Out with the olde and in with the new is the battle cry of Victoria as the provincial capital, once described as a large scale retirement village, goes about re-launching its image as a cosmopolitan, West Coast city. One of the people helping to push
Twenty years of aggressive expansion is coming to a screeching halt in the key wine-producing regions of California, Chile, Australia, Argentina and the south of France. In fact some areas will be ripping out vines in an attempt to balance production
What do you do when the name of your winery no longer attracts the immediate attention of consumers? It's a question facing many New World producers who have global aspirations. How do you differentiate your chardonnay or cabernet from hundreds of
Not long after the doors open to the Playhouse Wine Festival tasting room each year, consumers and buyers alike flit from booth to booth hoping to discover the hottest new wines of the show. In 2001, the booth drawing most of the early attention was one
In Canada, where for the most part the liquor monopolies still decide what you get to drink, very little shelf space is allotted to non-mainstream varietals. Riesling falls into that category, and despite the protests of many aficionados who believe it
Like most British Columbians, I'm hoping that the weather in the second half of Summer 2001 will be a lot better than what we've experienced to date. Assuming that's the case, light, aromatic, fun-to-drink white wines may still have their moment in
It's been almost three decades since Jesse Jackson founded the Kendall-Jackson Winery on the dream of producing blended chardonnays that took advantage of California's treasure trove of growing regions and all the flavours they offer. Jackson's chardonnays
Hands up if you have seen or tasted any B.C. varietal wines labelled Sandhill. Keep those hands up if you have visited the winery. While the former is highly probable, the latter is impossible. That's because Sandhill is a brand, not a winery. Despite
In the 1970s cabernet sauvignon was the be-all and end-all of red wine grapes. It had an appealing dark colour that few other reds possessed. It was weighty and powerful in the mouth, and it was loaded with dry, hard tannins -- the type that leave your
A decade ago, California winemakers were challenging their French counterparts to determine who makes the best wines in the world. At the time, the Californians argued that while fighting centuries of winemaking tradition, they were producing premium
When I hear "organic" and "grapes" used together, my eyes often glaze over. It's not that I am opposed to organic anything, it's just that most of the organic wine I have been asked to taste is É well, not very good. I also object to the price gouging
This week's Playhouse Wine Festival focuses most of its attention on the international scene, but with experts from 130 producers from around the world in Vancouver, it seemed like an excellent opportunity to expose some of these global wine warriors
Late last year, New Zealand's largest wine producer, Montana Wines, swallowed its closest competitor, Corbans. The new and formidable company, which operates under the moniker Brancott Vineyards, now produces one of every two bottles made in New Zealand.
European wine labels can be both precise and vague at the same time. That's what makes them so confusing to us New World wine drinkers who seem to take more comfort in knowing which grape we are drinking rather than where it is grown. Understand that,
The 21st annual California Wine Fair Tour stops in Vancouver next Tuesday and Wednesday to pour more than 225 wines from 60 Golden State producers. The 2001 travelling road show, which is one of the largest to criss-cross Canada in years, is the most
When the 23rd Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival opens in the first the week of April, the focus will be on Spain. That means you have only a month to brush up on your Spanish language and wine skills before you wander about the massive international
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