Monthly Archives: October 2009

Reservations on Reserves

Well, I thought I had done it: found a cheap wine that tasted good. But as I continue along my path of wine education, every step forward tells me I have a lot to learn. After browsing the limited stock of wines in the small town store where I live, I settled on a couple [...]

How Best to Serve Red Wine

As I express an interest in filling my wine rack with red wines to my friend, the Californian wine expert, she informs me that room temperature doesn’t mean room temperature. I was under the impression that red wine is supposed to sit and breathe and when it is room temperature it should be served. But [...]

Organic Labeling

Like many people these days, I am always looking for the green angle and the low price behind every purchase that I make and that includes what I choose to put in the wine rack. Organic wine is another popular buy these days but a little green wine education can ensure the wine you purchase [...]

Tasting Wildness

Apparently, bird-lovers try to time their visit to Delta, B.C. to coincide with a visit from hundreds, perhaps thousands of snow geese. My traveling companions and I felt guilty knowing that we got to see them without planning to. We were close enough to feel as though we could end up in an Alfred Hitchcock [...]

Bird-Necked Bottle Holder

Some people are really special. Gifted. They create items which do the unthinkable, such as support hundreds of passengers thousands of feet in the air; travel to the moon, or support something twice their weight by virtue of a well-chosen angle. I mean take the wine-bottle holder I saw at the Westham Island Winery in [...]

Wine Rack Store Finds a Very BC Wine

Strawberries and rhubarb grow all over British Columbia, make great jam for pretty gifts, and are very popular in pies. I love pie. When I lived in England pie was a rare treat. I discovered blueberry pie on the dessert list at a pub once and I got very excited. What a surprise, a taste [...]

Sherry Wines: A Growing Trend

I have been told that sherry wines are growing in popularity among wine drinkers so it seemed pertinent to do a little research. I want to add a bottle to the wine rack but need the basics to get started. Here is the skinny on sherry. Sherry is a fortified grape based wine traditional produced [...]

Promise of Prosperity Red

I did it. I finally took the bottle of red my friend gave me off its dusty spot on the wine rack and began my renewed education on the highs and lows of the modern wine world.   And, I was pleasantly surprised. The bottle was nothing special: a 2005 Cabernet Merlot called Prosperity Red. [...]

Evil Fruit Flies in the Wine Cellar

Drosophilia suzukii isn’t the name of a new car, wine, or wine accessory. It’s an evil little fruit fly that has recently appeared in the Willamette Valley vineyards of Oregon. The pestiferous spotted wing Drosophilia, originally from Japan and parts of Southeast Asia, has been found in numerous fruit crops, damaging roughly 20% of some [...]

Kanta Riesling 2005

I picked up this affordable priced imported vino last week and haven’t had the opportunity to taste it since I’ve been slowly polishing off other bottles. It appears I’ve been using more than the usual wine bottle stoppers in my wine tasting adventures; I suggest you all do the same as there’s no telling when [...]