Villa Maria Stays True to its Roots: New Zealand Winery Focuses on the Field

Villa Maria By Julia Kelada Often, decanting a wine for an hour gives it time to breathe and reveal its true character. That was exactly the time I was fortunate to spend recently talking with Sir George Fistonich, founder and owner of Villa Maria Wines in New Zealand, who has been making wines for more than 50 years. Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Cellar Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2013 Private Bin Pinot Gris 2013 Private Bin Pinot Noir 2011 Cellar selection Pinot Noir 2010 Private Bin Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2010 Although I had researched a long list […]

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Wine Tasting Club Checklist

Continued from How to Host a Wine Tasting Here’s a checklist for how to host a wine tasting or start a regular wine tasting club. 1. One Month Before the Tasting Decide who you want to invite Your tasting club could be for your existing friends, or a means to get to know new friends via work or other venues, or a mix. Invite six to twelve guests. These days, trying to find an unscheduled evening with six to twelve busy people is a challenge so you may need to give your group even more lead time than a month. […]

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Canadian Wine Harvest 2014: BC, Ontario, Quebec, NS Winemakers Weigh In

Join us Friday morning on Global Television as we discuss how the Canadian wine harvest is going from coast to coast. In the meantime, here are reports from the field: winemakers from British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia give their impressions of how the 2014 harvest is looking so far. Tantalus Vineyards David Paterson, Winemaker, Tantalus Vineyards, British Columbia How is the 2014 harvest going so far? So far the 2014 harvest has been ideal. We are in the home stretch now and a couple more weeks of warm days and cool nights to finish off with will be […]

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Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Recipe

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Recipe by: Courtney Flood This recipe is a great dish to feed a crowd. It can be prepared completely in advance and easily doubled without any extra effort. It’s also an easy wine-pairing dish. It is great to use some of the fall vegetable bounty. Ingredients: 1 large eggplant 3 medium zucchini (or summer squash) 6 red or orange peppers 1 jar of prepared tomato sauce (or make your own) 1 500g package of oven-ready lasagna noodles 2 500g packages of ricotta cheese 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese 1 cup grated parmesan cheese 1 egg 1 clove […]

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Best LCBO Wines: Vintages Release September 13

  You can access the 89 wines that I reviewed for September 13 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. You can also see my wine reviews for August 30. You can add my wine picks to their custom shopping list with one click and access that list on their smartphone. This is one of the benefits of becoming a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Here […]

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Best LCBO Wines: Vintages Release August 30

  You can access the 66 wines that I reviewed for August 30 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. You can also see my wine reviews for August 16. You can add my wine picks to their custom shopping list with one click and access that list on their smartphone. This is one of the benefits of becoming a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so.   […]

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Best LCBO Wines: Vintages Release August 16

  You can access the 79 wines that I reviewed for August 16 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. You can also see my wine reviews for August 2. You can add my wine picks to their custom shopping list with one click and access that list on their smartphone. This is one of the benefits of becoming a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. Here […]

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Best LCBO Wines: Vintages Release August 2

  You can access the 71 wines that I reviewed for August 2 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. You can also see my wine reviews for July 19. You can add my wine picks to their custom shopping list with one click and access that list on their smartphone. This is one of the benefits of becoming a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so.   […]

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Curried Shrimp and Pineapple Skewers Recipe Paired with Reif Riesling

Post by Reif Winery Summer is here and we can help you beat the heat with our 2013 Reif Riesling now available pre-chilled at your local L.C.B.O. It’s a perfect summer sipper with fresh aromas of peach, pear, apple and lemon citrus. It is one of our winemaker Klaus Reif’s favourite wines and his go-to wine for his summer entertaining as it pairs well with light appetizers, salads, pastas, seafood, poultry and pork. It was also a great vintage for white wines in Ontario as it was generally a cooler vintage with fruit at harvest maintaining their natural acidity levels […]

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Wine Pairings for NS Lobster, BC Salmon, Alberta Beef

From CTV’s site: Our resident wine expert, Natalie MacLean, stopped by The Social to share Canadian wines that pair perfectly with the hosts’ favourite patriotic goodies. We had lots of fun pairing the hosts’ favourite Canadian dishes with Canadian wines. Melissa loves Nova Scotia lobster, Traci is a fan of BC salmon, Lani loves beef and Cynthia has a fondness for butter tarts. Ladies, there’s a wine for that … in fact, many. Join us on The Social again July 24 when we chat about great wines for dinner parties. Cheers! P.S. Take The Great Canadian Wine Quiz to find out […]

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