MyWinePal

With the changing seasons we have changes in menus at our restaurants.  Last week Dianne Chow and I went to Beachside Forno in West Vancouver to have a sample of items from their new fall menu.  We were greeted by manager, Andy, as well as Chef Jason Harris.  This evening we were treated to 3 of the new fall items,…

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to interview Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill Pyramid Winery, located in Kelowna, BC.  One of the things Ezra told me about was a new line of BC VQA wines that they are producing called “Alive“, making both a red and a white wine.  The wine labels really look alive too with pictures…

This was my first wine maker dinner with the Australian Wine Appreciation Society.  Held at the Fish House in Stanley Park, Mr. Bruce Tyrrell from Tyrrell’s Wines regaled us with stories of his family’s past and about the wines we were about to enjoy that evening. Although the Tyrrell family established themselves in Australia in 1858, it wasn’t until the…

BC wines are continuing to make strides around the world.  Last year BC wineries won more than 2000 medals in national and international competition according to the BC Wine Institute.  BC has over 208 wineries today.  We grow over 75 different grape varieties!  Merlot is the most planted grape in BC, and Pinot Gris is the most planted white grape…

When you talk with visitors to the Okanagan, most will say they want to visit Summerhill Winery and see their pyramid, where they partially age all their wines. Some may say they also want to visit because it uses biodynamic farming methods.  I sat down with Ezra Cipes, CEO of Summerhill, and son of the founder, Stephen Cipes, at a restaurant…

From the Fall through Spring, the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) hosts a regular tasting of importers latest wines, beer and spirits.  The kick-off for the fall was last week, and it was very busy.  Again too many wines to try, so I went table by table trying to find wines of interest, or completely new wines/wineries I have…

I was happy to be invited for the second year in a row to the Select Wines & Spirits’ Annual Portfolio Tasting, held at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.  Last year I found several gems that I passed along to you, and you will read about my latest wine recommendations.  You may want to compare to my last year’s…

I always appreciate seminars held with winemakers and winery principals to discuss their wines.  In this case, it was with winemaker Severine Pinte and General Manager Rasoul Salehi from Le Vieux Pin in the Chateau Belair Boardroom of the Sutton Place Hotel. Le Vieux Pin is one of my favourite wineries in the Okanagan.  They consistently deliver high quality red…

Probably many of us know little about Oregon wineries, unless we are a pinot lover.  It is a very nice place to visit, with many wineries or tasting rooms in the McMinnville area. For those of you that are geographically challenged, here is a Google Map of the area. View Larger Map French winemakers have recognized the suitability to grow…

This long weekend I went to a friend’s house for dinner and I brought a bottle of Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley, France that I purchased last summer while I was on vacation. When I picked out this bottle to bring to the dinner party, I remembered going to the winery, my discussion with the person in the tasting…