Torch Relay goes through Wine Country
Legendary broadcaster Terry David Mulligan carries the torch through Penticton this week
A story that hasn't quite penetrated the consciousness of most of us out here on the mellow "Wet Coast" is the fact that communities across Canada have been lit up with excitement by the Olympic Torch Relay. Very soon that flame will be trekked across Metro Vancouver and Whistler. It's been winding its way around BC since last week, and on Monday it was carried north through the Okanagan Valley, the heart of BC wine country.
Harry Hertscheg talks about the 2010 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival
A toast from Harry – the Playhouse Wine Fest's manager talks 2010
Harry Hertscheg, the Executive Director of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, recently spoke to Taste and Sip Magazine about his experiences with organizing the Festival over the past eight years. We thought our readers might like to read what our old friend has to say about Canada's biggest wine festival.
Harry describes his commitment to the Festival as an ongoing process:
I work on four festivals at a time: evaluating the last one; organizing the current one; planning the next one; and imagining the one after that.
The 2010 Festival, which runs from April 19 - 25, 2010 will focus on theme regions New Zealand and Argentina, and a global focus on Rosés.
One of the Festival highlights, the International Festival Tasting, will be held at its new location in the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 22, 23 and 24th, from 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM each evening. This is the place to be if you are a wine lover!
Sounds like it's going to be another fabulous event! Check here for the full interview with Harry.
Northwest appellation wins top wine award
Yes, we're all about BC wine here at this blog, but we also take a certain pride in what our neighbours to the south have achieved. In fact, the more we learn about winemaking in BC, the more we are compelled to learn about what's happening in Washington state.
A couple months ago the respected publication Wine Spectator produced its Top 100 wines, settling on Washington's Columbia Crest winery 2005 Columbia Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon as their Wine of the Year.
In a twist of fate, we went out to The Keg restaurant for a steak dinner that weekend, and on the menu was a Columbia Crest Cab Sauv (pictured here) but not the reserve. All of us at dinner raved about the wine, giving me an excuse to seek it out at our local liquor stores.
Luckily, BC Liquor Stores do stock the non-reserve label we drank at The Keg, and a reserve label and a very fine Merlot. I picked up a case of Columbia Crest selections and we managed to work through them all during the holidays.
O, we like this kind of attention
Oprah's O magazine is promoting Inniskillin Ice Wine – click for full image
Just got this note from Kate (Twitter: @2010wines)...
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, but also the 2010 Winter Games: Inniskillin is sponsoring the Ice Gate at the Richmond O Zone and will have a 60 FOOT Icewine tasting bar open to the public.
In case you've not heard about the O-Zone in Richmond, or many of the great free venues for the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games, go check out this link at CityCaucus.com. It's likely that BC wine will be flowing at many events, such as at the BC Pavilion.
Go Canada! Go BC Wine!!
Wine Tripper iPhone app (BC Edition) first look
Wine Tripper (BC Edition): How about packing around BC wine data around in your pocket? Click for larger image
We got a note from the developer of Wine Tripper, a pretty cool iPhone app priced at a very reasonable $2.99, and we were asked to check it out. I've not experienced too many of the several wine apps on the market, but Wine Tripper looks like a great tool for the BC wine traveler, or anyone who just happens to like BC wine.
The interface is very simple like most iPhone apps. You get three buttons to begin:
- Region Map
- Wineries
- Your Wines
The Region Map is a straight up Google Map with push pins for every winery located within certain regions. My first look at a dense region full of wineries like Naramata showed that there were some newer spots missing – for example Ruby Tuesday winery which just opened next door to Red Rooster.
Also, for some reason Lang Vineyards winery is located in the heart of the town of Naramata, when it's actually up the hill somewhat. Perhaps they have a P.O. Box address at the town post office? I'm sure it's easily fixed, but it could prove confusing to travelers.
Keeping up with the numbers of small, and some excellent new wineries may be one of the tougher challenges for the developer. However, it's incumbent on the industry and the businesses themselves to make sure that their locations are well-known. Someday perhaps an open data system will be developed by Tourism BC, or the BC Wine Institute so marketers and developers can easily promote the industry.
The Wineries section I particularly love as the address and contact info is listed for each wine destination, as well as operating hours and months of the year they're open. This will be very handy, especially for people visiting during off-peak seasons.
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