Tasting Room Radio

“Wine unplugged. It's the unfiltered, untamed, unphotoshopped version of what we know wine to be. Hand picked, no additives, little or no sulphites” It flies against the status quo. Challenges what people think is good wine” Madeline Puckette /Wine Folly   It’s Part Two on the Barnyard Wine Fair.   Wines that are natural, biodynamic, organic....

The 2025 Barnyard Wine Fair  Natural. Biodynamic. Organic.   THE SHOW Natural wine has arguably been the major movement of the 21st Century wine world, and for some it has also become a ‘lifetsyle choice’, writes Elin McCoy, ahead of the Raw wine fair in London and after visiting the New York version of the...

The stories behind 2024  Crafted in BC Wines from Clos du Soleil and Niche Wine. THE SHOW  Have you tasted any Crafted in BC Wines ?  Have you bought any Crafted in BC wines? If the answer is no, I have a question – Why?  These are excellent wines , made by Canadian winemakers & wineries, from prime...

True Dual Citizens: Winemakers Severine Pinte  & Grant Stanley   THE SHOW     Severine Pinte –  Chief Winemaker, viticulturist and managing partner Le Vieux Pin and LaStella  (South Okanagan)   This weeks TRR is part of an on-going series highlighting stories of cold snaps, badly damaged vines/vineyards and renewal! Both Le Vieux Pin/La Stella...

Michael Bartier Presents 2025 Crafted in BC Wines – Kurtis Kolt presents Top Drop 2025 THE SHOW Michael Bartier – Co-founder/Winemaker Bartier Bros (Black Sage Road) When I last talked to co-owner and winemaker Michael Bartier  at Bartier Bros on Black Sage Road,  South Okanagan, he had a total of 17 vineyards damaged due to 2...

Cowichan Spring Wine Pour  2025 You can your clock by it. The Cowichan Valley Wine Spring Wine Pour. Year 2025   The location may change from year to year, new faces may appear but one thing that’s always in the room is Cowichan Valley Pride!! The wine community all across the province is keeping a...

New releases, new labels, new sponsors.   Best Coast Distillers and Winemaker’s Cut/The Opera.     THE SHOW    Corey Wood/Cory Hastings – Best Coast Distillers  (North Saanich)   Best Coast Distillers have been really busy for the past couple of years. Planting necessary ingredients on their farm, building the distillery from the ground up, getting...

THE SHOW   Kathy Malone – Winemaker Hillside Winery If you haven’t already heard, April is BC Wine Month. Its also the month that we thank the four sponsors of Tasting Room Radio. When we started TRR the Summer of 2007, we made a pledge about the segment sponsors. If I’m going to talk about...

THE SHOW Kurtis Kolt – Wine Educator, Judge, Writer. (Vancouver) This is  a wild and crazy time in the wine business. As a result of the recent Winter cold snaps in the Okanagan, many vineyards were killed and what did survive offered up very small production possibilities. In order to survive, BC wineries were given...

Jason Parkes & Robbie Hundertmark – 12 Spring wines from Jason Parkes Customs/The Hatch (West Kelowna)   THE STORY   We welcome back – a dynamic duo. Jason Parkes is the founder of The Hatch in West Kelowna.  Labels include The Hatch, Black Swift Vineyards, Crown and Thieves. Each of those labels has a rapidly growing...

FREE SPIRIT VICTORIA –   non-alc.  zero-proof, alcohol free. A story of our times.   THE SHOW    For the first time under one roof in Victoria , importers will be joined by local BC makers from Vancouver Island, Vancouver, the Okanagan etc.,  to showcase the best alcohol-free wine, beer, spirits, and packaged cocktails available. Organized...

Hester Creek – The 2024 Columbia Valley Collection   Guests :  The Marks. Mark Sheridan – President Mark Hopley – Winemaker   It was only a matter of time before we all started to see the “out-of-province” wines of 2024. Due to 2 cold snaps, especially the Winter of early 24, BC Wineries were given...

Co-Hosted with This is Wine School -Part Two of  2025 VanWineFest    THE SHOW    This is Wine School are founders, educators and award-winning sommeliers Jenna Brisco, Kelcie Jones and Maude Renaud-Brisson.  We gathered in a small circle of chairs, surrounded by many 100’s of wine trade attendees constantly on the move at the convention...

