Category: pinot noir

Burgundy and Bordeaux; two famous wine regions in France with different grapes, red and white.  Back here in BC, you can grow the grapes from both regions and produce wine.  Burgundy is famous for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, while Bordeaux for their blends, which may contain Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Carmenere.  SpierHead Winery recently sent…

It is always a treat to have a chance to meet a winemaker pouring their wine and telling you the story behind it, the vintage, the winery, or themselves.  Recently, I had a chance to meet Tim Heath, the wine maker for the New Zealand winery Cloudy Bay, on a sunny fall day.  Cloudy Bay winery, located in Marlborough, is…

Have you ever heard of a portfolio tasting?  Most people probably have not, unless you attend wine tastings on a fairly regular basis.  A portfolio tasting is when a wine agency, like Select Wines & Spirits, pours their selection of wine (and spirits) in a casual (usually) walk-about fashion, where you can taste the wines and talk with the rep…

Have you ever felt like you have a daunting task, but persevere with the hope you will discover a few gold nuggets? I’m sure many BC prospectors felt this as they searched for gold in Barkerville and further north. This is also how I feel when I attend the Colour BC VQA tastings. There are so many BC VQA wines…

Better known by the tremendous success of its white wines, particularly Marlborough’s Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand’s red wines are mostly off the radar for the global market, with the visible exception of Pinot Noir. The “heart break grape” has made its home in Martinborough, at the southern tip of North Island, and in Otago, in the southern end of South…

Chile is blessed with perfect conditions to grow grapes; a varied climate, warmer and drier in the north, and wetter and cooler in the south.  A dry climate and soil types not conducive to the phyloxera louse allow Chilean vineyards to be grown on their own rootstock, not grafted.  Some say that this allows you to taste the “true” flavour…

I look forward to the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) Trade tasting.  You get to try the new wines, liquor, and beer coming into the BC market, and be the first to tell you what to search out in your local wine shop, or BC government liquor store.  With the latest IVSA, here are my picks.  I hope you…

The first time you walk into the International Festival Tasting Room can be intimidating, with 175 wineries pouring 3 or more wines each, you have at least 525 wines to try.  But over time, you become a wine tasting veteran like me, setting up a strategy, checking out the background of some wineries you may not have heard of before,…

I posted this article for all the star-crossed lovers 2 years ago.  I thought I’d check out the wines, and I’d stand by them all, but in addition, new wines have come to the BC market, so I thought I’d add those ones in too, so enjoy this Valentine’s Day with an even greater range of wine.  And don’t forget…

Are you a lover of Pinots?  Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, I am sure will be front and centre at the Vintage Oregon, all-Oregon wine tasting in Portland on April 28, 2013.  Along with these well known varietal wines, you should also get to taste some Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, and Viognier, and more. A quotation about Portland…