Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
In BC we welcomed the bountiful grape harvest of 2025, after we had two terrible years with cold winter weather that devastated our grape vines. White wines are usually the first to be released after a harvest. I received several bottles of the 2025 vintage wines from Lillooet’s Fort Berens Estate Winery, and today I tasted two of those wines: …
Many people have taken an ocean cruise travelling up to Alaska or around the Caribbean, or maybe the Mediterranean Sea, but fewer people have taken a river cruise, as far as I know. I decided to go on a Rhine River cruise hosted by Avalon Waterways, travelling from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland. It was an eight day trip and included…
Once prized in the courts of Europe and poured for royalty, Riesling was long considered one of the continent’s most noble wines, especially in regions along the Rhine River. In the 19th century, top bottles from Germany often commanded prices rivalling the great growths of Bordeaux. Today, Riesling is revered by knowledgeable wine drinkers for its remarkable range, from bone-dry…
It is always a treat at a winemaker’s dinner to be able to talk with the winemaker who gives us some insight into how the wines we are drinking together were made and any challenges they encountered. I recently attended a winemaker dinner at Provence Marinaside, featuring Jessica Otting from the Niagara region’s Tawse Winery, who gave us those insights. …
Every year in the deep, darkness and pouring rain of winter in Vancouver, we have Dine Out Vancouver, to try to get us out and excited about food, wine, and hopefully life. I booked a dine out experience at Provence Marinaside. A top notch restaurant in Vancouver, serving excellent French cuisine. Here are a few pictures of what I enjoyed…
German white wine labels are a masterclass in precision, hierarchy, and terroir with each bottle offering a coded glimpse into sweetness, site, and style. Germany’s white wines, especially Riesling, are among the most expressive and age-worthy in the world. But to the uninitiated, the labels can seem like a puzzle of long compound words and unfamiliar classifications. Once decoded, however,…
Chinese (Lunar) New Year 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse, starting on February 17, 2026 until February 5, 2027. The Horse embodies enthusiasm, speed and fieriness, bringing a year focused on bold moves and exploration. The Year of the Horse brings themes of freedom, action, and momentum, encouraging bold moves, new projects, travel, and social connection, fuelled by…
Alsatian wines are a vibrant expression of terroir, tradition, and typicity, where the label is a map to aromatic precision and regional pride. Nestled between the Vosges Mountains and the Rhine River in northeastern France, Alsace is a region where geology and climate intersect to produce some of the world’s most expressive, aromatic white wines. The area is protected by…
Although the winters of 2021-22 and 2022-23 were extremely cold in Lillooet, Fort Berens Estate Winery was able to harvest grapes from their two vineyards. Here are two wines from Fort Berens Estate Winery coming from their estate fruit. These two wines come from their Reserve level, which typically means coming from estate grapes, with the grapes getting longer hang…
In case you haven’t heard, Okanagan’s Blasted Church Vineyards is having a case sale on their Renaissance wines from now till Dec 14. I’m tasting two of their Renaissance series wines I received. Hatfield’s Fuse 2024 and Pinot Gris 2024. Both wines are made in BC, but use grapes that come from Washington state, to cover our cold winter snap in…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
