Category: Sangiovese

One of the newer Italian wineries, FEMAR VINI SRL, formed in the 1990s.  They are in the Apulia region of Italy and will be attending VanWineFest 2024 to let us try their wines.  They use an appassimento method where they dry the grapes.  Other wineries pick the grapes and dry the grapes in bins/racks.  FEMAR lets the grapes dry on…

In June 2023 Rocca delle Macìe celebrated their winery’s 50th Anniversary.  Winery principals have attended VanWineFest in the past as well as other Italian wine events here in Vancouver.  I am looking forward to seeing them at VanWineFest 2024 and clinking a glass to celebrate their 50th Anniversary.  Here is some information by Rocca delle Macìe about their 50 years…

Did you know that there will be a selection of great-value Chianti Classico wines will be featured in BC Liquor stores throughout the month of August?  There will also be a FREE consumer tasting at the 39th and Cambie Signature BCL Liquor Store on Friday, August 18th from 2:30 – 6:30pm.  As a peek into the aromas and flavours of…

This August, the BC Liquor (BCL) stores will celebrate Tuscany with displays of Chianti Classico wines in 30 BCL locations, as well as a consumer tasting at the 39th & Cambie Signature Liquor Store on Thursday, August 17th, 2023. In the meantime, I received a few Chianti Classico wines to taste and review for you. Today I opened two wines…

I enjoy attending the Top Drop Canada wine tasting each year.  It is probably my second favourite event after the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  If you have not heard of Top Drop before, the organizers describe it as “Top Drop’s focus and mandate is providing a platform for terroir-influenced, handcrafted wines, and the people behind them. We believe in the…

One of my favourite producers of Chianti Classico is Ricasoli. I was happy to receive a bottle of their Ricasoli Brolio DOCG 2019 to review. I have reviewed and recommended past vintages of this wine, and I will continue to recommend it with the tasting of this vintage.  The winery is located in the Gaiole Unità Geografiche Aggiuntive (UGA), or…

Twenty-five wines coming from BC and around the world made it to my near-perfect – star category this year.  I’ve arranged these fantastic wines into BC wines followed by wines from the rest of the world.  Italian wine showed up prominently with my near-perfect wine scores.  Chardonnay showed prominently as well, primarily from BC. You should still be able to…

This is Part Two of my article covering the Chianti Classico Masterclass led by Jason Yamasaki.  In Part One I covered the history, and grape varieties used for Chianti Classico, touched on the DOCG quality pyramid, and reviewed a basic Annata tier of Chianti Classico wines.  In Part Two I am covering the Chianti Classico Riserva and Gran Selezione tiers…

I was fortunate to be invited to a Chianti Classico Masterclass led by Jason Yamasaki, the Chianti Classico Ambassador in BC.  Jason spoke to us about the history of the Chianti Classico region, the grape used and the different quality levels of Chianti Classico.  As this was such a wide-ranging masterclass, I am dividing it up into two sections.  In…

I have been a fan of Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery‘s wines for many years.  I still have a bottle of their 2003 Summit Reserve Semillon I purchased at the winery that I hope to open this year with friends.  On my recent trip to Kelowna, I messaged their winemaker, Jeff Hundertmark, to see if I could meet with him.  Not…