Category: VQA

As I was visiting friends on Vancouver Island I decided to drop by 40 Knots Winery in the Comox area.  I visited the winery last year and sampled their wines on the patio.  At this visit, the 2022 white wines have not yet been bottled at 40 Knots Winery but was told that bottling will be happening soon.  So during…

You may have heard about the winter cold snap damaging our British Columbia vineyards, but not the extent.  Below is the official announcement of the degree of vine damage.  It is high and as such, the amount of BC wine we can expect for the next few vintages is going to be more limited as vines will need to be…

Did you know that Hester Creek Estate Winery celebrates 55 years in business this year?  That is quite a feat and offers them some of the oldest vines in British Columbia.  I have two wines for you from Hester Creek.  One is their Old Vine Trebbiano 2022 and the other is their Character White 2022, a blend of 67% Pinot…

BC white wines from the 2022 vintage are slowly being released to the public.  I received the Blue Mountain Estate Cuvée Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris 2022 wines to review, plus their Sauvignon Blanc 2022, which I will review in a separate article.  Many readers may think of sparkling wine only when they hear Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars as…

A glass of sparkling rosé wine and strawberries seems like a wonderful romantic pairing, doesn’t it?  I  received a bottle of BC Haywire Winery Pink Bub 2021 and recently purchased farm field-ripened strawberries and thought I would try this pairing.  I can say they are definitely delicious together.  Let me tell you about the wine and the pairing. My Wine…

If you look up the definition of “delicious” in the dictionary, you may see “Seaside Pearl Lover’s Lane Merlot 2020“.  Seaside Pearl Farmgate Winery, located in the Fraser Valley has been producing top-quality wines and more people should know about them and enjoy their wines.  The grapes for this particular wine come from Okanagan Valley.  This winery makes small-production, top-quality…

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…

Did you know that Bottleneck Drive around Summerland has three driving routes along with which wineries, cideries, breweries, and distilleries are on each route?  You can drive each route on a separate day and have a fun long weekend.  Here is the press release from the Bottleneck Drive Association about the three routes plus a map showing the routes and…

June 10 is National Rosé Day, but what do you know about Rosé wines?  Here’s some background so you can further appreciate these wines and toast a glass or two on June 10. What are Rosé Wines? Rosé wines, often referred to as rosé, are a category of wines that bridge the gap between red and white wines. They are…

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…