Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
It is always a treat at a winemaker’s dinner to be able to talk with the winemaker who gives us some insight into how the wines we are drinking together were made and any challenges they encountered. I recently attended a winemaker dinner at Provence Marinaside, featuring Jessica Otting from the Niagara region’s Tawse Winery, who gave us those insights. …
We have had some turmoil in Canada and in BC for wines in 2025. Many BC interior wineries suffered from the 2024 cold snap causing them to either not produce any wine in 2024, or importing grapes from across the border, or from Ontario. We also had the removal of USA wines from BC government liquor stores. Overall, we had…
We do not get many wines from Ontario in BC, but here is a new entry. Henry of Pelham, located in the Niagara peninsula has been producing wine since 1984. I have two wines for you today: Henry of Pelham Classic Pinot Grigio 2024 and Henry of Pelham Classic Baco Noir 2023. Baco Noir may be unfamiliar to some of…
This is my eighth year interviewing winemakers or winery principals in Ontario about their latest grape harvest and wine production. Now that it is late November 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: Ryan Oldridge, Winemaker at Colchester Ridge Estate Winery in…
Cabernet Franc has found a remarkable home in the diverse terroirs of Ontario, producing wines that are both vibrant and distinctive. Over the past several months I’ve tasted through 28 different bottles of Cabernet Franc, primarily from the Niagara peninsula, but also two bottles from Prince Edward County. I wanted to examine how the unique climate and soil composition of the Niagara Peninsula,…
Today I have a mini-vertical of Cabernet Franc wines from the Niagara region’s Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery, in particular their The Chestnut Tree Cabernet Franc wines from 2015, 2017, and 2018. It is exciting to taste a vertical of wines from a single winery and vineyard, so that you can get a glimpse into how the wine ages and the…
Today, I paired my third dish from Sous Chef by Cardinal™ with a red and a white wine. The dish was the Marsala Braised Chicken with seasoned long grained rice. The white wine was the Township 7 Vineyards & Winery Interlude Chardonnay 2024, and the red wine was the Dobbin Estate Cabernet Blend 2020 (85% Cabernet Franc and 15% Merlot)…
Here are my latest two Niagara region Cabernet Franc wines to tell you about from One-Eighty Estate Winery. The story of One-Eighty Estate Winery, “…all started when Bob and Marzia decided they wanted to pursue a new path in life…Bob and Marzia and their two daughters, Taylor and Sara, have always been risk takers in life…Opportunity arose to own and…
These next two Ontario Cabernet Franc wines come from a slightly different area than the other Ontario wines, I’ve been tasting so far. Prince Edward County is a small region jutting into the north side of Lake Ontario. It has a cooler climate compared to the Niagara region on the south side of Lake Ontario. This area is best known…
The next Ontario Cabernet Franc wines I would like to tell you about are from Thirty Bench Wine Makers, who are located on the Beamsville Bench. This is one of my favourite Niagara wineries, best-known for their Riesling and Pinot Noir wines, IMHO. I eagerly anticipated opening these two Cabernet Franc wines to see what these wines offer. Both are…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
