Tag: merlot

The first official Naramata Bench winery I visited on my weekend trip to the Okanagan was Bench 1775 Winery. This winery has gone through a few transformations.  I will let the winery tell you their story, in their own words, “Bench 1775 (formerly known as Paradise Ranch Wines Corp.) is one of the only two Okanagan Wineries producing icewine and…

The second winery on the Naramata Bench I visited was Howling Bluff Estate Winery.  This is a small family-run winery, starting with the land purchase in 2003, that specializes in Pinot Noir wines, although they also produce other quality wines. I met with co-owner and winemaker, Luke Smith, sitting at the tasting room patio, where we chatted about the latest…

My last winery visit in Okanagan Falls, before getting back to my visit to the Naramata Bench, is Blasted Church Vineyards. They have very colourful and expressive labels, with a religious bent or Renaissance theme to them, as the winery is located on Parson’s Road.   All their wines are unfined and unfiltered, so some wines may have a dull appearance…

Across the vineyard from Meyer Family Vineyards in Okanagan Falls, is their sister winery, Mayhem Wines created by JAK Meyer and his sister, Terry. The grapes come from the Anarchist Mountain Vineyard in Osoyoos as well as vineyards on the Naramata Bench and Oliver.   While tasting the wines below, winemaker Ajay Chavan came out to talk about his wines. He…

When I started wine tasting seriously, I took a WSET 1 class using ISO wine-tasting glasses.  As I progressed with my wine knowledge, I began using glasses made specifically for red or white wine, or more specifically for a grape variety.  I received a set of four wine glasses from Josephinenhutte in Germany, which Kurt Josef Zalto, an amazing 6th…

Day Two of my visit to the Fraser Valley had me at the Mt. Lehman Winery.  I met with co-owner and winemaker, Vern Siemens, who tasted his wines together with me, discussed his winemaking methods, his favourite varietals, and much more.   The grapes are I believe all from the estate; the white grapes for sure, but do not remember exactly…

After visiting Cannon Estate Winery, my next Fraser Valley winery stop was at Singletree Winery, which is only a few minutes away.  Thank you to Tourism Abbotsford for setting this meeting up for me.  I met with Debbie Etsell from Singletree who poured me a selection of their wines, while I sat in one of their cabanas overlooking the vineyard….

When we talk about BC wine, many people think about the Okanagan, which does have a majority of our vineyards and wineries.  But, there are other regions across BC with wineries.  The Fraser Valley around Abbotsford is one of those areas.  Tourism Abbotsford helped organize a trip for me to visit a few wineries and a cidery so that I…

Today I have two rosé wines from BC’s Meyer Family Vineyards, actually one is from their sister winery, Mayhem Wines.  One wine is made from 100% Pinot Noir and the other from a blend of four different red grapes.  Both wines also underwent different fermentation processes.  The two wines are the Meyer Rosé 2023 and the Mayhem Rosé 2023.  Can…

It is Aug-uary in Vancouver.  I cannot see the north shore mountains and the clouds are covering the tops of the concrete towers that are spread across the lower mainland.  Red wines are on my horizon. So I dipped into my wine cellar and decided to open two red wines from Europe.  The first wine is CVNE Viña Real Crianza…