Category: Valpolicella

Wineries change hands over time, but you do not often hear of a winery with a vineyard going from monks to lay people.  Monte del Frà is one of those wineries and we are lucky to have the winery attending VanWineFest 2024.  Their wines are in our market already, but you can get a chance to speak with a winery…

The Grandi Marchi, is a collaboration of eighteen winemaking families across Italy to promote the culture and commercialization of Italian high-quality wine on world markets.  All the wineries are family-owned, have been in operation for at least 25 years (some for centuries), own their estate vineyards, are innovators, and much more.  We had nine of the eighteen families visiting in Vancouver to…

After attending the Valpolicella Masterclass, there was a walkabout tasting from these wineries where they offered different wines to enjoy.  In the Masterclass there were only Valpolicella DOC and Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG wines to taste.  As there were no Valpolicella Ripasso DOC in the Masterclass, I decided for the walkabout tasting that I would taste only these wines.  Valpolicella…

Valpolicella may not be as well-known to many wine lovers compared to Chianti Classico in Italy but deserves to be.  There are different levels of quality of Valpolicella wines to satisfy everybody’s palates.  I was fortunate to attend a Valpolicella Masterclass with Daenna Van Mulligen leading the class.  Following is information that I thought would be of interest to you followed…

Gambero Rosso is the leading platform for the promotion of Italian Wine in the world.  Each year they have a tasting of all Italian wines submitted to them and they rank the wines with the top wines given the title of Tre Bicchieri, Three Cups in English.  With these Tre Bicchieri wines, Gambero Rosso visits select cities around the world…

The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2023 is almost a month away.  Media were invited to a preview of some of the wines that will be available at the Festival.  Here are a few wines that I quite enjoyed and you may want to try.  The Theme Region this year is South America, so you will be able to try wines…

Last week there was the Taste of Italy celebration held at the Vancouver Lookout downtown.  Wine and Italian cheese, prosciutto, chocolates, and more were there to sample. Here are ten wines that I quite enjoyed at the Taste of Italy.  Some of these wines are currently available in BC.  I marked those wines with a “*”.  The wines without the…

It’s been two years since we last tasted wines from around the world at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  During COVID grapevines produced grapes and wine was made but may have been a little harder than normal to get workers in the vineyard and in the winery.  Below are my Old World wine selections.  Most of the vintages are 2020…

Have you ever heard of Top Drop Vancouver?  It is a festival where 40 hand-selected wineries from around the world come to Vancouver and pour their wines for you.  These wineries have to have a certain level of quality and status in order for them to be invited so that you know you are going to enjoy premium wines. Yes,…

Wanderlust.  We must all have it after staying in our homes for the past two years due to COVID.  Maybe venturing out to a nearby city or town within a day’s driving distance, but not getting on an airplane and going where your heart desires.  I love wine, and I enjoy going to wine regions around the world, meeting winemakers…