Category: Uncategorized

Hester Creek wines With the disastrous Okanagan winter weather, Hester Creek was forced to look south to Washington State for grapes for their 2024 vintage. Their labels call the series of wines their “Columbia Valley Collection.” On their website, they say the fruit was “chosen for the proximity and similarities to the South Okanagan with…

We had venison on the menu so I thought a pinot noir was a good choice, and normally it would be … The LCBO describe this wine as medium bodied and fruity … well they got one half of it right, it sure is a fruit bomb. If someone poured this into my glass and…

By Rick VanSickle A chance encounter online led to the wildest exposure ever for a Niagara winery with 2.5 million views of a quirky video that helped shape the “vibe” at Palatine Hills Estate Winery. It’s a crazy story that has put this family-owned Niagara-on-the-Lake winery on the vinous map far beyond the borders of…

Tonight’s red wine review is the latest vintage of a lovely, vegan-friendly Monastrell-based blend from Jumilla (Spain) that arrived at the LCBO earlier this month in the March 1st LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection. It is produced by Ego Bodegas, a winery project that was established from scratch in 2011 by the husband-and-wife team of…

As the holiday season set in, Stacey and I had the pleasure of unboxing a truly special bottle: the Nk’Mip Cellars Qwam Qwmt Chardonnay 2021. Delivered in a beautifully branded wooden box wrapped in a red ribbon, this wine was more than just a treat for the palate—it was an invitation to experience the rich…

How a father-son duo turned a lifelong passion for distillation into Maison Le Chêne and its groundbreaking creation, Chambre Noire Admittedly, the LinkedIn message took me a little off guard: “Hi Tod – It’s great connecting with you. My name is Sacha Le Chêne. I’m co-founder of Maison Le Chêne. You wrote a really beautiful…

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…

Tonight’s white wine review is a delicious Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa that made its debut at the LCBO last month in the February 15 LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection and is readily available for purchase across Ontario. It is produced by Alvi’s Drift Winery, a family-owned and award-winning winery that was founded in South…

Dark in color with a mild red berry nose … On the mid palate the wine displays lovely red cherry notes along with some mild chocolate notes. On the medium length finish the wine displays some vibrant acidity, and nice tannins … nice and dry. This is a pretty good cab sauv, I would give…

Here are my top wine picks from the March 15, 2025 LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection, which features Sustainable Italian Wines as the main theme of the release, while the mini-theme looks at Stellar Stellenbosch. The release as a whole is very good with ninety-four products on offer at various price points, with all but…