Podcast 108 – Road 13 Sparkling Chenin Vertical with Bailey Williamson

Sometimes a casual conversation turns into an amazing opportunity. Such is the case with this podcast. Bailey Williamson, former assistant wine maker at Road 13 Vineyards in Oliver, and I were talking one day and he asked me if I was still making podcasts. I said yes and he thought it would be a great excuse to taste through the first 3 vintages of the Sparkling Chenin Blanc that he had made at Road 13.

Hello! 3 vintages of one of my favorite sparkling wines?? I think I could make some time for that, no problem. One went the text messages and before you could say “riddling rack”, we were recording, popping crown caps and enjoying that very special vertical. What a treat!

It’s a long episode, but filled with some great comments on wine making, sparkling wine, and how wines can change over time. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast 107 – The Sim, Part 2 – Steve Venables from Forbidden Fruit

The Similkameen Valley, Part 2

On this podcast, I interviewed Steve Venables from Forbidden Fruit Winery in the southern end of the Canadian part of the Similkameen Valley. The valley narrows here slightly and the winding Similkameen River flows calmly just a few steps away from the wine shop. Since the day was so calm, I decided to record this interview outside in this idilic setting. The sound of the river and the birds around it are naturally part of this recording.

Podcast 106 – The Sim, Part 1 – John Weber of Orofino

Wine touring is all about meeting your expectations. The chance to breeze through the vineyards in wine country as you seek and sip your favorite bottles. If you are looking for a lively wine touring experience filled with grand showcase wineries, majestic lake views, quaint gift shops, and opulent destination resorts, then keep moving down Route 3 to the Okanagan. There’s nothing like that in this valley.

Welcome to the Similkameen Valley. Forget about Starbucks, there aren’t even traffic lights in this part of the world. The focus here is on living a natural lifestyle. It’s not hard to forget about natural since it literally towers over you in this deep and extremely scenic valley.

It is in Cawston, in the most southerly region of the Similkameen that John and Virginia Weber have chosen to build their winery, Orofino. Crafting mostly single-vineyard variety-based wines along with a blend or two, the emphasis at Orofino has been quality. The roster of growers, many of whom are also neighbors, are luckily in simpatico with their desire to create intense, complex, age-worthy, and tasty wines. The relationship between grower and vintner can be tricky waters to navigate because each may have different goals in mind regarding quality and quantity. Orofino has managed to create a spectacular lineup of wines with their growers because the focus extends beyond the simple goal of selling products. The goal here is great wine made in a great community. The relationships in this region are evidently stronger than the need to be competitive.

Evidence of this comes through even in the best of times. When I sat down with John Weber in mid-February, it was just days before Orofino’s Syrah 2009 took home the gold medal as the top wine at the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna on February 11th. In a Similkameen Wineries Association press release soon after, John thanked the growers of the winning Syrah, Murray and Maggie Fonteyne of Cawston’s Scout Vineyard “for their terrific work in growing these grapes for us.” When one wins, everyone wins. Welcome to the Sim.

Wines Tasted in this podcast:

Riesling 2007

Gamay 2010

Pinot Noir 2009

Syrah 2009

Passion Pit Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Beleza 2009

(EXCLUSIVE! If you listen very carefully, John will mention a special new wine to be released this coming spring! You heard it here first!)

Podcast 105 – Eat Drink Tweet 2012

The second Eat.Drink.Tweet conference was held Feb 17-19 and has proven itself to be one of the best social media conferences in BC. I had a chance to chat with several wine producers and conference attendees as well as conference organizer Allison Markin of All She Wrote in this very special podcast.

Listen to the podcast here or download it at iTunes.

 

The ladies of 3 Mile Winery (@3milewinery)

Podcast 104 – Sweet Clos

Late harvest wines are becoming more and more popular these days and Clos du Soleil from the Similkameen Valley have entered their take on it with “Saturn”. Nick and I take this one for a spin on this week’s podcast.

Podcast 103 – Battle of the Frizzies

The gang is back and this time we are tasting a couple of wines that are part of a growing trend in BC wine – Frizzanté. 8th Generation started it in 2009 with their Chardonnay and The View takes a spin with their Distraction Frizzanté. Will there be more Frizzies in the future? Let’s hope so. (There is one winery that has one in the works – check out future podcasts to find out who.) Until then, switch out the corkscrew for a bottle opener and enjoy!

Podcast 102

This week on the podcast, we taste the Traveller from 3 Cru, part of Kalala Organic Estates from West Kelowna.

Podcast 101 – Fairview’s Sauvignon Blanc

If you need to find an out-of-the-way boutique winery where the wines are truly made in the vineyard, you need to go visit Bill at Fairview Cellars. You will have a great time. Ask him to play piano. Cheers!

Podcast 100 – Celebrating a milestone with Desert Hills

2 and a half years, 87 wines, 7 co-hosts, 2 theme songs, a barrel of interviews, countless ”Right-on”s and now we have reached a milestone here in Wine Country BC – 100 episodes of our flagship podcast.

Helping me taste and chat my way through some of BC’s best (and not-so-best) wines, I have been extremely lucky to have a great team of wine lovers join me on the podcast. Aaron, Amber, AJ, Calli, Jeanette, Maya, and Nick have all been awesome in helping keep things interesting.  We all have different tastes and it’s been a great treat to get to explore some of the great wines we produce here with you. Thank you so much for being part of this special podcast.

I would also like to thank all the wine makers, winery owners, wine writers, personalities and publishers who have spoken so clearly into my microphone over the last couple of years. BC wine is a unique and strong community because of you and I’m honoured that you took the time to talk with me. Thank you.

This podcast would be useless were it not for listeners and readers like yourself. If you are listening at home, in your car, or while working in a vineyard, thank you so very much for letting us be a part of your day.

With a special podcast like this, we needed a special wine. I had a preview of this wine before its release and I was so taken with it that I knew it would be the one to use for the 100th episode. We taste the Desert Hills Ambassador Port-style wine and talk about our favorite wines from the past year.

Cheers from wine country!

~Luke

 

Podcast 99 – We get killed

Nick and I are dead. Killed by a Cab from New West. It’s at a better price than I remember it being in the past so at least we get a good value out of it. Check out our impressions in this week’s podcast.