A fun and irreverent wine blog focusing on wine from all over the world. WSET-2 w/Distinction. Also features vacation reports, thoughts about movies and anything else I want to talk about.
As we wind down our first day, we pay our first visit to a new tasting area at Foxtrot Vineyards. It’s a hot one today, and we are greeted by a lovely patio area and an impressive wind, which helps to cool us down without causing any real issues (but there had been issues earlier in the day with the wind blowing down their umbrellas!)
Our first appointment of the day takes us to an area we’ve never visited before, and after some confusion driving (seriously, a sign or two wouldn’t hurt??) we arrive at our destination: Van Westen Vineyards! We are the only ones in the tasting room (although another group would join us halfway through our tasting) and our guide is friendly and knowledgeable. OK, also so talkative that it was impossible to include this tasting in my vlog, but this will just have to do!
Next up! Another ‘first’ for us, as we head up the hill to a newly-opened tasting room at Foxtrot Vineyards! Stay tuned!
Last weekend we had a little whirlwind trip to the Okanagan. Just two nights, but we fit some nice tastings into those two days! We started with an impromptu stop at 8th Generation. For a full look at the tasting, check out my YouTube channel, as the video is uploading as we speak. I’ll have full reviews of the wines here as well.
That’s it for today! Check out the video on my YouTube channel, and stay tuned for the rest of the reviews. Next up: our first visit to Van Westen!
If you missed my last YouTube video (check it out here), I tasted through a bunch more 2021 roses; several from France, and a bunch from BC. Some were really good, some were not. Below are the full reviews and scores.
And I’ll finish this off with two that should NEVER have been released to the public, IMO.
That’s it for today! Hope you go out and try one of these that you might not be familiar with (uh, the good ones, obviously!).
Next up! Lots more good stuff we’ve been drinking recently to report on, and the fourth and final installment of my 2021 roses vlog and blog will come in the not-too-distant-future. Stay tuned!
Of course you’ve heard of it, it’s the most widely planted grape in the world. Last week, I tasted through NINE different examples from all over the world, and you can check out the video here, if you have not already. Here are the scores, including a real doozy at the end!
That was quite a tasting! Not a bad wine in the bunch, and that Quilceda Creek is one I am going to remember for a lonnnnnnnnng time!
Up next: Episode three of my annual 2021 Rose reviews! Stay tuned!
Well, who knew there would be such an advantage to being up at 5 AM on a Sunday? Time to hop into a nice, long soak in the tub and bring along my notes and my computer and finally get caught up on everything I had not yet got around to reviewing. Here they are!
Let’s start here, in BC, with some real treasures and a couple that perhaps didn’t live up to expectations.
And here’s a very tasty, very reasonably priced gem from Bordeaux!
Now let’s hop down the coast to California, for some really great stuff, as usual!
And, to finish up today’s big update, a somewhat rare varietal from Washington State!
That’s it for today! Finally all my notes have been exhausted, and I can keep up with reviews of wines as we drink ’em!
Up next: I have two vlogs underway; the third installment of my 2021 rosé reviews, and Episode 4 of my “Various Varietals” series where I talk about, and taste a bunch of, a varietal you might have heard of: Cabernet Sauvignon.
As for the blog, those reviews will show up here as well after the vlogs are posted, and of course, everything else we drink this summer that doesn’t necessarily make the YouTube channel will appear here as well. We are hoping it’s going to be a great summer of wine! Stay tuned!
If I am not mistaken, the first time I heard there was an Estate winery in Chilliwack (technically in Yarrow, which is a little town just a few minutes West of Chilliwack), my reaction was something along the lines of “good luck with that”. That was probably 5-6 years ago. But, a couple of years ago, a fellow wine enthusiast whose palate I respect mentioned on a Facebook wine group that she had been to this winery, and the wines were good. At that point, I moved it from “good luck with that” to “I’ll have to check those out”. Well, that day was last weekend.
On the 10th Anniversary of the planting of the first grapes that would eventually feed Whispering Horse Winery, the wife and I made the 10-minute drive to check out a special “new release” event. They were releasing three new wines, all made from hybrid grapes which thrive in a cooler climate and are planted at the Estate. They have only two vinis vinifera varietals planted: Dornfelder (which originates in Germany) and Pinot Gris. Neither of those were available to taste on this trip, so I guess we’ll just have to go back and try those next time they are available!
We are introduced to Melissa, who, along with her husband, are the whole damn show, running the winery from top to bottom. That’s not to say they don’t have friendly and knowledgeable staff helping them out, and we met some of them at the tasting event, but make no mistake, it’s a small, family-run operation. Melissa was delightful, and clearly very passionate about her product. So, let’s get to the wines and see just how good they are!
First up, a sparkling made from the only one of these hybrid varietals that I had ever tasted before, L’Acadie. I tasted some of these wines from Nova Scotia at the Vancouver International Wine Festival a few years back. I don’t remember them at all, which generally means they weren’t great and weren’t terrible. I tend to remember wines that fall into either of those categories!
Next up, a grape called “Epicure” that is normally found in Europe. Created by a Swiss geneticist.
Now here is the still version of the L’Acadie.
Last, but certainly not least, the “off-dry” member of the family, from a grape called La Crescent that was developed in Minnesota and is often found in the Eastern United States, particularly the Finger Lakes region of New York.
We bought a bottle of this and, along with the charcuterie box that we had pre-purchased (which was just fantastic, BTW), headed outside for a little picnic along with our pooch. They are dog-friendly, as all wineries SHOULD be by now. We were certainly very impressed with the quality of the wine, and the people. If you are in the Fraser Valley, you have to go check these guys out, and if you live elsewhere in the Lower Mainland, I recommend you make a day of it and pay them a visit. You won’t be sorry!
Next up: I’m starting to compile more 2021 rosés for the third installment of my annual rosé reviews, including a couple new ones from France! Also, we have been enjoying some good stuff lately that I will report on shortly. Stay tuned!
Last week I posted a vlog where I tasted through seven more 2021 rosés, all from BC. If you missed it, you can watch it at this link.
Below, I’ve given my full reviews and scores of all seven wines!
That’s it for today! There will be at least one more rosé blog and vlog (I haven’t had ANY from Provence yet, not to mention there are lots of BC ones still to come), but next up I have reviews of new wine from an Estate winery here in my hometown of Chilliwack! OK technically it’s in Yarrow, which is a few minutes West of Chilliwack, but close enough. Stay tuned!
If you missed my last vlog where I tasted through four VERY different examples of Nebbiolo, you can check it out here!
One of these wines was from Australia, and I had previously reviewed this wine when we tasted it at the Vancouver International Wine Festival a few years ago. You can see that review here. I am pretty happy with the score I gave it, but I was waffling between 93-94. My wife enjoyed it so much when we finished off the bottle the other day, I probably should have bumped it up a point. Maybe 93.5? LOL
Here are the reviews of the other three.
And, here is one more Nebbiolo that we enjoyed recently that was not a part of the vlog.
And as promised in the title, here are a few other bottles we’ve been enjoying, to varying degrees, recently:
That’s it for today! Coming up, part 2 of our 2021 rosé reviews will be done soon, and lots of other great stuff we’ve been drinking. Stay tuned!!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 