Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
Today’s visit on my Naramata Bench trip gave me a bonus. Besides tasting wine, I also enjoyed some cheese pairings. Upper Bench Estate Winery & Creamery is the place to go as they make their own cheeses, which you can also buy. Yes, I bought cheese to take home. I spoke with Josh Edwards, their winemaker, before tasting the wines. …
What do you know about BC Pinot Noir? Do you have a favourite winery or wine region in BC for Pinot Noir? In today’s seminar, the Possibilities of Pinot, we were brought up to date on the state of Pinot Noir in BC. Our Moderator for this seminar was Barb Philip MW. Our panellists were either owners or winemakers from…
Coolshanagh is a BC winery located on the Naramata Bench is owned by husband and wife team, Skip and Judy Stothert. They are passionate about Chardonnay and Pinot Noir so they only grow these varieties for wine production. I received two bottles of their Chardonnay to review. One is their Coolshanagh Chardonnay 2019 while the other is the first release…
In BC we relatively quickly learned that cooler climate grapes, like Riesling, did better in the north Okanagan, and warmer climate grapes, like Syrah, did better in the south Okanagan. Similarly cooler climate grape varieties in the Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island. And more. But we have had a few decades now to further refine these generalized grape growing regions…
These are the first wines that I’ve opened since the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2022. Sometimes you need a short break from tasting wine after you taste a lot of wine. The two wines I tasted are from Singletree Winery. They started off in the Fraser Valley but have expanded out into the Naramata Bench. The two wines I tasted…
This is likely the most unique wine made in BC; Mayhem Wines Fortified Gewurztraminer 2018. Gewurztraminer is generally a grape that typically offers lychee, citrus, sweet spices and more; overall a very flavourful grape. Mayhem Wines took their grapes and fermented them down to 19 brix before being fortified with 93% alcohol. This wine was then put to barrel and…
I checked the 7-day weather forecast for Vancouver, and it is RAIN every day. So time for me to open a big red wine. In this case, I opened the Upper Bench Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2017. It is 4 years old already and has many years left in it. This wine does have 5% Merlot in the blend to…
It is fun when you have a chance to try two vintages of the same wine. In this case, I tasted the Upper Bench Estate Winery Estate Grown Merlot 2017 and their Merlot 2018. Both coming from the Naramata Bench. I assume the 2018 grapes are sourced from other vineyards, outside of those owned by Upper Bench due to the…
Canned wines in BC seem to be the next big thing. I see many either on BC winery websites or other vendor sites. This week I tried my 2nd and 3rd BC canned wines. The Mayhem Wines Rosé 2020 and Pinot Gris 2020. They come in 250 ml cans. As it was a sunny day when I tried these two…
I have two organically farmed Pinot Gris from Roche Wines, both coming from their Kozier Organic Vineyard located north of their winery on the Naramata Bench. Their 2018 Tradition Pinot Gris comes under cork with a heavier glass bottle, while their 2020 Texture Pinot Gris has a lighter bottle and is under screwcap. I spoke with Dylan Roche about the…
