Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
We are back to estate grown BC grapes for the 2025 vintage. It was a great year for our wine grapes, producing a bumper crop for all vineyards. I have two white wines from Okanagan’s Hester Creek Estate Winery; their Hester Creek Estate Winery Character White 2025, a white blend containing Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Pinot Gris, and Hester Creek Estate…
Amidst the clamour of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I had a conversation with Evan Saunders, winemaker for Blasted Church Vineyards, to discuss the last two years vintages; one made with WA state grapes in 2024, and the latest vintage with estate BC grapes. The 2024 Washington Intervention Following a 2023 season that already saw significantly diminished yields, 2024 arrived…
Winemaking in the past has been dominated by men around the world, but times are changing. British Columbia is a great example. If you’ve ever cracked open a bottle of BC wine, there is a high probability that it was made by a female winemaker and/or the winery is female owned. Estimates suggest about 20% of lead winemakers in the…
Six months ago, in August 2025, I tasted BC’s Hester Creek Estate Vineyard Garland 2022 and The Judge 2022 Bordeaux-style red blends. These are their top tier Origin wines. Both wines were made in the epic year of 2022 when weather conditions and the harvest was perfect. At that time I first tasted these wines, both tied in my wine…
Once prized in the courts of Europe and poured for royalty, Riesling was long considered one of the continent’s most noble wines, especially in regions along the Rhine River. In the 19th century, top bottles from Germany often commanded prices rivalling the great growths of Bordeaux. Today, Riesling is revered by knowledgeable wine drinkers for its remarkable range, from bone-dry…
Chardonnay wines can vary in style and in intensity. Many people avoid Chardonnay as they were exposed to heavily oaked versions in the past. But there are many unoaked Chardonnay that you can enjoy. I received this bottle from the south Okanagan’s Gold Hill Winery of their Charisma Un-Oaked Chardonnay 2022 to review for you. It has four years of…
The new Lunar New Year of the Fire Horse starts on February 17, 2026. In a previous article on mywinepal.com, I listed wines that have a horse theme. One of the wines I listed was BC’s Haywire Winery Lunar Red 2022. I received a bottle of this wine to review and from my tasting notes, I think it should pair…
Here are two more delicious wines that you should buy and enjoy right now while we are drowning in our winter rains, or snow, in BC. The two wines from the Okanagan’s Hester Creek Estate Winery are their Columbia Valley Collection Viognier 2024 (grapes coming from WA state), and their Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (grapes coming from estate fruit). I bought…
2023 was a little challenging for BC wineries with reduced yields (~34 to 56 percent loss) coming from a winter cold snap. Harvest was a little later as the growing season was a bit cooler, with a dry Fall. How did that affect the wines in the Okanagan? I have a small sample size of two wines to review for…
Today I have two wines for you from south Okanagan’s Gold Hill Winery; their Gold Hill Winery Sauvignon Blanc 2022 and Charisma Cabernet Merlot 2021. Charisma is their second label. Charisma wines curates charming approachable everyday drinking wines. There were scattered forest fires in the BC interior in 2021, but the winemakers at that time did not notice any smoke taint…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
