Tag: interview

This is my seventh year interviewing winemakers or winery principals in Ontario about their latest grape harvest and wine production.  Now that it is early December and the wines are all in tanks or barrels, how did the Ontario grape growing season and harvest fare?  I interviewed three winemakers/winery principals this year: Chris Thompson, Winemaker at Lighthall Vineyards in Prince Edward…

The BC coastal wineries and the Fraser Valley had a completely different winemaking experience compared to the interior of BC in 2024.  With the cold weather winter snap in the Interior, most of the vitis vinifera vines died so many winemakers had to source grapes from outside of BC; Many chose Washington and Oregon states.  The coastal and Fraser Valley…

This year’s harvest in the BC interior was extremely different from past harvests as the winter cold snap killed most of the grape vines.  Coastal and Fraser Valley wineries did not suffer the same fate.  The amount of grapevine loss varied a bit in the interior, depending on how close the vineyards were to interior lakes and the slopes where…

Kevin Judd from the Greywacke winery in Marlborough, New Zealand, may not sound familiar to many readers, but Kevin is one of the pioneer winemakers in Marlborough.  He was born in England and raised in Australia where he studied winemaking. In 1983 he moved to New Zealand and was the founding winemaker at Cloudy Bay, which all New Zealand wine…

I love to stumble across new wineries to me.  Willow Wine Cellars is a Garagista winery out of Underwood, WA.  Brendan and his wife, Tarnna, have been making wine out of their garage for 10 years.  He poured me a glass of their Albarino wine, noting that in Spain, Albarino is known as “The Wine of the Sea”.  It pairs…

I tasted two white Bordeaux blends at the Sagemoor Estates table during The Grand Tasting at Taste Washington.  This is a wine made with Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes. Danny told me about the differences between the fermentation methods for these two wines and suggested what type of food to enjoy with each wine.  Both are tasty wines.  Pick up…

Have you heard of “orange” wine?  It is sometimes called “natural” wine and basically, it is a wine made from white grapes, like orange muscat or Pinot Gris, and is left with the skins intact, much like is done for red grapes, to get red wine.  But with white grapes, the skins can impart an orange colour, more texture and…

Chardonnay is a popular white grape in Washington state, beside Riesling.  During The Grand Tasting, I spoke with Blake from Revelry Vintners about their Chardonnay at Taste Washington 2024.  Interesting soil and effects of soil on their Chardonnay.  Watch and find out about it.

Valdemar Estates is a winery started in 2019 in Walla Walla by the Valedmar family who owns Bodegas Valdemar in Rioja, Spain. Bodegas Valdemar has been making wine since 1889.  I had the pleasure of speaking with Head Winemaker of Valdemar Estates, Devyani Isabel Gupta, about the winery and the wine she poured for me to try, their 2021 Columbia…

I appreciated talking with Noah from Tinte Cellars during The Grand Tasting at Taste Washington 2024.  He talked about the Viognier he poured for me, but also told me about their winery and how they work with non-profits making donations totalling a substantial figure.  I applaud wineries, and any company, that helps support non-profits and exercise their Corporate Social Responsibility….