Vino plays a supporting role in some of the silver screen’s most memorable moments. We asked wine experts to tell us which scenes stayed with them long after the theatres went dark. “Here’s looking at you kid.” Even if you haven’t seen Casablanca, you’ve likely heard that toast. And if you have seen the movie, [...]

I had fun recommending these wine pairings with different stages of a relationship for Curve Magazine… Though Natalie MacLean is about as sensitive to her wines as the average parent is to her children, she still manages to tackle this seemingly snobby, daunting and inaccessible subject with a lighthearted sense of humor that other wine [...]

“You people,” sighed the Silicon Scout, shaking his head. “You and your websites. The web is like, so over.” We sit on a non-profit board of directors together, the Scout and I. He’s one of the guys known to technology marketers as “early adopters.” The first guy with a cellphone, a fax machine, an MP3 [...]

Gourmet, the beloved 68 year old grande dame of culinaria, died on October 5, 2009. And the obits say I killed her. Jennie Yabroff’s autopsy in Newsweek blames Gourmet’s elitism and people like me. To make her point, she quotes a story from the July issue of Gourmet by Alexander Lobrano: “[A]fter a stately pause, [...]

Decanter contributors were lauded for their efforts at the 2009 Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards in London last night. Margaret Rand, a previous winner of Roederer’s Champagne Writer of the Year, was named Feature Writer of the Year for her articles in Decanter, and specialist wine photographer Jon Wyand was given the Artistry of [...]

What goes with death row? How about a silky, fleshy pinot noir from Burgundy? Natalie MacLean can do half of the food and drink thing (see Question No. 7) and has to keep fending off the FedEx guy, who often hints he would like to come in (No. 18). Sommelier and wine writer Natalie MacLean [...]

Vino plays a supporting role in some of the silver screen’s most memorable moments. We asked wine experts to tell us which scenes stayed with them long after the theatres went dark. “Here’s looking at you kid.” Even if you haven’t seen Casablanca, you’ve likely heard that toast. And if you have seen the movie, [...]

Today’s wine drinker is not who you might expect. You’ll still find ladies-who-lunch sipping their Chardonnays and snooty “cork dorks” sniffing out barnyard aromas in Burgundies from obscure wineries. But today’s wine drinker is also a 20-year-old uncorking a Chianti for the first time, a young professional enjoying a food-friendly Riesling, a mid-lifer embarking on [...]

Ottawa has become a city with a passion for the grape. You see it in the growing number of restaurants offering menus and special dinners paired with wine and the longer wine lists at even small eateries. A record crowd — 26,000 last year — is expected to attend next week’s annual Ottawa Food and [...]

Q. William S Burroughs said that, in a revolution, those who control the media control events. Today, wine blogs seem to be revolutionising wine. Do you agree? A. Yes and no. Blogs expand the discussion beyond traditional media, allowing more drinkers and self- appointed critics to comment, but do more opinions mean more democracy or [...]