Caprini Salad with Galbani Fresh Mozzarella A delicious, fresh recipe that can be made in minutes. Enjoy as an appetizer or side dish. Ingredients 8 oz. Galbani Fresh Mozzarella Ball 3 Vine Ripe Tomatoes Yellow Pear and Cherry Tomatoes, cut in half 1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced Capers, chopped 1 Lemon Zest Oregano Garlic Basil Olive Oil Lemon Juice Salt and Pepper, to taste Wine Pairing Gabbiano Pinot Grigio Directions 1. Cut the vine ripe tomatoes into quarters and arrange on salad plates with sliced cherry tomatoes and yellow pear tomatoes. 2. Scatter sliced onions. 3. Slice Galbani Mozzarella Ball […]
Author: Natalie MacLean
Balderson Cheddar Cheese and Wine Pairings: Spot On!
Cheese expert Cecilia Smith and I had so much fun filming this spot for Balderson Cheddar. Of course, we had to be thorough with our research and played with various wine and cheese pairings throughout the day of the shoot. This spot airs on, and is posted with permission from: The Food Network, The Lifestyle Network, Home & Garden Television, W Network and other channels. I was fascinated with the production behind a 30-second spot: it took all day. The film crew were pros. Although I was ready to drop at the end of the day, it was […]
Jean Claude Mas Wines: Bringing Le Luxe Rural to Ontario!
Winemaker Jean Claude Mas Sponsored Post by Paul Mas Wines When the hustle and bustle of everyday life has us over-committed and rushing from one thing to the next, it’s especially comforting to remember a simpler time, when we could derive pleasure from life’s everyday luxuries. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting we give up modern conveniences, or even (heaven forbid) put down our phones, but simply take the time to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, like a delicious glass of wine. It’s really quite achievable and can be as easy as treating yourself to a quiet evening, […]
Blending Family, Tradition and Place: Peter Lehmann Wine Tasting
It is a pleasure to meet any winemaker, especially one who makes a journey across the world to share his wine personally with us. Our group had the pleasure of meeting Ian Hongell from Peter Lehmann wines who led us through a tasting, at Sidedoor restaurant, with their wide range of wines paired with tapas. Jennifer MacDonald Havers Wine Columnist, Ottawa Citizen Peter Lehmann is located in the Barossa region, a small wine region of Australia producing only about 65,000 tonnes of fruit per year. It contains some ancient Shiraz, Cabernet, Grenache and Semillon vines, some are 150 or 160 years […]
Top Restaurants for Food, Wine and Fun
Here are the restaurants I love in various cities. I hope you find this a helpful list, and let me know if you enjoy your dining experience at any one of these. My favorite restaurants in Ottawa, Ontario are Riveria (613-233-6262), Soca Kitchen (613-695-9190), Wellington Gastro Pub (613-729-1315), Fraser Café (613-749-1444), The Shore Club (in The Westin, but not owned by it 613-569-5050), Fauna (613-563-2862), Taylor Wine Bar (613-730-5672), Sidedoor (613-562-9331), Social (613-789-7355), Eighteen (613-244-1188), Soif Wine Bar (819-600-7643), Earling’s (613-231-8484), The Pomeroy House (613-237-1658), The Albion Rooms in Novatel (613-760-4771), Mena (613-233-6462), Play (613-667-9207), Absinthe (613-761-1138), Navarra (613-241-5500), Atelier (613-321-3537) and Supply […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings March 19
You can access the 123 wines that I reviewed for March 19 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for March 5. If you are a Paid Member, you can add my wine picks to your custom shopping list with one click and access that list on your smartphone to find the stock for each wine in your closest LCBO store. These are just some of the benefits of supporting out wine community as a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day […]
Kosher Wine: What is it? Why should I not Passover it?
Ten years ago, kosher wine was considered the cough syrup of the wine world: mostly made from nasty Concord grapes and often sweeter than Buckley’s—but without as much nuance. Today, it’s no longer the wine of affliction: many kosher wines, made from classic grapes, are complex and full of character. In fact, kosher wines sales are growing fast — up 12% since 2013. While no one tracks buyer demographics, some producers claim that up to half aren’t even members of the Jewish faith—they’re just attracted to the wine’s quality and its preparation, which guarantees purity. Kosher wines, like fashionable organic […]
Under the Tuscan Moon – Gabbiano Wine Tasting Dinner
Heather Wall Wine Columnist, Huffington Post Canada Wine tasting lunches that I have had the pleasure of attending usually follow a similar format. A visiting winemaker/owner/agent; a group of local sommeliers and bloggers; a lovely meal paired with six or so of the winemaker’s selected wines; and some technical notes with some storytelling. We all leave with tasting notes and stories we can share with our wine loving community. A recent Ottawa Castello di Gabbiano tasting at Sidedoor Kitchen in Ottawa threw that format out with the must! As we entered the private dining room there […]
Drinking the Green: St. Patrick’s Day Wines
March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day … which begs the question: Is there any wine that pairs with corned beef and cabbage? This in turn begs the question: Can we skip the corned beef and cabbage and just have wine? No matter. Traditional matches for this Irish meal usually include Irish stout, like Guinness. But what about wine? Corned beef is salty and cabbage is skunky: is there a wine for that? Yes, as long as you avoid those wines with a strong sulphur smell or taste, as well as big red wines with heavy tannins and oak. Your best bet […]
Champagne and James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Bollinger and Dom Perignon
James Bond was one of the first action heroes to make wine connoisseurship seem masculine and sexy. (Most of he-man flicks don’t lend themselves to the quiet reflection of wine: try to imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger sipping a silky burgundy to relax after an extended car chase.) In the Bond flick, Die Another Day, 007 is freed after fourteen months of torture in a North Korean prison. The first thing he wants? A shave and a bottle of 1961 Bollinger. In GoldenEye (1995), a female psychiatrist asks him what he does to relax. Bond presses a button on the dashboard […]
