Tag: Pio Cesare

This seminar, Challenge of the Red Titans, was fun.  It was held Friday afternoon and we had spent the week preceding with serious discussions of Italian wines.  We deserved a dash of fun, but the seminar still provided us with valuable information about Italian red wines.  We learned a bit about how the big Italian blockbuster wineries are reshaping themselves…

On Friday during VanWineFest 2024, I spent my time in the International Festival Tasting Room, primarily tasting Italian red wines.  There was a great variety of wines from across the country and while I attempted to visit every table, that was an impossible task.  Here are the wines that I quite enjoyed.  If there are red wines you tasted at…

There will be several wineries from the Piedmont region that produce Barolo wines attending VanWineFest 2024.  What do you know about this style of wine?  I have some background information for you, followed by a list of wineries from the Piedmont region that you can visit at the International Festival Tasting Room.  Cin cin. About Barolo Wines Barolo wine, often…

This is Part 2 of my top rated wines for 2018.  I earlier released my list of 40 white and sparkling wines for 2018, which you can read at this link.  This red wine list came from Trade tastings with agents and BC VQA wineries, the Vancouver International Wine Festival, visits to wineries, and personal purchases.  I categorized the wines below to…

If you have ever attended the Top Drop tastings in Vancouver, you will have experienced many 4.5 to 5 star wines according to my rating scale.  I recently attended a portfolio tasting by Vintage Corks, and this tasting was in that same quality range.  Vintage Corks offers premium wines from US, Italy, Canada and more.  You can find Vintage Corks’…

Vancouver-based wine importer Vintage Corks is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a walk-around tasting featuring some of the world’s most exclusive wineries. Vintage Corks is unusual among local wine importers in that the agency specializes in acclaimed and hard-to-find boutique wines from around the world.  It is the exclusive local representative of celebrated wines from producers such as Gaja, Dana Estate,…

I’d say that this is a top drop event, with wines from Italy only.  The Grandi Marchi, is a collaboration of winemakers across Italy supporting the best qualities and distinct wine making culture of Italy.  All the wineries are family-owned, have been in operation for at least 25 years (some for centuries), own their estate vineyards, are innovators, and much…

This past year I tasted a tremendous number of wines from around the world, but some wines really resonated with me.  It may have been the great balance of fruit, sugar, acidity for a white wine, or the fruit, tannins and minerality in a red wine, or something else. Something that made the wine stand above the other wines.  Could…

Maybe you are not a fan of Italian Chianti Classico, Amarone or Prosecco?  There are other regions of Italy such as Abruzzo, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont that offer wonderful wines. Piedmont in particular is well known for the Nebbiolo grape, which could be known as Italy’s heartbreak grape as the region is prone to fog (known as Nebbia in Italian) and…

At the Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) tastings, held most months, gives the Trade a chance to try the latest wines and spirits coming to Vancouver.  There are always a few gems that people come across and spread the word, so that you have to find that table and try that wine.  At this tasting, the whispers were to…