Wine Question

[hensghan]

Would those of you who have sailed out of Vancouver and have purchased wines there to be later enjoyed aboard ship please advise of any particularly great buys or surprises you might have encountered in the local Vancouver wine shops? I'm particularly interested in the more full bodied reds but I'm intimidated by the seemingly very different wines available in Vancouver as opposed to where I reside. I know virtually nothing about B.C. or Washington State wines, for example, but I'm sure there are some great ones. Also, do Vancouver wine prices lend themselves to accommodating HAL corkage fees or might it be just as economical to purchase wines aboard ship directly from HAL?

 

Thank you. I'm posting this both here and on the HAL & Alaska boards so as to get some varied responses.

[Ephraim]

Try Wine Scores at http://www.winescores.ca if you do a search, the region for BC is the Okanagan and they also have Ontario, if you want from Canada's other wine region.

 

The Quebec government website at http://www.saq.com doesn't stock many BC wines, but many of those that it does stock it has detail cards on. The detail card tell you which vintage their checked, the tastes they found and what found they think it will be paired best with. They don't usually comment on the quality, but they do give you a pretty good idea of the flavours and qualities of the wine and let you judge for yourself. They have a search that allows you to specify Canadian wine and even red and then to narrow it to that of the Okanagan valley, if you so please.

[LeftcoastBC]

We (BC) have some great wines but our prices (read taxes in) do not lend it to being a good value purchase when you add in the corkage on any cruise line. HAL being Hq'd in Seattle does however have a pretty good variety of Washington wine on board so the trouble in packing and transportation would negate any of my reasons to try local wines.

That being said there is a liquor store where you can get wine easily just in the basement of the Harbour Centre an easy 2 block walk from Canada Place. Ask any local for directions. and check the VQA section.