Category: VQA

This is Round 3, and my final Round, of pairing up Evolve Cellars wines with a selection of cheeses for the holidays. This is my sparkling wine Round. How will bubbles affect the pairing with cheese? Again I have again a brie, an aged cheddar, and gouda for the comparison. Both wines are made with the Charmat method (e.g. how…

Welcome to Round 2 of my Evolve Cellars and Cheese Pairing experience. In the first round I compared Evolve Cellars’ Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc 2018 paired with aged cheddar and brie cheese. You can see the results here. This time I’m comparing Evolve Cellars Pinot Gris 2018 with Evolve Cellars Shiraz 2016. I’ve added a cheese to the comparison, so…

When getting ready for the holiday season, wine is a celebratory drink.  And we all enjoy having something to eat during the holidays, so I would like to offer you some wine and cheese pairings recommendations.  Here is the first of my wine and cheese pairings with two BC wines from Evolve Cellars. The two white wines I have are…

Do you like sparkling wine? This one from Evolve Cellars in Penticton is a delight to sip.  It is made with the Charmat method (think Prosecco) and has nice fresh fruit flavours. A blend of 70% Pinot Blanc and 30% Chardonnay grapes. Let’s get to my tasting notes. My Tasting Notes Evolve Cellars Effervescence NV (BC $19.99) – This wine…

Here are two more vegan wines for you from Blue Grouse Estate Winery.  Their Quill Gamay Noir 2018 and their Quill Q Red 2018. The Quill Q Red is a blend of Merlot 75%, Cabernet Franc 11.5%, and Marechal Foch 13.5%.  The grapes for the Gamay Noir come from the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island while the Q Red grapes…

Have you ever heard of the Ortega grape? Did you know that Ortega is a cross between Siegerrebe and Müller-Thurgau?  And did you know that you can try Ortega wine from Blue Grouse Estate Winery from Duncan, BC?  Vancouver Island is a very cool climate region and as such many of the wineries produce wines from aromatic white grapes such…

Do you know the meaning of the term “Meritage” for wines? It is a term developed by the California-based Meritage Alliance, that means a Bordeaux blend of grapes, without infringing on the term Bordeaux. Just like wineries around the world cannot say that their sparkling wine is Champagne. It is a term restricted to the region where that style of…

Here are my last two wines to review for you from Church & State Wines.  They grow grapes and produce wines from both their Vancouver Island and their Okanagan vineyard/winery sites.  The two wines I tasted for this article are their Sauvignon Blanc 2018 and Coyote Bowl Series Chardonnay 2017, both coming from the Okanagan.  Their wines, starting in 2017…

How would you like to impress your family and friends with two little known white wines from BC?  You can with a Viognier and a white Bordeaux blend from TIME Winery.  I was impressed with the quality of these two wines.  Did you know that Bordeaux makes white wines?  They do.  They are typically a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and…

Pinot Noir and Riesling are probably my favourite red and white grapes respectively.  Both are very transparent to their terroir.  Pinot Noir shows different aromas and flavours with the growing season weather for the year, and can be made as a still wine or into sparkling wine, e.g. Champagne.  Riesling can be made anywhere from bone dry to very sweet…