Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
Did you know that Blue Grouse Estate Winery and Unsworth Vineyards in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island are owned by the Sonoma-based Jackson Family from California? The acquisitions, in 2022 and 2020, respectively, allow the family to grow their global portfolio, which includes vineyards in California, Oregon, Washington, Italy, France, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. They see tremendous potential…
I finally had a chance on a recent trip to Victoria to make a side trip to the Cowichan Valley to visit Unsworth Vineyards and Blue Grouse Estate Winery. Unsworth is a bit closer to Victoria, so it was the first stop on my wine tasting day. The winery grounds look beautiful with a modern-designed tasting room with lots of…
Here are two fresh wines for the summertime from the Okanagan’s Blasted Church Vineyards: a Chardonnay and a Rosé wine. The rosé is made with a red grape you may not know, Blaufränkisch, but it is in the Valley and is originally from Austria and is also in Germany, where it is known as Lemberger (an unfortunate name in my opinion)…
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…
What BC wine would you have with a sechetti (parachute) pasta stuffed with ground chicken and bacon, served in a creamy rosé sauce? One option is a Rose wine, but another valid option would be a Chardonnay. Today I had this pasta dish with a glass of Lillooet’s Fort Berens Estate Winery Chardonnay 2025. Fort Beren’s wines are now certified…
I have been interviewing Ontario winery principals for many years about their harvest and the growing season. Weather and growing conditions can vary widely from year to year. For my Ontario Chardonnay Review I tried to get wines that were from one or two growing seasons. Most of the wines I received came from 2023 and 2024, with a few…
Soil is one of the important factors influencing the aromas and flavours produced by wine grapes. For my Ontario Chardonnay Review, I checked with the Government of Canada National Soil Database (NSDB) Soils of Ontario to determine the soil types associated with each of the Ontario wineries that provided their bottle(s) of Chardonnay. Using the free, open source, computer mapping…
The last Chardonnay to review for my Ontario Chardonnay Review is a sparkling wine made by Drea’s Wine Co. which produces small batch, single vineyard, low intervention wines. Drea’s wines are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Ontario. I really enjoyed tasting Drea’s Cabernet Franc wines when I undertook my Ontario Cabernet Franc Review last year. Let me tell you about the latest…
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I received four bottles of different Chardonnay produced by Ontario’s Henry of Pelham winery. I previously tasted their more entry level wines: Henry of Pelham Family Estate Classic Chardonnay 2025 and Speck Brothers Family Tree “The Goat Lady” Chardonnay 2023. These wines were under screwcap. The next two wines that I just tasted…
The FIFA World Cup starts June 11, 2026, with Canada’s first game on June 12th against Bosnia and Herzegovina. As we play and win games, which sparkling wine will you be drinking to celebrate our wins? Champagne Taittinger has been awarded the Official Champagne of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Their special edition FIFA Brut Reserve Champagne is available across…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
