Hello all and happy wine Wednesday – I hope it has been a great week for you!

Whoo hoo!  I did it – my marks came in and I am now, officially, a French Wine Scholar and get to put these three lovely letters after my name!  I worked my butt off studying for this exam and it paid off with a great mark. Yay!  A huge thank you and lots of love goes out, as always, to my loves David and Mackenzie who took off for the four days prior to my exam to give me the space and time I needed for final review.  I started down the wine education path always wanting these letters after my name and now I have them.  Happiness is….

Some great events happened this week in the world of wine…I attended the Naramata Bench Wineries Association trade tasting, I went on a rice planting field trip in Abbotsford with Masa Shiroki from Artisan SakeMaker and ended it off with a trade tasting put on by the French Wine Connection…whew.

The Naramata Bench Winery Association held their Spring Release at the Four Seasons Hotel.  I attended the event with my new wine gal pal, Donita Dyer. We did the room and focused mainly on the whites.  I was impressed by the quality of wines in the room.  A quick rundown of some of my favourites:

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Best Viognier – Moraine Winery 2013

Best Sauvignon Blanc – La Frenz 2013

Best Gewürztraminer – Hillside Winery 2013

Best White Varietal Line Up – Upper Bench Winery & Creamery – Pinot Blanc 2012, Pinot Gris 2012, Riesling 2012, Chardonnay 2012

Best Albarino – Terravista’s Fandango – zippy, food-friendly and great tasting.

Fun ‘Surprise’ Wine – Elephant Island’s ‘Pink Elephant’ Sparkling Brut made with Granny Smith apple and a Cassis dosage…fantastic and fun!

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Next was a field trip to Abbotsford, B.C. for a press day with Masa Shiroki, SakeMaker, with Artisan Sake on Granville Island.  There were media people there, sake fans, and some great volunteers who got into the mud to plant rice.  It was a great day and I was able to capture some great action shots for my piece that I am writing for the Alcohol Professor on Masa and his vision for sustainable and organic sake.

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After my educational morning in Abbotsford, I drove to the French Wine Connection trade day at the Renaissance Hotel in Vancouver.  There were forty wineries represented and I was happy to find Château de Passavant from the Loire Valley.  This winery is both certified organic since 1998 and biodynamic since 2011.  I loved their Anjou Blanc from Chenin Blanc and their Crémant De Loire Rosé from Cabernet Franc…excellent wine and somewhere I hope to visit sooner than later!

And then, the great news about my new designation as a French Wine Scholar. I loved the program offered at the Wine College and now am investigating either the Masters of Alsace or Rhône as well as looking into the WSET Diploma….all good news!

That is it for me this week.  As Benjamin Franklin so brilliantly said, “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  Amen to that!

Enjoy!

XO
C