Moon Curser Roussanne Marsanne

The 2019 Moon Curser Roussanne Marsanne, with its notes of pear and ginger, left me itching to bake something with this year’s pear harvest. 2019 Roussanne Marsanne $26.99 The grapes for the 2019 Roussanne Marsanne were hand-picked and sorted twice, followed by whole-cluster pressing. The Roussanne and Marsanne were co-fermented (70% Roussanne and 30% Marsanne)…

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Cavallo Winery: California Grown, BC Made

I first learned of Cavallo Winery while at a Tignanello tasting, where the gentleman across from me was raving about a winery located in Surrey, BC. It seemed a bit surreal to be sitting in front of glasses containing several vintages of Tignanello (what is widely considered an iconic Italian wine) and this guy could…

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Wine, Whisky and Terroir

Terroir is a French term that is often used in reference to wine. In this context it refers to a vineyard’s location (latitude), elevation, climate, soil and the wine’s expression of these elements. If grapes can express terroir in wine, then can barley express terroir in Scotch? Scotch is essentially made from water, barley and…

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#NationalOrangeWineDay

Today is National Orange Wine Day. Orange wine can be traced back 5000 years, to what is now modern-day Georgia, where wines were fermented in large clay vessels that were buried in the earth, sometimes for years. Orange wine is made using white grape varietals. After the grapes are crushed the juice is allowed to…

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Chef Meets BC Grape: 2020 Edition

During “normal” times, Chef Meets BC Grape is the largest tasting of BC wine and food in Western Canada. Last year hundreds of wine lovers converged on the Vancouver Convention Centre to taste BC wines paired with small plates prepared by top BC chefs. Attendees could vote, alongside celebrity judges, for their favourite food and…

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2019 Wild Goose Mystic River Gewürztraminer

This past weekend we picked the apples from our apple tree and I was quick to turn some of them into an apple pie. I have heard that Gewürztraminer is a great pairing for apple pie, and I was anxious to try it out with the 2019 Mystic River Gewürztraminer from Wild Goose. 2019 Wild…

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What Happens Now?

Lone Tree Cellars, founded in 2005, is an importer and distributor, sourcing wine and spirits from around the world and bringing the best ones to Western Canada.  In 2019 they moved their offices to North Vancouver where they acquired a brewery. They named the brewery La Cerveceria Astilleros and when it opens it will offer…

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TIME Winery & Kitchen: Blueberry Bison Burgers and Syrah

When I last wrote about TIME Winery, Harry McWatters was celebrating his 50th vintage in the BC wine industry (Harry McWatters and the Beginning of TIME). He had recently sold his acclaimed Sundial Vineyards, to what is now Phantom Creek Vineyards, and he was in the midst of building an urban winery for TIME in an old…

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Culmina Family Estate Winery: 2014 Hypothesis

With summer winding-down, has your palate begun to turn towards bigger reds, or are you still trying to squeeze every last drop out of summer? I have to confess that I am looking forward to the changing colour of the leaves, crisp autumn days and heartier reds, like the 2014 Culmina Hypothesis.  Culmina Family Estate…

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New Release: Liquidity N/V Bubbly

Liquidity just released a new non-vintage (N/V) sparkling wine. It is classified as “non-vintage” because the grapes used to make this wine were harvested in two different years. In 2018, the Pinot Noir for this wine was harvested, whole cluster pressed and fermented in stainless steel barrels; it aged on its lees for 16 months.…

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