Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
Did you know that Spain’s wine heritage is at least three thousand years old? Yet, you may not know much about Spanish wine, except for perhaps Rioja red wines and Spanish Cava. Tempranillo is the best-known grape from Spain, being used to produce red wines from the Rioja region, as well as other regions in Spain. Tempranillo comes from the…
Spain has had a long history of winemaking, from classic Riojas, newer Mencia from Bierzo, to Cavas and more. During the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I and several other attendees joined Master of Wine, Barbara Philip to explore a wide range of Spanish wines and to listen to the forward-looking producers behind them. The winery principals speaking to us were: Fernando Gimenez…
The 39th Vancouver International Wine Festival starts on Feb 24, 2018. What an amazing success, for the Festival to be bringing us wines from around the world to our doorstep, along with a winery principal! There will be 1400+ wines to taste through all events, and more than 700 wines in the Festival Tasting Room. Our theme countries for this…
One of the things I really enjoy about the Vancouver International Wine Festival is the ability to talk to wine makers and/or winery owners about their vineyards, their harvest, and their wines. It makes tasting the wine so much more interesting, and may spur you to travel to visit that winery, or country, or region. This year we will have…
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…
As promised I have enclosed my tasting notes for the wines I sampled at the three International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration seminars. Many of these Chardonnay come from Ontario, but there are also wines from BC, California, Chile, France and more. My notes are not as detailed as notes I make from my structured tastings at home, but should give…
Although James Dean did not to the best of my knowledge make it to the Penedes region in Spain, it was through his association with Jean Leon, that we have the Jean Leon winery, as I discussed in Part 1. If you missed Part 1, I highly recommend reading Part 1 before continuing with Part 2, as it gives you…
When someone asks you where the Bordeaux region in France is located, I’d bet you could point it out on a map, plus tell me what kind of wines are produced there. But, if I ask you where is the Penedes region in Spain and what do they produce, I would probably get a blank stare. Even me, with my…
It’s Spring! I have at least 5 tulips blooming in my front yard, the sun is out, and I’m looking to find some new and exciting white wines for the patio for me and for you. Last week was the latest Import Vintners & Spirits Association (IVSA) Trade tasting to introduce the wine & spirits trade to the new libations…
In the first part of my notes on the 31st Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival I talked about BC wines as this was the featured region. But there was more than just BC wines at the festival. I will spend some time talking about the International wines that I was able to try. Some of the international winery tables I…
