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March 5, 2009 | Tips from Travellers > Whistler, Wine Tours
Have you ever been on a restaurant tour? We went out with Whistler Tasting Tours to check out the Whistler dining scene. We heard about them from a friend that had been out with them and urged us to do a weekend trip away from the city. What a fabulous way to experience a bunch of different venues where we tasted a variety of culinary delights and local BC wines.
We had everything from dim sum and cocktails to butternut squash ravioli to delightful cheesecake dessert with Inniskillin icewine. I thought we might be rushed trying to make it through 5 restaurants, but the night flowed quite smoothly. We had more than enough time to enjoy the food and wine since it was ready as soon as we came into each place. The idea to use playing cards to let us know it was time to go was a nice touch. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the night was the walking between restaurants chating with friends and our firendly guide.
All in all it was a lovely getaway to Whistler. We stayed at the Pan Pacific, which was a super location, and a very nice room. But most of all, it was nice to have a truly unique dining experience that we'll remember for years.
January 29, 2009 | Field Reports > Kamloops, Wine Tours
I took a trip up to the Sun Peaks Ski Resort near Kamloops, BC, and just happened to arrive during their annual Ice Wine Festival.. The festival features the best wines and foods of the Okanagan, the chocolate was pretty good as well!
March 23, 2007 | Tips from Travellers > Kelowna, Wine Tours
View a larger image on flickr.com
With 14 wineries in the Kelowna area, most of us have to pick only a handfull per day to visit - especially if we swallow the mouthfull of wine in a tasting more often than we spit it out! Sure, the seasoned wine lover knows that it increases your stamina for winery visits if you don't actually drink the wine that you taste, but most of us can't bear the thought of not drinking at least some of the wine in our glass! And if we have a designated driver, then why not? But when wine touring in Kelowna, be sure to incorporate some of that fabulous food that the Okanagan grows and serves up. Many wineries have their own restaurants and the cuisine is fabulous!
But for this entry, I wanted to tell you about Carmelis Goat Cheese Farm, just a short drive further south from the city from CedarCreek Estate Winery. It's the best "cheesy" attraction in Kelowna! The other good news is that incorporating a little cheese tasting into your winery tour will help to expand your wine tour stamina and energy. At Carmelis, over 20 varieties of goat cheese are expertly crafted right on site, with farm tours available to those who book in advance, and cheese tasting in their shop for drop in visitors. The cheeses are specialty items for Kelowna, so be sure to bring some home as a souvenir (even if you devour it soon after you return!). Or you may just want to serve it up with some area wine once you get back to your accommodations - just pick up a baguette at a local bakery, some fruit at a fruit stand or orchard, and your special Kelowna picnic is all set!
March 15, 2006 | Tips from Us > Vancouver, Wine Tours
Spring is slowly making it's way into Vancouver so it was time for my first gelato of the season. There are lots of great places to get ice cream and gelato and picking a flavour is always is a challenge for me.
So when I visited La Casa Gelato, I was in for the extreme challenge because La Casa Gelato offers over 200 flavours of gelato and ice cream. Reading all the labels can take a long time but it's fun to see al the different flavours. There are the everyday vanilla, chocolate, lemon and such. But they offer flavours that range from interesting such as Guinness Draft or Pear Gorgonzola to very interesting such as wasabi or garlic. They offer free samples so you don't have to commit to anything to try it.
La Casa Gelato is located somewhat off the beaten path in a bit of an industrial part of town at 1033 Venables St (view on Google Maps ). But it's but near Commercial Drive , where you can, among other things, enjoy other Italian foods.
March 8, 2006 | Tips from Us > Vancouver, Wine Tours
I attended and volunteered for the wine festival this past weekend and I just wanted to let you know this was a fantastic event if you enjoy wine or if you are looking for new wines to purchase to take to dinner parties! The evening tastings were held at the Vancouver Convention Centre at the Waterfront and the theme region this year was France. There were 60 wineries serving 240 wines from 7 different regions in France (including Champagne). Altogether the festival had 750 wines, 185 wineries and 15 countries participating this year. Besides noticing people getting friendlier as the night progressed, the evening consisted of wine tasting, food sampling and a dance performance by a group of gals (Can-Can style type dancing). My recommendations for next year, is to attend the tasting room on the first night (Thursday) as noted on the festivals website. It is less busy and you'll have a better chance of purchasing the hard-to-find wines in the Festival Wine Shop. When I went, the wines I wanted to purchase were all sold out. Oh! and be sure to have a bite to eat before hand! They do have samples of cheese, chocolate and other snacks but it won't fill your stomach. As for volunteering, this was my first year and I'll probably help again next year as it seemed to be a well organized event. It was run by a great group of people and lot's of volunteers who have been returning to help almost every year. I'm not sure how many times you have to volunteer in order to move from spit bucket removal to tearing tickets at the door. But whatever job I'm assigned to, I'll be there again next year!
December 22, 2005 | Tips from Us > Sun Peaks Resort, Wine Tours
The Sun Peaks
Icewine Festival is coming up in mid-January, and it's an event not to be missed. I attended last years festival, and had a great time. Held at
Sun Peaks , a ski resort in the BC interior (about 45 minutes from Kamloops), the festival is a celebration of harvest time for the icewine grapes. Icewine, for the uninitiated, is a sweet dessert wine which is created from grapes that are left on the vine until mid-winter. They are only harvested after the temperatures have dipped below freezing for an extended period, which freezes the grape right through. The solid grapes are then pressed, and the resulting sweet juice is fermented into a really remarkable drink. But the festival's activities aren't restricted to just dessert wines. Last year, I attended seminars that covered topics such as pairing wine with cheese, and another on
BC's unique wines and wine regions. But for me, the call of the outdoors was too much to keep me inside all day. A snowshoeing tour, a
snowbike lesson , and as much
skiing as I could fit in, put roses in my cheeks all weekend (really, it was because of the brisk outdoor activity, not the wine...) The highlight of the festival is the progressive tasting, where wineries are set up throughout the resort's village, and festival-goers, with glass in hand, wind (or weave) their way through the pedestrian streets to the many tasting tables. This year, the Sun Peak Icewine festival is January 19 - 22, 2006.
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