Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
The New West Quay, overlooking the Fraser River, was the venue for the latest Naramata Bench wine release in the Vancouver area. The number of wineries has increased each year that I have attended this event. I did not count, but there was probably somewhere around 24 wineries in attendance. Where and what is the Naramata Bench? This is a…
In case you are unfamiliar with Harbinger Winery, they are located in the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State in the town of Port Angeles. They have a wide range of wines, both grape-based and other fruits. The grapes for Harbinger’s wines comes from Eastern Washington. Their goal is to produce premium quality wines that are easy to drink. They do not…
Even with the busy holiday season taking up our time, I was able to make a quick trip to Vancouver Island, and one of the things I did was visit the Chase & Warren Winery located in Port Alberni, BC. I bet you didn’t know there were any wineries in Port Alberni, a place better known as a forestry town. …
David Scholefield and Michael Bartier are not new to wine in BC. Michael Bartier was born and raised in the Okanagan and worked in the past for Hawthorne Mountain (See Ya Later Ranch), Township 7, Stag’s Hollow and most recently Road 13 Vineyards. He joins the team at Okanagan Crush Pad Winery as winemaker, where he and David produce their…
What is a Portfolio Tasting? If you have never been before, it is a wine tasting held by a wine agent of all, or many of, the wines that they represent. It is a great place to taste many different wines, typically from different countries, and learn a bit about the style of wines that they carry. Are they focused…
This week I was invited to some major announcements from Okanagan Crush Pad. OCP was established in 2010 by Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie. The Crush Pad is located on Switchback Road in Summerland, BC. Their head wine maker is Mr. Michael Bartier. Mr. Alberto Antonini is their consulting viticulturist and wine maker from Italy, and David Scholefield is their…
This Part 2 of my review of my picks from the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Part 1 covered the wines of Spain. Part 2 is the rest of the world. Again, there are so many wines at the tasting, and so little time, I’m sure I missed many great wines. If you tasted some that I didn’t list, please…
I really looked forward to the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Fair this year as they had two theme countries: New Zealand and Argentina. Both are southern hemisphere countries, with different climates and styles of wines that they produce. New Zealand having renowned cooler climate pinot noirs and white aromatic wines, while Argentina is known for their big Malbecs, but also…
For the past 5 years, Vancouver’s South World Wine Society has been having a tasting in January called the “5 Nations Cup“. This January was the 5th competition. The premise of the event is that 5 white and 5 red wines are selected by the cellar master and the speaker at the event. The wines are all single varietals and…
Oregon has been touted as having the best pinot noir outside of Burgundy. MyWinePal went to Burgundy last fall, and now visited Oregon to see how the two wine regions compare. In Oregon, most of my time was spent around the McMinnville, Dundee and Salem areas. The landscape was quite varied, with some flatter sloped agricultural areas, but most of…
