Category: pinot noir

Sitting down in a private room at Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop Shop, myself and a few other wine media had a chance to try some fantastic Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from Hahn Family Wines, a California-based winery, with vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County.  I pulled wine maker Paul Clifton aside for a few minutes to…

The Christmas holidays and New Years Eve are fast approaching, and with that, you will probably be invited to parties, or invite people over to your party.  But what wines to serve?  I always like to have at least one sparkling wine at my parties, usually served at the start of the evening.  There are a ton of choices of…

The first biodynamic wine I tasted was at a wine tasting at the South World Wine Society.  The topic was not biodynamic wines at all.  I do not remember the topic, other than it was red wines from Australia, and it happened that one of the bottles was from a biodynamic winery.  That wine tasted more alive and vibrant than…

I first posted this article 2 years ago, and the styles of wines that I described then, still hold for your turkey or ham Thanksgiving dinner this year.  The wine vintages from the wineries below will have changed, but these are all quality wines from quality wineries here in BC, and you should feel comfortable purchasing them at your local…

At a certain quality level of wine, which typically comes from wineries that have decided to spend the extra effort on selecting grapes from the best vineyard plots, hand picking and sorting the grapes, and letting the grapes express themselves in the wine without an over agressive human hand, you get shades of perfection (note that I am not talking…

One of the definitions in The Free Dictionary of “portfolio” is “A group of investments held by an investor, investment company, or financial institution.” I thought that for a wine & spirits agency those bottles of wines and spirits are an investment to them.  They search out and try to find value, and then share these gems with the public. …

With September, comes the new season of tasting wines which have arrived in British Columbia, through the IVSA.  There can always be found wines from every corner of the world, and also beer and spirits too.  My wine picks come from across the world, and I hope you have a chance to try them sometime soon. Where I had the…

Haywire wines are made at Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) in Summerland, BC, and are co-owned by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie.  I have followed Haywire wines since their inception.  I like them as they try to be as organic and un-interventionist as possible, letting their wines tell their stories.  They make a range of wines; red, white, and bubble for…

Upper Bench Winery & Creamery is located just outside of downtown Penticton, leading the way into the Naramata Bench.  The winery is still fairly new, I believe 2012 was their 3rd vintage, their wine maker, Gavin Miller, has been around for several years in the Okanagan making wines for Poplar Grove and Painted Rock, before striking out on his own. …

When you drink Pinot Noir, is it always red?  Maybe you don’t realize it, but many sparkling wines are made with the Pinot Noir grape.  For example if you see the term “Blanc de Noirs” on a bottle of Champagne or other sparkling wine, the wine was made with red grapes.  Pinot Noir is a very common red grape for…