This weekend, I’m heading to Banff for the annual food and wine festival at the Fairmont Hotel. I’m looking forward to breathing in the crisp air of the Canadian Rockies, while sipping on some mouth-waterings wines. I’ve heard great things about this festival, but have never attended. On the agenda this year: Hennessy Bertrand Steip, [...]

  While in Niagara, I was fortunate to indulge in a Pinot Noir tasting dinner at Peller Estate Restaurant, one of the best restaurants in the Niagara region. Chef Jason Parsons chatted with me in the busy kitchen about his philosophy of fresh, local and wine inspired cuisine. Here’s the menu: the wines and dishes [...]

They put me to work on the grape sorting table at Le Clos Jordanne a few weeks ago. This Niagara winery makes some of the finest, if not the finest, pinot noirs in Canada. Elegant, silky, seductive, these wines draw you head first into the glass. Winemaker Thomas Bachelder is absolutely fanatical about grape selection: [...]

In the December issue of Chatealine magazine, the editors have chosen their favorite food and drink mobile apps for iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones. I was thrilled that my Drinks Matcher app was among them. The review notes that the app has 380,000 pairings, with new ones added daily. Why, yes indeed it does. You [...]

Number of Wines Recommended: 48 Review date: October 24, 2009 The highlights in this Vintages release include:  - 16 wines under $20 – Best value white: Lime-fresh German Riesling for tuna $13.95 – Favorite white: Mouth-watering Niagara Riesling for salads and salmon 92/100 – Best value red: Robust Italian red for pizza and lasanga $12.95 [...]

On a recent visit to Niagara, I was fortunate to spend time with Martin Malivoire of Malivoire winery, a producer of spectacular pinot noirs. We arrived at his gravity-flow winery by helicopter along with Magdalena Kaiser-Smit of the Ontario Wine Council. This gave us a terrific overview of the region (though I was glad to [...]

  Just found out today from Saveur magazine that they’ve chosen my site for their featured “Sites We Love.” I’m thrilled to receive the endorsement of such a respected food and drink magazine … Over the years, I’ve loved reading the stories in this publication … the food photography is gorgeous too. Off to celebrate [...]

Anyone who’s ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant knows the ritual. The server brings the wine to the table, displays it for the customer’s inspection, then uncorks it with a flourish. A small portion is poured for the diner to sniff, taste and evaluate. If there’s something wrong with the wine, this is [...]

Wondering why you should subscribe to the wine reviews? Here’s the short but gripping movie of wines lost (on liquor store shelves) and found again, consumed, shared and savored. Click on "continue reading" to play the video … there’s a happy ending You can see a sample set of my wine reviews here. Join me [...]

I’ll be chatting with the hosts of the CBC drive-home radio shows from coast to coast today about wines for Thanksgiving. Tune in if you can and let me know your suggestions before we go live. I’ve posted some of my thoughts on this mouth-watering topic previously. Here’s the schedule (most are live chats, and the [...]