Tag: pinot noir

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…

Tasting wines under a controlled environment, with proper temperature, lighting, and glassware can give you different results when the same wines are sampled in a restaurant or other uncontrolled environment.  I opened these BC wines, Solvero Pinot Gris 2023 and Solvero Rosé 2023, at home and tasted them.  I also sampled these wines at a restaurant this summer.  There was…

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…

Last night Richard Vanfoodster and I had a wonderful dinner at Collective Goods Bistro enjoying their dishes with a flight of BC’s Solvero Wines. The winemaker, Alison Moyes, was there to talk to us about the wines and the winery. We had her Solvero Wines Pinot Gris 2023, Rosé 2023, Chardonnay 2022, and Pinot Noir 2020. It was fun trying…

At one time when we thought of quality sparkling wine, our thoughts would go to Europe; Champagne, Cava, Cremant, Franciacorta.  But that is no longer the case.  Quality sparkling wine can be found in BC as well as many southern hemisphere countries like Australia and the state of Tasmania, in particular.  I have a Tasmanian and a BC sparkling wine…

These are the first wines that I’ve tasted from BC’s Garnet Valley Ranch, made by Okanagan Crush Pad, and I am greatly impressed with the quality. Garnet Valley Ranch is a certified organic site, home to vineyards, field crops, a lavender farm, a bustling beehive and a small winery and The Outlook visitor center.  The area is planted primarily with…

Summer is the time to enjoy BC seafood and BC wine together on your patio with your friends.  That is exactly what I did with Township 7’s Provenance Series Rosé and Pinot Gris 2023.  In general rosé and Pinot Gris wines tend to be fresh and best enjoyed upon opening, without decanting.  For these tasting notes, that is just what…

Rosé wine, with its delicate hue and refreshing taste, has captured the hearts of wine enthusiasts worldwide.  According to statistics, I read that rosé wine consumption tripled since 1990. Vins de Provence exported nearly 62 million bottles in 2022 with the USA, buying up 37% of the total quantity sold.  I am not sure of the quantity sold in Canada,…

I’ve been talking about white and rosé wines lately, but we should not forget about enjoying red wines over the summary.  I have two Okanagan red wines from Haywire Wines to tell you about.  I received their Haywire Wines Pinot Noir 2022 and Haywire Wines Naramata Bench King Family Vineyard Merlot 2022 to review.  The grapes are organically grown and…

Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc wines from New Zealand and British Columbia have a similar history with the growth in quality Vitis Vinifera wine production.  I will concentrate on the Marlborough region of New Zealand and the Okanagan Valley primarily plus the Similkameen for BC for this post. Vitis Vinifera grapes were first planted experimentally in the mid-1970s in BC…