Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

Its beena while since I last posted life, work, cycling and laziness get in the way. However, after a recent travel experience, I felt compelled to share what happened, as its summed up in my letter of complaint to Air Canada: Dear sir or madam. On Saturday, August 2nd, my wife Candace and I […]

Hey folks. Long time no post Well, its an odd-numbered year, so I thought it was about time to get back to wriiting about wine a bit. God knows I drink enough of it, so here we go again. Over the next while I plan to re-design the site (its been too long) and actually […]

Its getting to be the time of year that I find myself sitting at my desk wishing I was on a warm and sunny patio with a dish of mixed olives, some cheese and a glass of dry ros. From what Im seeing in the stores, more and more of BCs winemakers seem to be […]

There are times when the disparate can come together to form something that is much better than one might expect, even to the point of surprise. Like this post, finally being able sit down and write it in the midst of an eighth birthday party at my house. To this point, my experience at the […]

God knows Im not the worlds biggest fan of Merlot. Im pretty much there with Miles from Sideways. When I hear Merlot, I think a bit of cherry fruit, bland, vanilla and pretty much nothing else. Theres a lot of that floating around this province, produced here and elsewhere, that fit that description perfectly. Heres […]

The preview for the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival has piqued my interest in Spanish wine again, directly impacting my shopping habits at the same time. Even out here in the ?burbs, we are seeing a better variety on the shelves.? I picked out this one considering that I love Priorat, and the price was

Its been a while since I wrote up a Zinfandel, but last week was the big Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) Festival in San Francisco. I didnt attend this year, but its a wine fest that holds a special place in my heart. Its got to be the most fun-oriented/least pretentious wine event Ive had […]

First things first… I'd like to thank John Clerides and the staff at Marquis Wine Cellars for putting on this great tasting. The food and wine pairings at C Restaurant made my day. From the left, that's Graham, Caleb (the winemaker and co-proprietor at Buty), John and me (sporting a bit of a winter beard).

The other night I walked into Marquis Wine Cellars with an open mind – without any idea what I felt like sipping. Marquis is arguably the best shop in town to happen upon in that state of mind. Through their entrance to the right is an area piled with recent arrivals and staff picks. It

Back in June of 2010, I tasted my way through Averill Creek Winery‘s lineup, so when they sent me samples from their current vintage I was looking forward to giving them a try. I was also looking forward to getting Graham's take on the wines, so I set aside a couple of them for him.

Earlier this week, we had a chance to have a little preview of this year?s Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. This year?s feature region is Spain and the varietal theme is fortified wine. It looks to be a great event again this year. The gathering at the Shore Club restaurant gave us an opportunity to

Summerhill Winery Cipes Pinot Noir Rose NV It's that time of year – when you may be looking to have? glass of celebratory bubbly, but don't want to break your newly minted 2011 budget. Well, there are a number of decent sparkling wines out there in the under-$30 range that can fit the bill. If

Every time I've drunk a wine lately, I feel a bit guilty that I haven't been posting. I originally started this site as my online wine journal and now it's time for to get back to that – it doesn't always have to be an article-like write-up; I just have to get them done. I've

As I mentioned in the previous post, I really enjoyed exploring the wines of Chile a couple of weeks ago.? I ended up tasting at a couple of tables that I had never had before, but ended up being the highlights of the tasting for me, thus warranting a separate post. The two wineries are

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the "Taste Chile" event held at the former Storyeum in Gastown. ?The tasting gave me a chance to re-connect with the wines of Chile, as I have somewhat neglected these choices lately in favour of the Old World wines my palate has come to crave. The afternoon

This summer, while Graham and I were at the 2010 version of the Wine Bloggers' Conference, we spent some time hanging out with John Clerides, the owner of Vancouver's killer wine shop, Marquis Wine Cellars. One of the days, John grabbed us and said something along the lines of, "Do you guys want to taste

Liberty Wine Merchants is pleased to present their 19th annual Port and Chocolate tasting event at the Vancouver Rowing Club.? The evening will explore new and classic pairings, featuring a wide range of ports with decadent chocolates from local vendors.? Don?t pass on this perfect excuse to indulge! How much?: $29.99/person. Tickets on sale now...

