Sam The Wine Teacher 
Living in the burbs, one often doesn’t often think about heading into Vancouver for brunch, but every neighbourhood has its own unique collection of funky and trendy little eateries. This is one reason why Vancouver Foodster’s Brunch Crawls are such great events. They get you out into new areas so you can discover some … Read more
Over the holidays I was lucky enough to be invited to taste some Italian wines, not currently available in BC. Mireille Sauvé, of The Wine Umbrella, hosted the event where we sampled ten wines all from the Veneto region in northern Italy. We were greeted with an impressive Prosecco and after a bit of … Read more
My wine background began as a home winemaker, some thirty odd years ago. Years later I trained to be a judge and eventually became the guild master for the BC Guild of Wine Judges. After retiring from teaching, I’ve devoted my time to writing and educating about wine, primarily with My Van City. Sometimes … Read more
Wine and War Don & Petie Kladstrup 2002 Broadway Books 290 pages I received this book as a gift some time ago and only recently picked it up. I have some friends who are history buffs and would certainly have a deeper appreciation of the events in this book, but even with my somewhat adequate … Read more
2014 Voulez View Rouge The View Kelowna, BC $19.90 Voulez View uses a touch (15%) of Merlot to add some elegance to the Pinotage base. Sweet spice, cherries, plum, dark berries and a hint of chocolate on the nose. Well balanced with silky smooth ripe tannins. Velvety on the palate with flavours that echo the … Read more
2013 Pinot Noir (Optimum) Gehringer Brothers Oliver, BC $20.99 I wasn’t impressed when I first opened this wine. I was quite surprised that I purchased it, if it hadn’t been very good at least. Then after it had some time to breathe and open up, wow. Garnet red with medium-deep intensity. The nose is layered … Read more
Niche Winery One of the ‘small guys’, or garagistes, Niche Winery is a small family run operation set well off the main highway in West Kelowna. Opened in 2011 by James and Joanna Schlosser, they indeed have ‘found their Niche’. This small ten-acre, ‘Hugh and Mary’ vineyard, owned by James’ parents, Kathleen and Jerry Schlosser, … Read more
What better way to say good-bye to 2016 and welcome in 2017, that with a delicious glass of BC bubbly. We are so lucky to have so many top quality, locally made sparkling wines to choose from in our province. One of the very first was Stellar’s Jay, which captured a lot of attention … Read more
Another evening with the tasting group. The tasting this evening featured eight Chardonnay wines from eight different countries. Quick, can you think of eight different countries that make Chardonnay? This was a blind tasting and all the wines were wrapped in brown paper bags. The group, for the most part, found all the wines to … Read more
I recently presented a tasting for a group I have been fortunate enough to sit in on many times in the past. This was my ‘pay back’. I had many Rieslings sitting in my cellar and I’ve often thought about getting a group together to try them, but it never quite seemed to materialize, … Read more