Category: pinot noir

The holidays are a time when many of us get together with family or friends to enjoy a meal together; hopefully with a glass of wine.  Here are a few last-minute suggestions of wines you can pair with traditional dishes for the holidays.  Enjoy. Wine Pairings for Roast Turkey – Chardonnay: A lightly oaked Chardonnay complements the rich flavours of…

With the holiday season upon us, I was invited to the Iconic Wineries of British Columbia to check out their holiday cheer at The Kent downtown.  In addition to wines to sample and recommend for the holiday season, we were also treated to savour holiday-inspired canapés prepared by the talented Estate Chefs from CedarCreek, Liquidity and Mission Hill.  The wineries participating…

Kevin Judd from the Greywacke winery in Marlborough, New Zealand, may not sound familiar to many readers, but Kevin is one of the pioneer winemakers in Marlborough.  He was born in England and raised in Australia where he studied winemaking. In 1983 he moved to New Zealand and was the founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, which all New Zealand wine…

Wineries change hands as the original owners decide to either retire or otherwise move on.  The new owners then have to live up to or surpass the reputation of that winery.  I was invited to a winemaker’s dinner at Provence Marinaside with the winery being BC’s Fairview Cellars. Fairview Cellars was taken over by husband and wife team, Danielle and…

I and other Trade individuals were invited to Discover Extraordinary Italian Wines.  Some of the wineries at the event were searching for local representation, while other wineries already have an agent and their wines are in BC Liquor stores or private wine shops and restaurants.  I’ve put a “*” beside those wineries that have local representation, so you should be…

Today’s visit on my Naramata Bench trip gave me a bonus.  Besides tasting wine, I also enjoyed some cheese pairings.  Upper Bench Estate Winery & Creamery is the place to go as they make their own cheeses, which you can also buy.  Yes, I bought cheese to take home.  I spoke with Josh Edwards, their winemaker, before tasting the wines. …

During my week-long trip to Penticton, I took a one-day side trip to Kelowna to see the Farmer’s Market and to visit Spearhead Winery. I’ve been a fan of their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines for many years. They recently received recognition as WineAlign 2024’s Best Performing Small Winery. I also appreciate the winemaking skill of Grant Stanley who was…

To finish off my second day of wine tasting on the Naramata Bench, I stopped in at TIME Family of Wines in Penticton, where I sampled their Chronos and McWatters Collection wines.  The winery was originally owned and managed by the McWatters family, but in 2020 was purchased by Ron and Shelley Mayer who are both native BC’ers.  Chronos is…

The first official Naramata Bench winery I visited on my weekend trip to the Okanagan was Bench 1775 Winery. This winery has gone through a few transformations.  I will let the winery tell you their story, in their own words, “Bench 1775 (formerly known as Paradise Ranch Wines Corp.) is one of the only two Okanagan Wineries producing icewine and…

The second winery on the Naramata Bench I visited was Howling Bluff Estate Winery.  This is a small family-run winery, starting with the land purchase in 2003, that specializes in Pinot Noir wines, although they also produce other quality wines. I met with co-owner and winemaker, Luke Smith, sitting at the tasting room patio, where we chatted about the latest…