It’s always one of the most exciting wine events on the calendar. The Vancouver International Wine Festival. Now in its 46th year. Over 27,000 bottles will be opened or sold. 20,000 wine fans attending 43 events. Over 1,000 different wines from 120 wineries and 15 countries. The featured region this year was California. When the wine...

Looking back on a volatile year in BC Wine. 2024 featured wildfires, floods, COVID, road closures, price, tax and wage increases and two cold snaps over two Winters. Vineyards were damaged or destroyed by the Winter freeze. Wineries and growers were facing a 2025 with little or no wines to cellar and sell. The Wine...

Heading for Hanks Cowichan and Kurtis Kolt explains “Everything”!   THE SHOW Hank’s – Provisions from The Cowichan Hank’s was originally going to be called “Hank & Ludo” named after our dog Hank and a gigantic bull mastiff named Ludo.  Then the name was shortened to just Hank’s. Hank, the dog,  is named after one of...

Interview with Grant Stanley – Winemaker at Spearhead. #1 Winery in Canada. And the BC Ale Trail  (Mid-Vancouver Island!)     THE SHOW    Grant Stanley – Winemaker and GM  Spearhead Winery (Kelowna)   Grant Stanley is the winemaker and general manager at SpearHead Winery,  on the south eastern slopes just outside Kelowna, BC. Grant...

Part Two of Victoria Whisky Festival   THE SHOW    It’s the second half of the 2025 Canadian Whisky Awards and  Victoria Whisky Festival     Our guests this week are: The Sons of Vancouver: (East Van) Jenna Diubaldo –   Blender and Whisky Program Manager James Lester – Founder-Blender-GM. (Middle)   Jenna –  A grad...

It’s early January. It’s Victoria. Must be Whisky Season!!   THE SHOW    It’s the first of two Whisky Specials from the 2025 Canadian Whisky Awards and the 2025 Victoria Whisky Festival. There are always headlining whiskies and star whisky makers in attendance! Whisky fans want to taste and explore the new releases from Crown...

Alderlea (Cowichan) and Meyer/Mayhem (Okanagan Falls)   THE SHOW North of Duncan, Vancouver Island lies Alderlea Vineyards.  Formerly home of Roger and Nancy Dosman.  Roger would talk about his Pinot Noir plantings until you ran out of batteries. Rightly so.  For over 20 years, they had beautiful Pinot Noir harvests. When they sold, Zac and Julie...

Changing BC Wines in 2025. Guests: Rhys Pender – Master of Wine/Little Farm Winery  (Similkameen) Kathy Malone – Winemaker at Hillside Estate  (Naramata Bench)   The SHOW There are so many elements in play during the 2025 BC wine growing season. AND it’s just started. Two cold snaps that damaged or killed many vines and vineyards over...

This is Wine School –  Kelcie Jones and Jenna Brisco wine educators And BIG NEWS:   BC Wineries can now sell directly to Alberta consumers.   The Guest is Paul Sawler. Board Chair Wine Growers of BC.   Plus sales & marketing for Dirty Laundry. THE SHOW    This is Wine School  Smaller, funny and essential wine school in Chinatown with...

Look who’s on a Roll – It’s this week’s guest,  Author Luke Whittall   Luke and his Sipster’s Pocket Guides Books. In the third volume in the popular  Sipster's Pocket Guide series, wine expert and educator Luke Whittall presents his latest top 50 British Columbia wines under $50 (including many under $30) and along the...

Complete  Interview with Anthony Gismondi: Co-founder of The Nationals!   THE SHOW   The 2024 National Wine Awards of Canada wrapped up in June in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Founded by Canadian wine experts David Lawrason and Anthony Gismondi, ‘The Nationals' are the largest and most respected Canadian wine competition. This year,  22 judges tasted 1,800...

Harry Hertscheg  2025 Van Wine Fest and Daenna van Mulligen New Reviews from Wine Diva     THE SHOW   Both of this weeks guests have become a  part of the fabric of Tasting Room Radio.   Harry Hertscheg is the Executive Director of the Vancouver International Wine Festival.  This is Year 46.   Harry...

