Tag: cabernet sauvignon

California Cabs and Chardonnay

California Cabs and Chardonnays to Please

 mywinepal  April 30, 2017

Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay put California on the wine radar around the world.  Excellent growing conditions in Napa, Sonoma, and elsewhere in California produce excellent wines.  At the California Wine Fair I was able to taste many high quality wines.  You will still see oak showing up in some of my notes for the Chardonnay wines, but it is not…

Monte Creek Ranch Winery vineyard

Check Out 6 New Wine Releases from Monte Creek Ranch

 mywinepal  April 16, 2017

Monte Creek Ranch Winery, located just east of Kamloops, is one of our emerging regions wineries.  They have put out a few vintages already. The 2016 vintage started with their earliest bud-break yet and a warm spring.  A rainy June and July slowed the growth of the grapes, but still harvest began early. Two weeks early, on August 22.  The…

Pairing 5 Wines from Upper Bench Winery with Blue Cheese

 mywinepal  March 21, 2017

Did you know that Upper Bench Estate Winery in Penticton, BC also makes their own cheese?  A match made for any wine lover.  I knew, but hadn’t had the chance to try their cheese together with their wines. I was fortunate to have them send me some of their King Cole Blue cheese, which I dutifully tried with each one…

VanWineFest 2017 – 15 Wine Picks from Around the World

 mywinepal  March 11, 2017

Beside the theme country every year in the Festival Tasting room of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, there are all the other wineries from countries around the world offering their wines for you to try.  Below are 15 wines that I thought were excellent.  Some may be in BC liquor stores and others may have only been available during the Festival….

Celebrating California Cabs seminar wines for featured image

VanWineFest 2017 – Celebrating California Cabs

 mywinepal  March 6, 2017

Cabernet Sauvignon is the “King” in California. In our Celebrating California Cabs seminar we had a chance to experience the “Dream Vintages” of 2012, 2013 and 2014. And as you will see, I have rated all these wines very highly.  When you have wines of such quality, it is more a matter of style that you prefer.  The winery principals noted that 2011 was…

Tulalip Resort Casino seminar featuring Leonetti Cellars Figgins Estate and Toil Oregon wines

Leonetti Cellar – The Original Winery of Walla Walla

 mywinepal  February 24, 2017

The Birth of Leonetti Cellar Did you know that the first commercial grape vines, that are still in use today in Walla Walla, Washington was by the Leonetti family in 1974?  There were some vines planted in the 1950s by others but a deep freeze in 1956 killed all the vines.  The Leonetti family purchased 1.5 acres, which also contained…

VanWineFest 2017 – A Culmination of Flavours Dinner

 mywinepal  February 22, 2017

Culmina Family Estate Winery is owned and run by Don and Elaine Triggs, and their daughter Sara.  An Okanagan winery located on the Golden Mile Bench.  Don Triggs’ is known for co-founding the Jackson Triggs Winery that we have here in the Okanagan.  But sometimes small is beautiful, and artistry in wine is what you desire, so enter Culmina.  They began…

MyWinePal Top 5 Star Wines

MyWinePal Top 5 Star Rated Wines for 2016

 mywinepal  December 26, 2016

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…

C.C. Jentsch logo on bottle capsule

C.C. Jentsch Cellars on a Quest for Red and White

 mywinepal  December 18, 2016

Are you on a Quest or a Chase for something?  For wineries, it may be for the best expression of the grapes in the glass, showing off their terroir.  A light hand by the wine maker.  To me the light hand of the wine maker really comes out in the red wines from C. C. Jentsch Cellars. C. C. Jentsch…

Bench 1775 logo

Bench 1775 Covers Reds From Pinot Noir to Malbec

 mywinepal  December 9, 2016

Bench 1775 Winery is located in on 1775 Naramata Road, on the Naramata Bench.  They believe that great wines start in the vineyard, so all of their vineyard sites were analyzed in detail before being planted with clones and rootstocks best adapted to their soils and site climate. Val Tait, the viticulturist, wine maker and GM of Bench 1775, tries to…