Tag: Bella

Our drinking habits change over time.  The wines that Baby Boomers enjoy the most may be completely different from what GenX prefers to drink.  There is also a change in environmental awareness.  Many of us want to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as we can.  Some want organic or biodynamic wine production.  Saving habitat for the birds and the…

Valentine’s Day is a special day to spend with your significant other.  A bottle of sparkling wine to sip together is a great way to cap, or start, the evening together.  Below are 6 different sparkling wines that I tried over the last 12 months, from BC and overseas, that I think are exceptional.  Enjoy these wines on their own,…

I tasted through many years this year through Trade tastings with agents and BC VQA wineries, the Vancouver International Wine Festival, visits to wineries, and personal purchases.  I rate all the wines I taste from 1 to 5 stars.  Fortunately, the quality of many wines is quite good, giving them at least a 3 out of 5-star rating.  At the…

The Naramata Bench is located on the east side of Lake Okanagan as you drive north from Penticton.  It is a very scenic 14 km drive overlooking the water and vineyards, home to a group of twenty-four award-winning wineries forming the Naramata Bench Wineries Association. The Association was participating in the Wine for Waves this past week to support the…

This past year I tasted a tremendous number of wines from around the world, but some wines really resonated with me.  It may have been the great balance of fruit, sugar, acidity for a white wine, or the fruit, tannins and minerality in a red wine, or something else. Something that made the wine stand above the other wines.  Could…

Church & State is head and heart, change and tradition, roots and growth. Church & State is in constant conflict, yet always in perfect balance. Who Is Church & State Wines? Kim Pullen founded Church & State Wines in 2004. Purchasing a 25-acre estate on the Saanich Peninsula, which had been home to the defunct Victoria Estate Winery, Kim set…

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…