How to Get the Most from a Wine Show? 17 Insider Tips

You’ll find my Top 10 Wine Shows in Canada list, as well as a tongue-in-cheek story of attending a show. And here are my top tips on how to get the most from a wine show: 1. To build your stamina in the weeks leading up to the show, walk around Price Club during the weekends. Eat lots of the cheese-doodles and toothpick wieners. And be nice to the Demo Lady: she may well be pouring your sample at the show. 2. Eat before you come to the show even though there are often lots of food exhibitors. A full […]

read more …

Read More

Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings February 6

  You can access the 104 wines that I reviewed for February 6 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for January 9. 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 […]

read more …

Read More

56 Wines Tasted + 971 Tweets Posted = 1 Great Wine Shopping List

Our Wine Tasting A Team gathered Sunday to review 56 wines, covering a wide range of styles and regions. Twitter and Facebook lit up as we posted our reviews live during the afternoon. You can see the complete list of wines below to add to your shopping list. Enjoy!   Jane Staples Wine Columnist, Ottawa Wedding Magazine         Jennifer MacDonald Havers Wine Columnist, Ottawa Citizen           Matt Steeves Wine Expert, CTV Morning Live               Cherie Cole Restaurant Wine Consultant         Craig Kuziemsky MBA Professor, […]

read more …

Read More

Days of Roses and Red Wine: A New App for Your Valentine

By Olivia Villalta Valentine’s Day and roses go hand in hand. Want to tell someone you love them? Roses. Want to show someone you missed them? Roses. Want to get out of the dog house? Roses. But there’s more to these flowers than a beautiful gesture, composed in an elegant vase. Let me share some secrets with you on how to plan the perfect date night using roses in some surprising and creative ways. First, you’ll need two bouquets… one red, for your loved one, and one with a rainbow of many colours, just for fun. The Perfect Delivery With […]

read more …

Read More

How to Decant Wine: 5 Easy Steps

How do you decant wine? Decanting wine simply means pouring it from its bottle into some other container: a carafe, a decanter, even a water jug. Here are 5 easy steps to decant wine: To decant a bottle with sediment, first leave it upright for about a day to settle the sediment at the bottom. When you’re ready, make sure the decanter and the mouth of the bottle are clean. For the actual pouring process, stand a flashlight on the table so that it shines upwards—it gives stronger light than the classic lit candle. Place the decanter beside it and […]

read more …

Read More

Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings January 9

  You can access the 93 wines that I reviewed for January 9 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for December 12, 2015. 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 […]

read more …

Read More

Why is Champagne the Wine of New Year’s Eve?

On CBC Ontario’s CBC drive-home shows we chat about bubblies for the New Year’s in the third part of our holiday wine series. We also chatted about this on CBC’s Alberta at Noon as well as The Morning Edition in Saskatchewan and Metro Morning in Toronto. Champagne is the traditional sparkling wine to ring in the new year, but there are other alternatives. Further below are the wines we talked about in the audio clip above. Do you know the answers to these bubbly questions?   Why is Champagne the wine of New Year’s Eve? Savvy champagne producers have managed […]

read more …

Read More

Gift Wines to Make Your Holidays Sparkle

Team member Matt Steeves above, chats about his favourite holiday gift wines on CTV’s Morning Show above. Click the arrow to play.       Team member Tania Thomas recommends her favourite holiday sparkling wines on Rogers Daytime Television.   Gift Wines to Make Your Holidays Sparkle 1st video Leanne: Well you don’t need to spend a lot to get great wines. In fact when it comes to entertaining often the best wines are some of the least expensive and the most appealing. So here with his top picks and tips on how to serve wine at your holiday party, we […]

read more …

Read More

A Glass Act: Georg Riedel Shatters My Wine Stemware Illusions

He’s handsome, tanned and trim, with courtly manners and a soft Austrian accent. His eyes, the azure of Alpine skies, gaze into mine over the restaurant table and several glasses of wine. I know that he will change my life forever, bring me years of domestic bliss. We barely touch our food since we’re both quivering with anticipation. But alas, he’s no Captain von Trapp, I’m not Maria and this isn’t really a romantic dinner. It’s a gathering of wine enthusiasts to meet Georg Riedel, who represents the tenth generation of his family to make crystal stemware. The Tyrolean mountains […]

read more …

Read More

Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings December 12

  You can access the 181 wines that I reviewed for December 12 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for November 28, 2015. 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 […]

read more …

Read More