Wine Country BC Vidcasts Now on You Tube

Hey Wine Country BC friends, wine lovers, and all you oenologically-oriented peeps out there!

I finally have a little time to put up a post about all the videos that I’ve been doing lately that are now available on You Tube. They are low-budget, punk-rawk videos that I take with my iPhone clamped to a broken mic stand but I can’t afford the real gear at this point. I just need to buy less wine and then I’d be able to save up for a nice video recorder. Honestly, I’d rather just get the wine and use what I’ve got.

The podcasts aren’t going anywhere – in fact there’s one in the works right now which will be available very soon – so keep checking back here, or on iTunes or Feedburner for the latest release. The podcasts will be less frequent than before since life in wine country seems to get a little busier at this time of year. But there will be lots more news, wine reviews, and conversations about BC wine coming up.

To those of you who have been reading this blog, watching the videos, and listening to the podcasts, a huge vintage THANK YOU. (That’s right, I busted out the all-caps for that.) When I first started in the wine industry and began to learn about wine, I soon figured out that wine people really like to share their wines. That’s all I’ve wanted this blog and podcast to be – a place for me to share with you what I love about wine in British Columbia.

A big Wine Country salute to you all! <CLINK CLINK>

~Luke

Click on any of the photos below to go to the You Tube page.

 

Rosé Revolution

Lorraine Kane of Riverstone and event organiser Beth Garrish

The revolution is now, or at least it was last Thursday, November 10, when a large tweet up was organized to celebrate Rosés around the world. In Oliver, the Wine Capital of Canada, we held ours at the Fairview Golf Club complete with live music and munchies.

Tinhorn Creek took the top tier for the best local rosé with their totally tasty 2Bench Rosé. This was an extra special treat since this wine is normally only available at Miradoro.

Live Tweetin', big-screen style

With Sarah Harker from Rustic Roots

Tweeting along with Shauna from 19th Hole B&B

Technical difficulties

First it was my laptop (which is now off to that great big Staples Depot in the sky), and then tonight, as I tried to produce episode 94 of the podcast, my desktop computer was being ‘glitchy’. Not a good sign. So just a little heads up that there might be a little delay in producing podcasts for a little while. Until then, I’ll be doing a little more work with videos and maybe even (gasp) writing a little bit more. We’ll see how long that lasts. Until then, happy sipping.

Cheers from wine country!
Luke

Vote for Penticton to host the 2012 Wine Blogger’s Conference

Hey everyone who’s ever seen this blog. We (the wine blogging community in BC) need your help to bring the Wine Blogger’s Conference to Penticton for 2012. Please go to this post and add your comment stating that Penticton and the Okanagan Valley would be a great place to host this weekend-long event.

Still not convinced? If you aren’t sure why you should vote for Penticton, check out this specially-produced video to help you decide.

The comments will be closing on Wednesday so vote right away!! Thank you from all of us in wine country! Cheers!

(PS – This week’s podcast will be delayed slightly – can you wait until Thursday?)

YouTubeBC

We’re now on YouTube! Catch up on wine country in monthly videos of the valley and interviews with wine industry people. You can have the sights and sounds of wine country all year. Subscribe! Send us comments! Plan your wine tour! Learn about all the great wines from Wine Country BC! Cheers!

News and Follow Up

Hey BC Wine lovers!

I just have a few things to post before I forget them. They are not big enough for a whole post of their own and so they must be a part of this postlet.

Screw the Corks

I have just a quick followup to the Cork vs Screwcap debate - Check out these vids from the 100% Cork organization (on the Cherries & Clay blog). The other side of that coin would be the International Screwcap Initiative, which doesn’t have quite as sexy a campaign going on at the moment, although that might change. I’m still not quite at the end of George Taber’s book To Cork or Not To Cork and now feel that with all the different closures available (Vino Lok’s, Stelvins, synthetic corks, Twin Tops, crown caps, and Zorks (used by Rocky Creek Winery in Cowichan Bay), we should probably tackle this topic again in a future podcast. There are certainly lots of opinions about which is best and what people prefer. I’ve had customers look down their noses on great wines sealed with screw tops and others who still think that there is a shortage of corks in the world and only buy screw tops. In any case, there needs to be much more discussion about this.

