Enjoy Wine, Food, and Travel with Karl MyWinePal
It is Spring and I was fortunate to attend the Heart of Wine Country Spring Release Tasting covering wines from Okanagan Falls and Skaha Lake. This is the first stand-up and walk-around trade tasting that I had since the COVID shutdown 2 years ago. It was quite an experience to see people to talk about their wines, meet friends I…
As you may know hospitality workers in BC have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They can fortunately get CERB money from the Federal government. But there are also hospitality workers that suffer from severe illness and need more support. This is where the BC Hospitality Foundation comes in. Donations to the BCHF go towards hospitality workers facing financial…
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…
Okanagan Falls, located between Penticton and Oliver, holds, I think, a sweet spot for growing grapes and making wine. It has long warm days and cool nights, which allow the grapes to reach full ripeness as well as keep their acidity. The Okanagan Falls Skaha Winery Association, consisting of 14 wineries, with 32 vineyards, held a tasting recently, which I attended. In…
Besides tasting wine and attending seminars during the Vancouver International Wine Festival, I meeting with winery principals at the Festival Tasting Room and doing short video interviews with them. Here is the list of all the interviews I did. Many are from California, as this was the theme region for the Festival, but I also have an Australia, France, and…
Did you know that there are 671 wineries in Canada, as of Feb 2017? There are 276 wineries in BC. There is grape wine being produced in BC, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. As part of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, wineries from across Canada were invited to attend, and to celebrate our 150th birthday as a country. Bringing together…
The 4th AnnualShine a Light Kidney Gala took place on March 3rd, 2016 at The Fairmont Vancouver Hotel. This event raises awareness of kidney disease for the work and mission of The Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Society of Nephrology. A highlight of the Gala was the Wine & Spirit Wall which featured BC wines! Guests had the opportunity to…
I will be volunteering at the 4th Annual Shine a Light Kidney Gala which takes place on March 3rd, 2016 at The Fairmont Vancouver Hotel. This event raises awareness of kidney disease for the work and mission of The Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Society of Nephrology. Last year’s Gala, hosted and covered by CTV, was successful thanks…
It has been a long voyage of discovery for me to find out what type of relationship Riesling grapes have with the soils of BC, or as some may say the terroir of the area. As mentioned in previous articles, it started with the idea, then contacting all BC wineries that produce a Riesling wine, to ask for a sample…
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. Lao Tzu This spring, I took my first step, with the thought that maybe the different soil types in BC affect the aromas and flavours of our grapes. How to test that thought? There are so many different varieties of grapes. I settled upon testing this theory with Riesling. It…
