Van Westen, Naramata

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

The transition of taste

Photo: Contributed Here in the Okanagan, we have been particularly fortunate this year with beautiful fall weather and the corresponding slow change of colours. Have you noticed the colours of our food changes too as we head into cooler, shorter days? It is a scientific fact that pe

Terry Vulcano

Photo: Terry Vulcano Castanet posed a question on truth and accountability to all 24 candidates and gave them four days to respond.  The candidates were asked to keep their responses to a maximum of 300 words and were asked to respond to the truth and accountability question no la

Baillie-Grohman, Creston

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

When in Rome...

Photo: Contributed We just got back from a lovely camping holiday on Vancouver Island. Camping is a whole other world from our every-day life, with slightly adjusted priorities. It’s far more important when we are camping, to plan time for the campfire as opposed to doing the lau

Rustic Roots, Similkameen

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

Respecting food and farmer

Photo: Contributed There was a news story this summer about a farm in Ontario that had opened its gates for people to come and see their sunflowers, only to have the situation turn into what the farmer said looked like a zombie apocalypse. How can this happen? Read on, and I’ll e

Grape harvest looking good

Photo: Contributed The wine grape harvest has arrived in the Okanagan, and B.C. Wine Institute members are feeling good about this year’s crop. Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate viticulture director Troy Osborne said his harvest start date was close to the average, as Chardonna

Make room for US wines

Photo: CTV B.C.-only VQA wine stores like those opened with much fanfare in several Okanagan grocery stores will have to make room on the shelves for U.S. wine. The new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal struck Sunday requires that B.C. scrap a law banning international wines from groc

Quails’ Gate, West Kelowna

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

It doesn't look like the pic

Photo: Contributed Have you ever tried a new recipe and had it not turn out? You follow all the instructions, you double-check the details, but in the end it doesn’t look at all like the picture they posted. How can this happen? Who would publish a recipe that didn’t wor

Masi, Italy

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

Go ahead, lick your fingers

Photo: Contributed We get scolded as children when we dip our fingers into a pot of something to taste it, but who hasn’t wanted to do that? Did you ever take a swipe at the icing of a cake sitting on the kitchen counter? Do you prefer to bite an apple or cut it into wedges?

Lake Breeze, Naramata

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

Eating the bounty

Photo: Contributed I wrote earlier this summer about the embarrassment of riches we experience with local fruit. All summer long there are fruit stands open to the crowds of tourists and locals alike, looking for the fresh fruit off the trees and veggies from the field. Tourist

Road 13, Oliver

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

Fall fairies

Photo: Contributed I love fall, but this year it has come a bit early for my liking. It's too soon to be getting up in the dark again and thinking of wearing long pants and sweaters. It’s chilly in the mornings now — no more bare legs for me on my walk. Whe

Summerhill, Kelowna

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine

Sandwich making 101

Photo: Contributed As everyone heads back to the routines of school and work with the end of summer, I thought it wise to offer some tips on how to make the most of your lunch. I’m hoping some people who work in sandwich-making places will read this too, as I have had some sad sa

Tinhorn Creek, Oliver

Photo: Contributed Join our wine writer, Allison Markin, every week for a wine review complete with food and music pairings. Featuring Okanagan and Canadian wines, with an occasional international bottle, Castanet celebrates the bottles of our Valley and the diversity of the Canadian wine