Category: Petit Verdot

California’s 689 Cellars offers a variety of wines for different classes of wine drinkers, from casual to serious. Here is some background information from the winery and the wines they will be pouring at VanWineFest 2025. About 689 Cellars Curtis McBride is the owner and founder of 689 Cellars and Premier Wine Group. Curtis founded Premier Wine Group over 20…

Let’s welcome J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines to the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2025 and enjoy their wines from the Paso Robles region of California. Here is some background to the winery and a list of the wines they will be pouring at the International Festival Tasting Room.  Enjoy. About J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines,…

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…

The second winery on the Naramata Bench I visited was Howling Bluff Estate Winery.  This is a small family-run winery, starting with the land purchase in 2003, that specializes in Pinot Noir wines, although they also produce other quality wines. I met with co-owner and winemaker, Luke Smith, sitting at the tasting room patio, where we chatted about the latest…

BC Day is celebrated to honour the history, culture, and achievements of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It falls on the first Monday in August each year and is a statutory holiday in the province. This day commemorates the creation of the colony of British Columbia, which was formed on August 2, 1858. This was a significant event in…

Happy New Year.  With that, I have my first two wines to review for 2024.  I decided to pick two big red wines from BC’s Hester Creek Estate Winery.  I have their Hester Creek Estate Winery The Judge 2020 and Garland 2020.  Both wines are Bordeaux blends with The Judge being a right-bank blend and Garland being a left-bank blend. …

This year I had many terrific wines to taste and review.  Wines that I rate as 5 star I deem as needing nothing to add or subtract.  They are perfect as-is.  I had one wine that reached that status this year so instead of making a separate article for that wine, I am including it in this article.  My 4.5-5…

I have two red blends from BC’s Hester Creek Estate Winery.  Both show off ripe fruit flavours and are smooth and round, with fine-grained tannins, that I think would be easy to enjoy over the holidays with appetizers or main courses.  The two wines are the Hester Creek Estate Winery Cabernet Merlot 2022 and their Character Red 2022, a blend…

I knew nothing about Ontario’s Big Head Wines until it was suggested to me to visit by Talia Mendelsohn from the Bacchus Group Inc. in Toronto, but this winery in particular truly impressed me with their wines and their winemaking methods.  If you ever get a chance to visit the Niagara region, do not miss visiting Big Head Wines. The…

Pascal Madevon, a Bordeaux-trained winemaker who now calls BC home, brings his skills to make a magnificent red blend wine for the Okanagan’s French Door Estate Winery. The winery was founded in 2019 and is already producing impressive wines.  I received a bottle of French Door Estate Winery’s héritage French Blend 2020, which contains just about every major red Bordeaux…