Category Archives: Grapes and Wine

Staffing Up for the Big Reopen

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Sandra Oldfield

One of the big challenges for tasting rooms poised to reopen in June will be staffing up. This is always a challenge but again, welcome to additional challenges in the wake of COVID-19. Consider some of what’s going on out … Continue reading →

Posted in BC Wine Industry, Grapes and Wine, Health and Safety | Tagged #COVID-19, BC, cider, employees, full time, part time, reopen, share workers, spirits, staff, wine | Leave a comment

8 Years and Counting–I’m Talking to You Ontario and Quebec

Posted on April 28, 2020 by Sandra Oldfield

June 6 this year will mark the eighth anniversary of the passing of Bill C-311 which set to rectify the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act of 1928 by allowing interprovincial importation of wine for personal use. Yes I said PASSING. … Continue reading →

Posted in BC Wine Industry, Grapes and Wine | Tagged billc311, buylocal, canada, comeau, covid19, freemydamngrapes, freemygrapes, Local, novascotia, ontario, quebec, wine | 5 Comments

How Happy is the Little Stone

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Sandra Oldfield

How happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone, And doesn’t care about careers, And exigencies never fears; Whose coat of elemental brown A passing universe put on; And independent as the sun, Associates or glows alone, … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine, Local, TInhorn Creek | Tagged British Columbia, dickinson, golden mile bench, Grapes, Oliver, stone, sub appellation, wine | 1 Comment

Grow the Pie

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Sandra Oldfield

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. I no longer feel guilt for that. Turns out I can’t do it all. Today was the kind of day that changed that. I need to get something out … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine | 10 Comments

Wine Sayings of My Uncle, 1839

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Sandra Oldfield

In a scan of primary sources tonight I came across this gem of a book from the European Library. From “Every Man His Own Butler” by Cyrus Redding, 1839 which is so wonderful my new goal is to own a copy. … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine | Tagged book, butler, drink, oysters, quotes, red wine, sayings, wine | Leave a comment

10 Reasons to Free My Grapes

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Sandra Oldfield

I wrote this article, Top 10 Reasons to Free My Grapes, for the September edition of Orchard and Vine magazine. All views are my own, of course.

Posted in Grapes and Wine | Tagged BC, British Columbia, C-311, canada, Grapes, laws, Liquor, wine | Leave a comment

A Wee Return to Natural?

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Sandra Oldfield

The earth is rude, silent, incomprehensible at first; Be not discouraged – keep on – there are divine things, well envelop’d; I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell. ~Walt Whitman The vineyard we … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco Sustainability, Grapes and Wine, TInhorn Creek | Tagged Chardonnay, draba verna, drip irrigation, grape, grapevine, irrigation, overhead irrigation, sagebrush, sustainability, Tinhorn Creek, vine, vineyard | 8 Comments

What’s a Good Day?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Sandra Oldfield

Been so long since I’ve blogged but I’ve given up the guilt many year ago, so onward and upward. Today I had a good day. What’s a good day for me? Well, I can tell you, days like this … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine, Personal Sandra, TInhorn Creek | Tagged barrels, estate, Gewürztraminer, grabe, sabbatical, Tinhorn Creek, vineyard | 2 Comments

19th Time’s a Charm

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

Today’s is the eve of my 19th vintage at Tinhorn Creek. Technically, it might be my 181/2 vintage since my husband brought in the grapes in 1994 when I was finishing my studies at UC Davis–but I was on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine, Health and Safety, TInhorn Creek | Tagged 2012, Grapes, harvest, okanagan, Safety, vintage, weather, wine | 7 Comments

Impressions off the Bus

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

I took a wonderful tour last Friday to Carlton, Oregon as part of the 2012 Wine Blogger’s Conference. It was blazing hot. After an impromptu police evacuation of our bus holding up traffic (all staged but all very cool) … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco Sustainability, Grapes and Wine, Social Media, Travel | Tagged carlo and julian, carlton, oak tree, oregon, organic, vines, vineyard, wine, wine bloggers, wine bloggers conference 2012, winery | 9 Comments

