Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
We have had some turmoil in Canada and in BC for wines in 2025. Many BC interior wineries suffered from the 2024 cold snap causing them to either not produce any wine in 2024, or importing grapes from across the border, or from Ontario. We also had the removal of USA wines from BC government liquor stores. Overall, we had…
Today we were able to taste California wines crafted on the edge – coastal cliffs, mountain tops, and rugged valleys – where adversity breeds greatness. This seminar at the VanWineFest 2025 showed us bold wines born from unforgiving terrains and regenerative farming. Our Moderator was Elaine Chukan Brown. Winery Principals to tell us about their wines: Kori Butler, Andrew Gouveia,…
Many people are familiar with grape varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, but there is a whole world of exciting and distinctive grape varieties waiting to be explored. Albariño, Viognier, and Grüner Veltliner each bring unique characteristics and flavours that set them apart from the usual white wine offerings. Whether it’s Albariño’s refreshing citrus and coastal minerality, Viognier’s lush stone…
I love to stumble across new wineries to me. Willow Wine Cellars is a Garagista winery out of Underwood, WA. Brendan and his wife, Tarnna, have been making wine out of their garage for 10 years. He poured me a glass of their Albarino wine, noting that in Spain, Albarino is known as “The Wine of the Sea”. It pairs…
What do you know about the wines from Uruguay? One winery that has consistently been attending the Vancouver International Wine Festival is Bodega Garzón. I have enjoyed speaking with Mele Sosa from Bodega Garzón about their wines and tasting them as well for several years. Uruguay is well-known for red wines made from the Tannat grape, but they also produce…
In the late Fall, I interviewed a few BC winemakers about their 2022 harvest, but the wines were still fermenting in tanks, barrels or other vessels. The winemakers sounded optimistic, thanks to the warm Fall weather. But how would the wines taste? This we explored with the following winemakers at the BC Vintage 2022 media preview: Laurent Fadanni, Whispering Horse…
I and other Trade people were invited to “explore the Pacific Wine Route with us. In the spirit of expedition and discovery, take a page from Lewis and Clark: come taste through the green, gentle slopes of Oregon’s unique beauty, and emerge through Columbia River to find the stern, mighty desert of Washington State…One, powerfully raw. The other, raw power.” …
My last video interview at the Vancouver International Wine Festival was with Mele Sosa from Bodega Garzón a winery in Uruguay. This winery is well-known here for its Tannat and Albariño wines. Mele has been coming to the VanWineFest for several years. I have interviewed her in the past and am lucky to be able to interview her this year. …
It’s been two years since we last tasted wines from around the world at the Vancouver International Wine Festival. During COVID grapevines produced grapes and wine was made but may have been a little harder than normal to get workers in the vineyard and in the winery. Below are my Old World wine selections. Most of the vintages are 2020…
2021 was a year of extreme weather conditions in BC, which had an impact on BC grapes and wine production. Temperature records were shattered in many regions. I’ve been told that Kelowna, Kamloops, Osoyoos, and Lillooet were among 60 cities that broke temperature records. The heat dome in the summer causes grapevines to shut down until the weather cools off. …
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
