Tag: vegan

Here are two BC wines for your summer enjoyment. Carpe diem as we are already into August! The two wines are from Blue Grouse Estate Winery in Duncan, BC on Vancouver Island. I tasted their Blue Grouse Estate Winery Ortega 2021 and their Blue Grouse Estate Winery Quill Rosé 2021. The Rosé is made from 100% Gamay Noir grapes. Both…

Today we are going on a journey tasting Rhone grape varieties; Syrah for red grapes, and Roussanne and Marsanne for white grape varieties. You may have heard of Syrah. BC Syrah is quite well-known for its quality, but Roussanne and Marsanne may be new to you. These two white grapes are grown in the northern Rhone region and are typically…

Have you ever had a cider made from crab apples? I don’t think I have until today. I have two ciders from Creek & Gully Cider in Penticton. One is Just Crab 2021 and the other is Crabby Pear 2021 which is a blend of 50% Hyslop crab apple and 50% Bartlett pear. If you bite into crab apples you…

Rose wine with its fresh acidity and bright red fruit flavours works well with many food pairings. I decided to try pairing a bottle of Chateau La Coste 2021 Rosé from Provence, France, with a slow-smoked bbq pork shoulder I cooked using my BBQ. The pork shoulder was covered in a dry rub made with brown sugar, salt, pepper, smoked paprika,…

Have you tried the Quill series of wines from Blue Grouse Estate Winery on Vancouver Island.  Their Quill series grapes come from vineyards on the Island.  The winery can pick and choose and blend the wines from these grapes to bring out the best of Vancouver Island.  I received two Quill wines from the winery to review, their Blue Grouse…

I have two single-vineyard Pinot Noir wines from Stag’s Hollow Winery in Okanagan Falls. Both are delicious but are quite different in colour, aroma, and flavour. I have wines from their Stag’s Hollow Vineyard and their Shuttleworth Creek Vineyard. Both wines are unfined, unfiltered and vegan friendly. Before telling you about these wines, I would like to point out the…

This is one of the best food and wine pairings that I will remember for a long time. I opened a bottle of Stag’s Hollow Winery Simply Noir 2020 wine and paired it with a grilled filet of steelhead trout from Fisherman’s Market in Burnaby Heights. The trout was recommended to me by Chef Tyrone at the shop. He said…

Top Drop Vancouver 2022 was on May 10 and 11.  Part of the event was a large tasting room, with 40 wineries presenting a selection of their wines.  There was also to my great happiness, cider as well, which I will get to later in this article.  Top Drop Canada puts on this event yearly (except during the COVID shutdown),…

Mother’s Day is this weekend. Have you bought your mom a bottle of BC sparkling wine yet? Here are two bottles that she should enjoy from Okanagan Crush Pad. The Free Form Blanc de Noir 2018 is made from organic Pinot Noir grapes and zero dosage (no added sugar before the bottle is sealed for sale), and the Narrative XC…

Narrative is a collection of wines by Okanagan Crush Pad that tells the story of what is most exciting about the Okanagan Valley: geological & climatic diversity.  The two red wines I received to review are the Narrative Cabernet Franc 2018 and Narrative Non-Fiction 2018, the latter a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.  Both are fermented and…