Category: VQA

Two years ago Valley Commons, a new BC winery, launched at the new District Wine Village in the south Okanagan.  I visited the winery and the Village in the Fall to taste their inaugural vintages which Mark Simpson of BC Wine Studio crafted.  I picked up a bottle of their Valley Commons Cabernet Franc 2018 to take home.  I opened…

In celebration of the upcoming Chinese Year of the Dragon, BC’s Haywire Winery is releasing its limited edition wine, Haywire Winery Lunar Red 2021.  It is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s made to pair with a broad range of Asian cuisines such as stir-fried vegetables, pan-seared sablefish, and BBQ duck according to the winery.  This…

January 7, 2024, was Ukrainian Christmas Day.  I know that Volodymyr Zelensky passed a law to make December 25 the new Christmas Day in Ukraine, but many people still like to also celebrate on January 7.  Double the celebration.  So, I opened a bottle of BC’s Church & State Wines sparkling Blanc de Gris Brut 2019 and shared it with…

Happy New Year.  With that, I have my first two wines to review for 2024.  I decided to pick two big red wines from BC’s Hester Creek Estate Winery.  I have their Hester Creek Estate Winery The Judge 2020 and Garland 2020.  Both wines are Bordeaux blends with The Judge being a right-bank blend and Garland being a left-bank blend. …

It is New Year’s Eve today, December 31, 2023.  Have you still not picked a sparkling BC wine to celebrate?  In case you have not, I have two sparkling wines from Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars.  One is their Gold Label Brut and the other is their Brut Rosé wine.  Both wines are listed as Recently Disgorged 2019. Let me…

These are probably my last two BC red wines for me to taste in 2023.  The wines come from the Church & State Wines.  I have their Church & State Wines Cabernet Franc 2019 and Syrah 2019. While the winery started on Vancouver Island, they do make wines from Okanagan-sourced grapes as well.  The Cabernet Franc comes from the terraces…

We are used to seeing European wine labels with names of places, or other identification, other than the name of the grape varieties in the bottle. In North America and BC, we tend to have the name of the winery and the grape variety or varieties on the label.  But today, I have two BC wines that have descriptive names…

I’ve been eagerly anticipating opening this bottle of BC’s TIME Family of Wines Chronos Syrah 2020 and had the chance to open it today to review. The quality starts with the cork, which is one long solid piece. All Chronos wines that I have tasted in the past have been top quality. Let me tell you about this wine. My…

I have two bigger red BC wines for you to consider for your holiday festivities: Hester Creek Estate Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 and their Merlot 2022.  Let me tell you about them.  Did you notice the difference in the labels?  The Cabernet Sauvignon label has extra info about the wine. This wine is from their Storied Series, so each label…

This year I had many terrific wines to taste and review.  Wines that I rate as 5 star I deem as needing nothing to add or subtract.  They are perfect as-is.  I had one wine that reached that status this year so instead of making a separate article for that wine, I am including it in this article.  My 4.5-5…