Conscious Wine.com

Former Wine Country BC Podcast guest Jeff Weissler’s new version of the website Conscious Wine.com will be up and running shortly after numerous delays to their launch. The new site has hours and hours of videos and podcasts along with tons of resources. There is information on wine appreciation and what to expect from a sustainably farmed bottle of wine. While their list of wineries hasn’t quite yet reached into Washington State, you can learn a lot about the concepts of sustainability and ask the producers here in BC what they are doing to be sustainable. You can listen to the interview with Jeff in Podcast #50 here or on iTunes.

New Street Names in Oliver

The Town of Oliver, Wine Capital of Canada, is in the process of renaming its streets. It is still going through the various stages of committees and reports but just to warn you that your next trip to wine country might be a little confusing to you and your GPS. This is the proposal and this is a great local news website that carries stories and opinions about all the goings on that happen in the Wine Capital of Canada.

The roads where the wineries are located are largely outside of the town and so won’t be affected by the changes. (Although it would be kind of funny to think about what Road 13 Vineyards would do if the name of their road were changed to Princess Lane…)

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Barbro Höglund from Sweden who won the 3rd copy of the new Wineries of the Okanagan map from Environ Geomatics. The correct answer was Kettle Valley (on Hayman Road in Naramata) and Rollingdale (on Hayman Road in West Kelowna).

There will be more quiz questions coming up in future podcasts so stay tuned for your chance to win special items direct from Wine Country.

Dinner and an Airshow

Just so you know, sometimes living in wine country has perks that have nothing to do with wine. For example, while making dinner on Friday we heard the roar from an airplane engine taking off from the Oliver airport. No biggie, happens now and then. There are a few antique warbirds that live at the airport there and now and then they go out for a spin.

But then it happened again with louder roars and we looked out to see two more planes taking off in formation. They circled around gaining altitude and forming up before then cruising south down the valley. Then about 15 minutes later, it happened again with another 2 planes. They buzzed around for about an hour doing loops, barrel rolls and all sorts of stuff. We later learned from a local news website that there were formation flying classes going on. Anyways, cool things sometimes happen here when they’re least expected.

Oliver Mudslide – Revisited

Now that the shock of this event has worn off and the news cameras have moved on, some of you might be wondering what the Oliver mudslide is looking like at the moment. It’s easy to miss it if you are driving on highway 97 because it goes by almost as quickly as it happened. However, this will be something that this community will not forget for some time.

The first photo was taken from a similar angle to the one on my previous entry about the mudslide. Testalinden Creek has now carved itself a smaller path and it less torential than it appeared on the evening of the slide, when the lake high above on Mt. Kobau still had more water to drain.

The mud has dried and is essentially loose dirt with large rocks scattered throughout. While it still looks a little rough now, both man and nature will reclaim this land again. I’m kind of curious to follow the renewal of the properties along Testalinden Creek over the next few years. In 1983, Tinhorn Creek (the creek, not the winery) experienced a mudslide which is now largely forgotten and wouldn’t be noticed by tourists or people new to the area. An article in the Osoyoos Times printed a photo and description of the events as recounted by a witness to the damage to the property that would later become Tinhorn Creek Winery.

Nature can build and destroy, sometimes with the same stroke. The Okanagan Valley, with forest fires, extreme heat, deep lakes and natural geological wonders, is a great place to witness it firsthand.

Smokanogan Valley

It’s been smokey and hazy here now for well over a week. Sometimes the sun peeks through but otherwise, this is what wine country as become this month. These shots are looking south and east from the old Fairview town site, which normally has one of the best views of the southern part of the valley (including the Golden Mile).

The driveway for Fairview Cellars is on the right.

 

Looking east towards the town of Oliver.