Category: Similkameen

While many people may think of full-bodied red wines for our cold winters, don’t count out lighter-bodied red wine with higher acidity and juicy bright fruit flavours.  They can brighten your day and pair nicely with a cheese plate, roast chicken, or fatty sausages.  One such wine is BC’s Robin Ridge Winery Gamay 2022.  It is also an organic wine…

This year’s harvest in the BC interior was extremely different from past harvests as the winter cold snap killed most of the grape vines.  Coastal and Fraser Valley wineries did not suffer the same fate.  The amount of grapevine loss varied a bit in the interior, depending on how close the vineyards were to interior lakes and the slopes where…

I have two BC wines for you today.  One is from Mayhem Wines in the Okanagan Valley and the other from the Robin Ridge Winery in the Similkameen Valley.  I thought these two wines may show off some fresh BC fruit flavours and go well with holiday get-togethers.  Let me tell you about them. My Wine Tasting Notes Mayhem Wines…

Little Farm Winery is a small production winery located in the Similkameen Valley run by Rhys Pender MW and Alishan Driediger.  Their wines are low / no intervention from start to finish.  They use wild yeast, neutral barrel, lees ageing and little to no fining or filtering when the wines are bottled.  I received two bottles of their Chardonnay.  One…

When we talk about BC wine, many people think about the Okanagan, which does have a majority of our vineyards and wineries.  But, there are other regions across BC with wineries.  The Fraser Valley around Abbotsford is one of those areas.  Tourism Abbotsford helped organize a trip for me to visit a few wineries and a cidery so that I…

Today I have two rosé wines from BC’s Meyer Family Vineyards, actually one is from their sister winery, Mayhem Wines.  One wine is made from 100% Pinot Noir and the other from a blend of four different red grapes.  Both wines also underwent different fermentation processes.  The two wines are the Meyer Rosé 2023 and the Mayhem Rosé 2023.  Can…

Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc wines from New Zealand and British Columbia have a similar history with the growth in quality Vitis Vinifera wine production.  I will concentrate on the Marlborough region of New Zealand and the Okanagan Valley primarily plus the Similkameen for BC for this post. Vitis Vinifera grapes were first planted experimentally in the mid-1970s in BC…

Don’t forget that April is BC Wine Month.  In case you have not purchased any BC wine yet, here are some compelling reasons why British Columbians should consider buying BC wines: 1. Economic Impact: The BC wine industry contributes $3.75 billion annually to British Columbia’s economy. By purchasing local wines, consumers directly support local businesses, jobs, and economic growth. 2….

In the late Fall, I interviewed a few BC winemakers about their 2022 harvest, but the wines were still fermenting in tanks, barrels or other vessels.  The winemakers sounded optimistic, thanks to the warm Fall weather.  But how would the wines taste?  This we explored with the following winemakers at the BC Vintage 2022 media preview: Laurent Fadanni, Whispering Horse…

To start off the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I attended this masterclass which featured 11 British Columbia wines from across the province, “Defining the Root of BC Terroir“.  Our panellists, the winemakers at the wineries, discussed the unique growing conditions of their vineyard and terroir of the area. There was also some discussion on what BC winegrowers are doing in…