Category: VQA

Have you ever heard of a sparkling wine called Charme de l’ile, Island Charm in English?  It is not a wine from France.  It is from Vancouver Island and can only be made on Vancouver Island using Island grapes.  Just like Champagne can only be made in the Champagne region of France.  Charme is also a nod to the method…

For the past few articles, I’ve been writing about white, aromatic wines and sparkling wines for the summer.  But there is more than bright, white, and sparkling wines for the summer.  Think red wines for the BBQ.  Today I have two red wines coming from the Okanagan’s Gold Hill Winery.  They have an excellent reputation for big red wines.  The…

BC wineries are quite accomplished at producing quality, aromatic white wines.  I have two aromatic white wines from the Okanagan coming from the Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris grapes.  They are the Hester Creek Estate Winery Old Vine Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris wines from the 2025 vintage.  2025 was a fantastic vintage for BC Okanagan wines.  The white wines…

What BC wine would you have with a sechetti (parachute) pasta stuffed with ground chicken and bacon, served in a creamy rosé sauce?  One option is a Rose wine, but another valid option would be a Chardonnay.  Today I had this pasta dish with a glass of Lillooet’s Fort Berens Estate Winery Chardonnay 2025.  Fort Beren’s wines are now certified…

As I recently tasted two Okanagan Viognier wines from the 2025 vintage, I thought it may be interesting to compare and contrast between the two wines.  Terroir of course can affect the aromas and flavours, but also the winemaker’s methods of vinification.  The two wines I tasted were the Hester Creek Estate Winery Viognier 2025 and the other is the…

My last article was on two aromatic wines from Blasted Church Vineyards.  I tasted their Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc.  Today I tasted two more aromatic BC white wines, but this time from Hester Creek Estate Winery.  I tasted their Hester Creek Estate Winery Viognier 2025 and Hester Creek Estate Winery Riesling 2025.  It will be interesting to compare the styles…

If you enjoy BC sparkling wine, you may be interested to find out which wine was named the best sparkling wine at the All Canadian Wine Championships this year.  It is Noble Ridge’s 2019 The One.  Here is the press release about their win, as written by the winery. Okanagan Falls, BC [July 7, 2026] Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery…

Today I have two aromatic white wines to tell you about from BC’s Blasted Church Vineyards. I tasted their Blasted Church Vineyards Renaissance Series Sauvignon Blanc 2025 and Blasted Church Vineyards Renaissance Series Viognier 2025.  These wines come from our latest, fantastic 2025 harvest.  It is nice to see our wineries doing so well this vintage after the problems with…

In BC we welcomed the bountiful grape harvest of 2025, after we had two terrible years with cold winter weather that devastated our grape vines.  White wines are usually the first to be released after a harvest.  I received several bottles of the 2025 vintage wines from Lillooet’s Fort Berens Estate Winery, and today I tasted two of those wines: …

We are having wonderful summertime sunny weather, and it is a great time to review two BC rosé wines for you.  I have Hester Creek Estate Winery’s Rosé Pinot Noir 2025 and Rosé Cabernet Franc 2025.  Many people know about rosé wine being made from Pinot Noir grapes, but not too many know that Cabernet Franc also makes an excellent…