“Special” Orders

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

Now that Bill C-311 has passed federally, the provinces are stating that they will need to “look at it”, but in the meantime provincial liquor boards are telling their consumers that little has changed. To be helpful they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grapes and Wine | Tagged alchol, BC, bcldb, british columiba, C-311, freemygrapes, ILLA, ldb, liquor board, nova scotia, nslc, special orders, wine | 5 Comments

12 Gauge v. 12 Bottles

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

As some of you may have heard by now, I have been involved in the FreeMyGrapes fight to get Canadians access to Canadian wines. To that end, I purchased a 12 gauge shotgun online from Saskatchewan last week to show … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grapes and Wine, TInhorn Creek | Tagged BC, C311, canada post, freemygrapes, ILLA, wine | 8 Comments

For Your Personal Consumption: The Lobster7 and the Canada3

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

Having just wrapped up four days in Halifax for the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium, I was given three bottles of Nova Scotia wine to take back to British Columbia with me. I am not unfamiliar with the young industry out … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine | Tagged atlantic canada, BC, canada, jost, lobster, luckett, nova scotia, wine | 10 Comments

#CabFrancTuesday #West and #East

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

In 2010 I followed ONE Chardonnay vine in front of my home for the entire growing season (April until harvest in Fall). I called it #ChardyTuesday because once a week on Tuesday I would tweet the progress I had seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grapes and Wine, TInhorn Creek | Tagged 2012, cabernet, cabernet franc, CabFrancTuesday, clusters, franc, Grapes, niagara, niagara-on-the-lake, okanagan, Tinhorn, Tinhorn Creek, vine, vineland, vines, vintage | 2 Comments

The F-ing Bird

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

I am trying to find balance. Balance between running a business and the idea of being a steward of the land it sits on. Recently, I am fighting a war against nature…specifically the Northern Flicker. It’s a bird. More specifically … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco Sustainability, Grapes and Wine, Local, TInhorn Creek | Tagged barrel, barrel cellar, bird, flicker, northern flicker, okanagan, stucco, Tinhorn, Tinhorn Creek, wine, winery | 19 Comments

BCWineChat Turns Four Months Old

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

Some of you may know that I began BCWineChat on Twitter at the end of December 2011. My hope was to find an open forum for BC wine consumers, BC wineries, retailers and restauranteurs to meet, once a week to … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine, Social Media | Tagged BC, BCWine, BCWineChat, chat, consumer, food pairing, restaurant, wine, wine laws, wine retailer | Leave a comment

Agriculture Water not an Essential Service?

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Sandra Oldfield

>>UPDATE: April 9, 2012 the water flowed!! << Let’s start with some facts: We grow grapes We live in a desert–less than 10 inches average of precipitation per year Grapes need a minimum of 20 inches of precipitation minimum to … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grapes and Wine, TInhorn Creek | Tagged essential service, farmer, Grapes, irrigation, vines, vineyards, water | 2 Comments

BCWineChat is Born

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Sandra Oldfield

A spirited conversation on twitter last week about sub appellations in the British Columbia wine industry was the kick off for a new one hour weekly chat on twitter called BCWineChat. The chat, hosted under the twitter hashtag #BCWineChat, is held … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Grapes and Wine, TInhorn Creek | Tagged BC, BCWineChat, British Columbia, canada, Canadian, chat, CoverItLive, Grapes, restaurants, retailer, vineyard, wine, winegrapes, winery | 4 Comments

The Case for Canada’s Sustainable Wine Industry

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Sandra Oldfield

For years I have been hearing wine writers and others say that unless Canadian wines are sold in the UK or the US we will never become a well-known industry. Unless our wines are reviewed by the heavy hitters of the wine world … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, Eco Sustainability, Grapes and Wine | Tagged canada, consumption, export, production, sustainability, wine | 8 Comments

Stillness Between the Seasons

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Sandra Oldfield

There is a time in the Okanagan Valley where the calendar says it is Fall but we’ve had our first taste of winter. Some leaves remain on the trees but many more join new skiffs of snow on the ground. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Grapes and Wine, Local | Tagged BC, British Columbia, fall, Grapes, horse, kerner, okanagan, Orchard, snow, south okanagan, vineyard, winter | 9 Comments