Tag: organic

My first review of a wine from Europe for 2024 is for Cantine Nicosia Grillo Sicilia DOC 2021, Italy, an organic and vegan wine made in Italy from the white Grillo grape. Grillo is a crossing of Catarratto and Moscato di Alessandria (Zibibbo) grapes.  According to Wikipedia, “Grillo, also known as Riddu and Rossese bianco, is a white Italian wine grape…

If you enjoy sipping fortified wines, such as Port, over the holidays and through the cold winter, I have an option you may want to consider.  BC-made, Rara Avis, an organic, fortified haskap berry wine.  Produced at Kalala Organic Estate Winery for Saraya Natural Products Ltd.  Haskap berries are a group of berries that contain high levels of healthful nutrients,…

Did you know that ten bottles of Rhone Valley wines are consumed every second?  Recently, Rhone Valley Vineyards‘ winemakers visited Vancouver to remind us that they are more than just Syrah and GSM blends.  They also produce white wines, rose wines, and sparkling wines.  I attended a lively presentation from five Rhone winemakers to cover their wines plus remind us…

A quality producer from the Chianti Classico region, Il Molino di Grace, I read also was once owned and managed by monks.  All the wines from this winery are produced organically.  Find out more about this winery in their own words below, and welcome them to VanWineFest 2024. About Il Molino di Grace Il Molino di Grace is, simply, the…

I have been watching and tasting Yalumba‘s organic tier of wines for a few years.  This year, I noticed “GEN” on the label. From the 2022 vintage, all Yalumba GEN wines will be Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA) certified. Yalumba GEN is 100% certified organic (by Australian Certified Organic) meaning they use no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides in their vineyard…

Ontario’s Stratus Vineyards is a 55-acre farm, set in the Niagara Lakeshore appellation of Niagara-on-the-Lake, and is planted to 16 grape varieties.  All the grapes are grown sustainably. Their winery is the first in the world to be fully Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) – certified, which embodies their commitment to sustainability. The winery uses geothermal heating and…

Southbrook Vineyards in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario undertakes biodynamic and organic vineyard agriculture, plus is LEED Gold Certified for their energy and environmental design in green buildings.  Southbrook is Canada’s first certified Organic and Biodynamic Winery.  They have everything from native meadows and a Monarch butterfly waystation to using lighter wine bottles to lower their carbon footprint.  I looked…

You may be wondering what happened to me as i typically post 3-4 wine articles a week.  I am in the Niagara region in southern Ontario to celebrate my birthday and to visit some wineries and taste their wines.  I have copious notes on the wines and probably tasted over 60 wines covering eight different wineries.  It will take me…

East meets west at Cult Wine Canada in Vancouver. I attended a small portfolio tasting of Chinese distilled spirits and European wines distributed by Cult Wine Canada.  In this article, I will cover their European wines and in my follow-on article, I will cover the distilled spirit called baijiu.   If you have not heard of Cult Wine Canada, they describe…

This past week Business France, the national agency to develop the French economy through export growth, brought in several French wineries to Vancouver.  These wineries do not yet have representation in British Columbia.  You currently cannot purchase these wines.  This article is meant for wine agents in BC that are interested in adding more French wines to their portfolio.  Below…