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Grandson Declan waiting for food at L’Avenue Sunday, April 13th: Deborah and I Drove to Toronto to meet with Annabel and Declan, who had flown in from Vancouver for tonight’s Seder dinner. We queued up for 45 minutes to get into L’Avenue at The Well, an amazing complex. We then waited an hour for the…

Who (or what) is this eddy you keep talking about? Efficient water management has never been more critical for agriculture and specifically for viticulture. High-end viticulture needs to manage water to not only cut costs, but to keep quality high in a market of oversupply and buyers who hold the upper hand over the grower.…

Photo: Brenda Hetman Craig and Layne Craig (photo courtesy 40 Knots) Comox-based 40 Knots Winery has added four outstanding sparkling apple ciders to its already extensive wine portfolio. If you have not yet encountered the ciders, don’t wait too long. These are immensely appealing but the production volumes are limited. If you share my taste,…

By Jamie Slingerland Vintages are shaped by the weather and in 2024 a strong El Nino shaped the vintage. 2024 went down as the warmest year in recorded history in Niagara as well as Canada and the world but in Niagara we did not experience a lot of +30 C temperatures, which El Ninos have…

In addition to the weekly wine review and the various other, usually wine-related, articles I write for My Van City, I am going to include a new one that will appear from time to time.  I’m calling it, ‘From the Cellar’. It will be similar to the wine reviews, except that it will feature wines…

Reading Time: 6 minutes Nothing says “Summer on the patio” like an ice-cold BC White Wine blend. What is a White Wine blend? “white blend” refers to any white wine that contains more than one white grape varietal in the final product. Why Are White Blends So Popular? There is a great diversity of taste profiles made by blending…

Last month I had the pleasure of attending a media event titled “The Temperature Experience”. I had the opportunity to Chill Out with Justin Taylor, a third generation family member of renowned and well-respected Wakefield Wines (also known as Taylors Wines in their home country of Australia). The purpose of this event was to taste…

Nero D’Avola can be a rustic, wine with lots of character and this one is spot on … Mild red berries on the nose, about all that is mild about this wine. On the mid palate the wine displays some strong sharp red fruits, bright vibrant acidity and firm tannins. On the medium length finish…

Reading Time: 3 minutes Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery releases four wines from the Vilicus Series – Rosé, Pinot Grigio, Viognier and a Pinot Gris / Viognier blend. The wines were “crafted in BC” from grapes grown in Washington State. Noble Ridge Vilicus Series Wines “The Vilicus Series is a tribute to the vilicus—the noble…

Shaped by Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble, Versado has become a living archive of Argentina’s vinous heritage High in Argentina’s Luján de Cuyo, beneath the gleaming Andes, Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble have carved out a winemaking niche that marries the old world with the new, crafting wines rooted in a vineyard that proves “a…