Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
At every Vancouver International Wine Festival, when I attend the International Festival Tasting Room, I have a plan for which wines to taste. Luckily, as an accredited media person, I can attend the International Festival Tasting Room several times. But each time, is different. For this one session, I visited the theme region, west coast USA, and tasted only red…
Today we were able to taste California wines crafted on the edge – coastal cliffs, mountain tops, and rugged valleys – where adversity breeds greatness. This seminar at the VanWineFest 2025 showed us bold wines born from unforgiving terrains and regenerative farming. Our Moderator was Elaine Chukan Brown. Winery Principals to tell us about their wines: Kori Butler, Andrew Gouveia,…
When you buy wine in a BC Liquor store, you don’t think about how the wine was selected for the shelves. Behind the scenes are many wine agencies that search for wines from around the world, to build their portfolio, and have some of their portfolio sold through BC Liquor stores with the remaining wines, usually specialty wines, sold in…
When I was in University many years ago, I purchased a bottle of Maison Louis Latour Chardonnay, that was on their entry-level scale. That wine sparked my interest in French wine. In some “New World” regions, Chardonnay has been more recently planted, while other locations have had Chardonnay vines for over 100 years. Over time, through the wine trade’s many…
Sunday, May 12, and Sunday, June 16, 2024, are Mother’s and Father’s Day respectively. Did you know that Mother’s Day has its origins in the United States, where it was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, while the first Father’s Day was started by a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd and was first…
My first BBQ of 2024 was a few days ago. I grilled steak and opened a bottle of Tom Gore Vineyards Farmer’s Blend red wine from Sonoma, California. It is a blend of 30% Petite Syrah, 30% Merlot, 15% Malbec, 15% Teroldego, and 5% other reds. Tom Gore is a second-generation grape farmer from Sonoma County and from the time…
The history of Sonoma Valley wines is a rich and storied one, dating back to the early 19th century when Russian settlers first planted grapevines in the region. Over the years, it has grown into one of the most celebrated wine-producing areas in California. Sonoma Valley is renowned for its diverse microclimates, which allow a wide range of grape varieties…
Sonoma Valley may not be as well-known as Napa Valley. But, with a mix of cooler and warmer climate regions, Sonoma provides wines from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. Sonoma Valley’s winemaking tradition emphasizes a more relaxed and laid-back approach, with smaller, family-owned wineries and a focus on sustainable and organic practices. While both regions are…
Pinot Noir is one of my overall favourite grapes. There are different styles from around the world, with Burgundy being at the pinnacle; cooler climate. As well as BC and New Zealand. Pinot Noir can also produce bigger wines, but still with softer tannins, in places such as California’s Sonoma Coast. I received a bottle of La Crema Sonoma Coast…
Murphy-Goode Winery is a family-run winery from Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. The winery was started in 1985 with 3 friends, Tim Murphy, Dale Goode, and Dave Ready. Dave Ready Jr. is the winemaker for the winery, while Tim and Dale are the viticulturalists. The wine labels are no-nonsense, letting you know what you are getting in each bottle….
