Tag: Cotes du Rhone

In my previous article about Maison Ogier and their wines from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, I told you about the four different soil types and their effects on the grapes’ flavours in the wines.  In this article, I take you through tasting some of Maison Ogier’s wines with food paired at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown. Our Pairings Seared scallops with hedgehog mushrooms, roasted…

Portfolio tastings with a wine agency is always very fun and interesting as you get to taste the range of their wines and spirits at one time.  This was my first Charton Hobbs Portfolio tasting, so I was not aware of all the wines and spirits that they handled.  I was quite impressed.  They arranged the wines by table, with…

The first time you walk into the International Festival Tasting Room can be intimidating, with 175 wineries pouring 3 or more wines each, you have at least 525 wines to try.  But over time, you become a wine tasting veteran like me, setting up a strategy, checking out the background of some wineries you may not have heard of before,…

The Wine Bar at Provence Marinaside in Yaletown has recently opened.  I received an invitation to experience the food, wine, and ambiance.  The Wine Bar entrance is through Provence Marinaside.  When you enter you are first beside the bar.  It is fairly narrow, but a good spot to sit at the bar and chat.  Beyond the bar there is a…

Every year Mark Anthony Wine Merchants have a portfolio tasting of their wines from around the world. Every year I am impressed by wineries that I know, and new wineries I have yet to try. This year I have tasty wines for you from sparkling to still red and whites. Sparkling Lanson Black Label, NV, France, ($64.99). Nice creamy, bready,…

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful and sunny, and the Dockside Restaurant perfectly placed in Granville Island looking over the water.  With this as our backdrop we were enticed to try wines from around the world by 17 different wine agencies here in Vancouver.  The name of the event is Pelican Bay Wine Tasting.  As I had not attended this event before,…

One of my overall favourite wineries in the world is M. Chapoutier.  Like Domaine Huet, that I wrote about earlier, M. Chapoutier, is also a biodynamic winery.  I arrived at the winery around 10:30am.  Already hot and sunny in the Rhone Valley.  I was met by Mr. Samuel “Sam” Boissy.  To better understand the wines I would soon be tasting,…

This week I attended the IVSA‘s latest tastings of new wine and spirits in the Vancouver area. There was at least 70 different tables from my quick count, with each table offering 5-10 different wines. As such, I was not able to try everything offered, but hopefully I was able to find a few gems, which I can pass along…