Let the Christmas-wine festive play on words commence.
Gems like:
– 'Joie to the World' rifts off the Christmas carol 'Joy to the World'
– '12 Days of Wine' is a vinous stand-in for the Dec. 25 to Jan. 5 festive season as well as the nursery rhyme and cumulative holiday song 'The 12 Days of Christmas'
– 'The Most Wonderful Sale of the Year' and 'It's the most wine-derful time of the year' make double-duty of the 1963 Christmas hit 'It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' by Andy Williams
Joie to the World
Starting with 'Joie to the World', it's the holiday box from Joie Farm Winery on the Naramata Bench that includes 6 bottles of wine, 8 holiday recipes from four BC chefs (Ned Bell, Deseree Lo, Alistair Veen and Malindi Taylor) and easy entertaining ideas for decor, drinks and fun.
The $225 box (includes shipping and taxes) can be given as a gift or keep it for yourself to cover off your holiday sipping, be it a quiet night at home, party, Christmas dinner or New Year's Eve.
The 6 'Joie to the World' wines are:
– 2023 Plein de Vie dark-pink sparkling
– 2024 A Noble Blend (aromatic white)
– 2023 En Famille Gewurztraminer (heady and lush)
– 2023 En Famille Chardonnay (bright lemon and apple, elegant oak)
– 2023 PTG (Pinot Noir and Gamay light-red blend)
– 2022 En Famille Pinot Noir (smooth with lifted berry and spice aromas and flavours)
Find it at: https://joiefarm.com/
12 Days of Wine
'12 Days of Wine' is the annual advent calender of wine from See Ya Later Ranch Winery in Okanagan Falls.
The dozen wines in the big, colourful box are a secret, as the goodies in any awesome advent calendar are.
But, just let's say they will meet all your festive sparkling, white, red and rose wine needs.
There's also 7 surprises in the box (think gourmet items and decorations) and The Ranch Report — a newspaper packed with holiday recipes, wine-pairing, movie and music recommendations.
Think Michael Buble's 'White Christamas' and Justin Beiber's 'Misletoe' on the playlist.
The '12 Days of Wine' advent calendar is a $350 value that you can buy for $250 as either a gift or for yourself.
Check out: https://sylranch.com/2025-
The Most Wonderful Sale of the Year
'The Most Wonderful Sale of the Year' is the holiday-timed bargains offered by Blasted Church Winery in Okanagan Falls.
From tomorrow to Dec. 14, if you buy 12 to 23 bottles of wine in the Renaissance Series you get 10% off, 20% off on orders of 24-35 bottles and 30% discount on 36 or more bottles.
The Renaissance Series includes the distinctive and delicious wines in the photo accompanying this column — 2024 Pinot Gris, 2024 Grenache Rose, 2024 Hatfield's Fuse (aromatic white blend) and Unorthodox Chardonnay 2023 — as well the Big Bang Theory red blend, Viognier, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
They're at: https://blastedchurch.com/
Decanting Memories
You're invited to the free reception launching the memoir book of Gray Monk Winery founders George and Trudy Heiss.
It's Sunday, 1 to 3 pm, at Gray Monk at 1055 Camp Rd. in Lake Country.
And, of course, copies of the book, Decanting Memories: Our Life in the Vineyard, the Cellar & Beyond, will be available there for $33.
Partial proceeds of the sale of the book go to the BC Hospitality Foundation.
The Heiss are Okanagan wine pioneers who founded Gray Monk in 1972, planted the first Pinot Gris grapes in Canada in 1976 and were one of the first estate wineries in the province.
They retired in 2017 when Gray Monk sold to Peller.
You can RSVP for the launch here.
Steve MacNaull is a NowMedia Group reporter, Okanagan wine lover and Canadian Wine Scholar. Reach him at smacnaull@nowmediagroup.ca. His wine column appears every Friday afternoon in this space.
