Category: Petit Verdot

A contingent of Australian wineries visited Vancouver recently to show off their latest releases of red and white wines.  There was, of course, many bottles of Shiraz to taste, but also cooler climate wines like Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Did you know that there are 65 wine regions in Australia?  Many are in the southeast corner of Australia covering the…

Okanagan Falls, located between Penticton and Oliver, holds, I think, a sweet spot for growing grapes and making wine.  It has long warm days and cool nights, which allow the grapes to reach full ripeness as well as keep their acidity.  The Okanagan Falls Skaha Winery Association, consisting of 14 wineries, with 32 vineyards, held a tasting recently, which I attended.  In…

While busily moving through the swell of people interested in tasting big Napa Cabs at the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I wedged myself into tables, and indeed tasted Napa Cabs, but also Pinot Noir, Merlot, Petite Sirah, etc. from various regions in California.  With the short amount of time I’m able to spend at each table, my tasting notes are…

Wine Align’s National Wine Awards were recently released and one winery, Road 13 Vineyards, in Oliver, BC, took away a major load of awards for their wines, and in the process were named Wine Align’s Top Canadian Winery.  Congratulations to Road 13 Vineyards.  I was lucky to visit Road 13 Vineyards in June and tasted through most of their wines…

On my recent trip through the Okanagan, I stopped at 3 wineries.  The first one which I wrote about earlier was C.C. Jentsch Cellars.  The next day I stopped by a winery that is near to them, Road 13 Vineyards, located on Road 13 just south of Oliver, BC, where I met Mick Luckhurst who with his wife purchased the…

I try to make a trip to the Okanagan once a year as part of my summer vacation.  This year I decided to stop in Oliver as part of my trip and visit 3 different wineries, all in close proximity to each other.  The first winery visit on my list is C.C. Jentsch Cellars.  I have been impressed with their…

When someone mentions wine from Uruguay, there is usually one of two responses: I don’t like Tannat, it’s too tannic, Uruguay makes wine? Bodega Garzón  from Uruguay hopes to wipe out both of these responses by bringing their wines to you to enjoy.  And that is what they did recently for me and a group of other wine trade people in…

Cabernet Sauvignon is the “King” in California. In our Celebrating California Cabs seminar we had a chance to experience the “Dream Vintages” of 2012, 2013 and 2014. And as you will see, I have rated all these wines very highly.  When you have wines of such quality, it is more a matter of style that you prefer.  The winery principals noted that 2011 was…

Black Market Wine Company that is, not the other kind. Black Market is one of our new wineries here in BC; located in Okanagan Falls, it consists of 3 people: Rob Hammersley, Michelle Shewchuk, and Mark Simpson. Mark is also the owner and wine maker for BC Wine Studio.  Rob and Michelle have some training in either viticulture or WSET education and look like they…

Breast cancer I hazard to guess has touched every Canadian family in some way or another.  In my family my mother had breast cancer, which was thankfully cured.  I have lost a sister-in-law to breast cancer, and I have a friend who has been treated and is currently in remission, and I hope on the road to being declared cancer-free…