Guests – John Weber  (Orofino) and Tony Buree  ( Domaine Artema)  THE SHOW  John Weber – co-founder of Orofino Vineyards (Similkameen Valley)   John and Virginia Weber have created not just one of the very best wineries in BC but Canada. Orofino is also Canada’s first strawbale winery and also solar powered. They’ve received Gold...

THE SHOW   Luke Smith – co-founder and chief winemaker of Howling Bluff (Naramata Bench)   It’s been a while since I “sat down” with Luke Smith from Howling Bluff on the Naramata Bench. Howling Bluff has been established for 20 years now.  Luke and family planted Pinot Noir, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc, and...

We’re nearing the end of a volatile year in BC Wine. It featured wildfires, floods, COVID, road closures, price, tax and wage increases and two cold snaps over two Winters. Vineyards were damaged or destroyed by the freeze. Wineries and growers were facing a 2025 with little or no wines to cellar and sell. The...

  New wineries in Garnet Valley, Solvero & Garnet Valley Ranch Plus  Two from Bottleneck Drive,  Dirty Laundry and Pamplemousse Jus.     As much as I like to follow the wines we all share, I'm equally driven by the people who make them. The battles they wage against weather and mankind! Best of all...

Dining at Pluvio – Top Chef with Lisa Ahier  and Two great locals you should know about. Life on The Edge in Ucluelet     THE SHOW    It started with the wild idea of fishing in Ucluelet, in early September when the crowds had gone home. I had in my pocket a card from...

THE SHOW Last week we featured Part Two of the Cowichan Spring Wine Releases.  10 interviews in total. This week, we're again set up in a very busy room. This time there are even more wineries pouring their Spring releases and all telling the stories that go with each. This week  we reconnect with the...

THE SHOW The annual Victoria Wine Festival just happened. I walked into a Trade Tasting looking for familiar faces and winemakers to interview. It turned out to be an almost all locals show. For me anyway. Chris Turyk from Unsworth was telling wine stories to an ever expanding group. Lots of interest in what's happening...

Look who’s on a Roll – It’s this week’s guest,  Author Luke Whittall   Luke and his Sipster’s Pocket Guides Books. In the third volume in the popular  Sipster's Pocket Guide series, wine expert and educator Luke Whittall presents his latest top 50 British Columbia wines under $50 (including many under $30) and along the...

Wine Witch on Fire – The Natalie MacLean Memoir.     THE SHOW  “Natalie MacLean had it all – an accomplished husband, a high-profile wine writing career and an email signature of “Chief of Wine Happiness.”  But her life fell apart when her husband departed, she started to drink too much and a social media mob came...

2024  Okanagan Wine Festival October 18th – October 27th   The SHOW   Our guest for the hour is Kimberly Hundertmark – GM of Okanagan Wine Fests The 2024 Okanagan Fall Wine Festival Celebrates the Most Bountiful Time of the Year. October 18 through 27th we're all invited to celebrate the bounty of the beautiful...

Canada's oldest beer festival celebrates its 30th year— First time at Topaz Park in Victoria, BC.   THE SHOW   The Great Canadian Beer Festival  was launched in 1993 and was the first big beer festival in Canada.  The Fest has been held annually since then,  except for 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. ...

THE SHOW When I kicked off Tasting Room Radio in 2007 on the Naramata Bench, I had just finished shooting Season Three of Hollywood and Vines TV with pal Jason Priestley. I came away very impressed with the community that surrounded winemaking. The farmers who worked the fields and the seasoned craft that was created...

Jason Parkes/Robbie Hundertmark (The Hatch). Also Ron Kubek. Lightning Rock       THE SHOW Jason Parkes (Team Leader)  The Hatch  (West Kelowna) Robbie Hundertmark (Wing Man)  The Hatch      The box arrived from Jason Parkes Customs. Filled with: The Dynasty White  – Wow B Secco Hobo Series Gamay MMXXI Clarity at the Waters Edge Clash...

