Tag: bc

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…

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…

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…

Have you ever attended ChefmeetsBCGrape before?  It is a great event where you get to try BC VQA wines, and wonderful food produced by top BC chefs.  The dishes prepared are from Ocean Wise partner restaurants, which is good IMHO as I want to support ocean-friendly seafood choices. This event is held in Vancouver. When you check the list of…

I recently stopped in to visit Ed and Vicki Collett from Harper’s Trail Estate Winery in Kamloops, BC. Yes Kamloops!  I first met Ed and Vicki at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, and then at a recent Media Trip to Okanagan Crush Pad in Summerland, where Harper’s Trail wines are being vinified.  I was excited to see their vineyard…

In my earlier post, Growing Wineries with Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP), I introduced you to the vineyard management, wine making skills, and the growing list of new wineries making use of OCP. In this second part of this article, I will introduce you to these new wineries, and provide you with a few tasting notes on the wines I sampled….

Okanagan Crush Pad (OCP) in Summerland, BC, has not yet been around for a year, but has already has an impressive list of up and coming wineries using their custom wine making services. On a recent Media trip to visit OCP, we were introduced to their winery clients, and learned more about OCP’s vineyard and wine making philosophies.  One of…

This evening was a night out with guy friends. One of my friends, of British origin, was interested to try out Bitter Tasting Room to see what interesting beers we could sample. The location is located on the western outskirts of Chinatown.  Hip industrial looking inside with ceiling to floor windows on the two outer walls. Their beer menu is…

I was very excited when I received two bottles of the latest releases from Painted Rock recently to review.  The two bottles being Painted Rock’s Syrah 2009 and their Merlot 2009.  Every year, I hear great things about Painted Rock’s wines and read about awards they have won.  Did you know that Painted Rock Estate Winery was ranked as the…