Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
This year I had many wines that I tasted this year that almost made my 5-star category; 27 white wines and 45 red wines. These wines I rated as 4.5-5 stars. When I check over them again, I can remember how much I enjoyed these wines. Having a 4.5-5 or a 5-star rating does not mean that you need to…
I taste many wines at Trade tastings, plus public events like the Vancouver International Wine Festival or Taste Washington. People who know me, know that I make detailed notes as I taste and can back up my wine ratings. This year I went through all the wines I tasted in 2019 and have awarded my top 5-star rating to 10…
Wine agencies attend various trade events where they show their wines alongside other agencies. But to be able to better tell their story about these wines these agencies usually have a portfolio tasting once a year where various winery principals from around the world are invited to attend to tell us their wine story. I was fortunate to attend the…
Apart from tasting a lot of tasty wines at Taste Washington 2019 in Seattle, I also spent some time talking to the winery principals, many of them the winemakers and found out something about the wines that they were pouring at this event. I interviewed 4 winery principals and created YouTube videos which are shown below for your education and…
My first Trade tasting for 2019 was this week, with agents showing the latest new wines they have brought to Vancouver or new vintages of wines that are currently in our market. I was quite surprised by how many sparkling wines I had a chance to try. I normally see a peak interest in sparkling wine leading up to the…
I recently posted an article about Washington and Oregon wines that will be at EAT! Vancouver in November, and provided you with some background information on the signature grapes and wines produced in these two states. I have also attended Taste Washington a few times over the past years, and have visited Walla Walla. I do have a fairly good…
We all love drinking our BC wines. Although we do have a hotter climate in the South Okanagan, we still are overall a fairly cool climate region, doing well with aromatic white varieties, along with Pinot Noir and Gamay, as you move north or along the coast. Our mountainous interior limits the extent of our vineyards but if you cross the…
The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2018 is almost here, and the theme countries are Spain and Portugal, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the other wineries from around the world visiting us. Some are even next-door. Take for example Charles Smith Wines from Walla Walla, Washington. Who is Charles Smith? Charles Smith is known as the “rock star” of…
2018 Chinese New Year is arriving on February 16, 2018. That is the 4715th Chinese year. The zodiac sign of 2018 is the Dog. According to the Chinese Horoscope calendar, 2018 is the Male Earth Dog year. Brown is connected to the earth. Therefore, 2018 is also called the Year of the Brown Dog. According to chinesefortunecalendar.com “According to the…
As I mentioned in my previous article on my top rated white, sparkling, and fortified wines for 2017, there were so many excellent wines that I tasted this year. As I review the red wines that I’ve listed below, there are many wines from Italy, in part due to the many visits by Italian wineries to Vancouver this year. From…
