Category: VQA

Day Two of my visit to the Fraser Valley had me at the Mt. Lehman Winery.  I met with co-owner and winemaker, Vern Siemens, who tasted his wines together with me, discussed his winemaking methods, his favourite varietals, and much more.   The grapes are I believe all from the estate; the white grapes for sure, but do not remember exactly…

After visiting Cannon Estate Winery, my next Fraser Valley winery stop was at Singletree Winery, which is only a few minutes away.  Thank you to Tourism Abbotsford for setting this meeting up for me.  I met with Debbie Etsell from Singletree who poured me a selection of their wines, while I sat in one of their cabanas overlooking the vineyard….

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…

If you are thinking about sipping a ripe, juicy, delicious red wine, this wine, Hester Creek Grenache Syrah Mourvedre 2022, is a wonderful option.  I received this wine earlier this summer but took till now to have a chance to open it for you.  It’s a blend of 45% Grenache, 38% Syrah (includes 2% of co-fermented Viognier), and 17% Mourvedre…

Tasting wines under a controlled environment, with proper temperature, lighting, and glassware can give you different results when the same wines are sampled in a restaurant or other uncontrolled environment.  I opened these BC wines, Solvero Pinot Gris 2023 and Solvero Rosé 2023, at home and tasted them.  I also sampled these wines at a restaurant this summer.  There was…

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…

Coolshanagh is a BC winery located on the Naramata Bench is owned by husband and wife team, Skip and Judy Stothert.  They are passionate about Chardonnay and Pinot Noir so they only grow these varieties for wine production. I received two bottles of their Chardonnay to review.  One is their Coolshanagh Chardonnay 2019 while the other is the first release…

It’s time for a short vacation to visit my family in Alberta.  I decided to bring along two bottles of BC wine to share with them and also spread the word about our wonderful wines.  The two wines I brought were: Okanagan Crush Pad’s Narrative XC Sparkling 2022 and Township 7’s Blue Terrace Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2023.  Let me tell…

Last night Richard Vanfoodster and I had a wonderful dinner at Collective Goods Bistro enjoying their dishes with a flight of BC’s Solvero Wines. The winemaker, Alison Moyes, was there to talk to us about the wines and the winery. We had her Solvero Wines Pinot Gris 2023, Rosé 2023, Chardonnay 2022, and Pinot Noir 2020. It was fun trying…

We all deserve R&R on a long weekend.  On BC Day, my R&R was a bottle of Narrative Rosé 2022 and a bottle of free form Riesling 2022 by Okanagan Crush Pad.  These two wines made for this hot sunny weather. Both are vegan-friendly wines and the Riesling is also listed as EcoCert organic certified.  Let me tell you about…