Rock Painting

A few days ago my wife informed me we had been invited to a Rock Painting party.  The idea did not sound very exciting to me. Our host a couple I did not know but was a friend of my wife. I agreed to go only to make my dear wife happy.

I was less encouraged when I was asked to go out in the rain and gather some rocks to paint. I did as instructed. Changed cloth and we were off to the rock painting party in White Rock. Before leaving I asked my wife what wine I should bring She replied that we were asked not to bring wine. To bring only ourselves. Oh No!

Upon arrival, we were greeted by our hostess she requested we leave our rocks in a bucket by the door. There was, however, a most delicious aroma coming from the kitchen.   Something smells good I said. Pecan pie she replied Ah! things were looking better.

We were invited to join other guests in the formal living room. Our hostess handed us a glass of water saying her son worked for a Water distribution company. There was also crackers and cheese appetizers.

When the next couple arrived and received their water, we were invited to join our host in the dining room. Here the table was full of some very delicious looking dishes. From Roast Beef to meatball, spareribs and other mouth watering dishes.  I was now a happy camper. A wonderful dining experience before paining rocks I could handle this.

We all dove in, the water was tasting pretty good at this point. Our host jumped up and said " Oh dear I've forgotten something" He scurried off and his wife followed. She returned carrying a tray of wine glasses. He came back carrying four bottles of wine. I could only feel a sense of relief.

Our host opened the bottle and placed a glass in front me . " Would you do the honours" he asked and poured a sample of wine into the glass. He showed me the bottle Painted Rock . Everyone clapped and laughed; my wife said "surprised we fooled you"

The first wine was a Painted Rock Estate Chardonnay followed by a Cabernet Sauvignon and the Red Icon. Happiness!


The Chardonnay was delicious, nice fruit flavours, some minerality and good finish.
The Cabernet Sauvignon was amazing lingering dark fruit and spices.
The Red Icon brought on rich aromas of blackberry,cassis and hints of smooth spices. Followed by vanilla and chocolate. A wine that said More Please!

What a delightful, unexpected evening. It was a major surprise I will always remember.

Sorry, I do not know what happened to those rocks!

Happy New Year 2018 is upon us! Amazing as it seems I have not as yet opened a bottle of wine this year. We had selected port-style wine to with our Harvey Wallbanger Cake given to me at Christmas by our dear friends June and Peter.

Our choice for the night was going to be Unsworth Vineyard's Solera which we purchased about 4 years ago. However, we ended up drinking White Russians. As midnight approached the cake was gone and we decided to save the wine.

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As we entered 2018 we will be approaching our 26th year of celebrating Canada's  wineries and her wines. Back in 1992, I can recall only Tony Aspler and John Schreiner paying Canada's wines any attention.

In recent years we started three pages that have become very successful for

The Best Wines of 2014 was the first of these pages. We ended 2017 with The Best of 2017
Chaberton Estate Reserve Bacchus was rated the highest.

Another feature page The Wineries to Watch for in 2018.
It's the page I most enjoy writing about.

However our most popular page the last three years has been. The Best Wineries to Visit.. http://www.winesofcanada.com/featured_winery_visit2018.html.

Back in 1992, the website was a winter project. Today so many wineries have opened  It has become an all most daily adventure into the wonderful world of Canad's wine industry!