Category: pinot noir

With all the calamities around us lately, it is an appropriate time to give thanks for what we have, and to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends in Canada.  Whether you enjoy a traditional turkey with stuffing gravy, potatoes, brussel sprouts, and pumpkin pie for dessert, or a ham, or a vegan main dish, there should be a BC wine to…

Last week the BC wineries who are part of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) presented their latest releases of red, white, and sparkling wines.  74 wineries had tables and each poured around 4 wines on average.  So 296 new releases hit our market, with some wines available at BC liquor stores, while others only available a private wine shops, or…

Life is a journey, and for Sandra Oldfield, CEO and owner of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards in Oliver, BC that applies perfectly for her new flagship wine, “The Creek”, as well as the process to reach this point. Sandra’s journey has been an evolution.  They didn’t know everything when they started.  Their flagship wine, The Creek, is named for Tinhorn Creek next…

While attending the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration (i4C) I tasted a small lot Chardonnay, 2015 vintage, by Thirty Bench Wine Makers from the Beamsville Bench in Ontario.  That wine stood out among the other Chardonnays that I had tasted at i4C.  So once the i4C was over, and I had some time to visit a few wineries, I made…

After spending a weekend tasting Chardonnay wines at the i4C Celebration in Niagara-on-the-Lake, it was time for me to visit some wineries in the Niagara region on my own, and try other grape varieties as well.  I visited two wineries on the Beamsville Bench.  My first stop was Peninsula Ridge Estates Winery.   It is on a small rise and has…

Cool climate wines are where the vibrant acidity and tart fruit flavours. Citrus trending to stone fruits for white wines, and red fruits like strawberries, raspberries and red cherries.  A cool climate region to consider for wines is Vancouver Island.  There are a few wineries there, and one in particular, Blue Grouse Estate Winery in Duncan, has been producing some…

As part of the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration held in Niagara-on-the-Lake were lunches.  I was lucky to be able to attend the Peller Estates i4C Taste of Terroir.  A multi-course lunch with Chardonnay from around the world. This is the first time I visited Peller Estates, and I must say that their tasting room and restaurant is quite spectacular….

In my previous article, I divided BC’s emerging wine regions into a warmer and a cooler side.  In this article I would like to concentrate on the cooler side, which for me covers the Salmon Arm and Lake Country areas to the north of the Okanagan Valley.  Lake Country is warmer than Salmon Arm, which is to the north of…

BC’s emerging wine regions is rather large and encompasses different climates and terroir.  From my tour to the region, the places that I visited I think can be divided into two sub-regions: the hot west, and the cooler northeast.  There is still an area to the southeast that I did not visit on this trip, so cannot comment on its…

Everyone knows about the Okanagan Valley as a wine region, and some may also know about the Similkameen which is on the southwestern edge of the Okanagan, but what about BC’s emerging wine regions, covering the Kootenays, Lillooet and Thompson Shuswap?  I had a chance to go on a trip hosted by the Wines of BC to visit Lillooet and…