At the age of ten, some 80 kilometers southwest of Pézenas, Gérard Bertrand’s father, Georges Bertrand, invited his son to work the harvest in his cellars at Domaine de Villemajou at Boutenac in Corbières in the Aude. The idea
How many times can you write about a competition? I ask myself this loaded question as I pore over the results of the 2015 WineAlign National Wine Awards. Now fifteen years after David Lawrason and I began the awards, it would appear the
It's done, it's out and it's ready to use. The WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada are out and British Columbia wineries have done very well. I’m always amazed at the attention domestic wineries afford foreign accolades and medals given
A quick week of filming in the Okanagan on behalf of the Vancouver Sun revealed a mostly healthy crop load across the valley all some ten days to three weeks ahead of normal. With veraison a mere week or two off, smoke could be an issue with an otherwise
A case-full of years have passed since Allen Shoup launched a highly ambitious Walla Walla project designed to catch the wine world’s imagination. Preposterous is one way to describe the idea: seven acclaimed winemakers, who didn’t need any
Canada Day is upon us and as we reflect on our 148th birthday, it only seems fair we reflect on the current state of the British Columbia and Canadian wine industry. While the modern birth of local wine came only seven years after the first official
The Nationals are complete and the WineAlign team and our judges have returned to their homes across the country. The results are in the hopper and you can expect the winners including The Canadian Winery of the Year, and new for 2015, an award for the
Big news from Mission Hill, after 23 years John Simes will transition from chief winemaker at Mission Hill Family Estate to focus on the von Mandl Family Estates diverse collection of Okanagan vineyards. Said Simes: “I see our vineyards as
I have returned from a whirlwind tour of California tasting 400 plus wines last week and Treve is back from the hallowed vineyards of Chablis. New Zealand invades Vancouver this week leading with its best varietal that no one ever talks about: chardonnay.
As Stuart, Treve and I power through the past few weeks of submissions, we’ll also be posting notes from our recent travels and visits. I’ve just returned from the Okanagan and can assure that vintage 2015 is on par thus far – watch
The first of the local 2014 wines are hitting our tasting bench – a sure sign of spring. I’ve just returned from the Okanagan Wine Leaders Forum in Naramata at the Sandy Beach Lodge – a great meeting of wine minds from here and abroad
After a long battle with cancer our friend Jurgen Gothe died last week. He was the original BC wine guy, and his absence leaves a gap that will never be filled. He leaves behind a long trail of work in wine, food and music, first sharing our media space
It’s the first day of British Columbia’s new liquor landscape and retailers of all stripes are preparing to sell beer, wine and spirits in one of the most bizarre liquor markets on the continent. A new wholesale tax, part of government’s
A number of unrelated topics comprise this week’s column although it doesn’t take much to connect the dots to see just how inter-related the business of wine is unless you are in government. There will be a new pricing landscape in British
It’s the first day of spring, but we’ve been spring cleaning for the past week, clearing out a cache of wine reviews and making room for the new releases that start popping up like tulips at this time of year. Expect to see many fresh white
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