Wine Country BC

It was an honour to be included in this fun book review from The Ormsby Review last October. Nice to see that they also included photos of Oak Estate Winery and Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars along with some cool historical shots from B.C.'s wine history in the article. https://ormsbyreview.com//10/25/951-engleson-whittall-wine/

More "nooo-ance" from Laura Milnes. The soap box is getting up there but someone needs to do it and she is fantastic about it. Important things to consider about wine competitions. https://www.silkandcoupe.com//are-wine-awards-purely-a-mar

There hasn't been a whole lot to celebrate this past year so small victories are worth celebrating. After a year of uncertainties with jobs, limited times to gather to play to play music, and the constant spectre of the pandemic, some good news came to me unexpectedly this fall that I felt was worth celebrating. I am writing another book and just signed the contract this past week!... http://winecountrybc.blog/2020/12/12/a-new-door-to-opens/

If you haven't heard of Corcelettes Estate Winery Talus yet, you need to read this post by Hired Belly Tim Pawsey. https://hiredbelly.com/corcelettes-flagship-talus-qui/18241

Who wants to win a free calendar of winery dogs, pooches, and fur babies? Check out the bottom of this post... https://winecountrybc.blog/2020/12/03/vintage-pooches/

Benny from Seven Stones Winery in Cawston, after passing his tractor license. (Photo by Troy Townsin) In touring wineries, I've encountered many wine dogs over the years. I think that it belittles them to call them mascots because they often do a lot more work than any mascot could. Some have real jobs to do like scaring away bears and patrolling vineyards for birds or other pests in addition to welcoming visitors to the winery.... http://winecountrybc.blog/2020/12/03/vintage-pooches/

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 grapes in the Oliver area. [ 750 more words ] http://winecountrybc.blog//a-sip-of-history-who-is-joseph/

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 that are now growing grapes and making wine? [ 473 more words ] http://winecountrybc.blog///apples-to-apples-must-to-must/

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 the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society's Harry McWatters Founds Award [ 2,177 more words ] http://winecountrybc.blog//a-sip-of-history-where-credit-/

Here's a writeup from Okanagan College about my new online course about the history of the wine industry in BC. You can take this course from anywhere! https://www.okanagan.bc.ca//new-oc-course-will-take-studen

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 that. Most of the time, I just quietly roll my eyes since I never really cared who was actually the first to do anything. [ 805 more words ] http://winecountrybc.blog//a-sip-of-history-bcs-first-win/