Hi William, re: Canadian wines, I am currently enjoying Little Engine’s wines and subscribe to their wine club. https://littleenginewines.com
Another one I enjoy is Laughing Stock – I particularly like their chardonnay’s but am less familiar with their reds (which are also supposed to be good). https://www.laughingstock.ca
There is also Checkmate, but their wines are much pricier. https://www.checkmatewinery.com
If you are heading to the Okanagan Valley in BC, it might be worth visiting a couple of the above. Most were severally affected by a cold snap at the beginning of the year which resulted in severe damage to the vines – a significant number of vineyards lost 90/100% and are having to replant.
The are others and I will see if I can remember what we enjoyed that friends have given us (Vanessa Wines is one). Where in BC are you going?
Thank you for taking the time to respond with all these tips. I appreciate it and will look out for those wines . While in BC (unfortunately just one week this time) we will be in Tofino and Vancouver.
When we visited BC in 2022 all of those were on our list of wines we would happily go back to. We also really enjoyed Okanagan Crush Pad https://okanagancrushpad.com/ when we found them.
Stayed in Tofino and would happily have spent a lot more time there. Great seafood both on the island and in Vancouver. Delicious crab, some excellent oysters and all washed down with excellent local wine.
William: In terms of food, check out the Tacofino Food Truck in Tofino Tacofino - Tofino - Tofino ORIGINAL TRUCK. Enjoy watching the surfers. It’s a real community.
Depending on budget, check out Black+ Blue in Vancouver. I haven’t been but a friend has recommended it to me in the past. Canadian dollar pretty weak at the moment so timing of your trip is good.
Are you taking the float plane to Tofino from Vancouver or the ferry from Horseshoe Bay and driving from Nanaimo? If the ferry, there is a real good fish and chip restaurant in Horseshoe Bay that I would recommend for lunch before the ferry if time allows. Need to book. https://www.trollsrestaurant.com
I can give some other Vancouver restaurant ideas if needed. Tourist things include the Capilano Suspension Bridge, walk around Stanley Park and the sea wall and go up Grouse Mountain and do one of the short hikes.
We ate twice at Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver - all of the seafood from shellfish to line fish was superbly prepared, a delicious sablefish was a highlight. We also loved their sushi - great tuna and salmon. They also had a very good BC wine selection and we spent quite a few dollars of our holiday budget there.
Two restaurants we loved in Tofino were Wolf In The Fog and Shelter. Again excellent food - more casual style. Enjoy your trip!
De Trafford was another early days favourite when we moved to the UK in ‘96 and started to discover wine. 3 boys under 5 and therefore not alot of disposable income so South African wines became our go to. To this day, they remain a favourite.
Rod, where was this. Want to make sure I avoid. Those prices are crazy (polite description). Some very nice wine but reinforces that patience and broking lists can be your friend. The Sereine Noire from Gangloff (top left) is one example. Hard to find on the secondary market but when you do, worth grabbing if the price is right.
It’s the E. Leclerc in La Colle Sur Loup. I think they use it as a clearing house for their fine wine bin ends. Sometimes the prices are very good. I actually needed a bottle of Mouton Rothschild for a client not long ago and their price was significantly lower than anything I could secure trade.
I’m not sure how much Rayas goes for these days, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Glad I got to taste and drink (quite a lot) back when it was a normal price and undiscovered. Even their Château de Tours Cótes du Rhône is now over €100…
LeClerc do similar here. At the moment their max price is something around 845 Euro but once a year they stock clear their fines wines and some serious bargains to be had if you are willing to pay fine wine prices, best I have seen was a bottle at 4300 euro at half price. Still a little too steep for me.
Edit: Bin or split case seem to better value. 3 bottle or two bottle packages of 100 Euro wines at less than half price.
. While in BC (unfortunately just one week this time) we will be in Tofino and Vancouver.
