The Best Books & Bottles for Mother’s Day Gifts

  Mother’s Day is this Sunday. You might like to toast mom with a glass of wine or two, but what can you pair with wine beyond flowers? How about some terrific new books?   Here with her tips is Natalie MacLean, who offers Canada’s most popular online wine classes at nataliemaclean.com.   What are you recommending first?     I have The Sugar Bowl Feud by Halifax author Gina Brown is about four grieving siblings who inherit their mother’s house full of stuff. When the oldest chooses the sugar bowl as a keepsake, sparks fly. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, […]

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Spanish Wine Pairings + Cookbook Creation Secrets with Barbara Scott-Goodman

Introduction Why do Spanish wines pair well with earthy, savoury dishes? How does food photography affect the cost of a cookbook? How can you set yourself up for success as an aspiring food or drink writer? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with author Barbara Scott-Goodman. You can find the wines we discussed here.   Giveaway Three of you will win a copy of Barbara Scott-Goodman’s terrific book Wine Time: 70+ Recipes for Simple Bites That Pair Perfectly with Wine.   How to Win To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me […]

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Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings May 11, 2024

  You can access the wines that I reviewed as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. 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. You can also see my wine reviews for April 27th. 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 or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Curious about […]

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Challenging Wine Matches with Barbara Scott-Goodman, Author of Wine Time: 70+ Recipes for Simple Bites That Pair Perfectly with Wine

Introduction Can you pair pickled foods with wine, or will their vinegarized flavours ruin the wine? Which wines pair best with soft-shell crab? What goes into great food photography, whether in a magazine or cookbook? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m chatting with author Barbara Scott-Goodman. You can find the wines we discussed here.   Giveaway Three of you will win a copy of Barbara Scott-Goodman’s terrific book Wine Time: 70+ Recipes for Simple Bites That Pair Perfectly with Wine.   How to Win To qualify, all you have to do is email me at [email protected] and let me […]

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Mother’s Day Brunch Wine and Champagne Pairings

Jeff and I had such fun chatting about wines for Mother’s Day gifts on Canada AM, especially champagne for brunch. There’s even a “live action” shot with uncorking a sparkler. (Okay, not so much.) Here are my Top 20 Wines for Mother’s Day, either made by women or named for them. Often the latter were originally made by women. You’ll also find more suggestions in my Mother’s Day wines for Epicurious as well as for More Magazine. Jeff: It’s Mother’s Day, of course, on Sunday, and if you are planning on taking her out for brunch, you might want to […]

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Wine Sulphites, Mindful Drinking and Marketing Alcohol on The Erica Diamond Podcast

Introduction Should you avoid wine with sulphites? What are some of the important differences in the way wine is marketed to men versus women? How can you practice mindful drinking without giving up the wine you love? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I’m being interviewed by Erica Diamond on The Erica Diamond Podcast. You can find the wines we discussed here.   Join me on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube Live Video Join the live-stream video of this conversation on Wednesday at 7 pm eastern on Instagram Live Video, Facebook Live Video or YouTube Live Video. I’ll be jumping […]

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Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings April 27, 2024

  You can access the wines that I reviewed as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. 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. You can also see my wine reviews for April 13th. 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 or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Curious […]

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Spicy Food & Wine Pairings: Cinco de Mayo, Tex-Mex, Indian Food Matches

On Global Television’s Morning Show today, we chatted about wine and spicy food pairings than to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. What better time to explore these than on May 5, the day in 1862 when a rag-tag Mexican army defeated the far larger French forces under Emperor Napoleon III. Sure, you could toast with a cerveza or tequila, but which wine? The growing Mexican wine industry is gaining respect, particularly the region of Baja California, and among the leading producers is L.A. Cetto, creating exceptionally well-priced red wines. But let’s broaden the field, and look at wines from around the […]

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Santa Margherita Wine Tasting: To Pinot Grigio and Beyond

Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in our nation’s capital recently for a comprehensive tasting and overview of Santa Margherita wines. Their overall impressions and reviews are below. Click the arrow in any video to watch it. Monique Sosa Wine Columnist, Ottawa Life Magazine  Virtually everyone I know has had a taste of the eminent Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. It is the number one selling white wine in Canada and a consistent top seller in North America altogether. Not so long after the rise of their Grigio’s popularity, we started to notice more and more Santa Margherita labels of various styles of […]

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10 Best Moscato d’Asti Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Moscato d’Asti

Moscato d’Asti is a fragrant and slightly fizzy DOCG dessert wine produced in the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. You’ll find my most recent Moscato d’Asti reviews and ratings here. Surprising Facts about Moscato d’Asti: Moscato d’Asti is produced from the Moscato Bianco (white Muscat) grape in and around the town of Asti. The hub of Asti production being the tiny village of Canelli. Moscato Bianco is the fourth most planted grape in Italy and perhaps the first cultivated vine in Piedmont. Moscato d’Asti is often mentioned in the company of its relative wine Asti. The two have many differences. […]

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