It has been four years since I last attended Taste Washington in Seattle.  COVID shut down the event, but now Taste Washington is back and maybe even better.  This is the event where you can taste the wide variety of wines made across Washington state, without having to drive yourself.  Winery focus seems to have changed.  During my tasting time, I came across many orange wines and pet-nat sparkling wines which were not there four years ago. Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling were also not as prominently featured. My Wine Tasting Notes White, Sparkling, and Orange Wines Pét P ..read more

Pet-nat wines were quite plentiful at the Grand Tasting during Taste Washington this year.  I really enjoyed the pet-nat wine from Walla Walla’s Foundry Vineyards, who created this new winery, Pét Project Wines, to solely produce organic, low-intervention, pet-nat wines.  Listen to co-owner Lisa Anderson tell me about one of their pet-nat wines. https://www.mywinepal.com/videos/Lisa%20Anderson%20from%20Pet%20Project%20Wines%20at%20Taste%20Washington%202023.mp4 The post Exploring Pet-Nat Wines with Lisa Anderson from Pet Project Wines at Taste Washington 2023 appeared first on MyWineP ..read more

The Vancouver International Wine Festival 2023 is almost a month away.  Media were invited to a preview of some of the wines that will be available at the Festival.  Here are a few wines that I quite enjoyed and you may want to try.   Buy your tickets fast to events as many dinners are already sold out. Cheers! My VanWineFest 2023 Picks McWatters Collection Chardonnay 2020, BC – Toast and pears on the nose.  Rich ripe roasted pears plus sweet spices on the palate. Smooth with medium acidity. – Thalia Winery Assyrtiko Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Greece – White flowers and ..read more

At the Grand Tasting Room during Taste Washington, I had a few brief interviews with winery principals about the wines they were pouring at the event.  In my first video, I had the pleasure of speaking with Donald Januik.  This is a long-established Washington State winery that has a relationship with the Novelty Hill winery as well.  Here is the URL to the winery for more info.  Enjoy this interview. https://www.mywinepal.com/videos/Donald%20Januik%20from%20Januik%20winery%20at%20Taste%20Washington%202023.mp4 The post A Quick Chat with Donald Januik from Januik Winery at T ..read more

Valérie Beyer from Domaine Emile Beyer I had a wonderful time speaking with Valérie Beyer about their Alsatian wines recently.  I interviewed Valérie two years ago together with her husband, Christian, about their wines.  I was curious to taste the 2020 vintage wines and compare them to their 2019 wines.  Valérie mentioned that 2020 was a hotter vintage than 2019. She mentioned that the 2020 vintage wines would be open more now, while 2019 would have higher acidity and take a bit longer to open. Domaine Emile Beyer uses organic and biodynamic methods.  They started on the ..read more

The Waterford Distillery was launched by Mark Reynier in Ireland, drawing inspiration from the greatest wineries around the world.  Mark managed the Bruichladdich Distillery before launching  Waterford with the goal of transparency to reveal the terroirs of barley which is used to make whisky. The whiskies are made from 100% Irish barley, with each bottling being the result of a harvest from a single farm in most cases.  One batch of distillation comes from a single farm.  Waterford works with between 35 and 46 farms, so can produce in theory 35-46 unique whiskies.&nbs ..read more

Riesling grapes (Image courtesy Wikipedia) In celebration of International Riesling Day on March 13, I thought I would talk about the wine classification system of Germany, as many quality Riesling wines come from Germany and these wines are held as benchmarks for the rest of the world. The German wine classification system is divided into four levels. Tafelwein is the lowest level of the German wine classification system and refers to table wine. Tafelwein can be made from any grape variety and can be produced in any region of Germany. Unlike the higher levels of the classification system ..read more

Ludovic Hauller The Hauller family has been making wine since 1776 in Alsace.  They use their ancestral know-how to consider new issues and offer modern and innovative solutions, to respond to their client’s demands all over the world.  The two brothers, Ludovic and Guillaume, joined their parents in the winery in 2015.  One of the brothers’ objectives was to organically farm the vineyards.  The vineyards were certified organic in 2022.  The estate started with 10 ha and now owns 40 ha of vineyards with the brothers’ efforts. I interviewed Ludovic, who works on the b ..read more

Myriam and Frédéric Schmitt François Schmitt took over the family winery in Alsace, Domaine François Schmitt, joined by his son, Frédéric, in 1998, and his wife, Myriam in 2010. I spoke with Frédéric and Myriam about their wines.  Frédéric views their wines as gastronomic, built for food.  Today I tasted all still wines, but they also make a significant amount of cremant wines.  One of their vineyards coincides with the Pfingstberg Grand Cru site. The Pfingstberg and Bollenberg Vineyard Sites These two vineyard sites cover 80% of their production. According to the winery, “Pfi ..read more

Last week there was the Taste of Italy celebration held at the Vancouver Lookout downtown.  Wine and Italian cheese, prosciutto, chocolates, and more were there to sample. Here are ten wines that I quite enjoyed at the Taste of Italy.  Some of these wines are currently available in BC.  I marked those wines with a “*”.  The wines without the * are looking for representation. If you work at a wine agency, you may want to consider picking up one of the wineries for your portfolio. Taste of Italy at the Vancouver Lookout with food and wine My Wine Tasting Notes Vite Colte Ma ..read more