hello

The BC Cider Festival Year 2.  The Cider makers pour at The Pipe Shop.

  

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

THE SHOW

Its Official..I’m a Certified Cider Head.

Happily, I don’t appear to be alone.

Lots of us are discovering that the sweet icky cider our parents consumed has disappeared. It’s been replaced by a growing army of cider makers..from around the World and best of all – right here in BC.

I had some catching up to do having missed the first BC Cider Festival.

I was delighted to find out that all of the participating ciders would be pouring at The Pipe Shop, foot of Lonsdale in North Vancouver.

The Pipe Shop

(The very shop that my Father,  HD “Pat” Mulligan worked in as WW2 was beginning)

I had a hunch that when they opened the main doors at 1:30 it was going to get crazy..and it did.

So, I started early as the tables were being set up and talked to as many Cideries as I could.

You can hear the room get louder and louder as first the staff worked the room, then the cider trade people tasted and finally when the  general public came in..I couldn’t even get near the tables and my work was done.

This was such a great  learning experience for me. My hope is that it’s the same for you.

There are so many great stories here. Ciders made from blends of apples, heritage apples planted and forgotten about over the years and apples discovered, grown and harvested in Vancouver’s East End.

Backyard apples made into first class Ciders.

I hope you  find your new  favourite cider in the next hour.  Cheers!!

Big thanks to Txotx Imports and Massey Wines.

Guests on this week’s  Cider festival Special include :

Txotx Imports  –  Sean Pisio    (Organizer)

BC Tree Fruits –  Nadine Harrison (asst. winemaker) Kelowna

Kate Pedersen – Left field Cider  (Logan Lake)

Naramata Cider Co – Miranda Halliday (co-owner)  Naramata

Ward’s Cider – Mike Anderson  (cidermaker)  Kelowna

Raven’s Moon – Quinn Ehrler     (owner and cellar rat)  Courtney

Nomad Cider – Brad Klammer    (Co-owner)  Summerland

Salt Spring Wild Cider   –   Mike Lachelt & Greda Lattey  (co-owners / cidermakers)  Salt Spring

Salt Spring Wild Tasting Room

Howling Moon Cider – Nik & Kate Durisek (owners / cidermakers) Oliver

Twisted Hills Cider – Kaylan Madeira (owner/cidermaker)  Cawston

Cedar Cider – Gabriel Jefferies (co-owner)  Hazelmere

Sea Cider – Kristen Needham  (founder / cidermaker)  Saanichton

Windfall Cider – Jeff Nairn (co-founder)  East Vancouver

Dominion Cider – Robin Cairns  (co-founder)  Summerland

The boys from Dominion Cider – (courtesy of Montecristo magazine)

Second Page   Samantha Chamberland   Courtney/Comox

…and the winners are:

http://bcciderfest.ca/

STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Margaret Leonardi – Winemaker at Adorada Wines (Mendocino)

Mary McDermott – Winemaker at Township 7

Chef Andrey Durbach – Brings great Italian for Vancouver Island

The first Cowichan Wine Festival

Okanagan Stories from

Bill Eggert Fairview Cellars

Randy Toor  Desert Hills/Rajen Toor  Ursa Major

Dylan/Penelope Roche  Roche Wines

Gordon Fitzpatrick – Fitzpatrick Family Vineyards (#3 in Canada and #1 Small Winery in BC)

And a visit with Joseph Luckhurst from  the Canadian Winery of the Year Road 13

The 7^th annual Four friends fishing at Gowlland Resort Campbell River

(with Rhys Pender, Chef Mark Filatow, John Weber and meee)

hello

Road 13 wins Canadian Winery of the year and Top Drop 2018 Part One

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

The SHOW

The phone rang at Road 13 this week. It was Anthony Gismondi from Wine Align looking for Joseph Luckhurst, managing partner and son of founders Mick and Pam Luckhurst.

Joe was delighted to find out that after moving up in the Top Ten wineries of Canada year-after-year..they finally nailed the big prize. Canadian Winery of the Year.

There were  1,850 entries from 257 different wineries from seven provinces however if you look at the total wins they had ..the prize was truly well earned.

