Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
I spent Friday afternoon at the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2026 tasting French red wines. Here are my favourite French wines from the International Festival Tasting Room. There is a fairly even distribution of red wines from different regions of France (and therefore different varietals) in my picks below. Enjoy. My French Red Wine Selections Castel Frères Exclusive Aspirant de…
On a lighter tone, at VanWineFest 2026, I had a chance to attend a walk-about lunch at LaSalle College Vancouver; French bistro fare prepared and served by LaSalle students, while sampling a selection of French wines representing seven French wine regions. Below is a list of the French wines followed by the menu. No wine reviews here, just some general…
Do you know about the long history of Domaine Laroche in Chablis, France? I interviewed Romain Chevrolat from Domaine Laroche in the International Festival Tasting Room during the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2026. Listen in as Romain tells us about their winery. He makes fantastic wines, BTW.
A Tour de France in Your Glass Food and wine go together, especially in France. I attended the VanWineFest 2026 seminar, A Tour de France in Your Glass. With Moderator, Arnica Rowan, we took an oenological journey through seven classic French wine regions, each with their own unique characteristics and history. We crossed the country from Champagne to South West…
With France being the theme country for the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2020, there were many more French wineries in attendance than in other years. And with that many more wines to taste. Which made me very happy. France has a great variety of red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines, from the range of noble grape varieties. I spent several…
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…
As promised I have enclosed my tasting notes for the wines I sampled at the three International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration seminars. Many of these Chardonnay come from Ontario, but there are also wines from BC, California, Chile, France and more. My notes are not as detailed as notes I make from my structured tastings at home, but should give…
This was the second seminar in our three seminars on Day 1 of the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration. This seminar’s goals according to the organizers are to answer the following, “Winegrowers love Chardonnay for its versatility. 10 winemakers will defend the stylistic decisions they make with each vintage, from homages to Old World classic styles to innovative interpretations that stretch the…
Sometimes the best wines around are the ones that are not generally listed in BC Liquor stores. They are known as Spec or Special Order wines. You can find these wines through some private wine shops, or you could order them through these shops, but you may need a minimum order size. I attended Select Wines‘ portfolio tasting and enjoyed…
It is always a special time when a wine agency opens their portfolio of wines for you to taste, review, and recommend. This past week I had a chance to try the wines from Select Wines’ annual portfolio tasting. With any tasting of this magnitude there will always be more wines than time to taste them. I try my best…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
