Category: organic

I have two organic Cabernet wines for you from Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna. I received their 2019 Organic Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2018 Organic Cabernet Franc to taste and review. The wines after being made were aged for some time in their winery pyramid. These wines besides being organic are also suitable for drinking by vegans. I am impressed…

This is my third interview with Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Pyramid Winery.  His family has a long history in the BC wine industry and has been leading in organic, and now biodynamic agriculture, in my opinion.  Ezra is also a director of the Canadian Vintners Association and Vice-Chair of the British Columbia Wine Institute.  I arranged this interview as…

Pinot Noir can make such beautiful wines, with red fruit and floral scents, lighter bodied, fine tannins and medium acidity. With this, I looked forward to opening the two Pinot Noir from Scorched Earth Winery in the Okanagan Mountain Park area of Kelowna to review. Scorched Earth specializes in Pinot Noir and organically farms.  After the 2003 Okanagan forest fire,…

My first 2 BC red wines to taste for 2021 are from Roche Wines in Penticton.  Both are Bordeaux blends which show the difference quite well between having Cabernet Sauvignon as the primary grape or the least in a blend.   The Roche Wines nuances 2017 is a blend of 58% Cabernet Franc, 25% Merlot, and 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, under screw…

One of my favourite certified organic wineries from BC is Kalala Organic Estate Winery, in West Kelowna. Making wine, starting in 2006, I’d say that they were one of the pioneer wineries showing that you can produce excellent organic wine at a reasonable price alongside Summerhill Pyramid Winery.  They note that “Kalala, meaning “Miracle Place”, is the symbol of our…

Let’s get back to some BC wines. This time it is Robin Ridge Winery from the Similkameen Valley. I have an organic Chardonnay and an organic Rosé labelled Flicker. What is a Flicker you may ask?  In keeping with the bird theme for this winery, according to allaboutbirds.org the Northern Flickers are “… are large, brown woodpeckers with a gentle…

I think I found my favourite, or one of my favourite, rose wines for our COVID-19 summer, and it’s from Okanagan Crush Pad.  Their Narrative Rosé 2019, made from the Pinot Noir grape. I also tasted their Pinot Blanc and it is quite exciting.  Both recommended wines.  Thank you OCP for sending me these wines to review.   The Narrative Rosé…

Okanagan Crush Pad has a few different labels that they produce wine under.  I think they like being able to produce different styles of wines through these different labels. Two labels are Narrative and Haywire. They describe Haywire as “Haywire offers pure, lively, wines that reflect the unique cool climate terroir of Canada’s Okanagan Valley.” and Narrative as “Narrative tells…

New Zealand is well-known for Sauvignon Blanc, but are there any other grape varieties we should know about?  Yes!  I attended a webinar with David Keck MS (USA), John Szabo MS (Canada), Ronan Sayburn MS (UK) and Cameron Douglas MS (New Zealand) as the speakers who talked about the differences in aromas and flavours of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir produced…

I have been enjoying tasting and writing about Winemaker’s CUT Estate Winery‘s wines since they first released their wines. Owners Michal and Martina Mosny undertake sustainable farming, hand harvest their grapes, adhere to zero pesticides, low sulphur use, and let the wines develop naturally to express the characteristics indicative of their Deadman Lake Vineyard.  Big news is that Winemaker’s CUT Estate Winery…