Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
We are back to estate grown BC grapes for the 2025 vintage. It was a great year for our wine grapes, producing a bumper crop for all vineyards. I have two white wines from Okanagan’s Hester Creek Estate Winery; their Hester Creek Estate Winery Character White 2025, a white blend containing Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Pinot Gris, and Hester Creek Estate…
Easter is this weekend and you are wondering what wines to pair with your holiday meal. I would like to suggest that a rosé wine pairs well with everything. Rosé wines typically have high acidity and nice red fruit flavours that are very complimentary for many dishes. I also recommend an aromatic white wine. These wines usually have higher acidity…
A Tour de France in Your Glass Food and wine go together, especially in France. I attended the VanWineFest 2026 seminar, A Tour de France in Your Glass. With Moderator, Arnica Rowan, we took an oenological journey through seven classic French wine regions, each with their own unique characteristics and history. We crossed the country from Champagne to South West…
Here are two more delicious wines that you should buy and enjoy right now while we are drowning in our winter rains, or snow, in BC. The two wines from the Okanagan’s Hester Creek Estate Winery are their Columbia Valley Collection Viognier 2024 (grapes coming from WA state), and their Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 (grapes coming from estate fruit). I bought…
Six years ago we welcomed Gérard Bertrand and the Gérard Bertrand Group to VanWineFest 2020. Now, we can welcome them back to VanWineFest 2026. Read about their history and wines in their own words. Introducing Gérard Bertrand In 1975, Georges Bertrand introduced his son, Gérard, to harvesting on the Domaine de Villemajou in the unique terroir of Corbières. From his…
Here in British Columbia, we love our local wines. But a question always lingers in the minds of serious wine lovers: how do our favourites truly stack up against the world’s established benchmarks? To try to answer that question, I attended the seven stars Masterclass hosted by Township 7 Vineyards & Winery who are celebrating 25 years of producing sparkling…
If you visit Osoyoos and stay at the Spirit Ridge Resort or visit the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, you will drive past Adega on 45th Estate Winery. The winery and tasting room is at the top of a hill slope and gives you a wonderful view of Osoyoos. The winery was recently taken over by Gate 22 Winery, which has…
This week we had a trade event featuring the latest BC white wines, many from 2024, as well as some red wines. In 2024 we had a terrible winter freeze that killed most of the grape vines in the interior of BC, so BC wineries were given permission from the BC government to source grapes from outside BC. Many winemakers…
Here are more 2024 wines from BC Okanagan wineries that used some or all of their grapes from south of the border, due to the devastating 2024 winter wiping out almost all grapes in the Okanagan. In this case, Blasted Church Vineyards brought Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc grapes from the Andrews Family Vineyard in WA state. The grapes were grown…
Sunny springtime weather will soon be upon us. Daffodils are already blooming, as well as cherry blossoms in the Vancouver lower mainland. So it is time to think about enjoying white wines on your patio or a restaurant patio. I have two terrific white wines from the Okanagan’s Township 7 Winery for you. I have the Township 7 Benchmark Series…
Video Guide Uncorks the Story of British Columbia Wines. Buy Now.
