Category: organic

Congratulations to Blue Grouse Estate Winery for making wines and helping out charities for their 10 years of being in business.  It takes a lot of work.  In case you haven’t tasted Blue Grouse wines or visited them on Vancouver Island, here is a press release for you.  Cin cin. ~~~ This summer the team at Blue Grouse Estate Winery…

I had an educational and fun tasting experience at the 2022 Northwest Wine Expedition Masterclass: Sustainability. We had Barbara Philip MW host the event with Alex Sokol Blosser, co-owner and winemaker, from Sokol Blosser Winery from Oregon, and Cam Matches, Sr Director of Sales, from Aquilini Beverage Group (Vancouver) from Washington to give us information about each state as it…

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…

Today was an eye-opening experience for me tasting wines from the Canary Islands.  I had never heard of wines from these islands, but I learned in this trade seminar by speaker Iain Philip, and agent, World Wine Synergy, that grapevines have been grown in this area since the 1400’s with vines brought from mainland Spain. There are 7 main islands…

Do you look for vegan wines? They are becoming more common. I have two vegan-friendly wines for you from Yalumba in Australia. I tasted their Yalumba Organic Shiraz 2019 and Yalumba The Y Series Viognier 2020. Both are single varietal wines, but sometimes you do see these grapes co-fermented. The Shiraz, besides being vegan-friendly, is also organic. A year ago…

Do you enjoy Pinot Gris wines?  From BC?  I’ve read recently online that there is going to be a shortage of Pinot Gris wines to buy this year.  So pick up your bottles soon.  Here are two bottles you may want to consider from Haywire Wine, part of Okanagan Crushpad in Summerland.  The wines are the Haywire Pinot Gris 2020…

New Zealand has fresh, vibrant wines as we make in BC.  It is fun to taste wines from around the world, possibly giving you insights into new grape varieties or styles of winemaking.  You may also have an interest in organic or vegan wines.  New Zealand has these to offer.  In BC we do have a selection of wines from…

The holidays are probably starting for many people at the end of this week or early next week. Sparkling wines are always popular during the holidays, but every day should be treated as a special day so enjoy sparkling more often.  Here is a list of BC sparkling wines that I tried this year.  Maybe there are a few that…

Here are two BC wines you may want to consider serving with meals or with appetizers before your main meal during the holidays. Blue Grouse Estate Winery Estate Pinot Noir 2019 and Pinot Gris 2020.  The grapes are harvested from the winery’s vineyard on Vancouver Island.  The grapes on the estate are 100% organically farmed using no/minimal till cover crop…

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…