Tag: cabernet sauvignon

Have you ever heard of the Alentejo wine region?  Would you guess it is in Spain, Portugal, or Chile?  If you guessed, Portugal, you would be correct.  Recently, I attended a Wines of Alentejo trade learning session held downtown at Coast.  It was presented by wine educator Jenna Brisco. The session provided a comprehensive overview of the Alentejo wine region, highlighting…

Wines from Uruguay are rare to find in British Columbia.  I recently discovered the wines from Los Cerros de San Juan and their Cuna de Piedra Estate wine label.  I read that the winery was founded in 1854 by the Lahusen family (from Germany) when they acquired four estates located between the San Juan and Río de La Plata rivers….

British Columbia’s wine industry continues to show just how much can be achieved in a relatively young wine region. The 2026 National Wine Awards of Canada provided a good reminder of that, with BC wineries earning an impressive 640 medals, representing 51% of all medals awarded at the competition. Beyond the medals, the results also point to the diversity of…

Rosé wines are quite enjoyable in the summer while you are on your patio, enjoying a meal, but these wines fit in throughout the year with their red fruit flavours and bright acidity.  In BC we are familiar with the rose wines made here and maybe with rosé wines from Provence, but we should also be considering Ontario rosé wines. …

Chaberton Estate Winery is the pioneer winery of the Fraser Valley. It grows 44 acres of estate-grown fruit with other parcels from across the Okanagan Valley. Claude and Inge Violet sold their winery and vineyard in France and moved to the Fraser Valley in the 1970’s.  They experimented with different grape varieties to see which grew well here, selected the…

Red wines come in a spectrum of colours, from light and translucent to deep and opaque. The opacity of red wine is influenced by several factors, including grape variety, winemaking techniques, and the wine’s age. Young red wines typically display deep purple, ruby, or magenta hues that show their youthful character. They are usually quite opaque, with dense colour that…

For the past few articles, I’ve been writing about white, aromatic wines and sparkling wines for the summer.  But there is more than bright, white, and sparkling wines for the summer.  Think red wines for the BBQ.  Today I have two red wines coming from the Okanagan’s Gold Hill Winery.  They have an excellent reputation for big red wines.  The…

I recently decided to review two French red wines that are blends.  Blends have the benefit that two or more grape varieties together fill in the weakness of the other grape.  For example, one grape may be fruity but lack tannins, while another grape has plenty of tannins but lacks much fruit character.  Putting the two grape varieties together makes…

BC’s Township 7 Vineyards & Winery has two elegant red wines that should go well with our beautiful summer plans of a BBQ with family or friends.  The wines I received to review are their Township 7 Vineyards & Winery Benchmark Series NBO 2022 and Township 7 Vineyards & Winery Benchmark Series Reserve 7 2022.  Both wines are blends.  The…

In this video interview, I spoke with Dimitri Matrat from Chateau Monlot about  their red and white wines from Bordeaux.  Château Monlot is an 8-hectare Saint-Émilion Grand Cru estate in Bordeaux, France, with a 400-year history, specializing in Merlot-driven wines. Listen and watch as Dimitri tells me about their wines, during the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2026.