This is a crisp glassful of flinty and lemony goodness. We had it last night with fresh BC Sockeye salmon and it was a delicious pairing. The citrus of the wine really hit it off with the fish. The nose is like freshly squeezed lemon drizzled on a freshly cracked rock. A sip gives flavors

Recently we attended ?Perfect Pairings,? an evening of food and wine at Township 7?s Langley location that certainly highlighted the food and wine world of the valley is heading in the right direction. A Fraser Valley resident by choice, I often look on with envy at the opportunities for food and wine available on a

It's been so long between posts… Well, it's not like I haven't been drinking wine. It's just that I've just been too busy to sit down and write about them. Hi there. I received this wine as a sample this week, so that's enough to prompt me back into the blog. Off we go. Road

"Let the vineyard speak." – I heard this phrase a couple of times during the whirlwind of experiences at the WBC 2010 in Walla Walla. To summarize what I learned about Walla Walla and the wine, I honestly believe that the artisans making wine in this region use this phrase as a guiding mantra. In

Mexican wine is something I haven't devoted much time to up to this point in my wine journey. Over the years, I have tasted a few of the LA Cetto wines, but that had pretty much been it. So, when I received an email through this site from Eduardo Ramirez asking if I'd like to

I'm currently down in San Francisco for work and haven't really had much time to shop for wine. So, the other day I visited the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant to see what interesting wines they had in stock. I'm always on the lookout for wines from Sean Thackrey (they're pretty scarce, so we don't get

Are you looking for an affordable New World Pinot Noir? Think cherry Cola. Well, this may be exactly what you're looking for. Cherry Cola, fig and plum hit you in the nose when you take a sniff. The flavours are round, ripe and sexy. There's dark cherry, blackberry and that cherry Cola the nose hinted at

While I was at the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival last month, I stopped by Averill Creek's table to say, "Hi" to Denis Chen, who I know from Kitsilano Wine Cellars. Well, it turned out he was also the VP Sales and Marketing for the winery and was at the festival pouring their wines. I

I've been looking for this Nebbiolo since Candace and I had it at the now-closed L'Altro Buca in Vancouver's West End last year. Well, it seems that the fine folks at Kitsilano Wine Cellars have finally decided to stock it. I wandered in there? last week and was pretty bloody happy to see it on

Another year of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, this time in the new Vancouver Convention Centre, has come to pass. The new location – much like the old -? served up some tasty sips from some fantastic producers. There were so many fantastic wines over the three days we attended. It?s impossible

This is the second in the collection of Pinot Noir I brought back from my recent trip down South of the border. This wine is described as ?a blend of 5 sustainably, organically, or biodynamically farmed vineyards in the northern Willamette Valley.? This piqued my interest as I?ve done a bit of reading

This dinner at The Hermitage featuring the wines of Domaine Doudet Naudin was the first of two events I received invites to as part of my Media pass for the 2010 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Classic French food paired with extremely food-friendly Burgundy wine – what's not to like? Nothing as far as I

The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival is on this week, and it?s always a fun time to sample a huge variety of wine from around the world and a great chance for some brief interactions with some cool people in the industry. There is a LOT of information out there about ?how to? with the fest

My recent trip to Esquin Wine Merchants in Seattle enabled me to stock up on my supply of Oregon Pinots among other treasures. Our ongoing discussion of value Pinot Noir is here in spades. The first one I picked up is EiEiO?s 2006 Cuvee I. On sale for $19.99, it fit nicely into the

Our second day in California's wine country got off to a lazy start at my new favourite coffee spot in Santa Rosa, Flying Goat Coffee. After taking a leisurely stroll around Santa Rosa's historic Railroad Square, we hopped in the car and headed toward our first stop of the day – Mazzocco Winery, near Healdsburg. I

