Heed your Herder early warning: the new Pinot Gris is here. And don't say later that you weren't informed. Sometimes I get flak from readers: "Why do you write about wines that aren't available, that we can't seem to find?"

It's usually because they've sold out in a flash, and by the time you get around to looking for them, there's nothing left, especially in the case of wineries with minuscule output. Wines are always available at the time I first talk about them, unless specifically stated. Sometimes I list them for the fact that they are outstanding and should have been recognized earlier.

So hear this alarm and get it now, because the wine will all be gone in a few weeks: Herder Pinot Gris 2006, from Herder Winery & Vineyards near Keremeos, has just hit town in the customary limited amounts. Very limited–like, 340 cases.

Savvy restaurants have already secured their allocations, and a few of the better private wine stores will have theirs rolling in now. The winery says the PG is sold-out, but if you were to drive all that way, knock nicely on the door… Herder is the name, pinot gris is the grape, 2006 is the vintage, $18.90 is the price, it now comes with a screw cap, and the stuff is stellar.

All unoaked, still; a little tight and yeasty–it's only been in the bottle for a couple of weeks–but it will open up into an exquisite white wine, one that will deliver plenty of pleasure to the palate in about six to eight weeks and keep on delivering for as long as you've got it on hand (at least another 12 to 18 months). But why wait that long? Go get yours, let it settle down, and then drink up as soon as the sunshine gets going in earnest.

The wine shows huge pear and floral aromas and is beautifully round and rich–stick your nose in the glass and sniff essential tulip and freesias, and all that pear and Braeburn apple. Secure your supply today, or don't come complaining to me when it's gone by the end of April. This wine is already a leading contender for best-of-2007 laurels, and where are we? Barely out of March.

Gotta love Lawrence Herder's all-inclusive "pairing" statement on the back label: "Enjoy this wine with friends." Pure and simple. Great Gris.

According to the banner in my in box, "The Elephant and the Bear meet for a spring fling food and wine affair." Naramata's "orchard winery", Elephant Island, doesn't get out much–into the world of winery dinners. There have been a few here in Vancouver and a few more at the winery in the Okanagan. I'd love to see a trend building–and maybe this is the start. But you're going to have to go over to the capital to get at it.

With The Elephant Meets the Bear, Elephant Island is working with Victoria's brand-new hotel, the Westin Bear Mountain resort (also a golfer's paradise: it's the only 36-hole Jack Nicklaus–designed course in the country, for those of you who are into that sort of thing). All April long, it's offering a four-course prix fixe menu featuring local foods matched with Elephant Island's outstanding fruit wines. The dinners take place in the hotel's restaurant, Panache, and cost $75 per person, food and wine all in, tip and taxes extra.

Sample pairings? Seared scallop ravioli with sweet garlic, tamarind, and crab apple, alongside Elephant Island apple wine. Lamb chop with caraway-potato mousse and black-currant barbecue sauce, with the cherry wine. Smoked tenderloin with maple whipped potatoes and cherry-herb braised short ribs, with the black currant wine. Fennel-seared halibut with salmon bacon and horseradish-tomato beurre blanc, with the pear wine.

After all or some of that, there's rich drinking chocolate and cinnamon ice cream with cherry jam, which is simply cruisin' with Elephant Island's amazing Stellaport. Time to get to it–maybe see what's cooking in the legislature while you're over there. You've got the rest of the month, but you'll have to reserve, at www.bearmountain.ca/ .

A new, locally based wine-touring company is gearing up its 2007 calendar, heading off to the lovely Loire–the "garden of France"–for three different six-day, seven-night trips. Select Wine Journeys has just posted its calendar of trips to France's historic Touraine region. First one's in May; the last is in October.

There's Discover New Wine in Old France, the energetic Walking & Wine tour, and History & Wine in the Loire. Each trip is limited to a nicely manageable maximum of eight people. That way, you get an authentic, intimate wine-and-food experience, says the guy who heads up the company, Dave Kasper, a bilingual Canadian wine lover.

Touraine includes the winemaking regions of Vouvray, Bourgueil, Chinon, and Montlouis, which are scattered in the region around the town of Tours. Accommodation is in top-of-the-line châteaux, dining is in selected restaurants, and there are visits to wineries, many of which don't usually offer visits. Plus, there are gourmet picnic lunches in the vineyards and plenty of free time for personal touring. Since the wineries are all close to your château home base, travel time is kept to a minimum.

Avail yourself of detailed itineraries and other information at the Web site, www.selectwinejourneys.com/ .