Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
From my recent tastings of white and sparkling wines from west coast USA during VanWineFest 2025, a few key trends emerge. Chardonnay remains a dominant varietal, showcasing a range of styles from richer, rounder textures with lower acidity in Paso Robles to fresher, more mineral-driven expressions from Oregon’s Willamette Valley. There is a clear emphasis on texture and mouthfeel, with…
At every Vancouver International Wine Festival, when I attend the International Festival Tasting Room, I have a plan for which wines to taste. Luckily, as an accredited media person, I can attend the International Festival Tasting Room several times. But each time, is different. For this one session, I visited the theme region, west coast USA, and tasted only red…
The second seminar I attended at VanWineFest 2025 was the “Three Rings of Sustainability“. Dr. Monique Bell (Professor of Marketing, Fresno State University) and Dr. Damien Wilson (Hamel Family Faculty Chair of Wine Business, Sonoma State University) lead a panel of principals as they explored the three rings of sustainability – environmental, social, and economic. We learned how sustainable wine…
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…
As California was the theme region for VanWineFest 2019, you would expect Chardonnay to be prominent in my list of favourite white wines, and you would be right. But there is also Viognier, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. I put the region in California with the wine name if the winery shows a specific area. If you like any of these…
We are getting closer to VanWineFest 2019 and the stars are aligning. The stars you can see at the Vancouver International Wine Festival Tasting come from our theme region, California, as well as from around the world, and even from our own Province! What is a vine star? A vine star is a term the Festival uses for winery principals…
Cabernet Sauvignon is the “King” in California. In our Celebrating California Cabs seminar we had a chance to experience the “Dream Vintages” of 2012, 2013 and 2014. And as you will see, I have rated all these wines very highly. When you have wines of such quality, it is more a matter of style that you prefer. The winery principals noted that 2011 was…