Platinum  – Road 13 Vineyards 2016 Roussanne
Gold – Road 13 Vineyards 2017 Chip off the Old Block Chenin Blanc
Gold – Road 13 Vineyards 2016 Syrah
Gold – Road 13 Vineyards 2013 5th Element
Gold – Road 13 Vineyards 2014 Jackpot Petit Verdot
Gold – Blind Creek Collective 2015 Consensus
Gold – Blind Creek Collective 2016 Cabernet Franc
Gold – Blind Creek Collective 2016 Petit Verdot
Gold – Blind Creek Collective 2017 Viognier
Silver –  Road 13 Vineyards 2016 GSM
Silver –  Blind Creek Collective 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon
Bronze – Road 13 Vineyards 2016 Seventy-Four K
Bronze – Road 13 Vineyards 2016 Jackpot Syrah
Bronze – Road 13 Vineyards 2016 Cabernet Merlot
Bronze – Blind Creek Collective 2016 Chardonnay

We’ll visit Road 13 shortly and to a  sit down interview with Joseph.

Congratulations to the complete team behind the winery. To growers, hospitality, cellar and tank crews, crush rats, administration and marketing. Best of all Road 13 is one of our sponsors.

www.road13vineyards.com

It’s The Main Event.  Top Drop Vancouver:  Terroir and Craft.

The best small wine festival everrrrrrrr.

Once again Kurtis Kolt and his partner Jeff Curry and a sensational team have convinced some of the very best winemakers to pour at The Roundhouse in Vancouver.

What they have in common is craft and care!

In Kurtis’ column in the Georgia Straight he said this:

Each year, our process begins the same. Our team casts out a wide net to British Columbia–based importers and wineries, asking for winery applications to participate in the event.  First and foremost, Top Drop wineries must fit with our general philosophy: that wines, indeed, express terroir or offer a sense of place.

Whether we’re talking vines grown in mineral-rich soils or under cool-climate growing conditions bringing bright acidity or in sun-drenched regions offering generous, opulent fruit and so on, we want those elements to be notable in the glass and for them to have arrived there authentically, rather than via heavy-handed additions in the winery.

Sustainable farming is also key. There is a high priority on those who employ these methods while farming their own fruit or who work with growers who fit the mould.

The other major component is a commitment to partner with producers who rarely visit Vancouver or have never been here before, so we can offer local wine enthusiasts a unique experience.

We came up with a roster of 33 international and local producers we’re extremely proud of.

The whole reason I do what I do for a living is to share my enthusiasm for awesome wine with those who may be pickin’ up what I’m layin’ down. It’s one thing to write or Tweet or Instagram about something and hope for the best, but all cards on the table: it’s a whole other thing when I can play a part in actually bringing these fantastic people and their wines right to you, and even be in the room when you try them!  Kurtis Kolt!

I went crazy and did enough interviews for Two Shows.. Here’s Part One

 Kurtis Kolt – Organizer and wine educator. Wine writer for The Georgia Straight.

Paul Leary – President Blackbird Vineyards  (Napa)

David Scholefield – Wines of Chile

David Patterson – GM and Winemaker at Tantalus (Kelowna)

Justin Fairweather – Partner. Alpha Box and Dice (Australia)

Jane Ferrari – Winemaker.Ambassador Yalumba (Barossa. Australia)

Jay Drysdale –  Owner/Winemaker Bella (Naramata Bench)

DJ Kearney – NewDistrict.Ca (Vancouver)

Simon Black – Winemaker Montalto (Australia)

Virginie Taupenot –  Taupenot-Merme   (France)

NEXT WEEK Part Two:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS

Stories we’re working on:

Road 13 – Winery of the year – The full story.

Fitz Winery finds a lot of new friends.

Elizabeth Gabay – Master of Wine and author of Rose. Understanding the pink wine revolution

Andrey Durbach – opens IL Falcone in Courtney

Margaret Leonardi pours Adorada

Township 7. New wines. New labels. New Directions.

NEXT /WEEK – Top Drop Two

Podcast on iTunes