Our Guest is Kerri Wyse-McNolty  VP Burrowing Owl Vineyards and co-creator of their fine Cookbook. (with Author and Wine Writer Jennifer Schell Lirag)   THE SHOW   The Question they most often hear in their tasting room is …..”what should I pair with this wine?”   So Kerri Wyse and her team collaborated with award...

Full show Interview with Anthony Gismondi: Co-founder of The Nationals!   THE SHOW   The 2024 National Wine Awards of Canada wrapped up in June in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Founded by Canadian wine experts David Lawrason and Anthony Gismondi, ‘The Nationals' are the largest and most respected Canadian wine competition. This year 22 judges tasted...

THE SHOW   Our last segments of  2024 VanWineFest with DJ Kearney  and  an Okanagan reconnect with Sandra Oldfield The Vancouver International Wine Festival (#45) has come and gone but the interviews live on….for at least this week. I'm joined by my fourth & final co-host, the one and only DJ Kearney.  Educator, mentor, leader,...

    Featuring guest hosts and wine specialists  Kelcie Jones and Michaela Morris. The feature region of the 2024 Vancouver International Wine Festival was Italy. There were  71 wineries representing 13 different Italian regions, from Sicily in the far south to Trentino-Alto Adige in the north. There were hundreds of autochthonous grape varieties and each...

The 45th VanWineFest Part One   THE SHOW The press release says: It's the largest combined consumer and trade wine show in North America. And one of the biggest and oldest in the World.  From Feb 24 to March 3. Eight days, 42 events, 12 countries,  149 participating wineries, 71 from feature region Italy, 1,...

THE SHOW Last week we featured The Cowichan Wineries August Festival . This week  we reconnect with the wineries of the Naramata Bench. 15  interviews with winemakers and principals. Like many others in the BC wine community, The Naramata Bench was also hit with heartbreaking losses of their prime vineyards due to another  Winter deep...

There's a buzz going on about the Wineries of the Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island. It started when Unsworth Winery was purchased by key members of the Jackson Family (Kendall Jackson, Napa).  Then  months later it was revealed that the same family members had purchased Blue Grouse, just down the road. So… A California wine family...

Kathy Malone Hillside Winemaker – Naramata Bench and a walk around 3rd annual Langford Beer Festival.   THE SHOW   Two of BC's wine originals. Hillside Estate Winery. The third winery built and planted on the Naramata Bench. Our guest – Kathy Malone, The Chief Winemaker since 2008. Kathy bring three outstanding wines : Chef’s...

2024 Releases – Tightrope (Naramata) and Bonterra Organic  (Mendocino)   THE SHOW   Lyndsay O'Rourke – Winemaker at Tightrope Winery (Naramata Bench) (Lyndsay and Graeme O’Rourke)   Tightrope Winery is a small, family-run, sustainable winery on the Naramata Bench. A true Labour of love for owners Graham (viticulturist) and Lyndsay O'Rourke (winemaker). Their vineyards on...

THE SHOW Happy Canada Day Weekend my friends! After walks, yard work, the local bike path, family gatherings etc it comes time to reward yourself! After drinking your body weight in water,  how about a Cider Experience! There are  many cider choices/regions in this Country. So many,  that each region gathers together for a cider...

The fifth  BC Cider Festival took place once again inside and out at The Pipe Shop,  the foot of Lonsdale in North Vancouver. (photos by linda c) As a kid growing up in North Van, I had always heard about the Pipe Shop. It's where my Father Pat Mulligan and our neighbor’s mothers and fathers...

New releases from Noble Ridge (OK Falls) & Bella Wines (Naramata Bench)   THE SHOW   Leslie D'Andrea  Co-founder of Noble Ridge and Director of Winemaking Benoit Gauthier  (Okanagan Falls) Timing. It's all about timing. My request for an interview and their Spring releases. The same day!! Benoit creates and releases wonderful single reds and...

OK Spring Festival has started plus  Spring releases from Painted Rock & Winemaker's Cut.   THE SHOW   Kimberly Hundertmark – GM Okanagan Wine Festivals   The Okanagan Wine Festival returns this June with three weeks in wine country.  There is no better time to visit BC Wine Country than in June. Just before the summer season...