Category: pinot noir

Has the thought of cooking duck confit from scratch intimidated you? Well, no more as Provence Marinaside has the confit made for you and the other ingredients that you need to make an awesome dinner from a kit.  They as well are offering a BC wine pairing, Averill Creek Somenos Series Pinot Noir 2016, which I wholeheartedly agree with.  I…

Spring has sprung, and hopefully, we will have a chance to enjoy it on our patios, 2m away from everyone else.  I recently received three bottles of newly released wines from SpearHead Winery in Kelowna to kick-off Spring that will make self-isolation feel not too bad.  Let me tell you about these three wines from the new 2019 vintage. About…

I was very busy at the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2020.  There were lots of terrific wines from France and around the world, plus the dinners, seminars, and Masterclasses were top notch.  I worked very hard making tasting notes, interviewing winery principals, and trying to learn more about wine so that I can educate you as well.  Below is a…

Making a white Pinot Noir wine in BC has become popular over the last three years.  I had a chance to try Okanagan Crush Pad’s free form Vin Gris 2017.  The Pinot Noir grapes come from a certified organic vineyard in Summerland.  Matt Dumayne made this wine.  The grapes were whole-cluster pressed to small concrete eggs, where they fermented using…

I’ve always been a fan of the wines from Bodega Catena Zapata in Argentina for a long time.  I was first introduced to their wines when I was part of the South World Wine Society in Vancouver.  I did not know much about Argentina or Malbec, but I learned a lot as part of the Society. So it was a…

You may not realize it but winemakers tend to travel across Canada and the world to make wines.  In BC we do have winemakers from here, but there are many from New Zealand and also from the Niagara region in Ontario.  I had a chance to interview Steve Latchford, one of the winemakers at Okanagan Crush Pad, during the Vancouver…

With France being the theme country for the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2020, there were many more French wineries in attendance than in other years.  And with that many more wines to taste. Which made me very happy.  France has a great variety of red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines, from the range of noble grape varieties.  I spent several…

Andrew Jefford is an English journalist, radio presenter, poet, magazine editor, a wine writer for Decanter magazine and much more. He lives near Montpellier in France. Why am I telling you this?  Andrew lead our French Terroir Talk during this seminar at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  If there was anyone with the background knowledge of wine and experience of…

My first Masterclass at the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2020 was about the wines from the Languedoc region produced by Gérard Bertrand and moderated by Anthony Gismondi.  Gérard Bertrand is the ambassador of the fine wines of Languedoc-Roussillon around the world and owns 16 estates with their unique terroirs in the region.  The Languedoc has, in general, had a poor…

The Vancouver International Wine Festival always kicks off with their Bacchanalia Gala Dinner and Auction.  That great event happened on Saturday, Feb 22 and of course, it was a great success.  Below is the press release from the Festival about the event and the results of their auction.  Enjoy. ~~~ VANCOUVER, BC (February 24, 2020) — The Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction,…