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Sitting down with Mark Ramm who is the Regional Export Manager for Angove Family Winemakers in Australia's famous McLaren Vale appellation and the Riverland, was like chatting up an old friend; Familiar, warm, engaging with an ever-present Aussie likability you'd expect from a good mate.

Mark has been working with the now 5th generation Angove Family for 27 years and he's never looked back from his earlier career in banking. His involvement has spanned not just the decades, but nearly every facet of the Family Business--from winemaking, vineyard involvement, the bottling line and marketing where he's managed to expand the global reach of the brand to more than 30 countries worldwide.

He details how important Family, Wine & Tradition have been the standard-bearers for more than 140 years, a rare continuous story and legacy and one of the oldest on the continent and in the wine world today. With such foundational knowledge and experience, Mark's own story is a fascinating journey with pivotal moments made and of course many ups and downs characteristic of an ever-evolving industry where he says to survive is to adapt. Angove's is well equipped for it, especially as they are still a wholly Family owned enterprise.

Where Angove's winemaking history spans more than a century, when 5 generations of a family carry forward the torch to our present day all while offering up some of todays' premier wines of Australia along with a top brandy of the world, much is to be discovered & shared.

Pour yourself a good glass of vino, tune in and enjoy this fascinating episode in The Barrel Room with Mark as he tells his unique story and work with Angove Family Winemakers.

IG: @angovewine
@vintagewestwine

www.angove.com
www.wineaustralia.com
www.australianwine.com

P.S. The best wines are those shared with friends.
Let's share my next DROP together!

Follow WineGuyTy's adventures! Head on over to IG: @WineGuyTy

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It was about a dozen years ago when I bumped into Val Tait at a wine event in Vancouver and I was instantly captivated by both her wines and exuberant personality. We chatted. I tasted those wines and in a frantic very few minutes I immediately recognized this was a person I wanted to have in my life and wine circle.

And what a fortuitous meeting that was! In the years intervening, we've shared many more enjoyable + enriching moments together and it was Val who gave me my own first real "boots in the dirt" experience when she had me work directly alongside for her 2017 whites harvest in Naramata for a month. Deep learnings and experiences followed and I am hugely grateful to Val for connecting my academic pursuits of the grape to hands-on work in the vineyards, on the crushpad, in the lab, cellar + barrel room crafting those wines.

Today Val is GM and Winemaker at Gold Hill Winery in Oliver BC presiding over a well-curated albeit smaller portfolio of excellent wines. Working for years with the Gill family faithfully supplying quality fruit, Val relocated herself closer to the vineyards and after nearly 3 decades of work, harvests, highs & lows, she's still as enthusiastic as ever about Gold Hill and her most recent plans as she brings in one of the best harvests in many years!

The Swirl Around BC Wine Expo is a pivotal event on the wine calendar for winemakers across BC to come together and share their latest vintages with industry professionals held at the historic Vancouver Convention Center in the heart of the city.

Hear Val's firsthand accounting of this years' harvest tales, the trials + tribulations of day-to-day winery operations PLUS..

Along with wines are the waves she loves to surf. Once all is brought in to the crushpad and processed, she heads straight to Panama in Central America with winemaker partner Ian after another harvest season comes to a close and everything is perfectly set in the Gold Hill Winery cellar for another year.

www.goldhillwinery.com

https://www.winebc.com | Swirl Around BC Wine Expo

P.S. The best wines are those shared with friends.
Let's share my next DROP together!

Follow WineGuyTy's adventures! Head on over to IG: @WineGuyTy

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Richard da Silva is a terroir-driven Vigneron-Winemaker who clearly does things his way. Sometimes controversial, occasionally unconventional, but always with care and a deep understanding of his many vineyards and terroirs scattered throughout a few established GI's that he commandeers with his wife Twylla and winery team.

His family roots go way back to the mid '50's when they emigrated from Portugal and settled in the South Okanagan to become fruit growers & purveyors. With his family's traditions in place and a foundation in those exigencies, he eventually made his way to wine and is now one of the most respected GRAPE growers--vignerons--in both Naramata and the entire Okanagan valley.

Part of his world encompasses a great Mexican + Portuguese influenced tapas style on-site kitchen-restaurant "The Kitchen" with longtime friend and chef Abul Adame and theirs is the longest partnership of its kind in BC spanning well north of a decade.

We broached many subjects from skiing to favorite restaurant dishes and of course wines including a tasting of his proprietary field blends on a great sunny Okanagan afternoon just prior to harvest 2025.

Enjoy the conversation but more, seek out da Silva wines on restaurant lists and in wine boutiques around the province. Or consider joining the wine club! You're always in for a treat and you'll be rewarded with some of the most expressive and rare wines locally made + available throughout BC.

www.dasilvavineyards.com

375 Upper Bench Road North

Penticton, BC V2A 8T2

IG: @dasilvawines

P.S. The best wines are those shared with friends.
Let's share my next DROP together!

Follow WineGuyTy's adventures! Head on over to IG: @WineGuyTy