Pair It Up! BENCH 1775 Wines + Free Shipping

I’m filing this post from sunny Barolo in Northern Italy, where I’ve been immersed in the Collisioni Festival. A dish I’ve always had a soft spot for at home that hails from this region is a simple plating of cheese ravioli with butter and sage. It’s at once rich and decadent, yet simple and elegant – the richness of the cheese and creamy, buttery angle is lifted by the herbal freshness of fresh sage.

While here in Barolo the dish pairs well along side wines made from area grape varieties like Nebbiolo or Arneis, I couldn’t help but think many homegrown British Columbia wines would easily suit as a pairing.

Looking on the site here at My Wine Canada, you may have noticed that Naramata’s BENCH 1775 Winery is offering an awesome deal of free shipping if you order a minimum of six wines from ‘em, and you can mix and match your selections, too! Well, let’s take advantage of the opportunity with my recommendation of a handful of their wines that’d jive well with this pasta. Continue reading →

Pair It Up! Daydreamer Wines

I never would have thought that I’d be championing a wine and food pairing post that incorporated the word “nacho.”

Now, don’t get me wrong; I enjoy a good plate of nachos as much as the next guy, and any nacho-flavoured snack is certainly welcome in my home. Generally, though, the nacho realm is viewed as being pretty lowbrow, and not really something one associates with the world of wine.

In saying that, I’m indeed sharing a nacho recipe in this post, and not only is it delicious and (Yup!) healthy on its own, but it’s actually fairly wine-savvy, too! Continue reading →

Pair It Up! Black Widow Wines

I recently waxed on around here about picnics, so let’s keep enjoying the great outdoors. Besides exceptionally longer days, things are looking sunnier and hotter, so I thought for this post that I’d pick out a few al-fresco-friendly recipes and toddle on over to British Columbia’s Black Widow Winery in Naramata to pour a little something to go with ‘em.

Recipe #1: Tandoori Chicken. Over at Fine Cooking, Leona Dalavai shares her Dad’s recipe for Tandoori Chicken that’s doable on the backyard grill. While the marinade has some pleasant, cooling yogurt and lime components, you still have a good smattering of heat and spice from other elements like onion, garlic, ginger and chili powder.

The Wine: 2015 Schönburger. Let’s add a little exotic, cooling flare with Black Widow’s 2015 Schönburger. The rare variety is a Germanic crossing of Pinot Noir with another crossing of Chasselas and Muscat Hamburg. Continue reading →

Pair It Up! Niche Wine & Picnic Fare

‘Tis the season and all that, right? I’m thinking about picnics more and more, and we can use the term loosely here – so lay out your blanket in a park, on a beach, or just step out onto the balcony of your apartment.

With the summer sun, we’re looking light and lively. Jamie Oliver has a Cracking Cobb Salad, Rob Feenie has an awesome potato salad, and Martha Stewart has a delicious Turkey Caprese Sandwich on offer. So wines to go with this style of food should be light and lively as well, for sure. Lately, I’ve found myself smitten with the wines of Niche Wine Co. Continue reading →

Canadian Winery Spotlight: JoieFarm

For over ten years now, British Columbia’s JoieFarm winery has been producing wines that can be considered ‘the Okanagan in a glass.’ Though that sounds cliché, from where I’m swirling my glass – I consider it to be true. First, the wines always carry the region’s hallmark acidity, keeping things well-balanced and refreshing. Second, they’re quite expressive of the Okanagan’s mineral-rich soils, the remnants of glacial movement thousands of years ago. Finally, those long, sunny days are reflected in the ripeness and purity of fruit no matter the label. Vintage 2015 was a good one here in B.C., long and sunny, allowing for fruit to properly ripen without the threat of winter frost coming early. There were fires in the area at times during the summer, but vineyards and grapes were fortunately unscathed. Continue reading →

Canadian Winery Spotlight: Rollingdale Winery

I first met Steve Dale, the proprietor and winemaker of West Kelowna, BC’s Rollingdale Winery over ten years ago when I was managing Aurora Bistro in Vancouver. Chef Jeff Van Geest, now ably running the show at Miradoro in the South Okanagan, opened the restaurant as an homage to all things British Columbian; food, wine and craft beer. B.C. wine being good was still a relatively new thing to people, and while we had more than a handful of skeptics through the doors in those days, there were some who were enthusiastic for any opportunity to discover more and more of the ever-improving wines our province was offering. Continue reading →

Pair It Up! Peach & Pink Wine

A couple of months back, my wife and I moved to Chinatown in Vancouver. While it’s only a few blocks from our former neighbourhood of Mt. Pleasant, the move has made for a few notable changes in our lives. The biggest change has been with how we eat. We have to venture further than we used to for simple things that were always quite easy to come by, everything from fresh dill and cherry tomatoes to, well, personal staples like bread and cheese. Continue reading →

Canadian Winery Spotlight: LaStella Winery

Just yesterday, I had a chance to sit with Rasoul Salehi, managing partner and director of sales and marketing for British Columbian sister wineries Le Vieux Pin and LaStella. I’ve long been a fan of both, but I’ve found that I’ve gravitated to the French-inspired wines of Le Vieux Pin more often lately, inadvertently giving the Italian-inspired wines of LaStella the cold shoulder.

When I asked him to refresh me on the philosophy behind LaStella Winery, he first talked to the whites. “We’re encouraged by the Northern Italian whites of Trentino-Alto Adige, wines that respected producers like Continue reading →