A Sip of History: Who is Joseph Renyi?

If the town of Oliver is going to call itself "The Wine Capital of Canada", there should be at least a little credit given to the first person to plant in a vineyard there. Though this person did not necessarily make wine commercially from those grapes, he was an early champion of the potential for …

Apples to apples, must to must…

The Okanagan Valley (and yes, the Similkameen too...) are what most people think about when they think about B.C. wine (or #BCwine, if you prefer). Most of the grape production happens in these regions and it far and away the dominant presence in the province's wine industry. What does that do to the other regions …

A Sip of History: Where Credit is Due

Over the course of researching for Valleys of Wine, I was extremely lucky to meet so many amazing people. Two of those people left me in amazement. This wasn't because of their characters or personalities (both of which were huge) but that their contributions to the wine industry in B.C. have gone largely ignored. Even …

A Sip of History: BC’s First Winery

One of the first questions that I am asked when talking about the history of British Columbia's wine industry is, "Which winery was the first?" I can think of at least 3 wine shops that I've been to where they claim to be the first winery, oldest vineyard, or the first to use this or …

True Wine Adventures in Nakusp: Valley of the Springs Winery

If you are looking for a real wine adventure, this is it. Visiting a wine region that currently only has one winery means that it is adventure you'll be seeking and not a full day of wine touring. Nakusp, BC is located near the mid-point of the Upper Arrow Lakes and just like the Okanagan, …

River Stone Estate Winery

River Stone Estate Winery should be on your radar by now. If you haven't been able to try their wines, any of them, then you are missing out on the authentic boutique B.C. wine experience.  I featured them on a podcast way back in 2011 but had met owners Ted and Lorraine Kane some time …

Kelowna Museums Lecture Series Begins

Join me online next Tuesday, July 7th on Zoom! It is by donation to the Kelowna Museum, which was absolutely instrumental in my research for writing "Valleys of Wine". I hope to see you then!

Ontario quarantines its wine industry for another year

Oh Ontario. More news to file until the "Not really that surprising" category. Ontario's Ford government has extended the restriction on receiving interprovincial shipments of wine through their regulations. Wine lawyer Mark Hicken posted today that the Ontario government has amended the law to restrict wine shipments from outside of the province for another year …

How many Gold Medals are there?

On my first wine tour in the Okanagan, the very first winery offered us a tasting of their gold medal-winning Gewurztraminer. We loved it and bought a bottle. Then, at the next winery, we were offered a tasting of their gold medal-winning Gewurztraminer. It was good too and we bought that as well. Driving away, …

Who listens to podcasts these days?

Podcasts have been around for well over a decade now. When I first started producing the Wine Country BC podcast in 2009, it was not new technology, but I often had to explain to people how to listen to them. Apple released the Podcasts app beginning with the iPhone 4 and podcasts started to take …