Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
2024 is the Year of the Wood Dragon, beginning on February 10th, 2024 (Chinese New Year) and concluding on January 28th, 2025. “In Chinese culture, the Dragon holds a significant place as an auspicious and extraordinary creature, unparalleled in talent and excellence. It symbolizes power, nobility, honour, luck, and success. Consequently, 2024 is forecast to bring about opportunities, changes, and…
January 7, 2024, was Ukrainian Christmas Day. I know that Volodymyr Zelensky passed a law to make December 25 the new Christmas Day in Ukraine, but many people still like to also celebrate on January 7. Double the celebration. So, I opened a bottle of BC’s Church & State Wines sparkling Blanc de Gris Brut 2019 and shared it with…
Did you know that Beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery is the most northerly vitis vinifera winery on Vancouver Island? Not surprisingly, the grapes they grow are white aromatic and hybrids which do not need the number of heat units that red grapes need. Beaufort Vineyard & Estate Winery is also Vancouver Island’s first certified organic winery. Congratulations. On the same…
As I was visiting friends on Vancouver Island I decided to drop by 40 Knots Winery in the Comox area. I visited the winery last year and sampled their wines on the patio. At this visit, the 2022 white wines have not yet been bottled at 40 Knots Winery but was told that bottling will be happening soon. So during…
In the late Fall, I interviewed a few BC winemakers about their 2022 harvest, but the wines were still fermenting in tanks, barrels or other vessels. The winemakers sounded optimistic, thanks to the warm Fall weather. But how would the wines taste? This we explored with the following winemakers at the BC Vintage 2022 media preview: Laurent Fadanni, Whispering Horse…
Many of you are probably very familiar with the wineries from the Okanagan Valley, but what do you know about the wineries on Vancouver Island? A cooler-climate region. I put together this fun, 5-question quiz, to see how much you know about this region. If you have not ventured to Vancouver Island to taste the region’s wines, please go as…
A whole year has passed since my 2021 Wine Quiz, which was related to wines, wineries, and winemakers I was able to interact with and write about on mywinepal.com. Here is my 3rd Annual 2022 Wine Quiz. There are 10 questions gleaned from my articles this year. I hope you enjoy it!
The 2022 harvest is the first after COVID restrictions have been lifted. I am sure that lifting COVID restrictions was appreciated by BC wineries. We had a cool start to the growing season, followed by mere mm of rain between July and mid-October so I’d guess the weather has had an impact on harvest and fermentation, but we shall see…
I have two aromatic white wines from St. Hubertus Family Estate Winery and their associated Oak Bay Vineyard, which I can see going very well with an assorted cheese plate over the holidays. The first wine is the St. Hubertus Family Estate Winery Riesling 2019 and the other wine is the Oak Bay Vineyard Gebert Family Reserve Gewurztraminer 2019. The…
Sparkling wines are always appreciated. They pair with many dishes and can be enjoyed on their own. I have two traditional method sparkling wines from Church & State Wines. A Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature 2018 made with Chardonnay grapes from their Black Sage Bench vineyard and a Gris de Noirs Brut 2019 made with Pinot Noir grapes from their…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
