By Tania Thomas Lobster has come a long way since the mid-19th century when it was considered as a mark of poverty and the food for lower members of society. These days, we think of a lobster as a special occasion treat and often serve it as a celebratory meal. And speaking of celebrations; what’s more celebratory than a bottle of bubbly to accompany festivities? Stylish and chic, fizz has been associated with fun since mid-17th century when London society discovered its “uplifting” effect. Crisp acidity and citrus notes of lemon drops and lemon zest, match lobster with buttery sauce […]
White Wine
Tania’s Magical Matches: Wine Pairings for Summer Salads
By Tania Thomas Among the great summertime pleasures are the relaxing patio suppers enjoyed with friends. Often, they are nothing more than a great salad dish, splashed down by a cool glass or two of a crisp summer white wine. Matching wine with salads can certainly present a challenge. Luckily, if you know a few easy tricks, it becomes effortless. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the acid in wine matches or is slightly higher than the acidity in the vinaigrette. With that in mind, a simple tossed green salad with citrusy vinaigrette dressing calls for […]
Jane’s Gems: 90 Point Wines in LCBO Vintages August 8
By Jane Staples The LCBO Vintages August 8 Release offers an exciting collection of wines from the Pacific Northwest, namely British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. All three regions have undergone dramatic changes over the past five years, making great stride in both quality and diversity of the wines they produce. Yet the three regions are also vastly different, despite the fact they’re often grouped together geographically in the wine world. Oregon winemaking has its roots in the 1970s, and has since taken the silky, medium-bodied red wine, Pinot Noir, to great heights. Now it also produces a zesty white wine […]
La Ferme Du Mont Wines: Harvesting Grapes for Energy
By Mymi The Singing Sommelier You open a bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass, sniff, and slowly take it in… While sipping, it’s natural to focus on the flavors of the wine and how the alcohol feels floating through your veins, but how often do you get the chance to taste a wine with the person who actually made it? I was thrilled to have that opportunity and enjoy a luncheon organized by Eurovintage with Stéphane Vedeau, vigneron from “La Ferme Du Mont” in the Southern part of Les Côtes du Rhône. His estate is comprised of 50 hectares […]
Vegan and Vegetarian Wine Food Pairings
By Alex and Priya, A Vine Romance One of the most interesting things I’ve realized since meeting Alex is that although wine and food pairings are common, it is extremely rare that wine pairings are offered for vegetarian or more specifically, vegan foods. With Meatless Mondays gaining momentum and scores of celebrities (Beyonce, Jared Leto, Bill Clinton, Ellen Degeneres) going vegan and since I have my own, in-house sommelier to help me out, I thought I’d pay it forward and offer some general thoughts on how to pair wine with vegan foods. To begin, I should clarify ‘vegan’ from ‘vegetarian’. […]
Kim Crawford Wine Pairs Well with Milestones and Birthdays
By Melissa Pulvermacher A 25th birthday should be celebrated with several bottles of wine and a great dinner. That’s exactly how the summer-long festivities began for Milestones at their Dundas Square location in Toronto, with General Manager André Barrett, Head Chef Jason Rosso and Kim Crawford’s New Zealand Portfolio Director Matthew Deller. As expected, Rosso hit it out of the park immediately with a table full of Crab Salad Crostini, Crispy Halibut Tacos and Mini Spinach Dip Taco Bowls. The food was on the table, but a great meal needs wine pairings to take it to the next level. Matt […]
Jane’s Gems: 90 Point Wines in LCBO Vintages July 25
By Jane Staples The LCBO Vintages Release for July 25 offers a cool breeze to beat the summer heat. The focus is on refreshing, zesty white wines. You’ll find that these sippers are usually also light in alcohol and oak (sometimes completely unoaked) and have racy, mouth-watering acidity. They pair well with summer dishes such as fresh seafood, shellfish and salads. The wine regions that tend to produce these vibrant whites are often cool climates like New Zealand, famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, and Canada, for our Riesling. These regions are more distant from the equator than are warm climate […]
The Right Temperature for Wine? Chilled Reds, Warmer Whites
What is the right temperature for wine? Depends on if the wine is red, white, sparkling or dessert. However, all wine is often served at the wrong temperature, with red wines too warm and white wines too cold. Too cold, and a wine’s complexity and aromas are numbed; too warm, and it tastes alcoholic, flabby and astringent (that mouth-drying feeling we get from walnuts). The old advice about serving reds at “room temperature” comes from the days when the “room” was a drafty medieval castle of about 18 degrees Celsius (64.4° Farenheit), not today’s toasty, centrally heated homes where the […]
How to Read a Wine List, Vertical Tastings and Sommelier Sips
Ryan Campbell, formerly sommelier at Toronto’s Crush Wine Bar, now works with the wine lists at the parent company, Vintage Hotels in Niagara. Wine is such a big part of your restaurant, how do you ensure that your staff, who aren’t sommeliers, are still knowledgeable? We hold an informal “wine school” once a month for about 15 staff members. For the last class, we focused on chardonnay with a vertical tasting. Vertical tastings mean one type of wine, like chardonnay, from different producers, but all from the same vintage. A horizontal tasting would be, say chardonnays, all from one producer, […]
Mandela Wines: South African Free Trade Wines Toast with Madiba Label
By Melissa Pulvermacher When someone says Nelson Mandela – what do you think of? Political prominence, humanity, social brilliance and revolutionary philanthropy are only some of the things that come to mind for me. After one afternoon spent at the iYellow Wine Cave, I now add the word ‘wine’ to that list. Yes, that’s right. House of Mandela Wine exists and is not only a great product, but is Free Trade guaranteed and carries through the legacy of Nelson and his family while supporting a thriving industry in South Africa contributing to the country’s economic prosperity. Who knew a great […]
