Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
Most of you probably had a sip of Cognac but what about Armagnac? Armagnac is one of France’s oldest spirits and has been in production for over 150 years before Cognac. From wikipedia, Armagnac is a type of brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. Armagnac is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes…
More champagne for everyone! ~~~ EPERNAY, FRANCE – The Comité Champagne today announced the 2021 Champagne harvest started on 6 September. Weather conditions in the Champagne region are good for the ripening of the grapes, but conditions across the vineyard are unusually varied. Because Champagne always picks its grapes by hand, this means that the organization of picking this year will have to be adjusted. Weather conditions in…
Today I have another lesser-known AOC in the southern Rhone Valley – AOC Ventoux. You may be very familiar with one of the wineries from AOC Ventoux, Château Pesquié. Their wine labels in solid blocks of colour should be very familiar to you when you check on the shelves in the BC Liquor Stores and elsewhere across Canada. I have…
Today I have a bottle of Lou Coucardié Red 2012 from the well-known winemaker, Monsieur Michel Gassier from AOC Costieres de Nimes in the south of France, part of the Rhone Valley. This red wine is a blend of 49% Mourvedre, 35% Grenache, and 16% Syrah, coming from his organic vines. If you wonder what is Lou Coucardié, the winery…
What an honour for Provence Marinaside Owner and Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia to be knighted by the Government of France in an award ceremony this week (Aug 18/21) at the restaurant. We all knew his dishes were excellent and we now have the culinary country of the world, France, also acknowledging Executive Chef Quaglia’s skills. Here is the press release about…
Today I am pleased to open and taste a bottle of Château Pesquié Terrasses Red 2019 from the Ventoux AOC. A wine made with 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah. I will be interviewing one of the owners, Frédéric Chaudière, about his wine and about the AOC Ventoux. The AOC is very interesting as Mont Ventoux controls the temperature of the…
April 17 was World Malbec Day, and coincidentally a few days prior, I received a copy of “Malbec, A Tumultuous Wine Journey from Woe to WOW” by Vanda Jackson. Vanda, a Canadian from Nova Scotia, is a journalist by training and a lover of Malbec wine, in particular from Argentina. This love of Malbec guided her to writing this book…
COVID has affected all of us, both at home and at work. There has been an impact on wineries and wine regions from around the world. I received this press release from the Champagne Bureau, USA about the amount of Champagne shipped to the USA in 2020. It is down from previous years, but this has happened in the past…
Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre blends (GSM) are full-bodied, full of flavour, and please people that enjoy big, hearty red wines. This blend of grapes also makes the famous red Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines. I have two GSM wines from Gérard Bertrand from the Languedoc region in the south of France to review for you: Gérard Bertrand Terroir Corbieres, 2017 Gérard Bertrand Gran Terroir…
To celebrate BC Liquor Stores’ 100th year anniversary, a collection of rare, premium, collectible wines and spirits will be released on March 13, 2021, at participating Stores. The collection features many top-rated wines, along with a selection of classics from the finest wine regions of the world. For spirits, BC Liquor Stores will feature whiskies from the most iconic distilleries in…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
