Kronenbourg 1664 Blanc (France) – a white version of the classic Kronenbourg – perfect for summer

Minerva ITA (Mexico) – ITA = Imperial Tequila Ale.  This beer has tequila in it!!  Very subtle – delicious.

Taltarni Brut Tache 2009 Methode Traditionalle sparkling wine (Australia) - “Chardonnay 66%, Pinot Noir 31%, Pinot Meunier 3% – An engaging salmon-pink colour enhanced by a fine persistent bead, Taltarni’s Brut Taché expresses an assortment of red currant, ripe strawberry and floral aromas and complex yeast characters.”  website tasting notes

Burrowing Owl Athene 2009 (BC) – “A deep, dark, brooding wine, this blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon captures the best of both varieties. The nose is bold and intense with ripe blackberry, plum and cassis supported by vanilla, coffee, chocolate and oak notes. The palate is full with balanced acid and tannin and flavours of pepper, blueberry and clove from the Syrah with the rigid backbone, cassis and pipe tobacco notes of the Cabernet Sauvignon. Together they finish on a long, structured palate that has the intensity to mature for the best part of a decade. Pair this with a pepper crusted rib-eye steak or seasonal game meats.”  website tasting notes

Calliope Sauvignon Blanc 2010 (BC) - “Refreshing aromas of grapefruit, gooseberry, lime and fresh green grass lead on to a lively and intensely flavoured palate. Lemon, chalk and mineral notes with hints of passionfruit and great length make this an exciting wine from start to finish. The lively acidity ensures this wine is perfect with local oysters, asparagus and citrus-based salads.” website tasting notes

Cedar Creek Riesling 2011 (BC) - “Numbers. Important for doing your taxes. Less so for making Riesling. With experience, we learned to ignore what the sugar and acidity tests tell us about when to harvest Riesling and trust what we taste in the vineyard. Riesling often defies logic in that more sugar doesn’t always equal more flavour. So we threw out the rulebook to make a textbook Riesling – one that preserves all the delicious flavour we first tasted in the vineyard. All our winemaking decisions get the same attention to detail as the Riesling does.  And the results show in every bottle.  On that, you have our word.  What we smell: Wet stones. Citrus. What we taste: It’s fresh and lime-y. We’d eat it with: Fish tacos. If fresh BC halibut is seasonal, even better. We’d also pair it with: Hot weather. Shorts. Even those weird boots Australian winemakers wear.”  website

El Malbec de Ricardo Santos 2009 (Argentina) – “…a striking deep brilliant purple colour.  The nose is ripe and full, reminiscent of dark cherries, plums and chocolate with undertones of loam and earth.  In the mouth, the wine displays a profound core of ripe, blackberry jam fruit, lengthening into a sophisticated weighty finish coupled with an elegant silkiness.  This is a rich, extrated Malbec, atypical of most Malbecs fromArgentina.”  tasting notes

Nieto Reserva Bonarda 2008 (Argentina) – “Cherry red color with deep black tones. On the nose aromas highlight smoked wood, vanilla, truffle and snuff, which combine beautifully with nuts, currants and blackberries.  The taste is complex, fleshy, soft and ripe tannins.” website tasting notes

Freakshow 2009 (USA) - “Pound for pound our Cab over delivers, with a boquet of dark cherry, blackberry, bubblegum and roasted spices.  Full bodied and mouth filling with gobs of dark berry fruit, charred oak, vanilla and cassis with dusty tannins and a lasting finish.”  website                   

Signorello Vineyards Padrone 2007 (USA) – “The reticent nose opens to boysenberry, mulberry, vanilla, tobacco and hints of chocolate. The lush full-bodied palate continues with flavors of boysenberry, raspberry and hints of vanilla. The long and lingering finish is accentuated by the young integrated tannins. A wine to lay down and improve in the bottle for the next 20 years.” website tasting notes

Chocolato wine (orange) (Moldova) – this is wine and chocolate mixed together and a touch of orange – we will be sampling this wine at the tasting on April 26.

Pendleton 1910 Canadian whisky - “Featuring round, rich notes of tobacco, charred oak and butterscotch with a spicy rye kick and peppery heat, Pendleton 1910 rye whisky is rounded out by the smoothness of maple and sweet cherry to provide a weighty and balanced, yet complex, flavor profile.  Best served chilled or on ice for sipping and a peaceful, contemplative tasting experience….” website