Following in the lees of a column a couple of weeks back, here are more newcomers that can be found on local shelves—some in the government stores, some at VQA outlets, a couple from one of the best of the private shops.

This weekend’s wine fest is a must-attend event that will put many old stereotypes to rest with head-turning new offerings

First, the kvetch. I don’t think 24 percent alcohol really constitutes a liqueur, but they’re calling it that—SOHO Lychee Flavoured Liqueur ($25.45). This is tasty, though, and better iced than off the bar shelf: there’s an intriguing aroma and definitely a litchi taste. It could be a little less sweet for my palate, but I say that about practically everything. Pernod makes it, in France, and it’s very good in a long drink with orange and lemon juice and a splash of soda.

Not a week goes by without a clutch of new wines appearing, especially at this time of year. Sometimes they’re new vintages of old favourites. Sometimes they’re brand-new names and labels—fledgling wineries that are sending their first offerings out into a crowded and discerning market. Sometimes they’re wines that have been renamed, repackaged, rebranded.

Step in the front door at 1944 West 4th Avenue and you enter the Riesling shrine. All right, that doesn’t do justice to the work of one of the city’s great chefs, but we’ll get to that later.

With four annual wine festivals and nearly 200 wineries in the region, the first thing you need for a tour is a big car to cart home boxes full of wine.

Here’s a mouthful to be reckoned with: Hacker-Pschorr Edelhell Münchner Exportbier ($2.62 for 500 millilitres). One of Munich’s proud old names does it according to the old Bavarian purity law. Edelhell means “noble light” but that refers strictly to the colour, not the alcohol level, which is a sensible 5.5 percent. Fresh, bracing, and decidedly Bavarian-style flavours hit the palate.

Australians know a thing or two about Shiraz. The five available in B.C. from the Lehmann portfolio are all excellent, and come decorated with big awards and accolades.

You should have been there.

However you say it, new Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio wines make grey grand, so now’s the time to pour your way through a PG tour

Real apple cider, done the French way, and biologique, too: set up a bottle of Val de Rance Cidre Bouché and enjoy an exquisite drink. This is fresh, apple-y, naturally sweet (none of that fake, sugary quality so many of our domestic models display) good bubbles.

There are plenty of big guns on the B.C. wine scene, and one of the biggest is Harry McWatters. For over four decades, he has filled—defined is better—the role of mover and shaker in our still-fledgling wine industry. (It’s a lot less fledgling now than it was in the ’60s, and we have McWatters to thank for a lot of that defledglingization!)

Viognier continues its dominance as the white wine lover’s darling. Chardonnay is so last season, isn’t it? And Pinot Blanc? For people frying fish, darling. Sauvignon Blanc is all about oysters, what do you say? But Viognier, now there’s one to be seen sipping.

Put me down in the “yea” column on Tetra Paks. They’re handy, unsmashable, easy to cool and to pour, and on the boat about the best way to carry wine. Here’s a spring-through-early-autumn table wine that brings together Chardonnay and Verdelho in a litre of gulpable pleasure. Australia’s Heath Wines Lizard Flat 2005 is 89 percent Chard and 11 percent Verdelho, but from the taste you’d think it was the other way round, with plenty of biteful, almost spritzy acidity.

It’s the glitch that won’t go away. First there was the January 24 column that got Ikon Vodka inadvertently delisted when it wasn’t listed in the first place. Then there was the attempted glitch-fix (in the Valentine’s pink-bubble column of February 7), which got its own glitch when the last line was lost.