Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
While I was Grinch-like in awarding 5 stars to only three wines I tasted in 2024, I was more Oprah-like with the 4.5-5 -star wines. Plus, there are many quality wines, so it should not be a surprise. This year there were 13 BC wines, 18 Italian wines, 4 French wines, 2 Californian wines, and 4 wines from New Zealand…
The holidays are a time when many of us get together with family or friends to enjoy a meal together; hopefully with a glass of wine. Here are a few last-minute suggestions of wines you can pair with traditional dishes for the holidays. Enjoy. Wine Pairings for Roast Turkey – Chardonnay: A lightly oaked Chardonnay complements the rich flavours of…
Nestled on the picturesque Naramata Bench in the Okanagan Valley, Ruby Blues Winery offers a charming blend of exceptional wines and stunning vineyard views. In 2007 Prudence and Beat Mahrer started Ruby Blues Winery, after selling Red Rooster Winery. Their goal is to keep the winery small and sell locally. I recently received two bottles of wine from Ruby Blues…
With the holiday season upon us, I was invited to the Iconic Wineries of British Columbia to check out their holiday cheer at The Kent downtown. In addition to wines to sample and recommend for the holiday season, we were also treated to savour holiday-inspired canapés prepared by the talented Estate Chefs from CedarCreek, Liquidity and Mission Hill. The wineries participating…
Wineries change hands as the original owners decide to either retire or otherwise move on. The new owners then have to live up to or surpass the reputation of that winery. I was invited to a winemaker’s dinner at Provence Marinaside with the winery being BC’s Fairview Cellars. Fairview Cellars was taken over by husband and wife team, Danielle and…
I and other Trade individuals were invited to Discover Extraordinary Italian Wines. Some of the wineries at the event were searching for local representation, while other wineries already have an agent and their wines are in BC Liquor stores or private wine shops and restaurants. I’ve put a “*” beside those wineries that have local representation, so you should be…
Recently VinsAlsace visited Vancouver and brought a range of their Alsatian wines from sparkling, light-bodied and dry wines to full-body, thicker, rich-flavoured wines. They wanted to let us know in this Trade tasting that the variation in the rocks and soil brings different personalities to their wines. The soils are quite varied with granite, limestone, marl-limestone, clay-marl, marl-limestone-sandstone, sandstone, volcanic,…
The first official Naramata Bench winery I visited on my weekend trip to the Okanagan was Bench 1775 Winery. This winery has gone through a few transformations. I will let the winery tell you their story, in their own words, “Bench 1775 (formerly known as Paradise Ranch Wines Corp.) is one of the only two Okanagan Wineries producing icewine and…
Across the vineyard from Meyer Family Vineyards in Okanagan Falls, is their sister winery, Mayhem Wines created by JAK Meyer and his sister, Terry. The grapes come from the Anarchist Mountain Vineyard in Osoyoos as well as vineyards on the Naramata Bench and Oliver. While tasting the wines below, winemaker Ajay Chavan came out to talk about his wines. He…
After visiting Cannon Estate Winery, my next Fraser Valley winery stop was at Singletree Winery, which is only a few minutes away. Thank you to Tourism Abbotsford for setting this meeting up for me. I met with Debbie Etsell from Singletree who poured me a selection of their wines, while I sat in one of their cabanas overlooking the vineyard….