I'm putting together my write-up of last Saturday in Sonoma, but I was both thirsty and hungry, so this post worked its way into the mix. Holy silky Pinot Noir, folks. This bottle was exactly what I was looking for when I pulled the cork tonight. I was cooking up some wild mushroom Tagliatelle and craving

Candace and I headed into the Napa Valley last Friday and I was really looking forward to the appointments I had set up. The weather was spring-warm perfect, the traffic was light and I was looking forward to tasting some of Napa's Cabernet. First in line was the venerable Beaulieu Vineyard, located in Rutherford. The

Last week, Hector Uvence sent me a message through this site asking if I'd mention his new Wine Rack 3.0 ($29 CDN). I took a look at the rack and a few of his other products and figured – why not? I like the clean minimalism of his designs and he's got his BA in Industrial

I paid a visit to the LDB Specialty Store in Surrey/Delta near my Mom's place a couple of weekends ago and their product consultant, Jo-Ann suggested this wine. Being the Aglianico fan that I am, I thought I'd give it a try. For $20, what was there to lose? Well, here's where I give a big

Think pink. Want to check out a wine event before the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival hits town?.. and support a great cause at the same time? This is your chance to participate in North America?s fastest growing segment of the wine industry. Come and sample a fantastic selection of Ros? wines, with all proceeds

Sunday night, I checked out? Blood Into Wine, the movie documenting Maynard James Keenan's Arizona-based quest to make great wine. It's fairly well known (at least in wine geek circles) that he's the singer for Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer… and that he has chosen to make wine in northern Arizona. What's perhaps not...

When I picked this wine up the other night, I mistakenly thought it was the Mauro Veglio "Angelo" Nebbiolo I've been looking for since I had it at L'Altro Buca last year. Not so much. This turns out to be a Nebbiolo from a lower-end producer… and is definitely not as good as the Mauro Veglio

With the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival nearing, we are seeing more wines from the feature nations (Argentina and New Zealand) arriving. This is a trend that meshes nicely with under $30 challenge with some good value Malbecs and blends arriving. (From what I?ve seen however there is a decided void in any Argentine

Holy value alert! Along with a 2005 Di Majo Norante Contado Aglianico (review coming soon) I had a week ago, this is the best red wine value I've come across since I started the under-$30 challenge a while back. This wine from Minervois, in the heart of France's Languedoc region, is? just plain tasty. It's a

Paolo Scavino is known as a producer of great Piemontese single vineyard Barolos. What we don't often see over on this side of the pond are the other, more everyday wines he produces such as this Vino da Tavola. The reason for the generic name is that it's a blend of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Dolcetto and

Back in the 90's, I was a fan of the band Tool, so I took a bit of an interest when I heard that Tool's singer, Maynard James Kennan had started a winery in, of all places, Arizona.? It's called Caduceus and they produce some pretty interesting (and well-reviewed) wines. I haven't had the chance to

Yesterday, I headed over to the offices of D3 Security Management Systems to sit down with Clinton Kabler and taste a couple of wines. First up is this delicious Sauvignon Blanc. $29 at Marquis Wine Cellars. (maybe even 4.5 – buy a bottle and decide for yourself) Tweet This! Share this on del.icio.us Digg this! ...

I'm going to detour from the under-$30 wine challenge for a day. I had this wine a couple of weekends ago and I liked it so much that had to get it on the site. It comes from the France's Saint-Joseph Appellation d'Origine Contr?l?e (AOC) in the northern Rh?ne and like many wines from that

With the 2010 Winter Olympics coming to town (starting next week), I though I'd mention a few of my favourite places in Vancouver to grab a drink. I'm not going to bother breaking it down by neighbourhood; there are others already doing that. Instead, I'm just going to list out the wine bars and restaurants

Just a quick shout to tell you folks that tickets for all public events for the annual Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival go on sale tomorrow, February 2, 2010 at 9:30am. Pretty much everything sells out each year, so make sure you head over to their site and plan your week. I'll see you there. Tweet This! Share...