery focus seems to have changed.  During my tasting time,…

Have you ever tried an “orange wine” before?  An orange wine is a wine made with white grapes that have extended skin contact like is done for red grapes to extract colour and tannins from those grapes.  While white grape skin does not have much colour to extract, you do get some orange colour plus tannins from the skins.  At…

François Schmitt took over the family winery in Alsace, Domaine François Schmitt, joined by his son, Frédéric, in 1998, and his wife, Myriam in 2010. I spoke with Frédéric and Myriam about their wines.  Frédéric views their wines as gastronomic, built for food.  Today I tasted all still wines, but they also make a significant amount of cremant wines.  One…

Summer is coming, although it may not feel like that at the moment.  Many of you will flock to a beach or park and enjoy wine in a glass or an insulated glass as I showed in my picture.  Canned wines seem to be the go-to beverage to take on these outings, and many BC wineries are canning their VQA…

With all the seriousness in the world happening, it is nice to be able to step away for a few minutes to enjoy life.  I have two bottles of wine from Blasted Church Vineyards in the Okanagan from their Renaissance series, their best sellers, that are easy to sip and help you relax a bit.  One is a white blend…

How would you like a fresh white sipping wine that reminds you of ripe fruits from the Okanagan and elsewhere? I have that for you with Valley Commons 2020 Harvest Table Wine. A blend of 56% Muscat, 22% Viognier, and 22% Chardonnay grapes. I can see this wine being enjoyed with some soft cheeses and bread with friends. I also…

I have two interesting finesse wines from Gerard Bertrand from the sunny south of France.  Gerard Bertrand’s Orange Gold 2020 is an organic wine made with a blend of Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Mauzac, Muscat, and Clairette with skin contact.  The other wine is the Gerard Bertrand An 806 AOP Corbieres 2017 a Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre red blend.  One…