By Melissa Pulvermacher It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to eat, drink and be merry! When stocking up for those holiday parties, we all have our usual go-to wine selections, but with so many options, it may just be worth your while to venture out and try something new. For this holiday, consider looking to Austria for new selections. Austria is really hitting the world stage with quality wine production and while they may not be producing mass amounts, we are now seeing more and more in our market here in Ontario and the wine is certainly worth […]
Wine Picks
Best Summer Wines for Barbecue + Seafood: CTV News
In part two of our regular wine chat, Leanne and I talk about the best wines for summer, whether it’s zesty whites, such as Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc, for seafood; and robust red wines, such as Shiraz, Cabernet and Malbec, for BBQs. All of my wine picks are under $20, including several that scored 90+ points. Stock up now! Posted with permission of CTV
A Vine Celebration: The 120th Anniversary of Nino Negri Wines
In October, I traveled to Italy with great excitement to participate in Nino Negri’s 120th Anniversary celebration. As I drove through the historic wine region of Valtellina, I was captivated by its breathtaking beauty and eager to participate in this year’s wine harvest. Valtellina is a serene valley at the foot of the Lombardy Alps, on the Italian-Swiss border. The “vine”, the heart of this difficult mountainous terrain, has found perfect growing conditions here. The vineyards are protected by two high mountain chains, the Retiche Alps and the Orobie Pre-Alps. Exposure to the sun at high altitude, as well as a significant […]
Discovering the Jewel Grape of Austrian Wine
By Alex and Priya, A Vine Romance Austria. The first thing that comes to mind when most people hear this country is The Sound of Music and Julie Andrews singing My Favorite Things! However, this little European country is known for something else that will likely become one of your favourite things, Gruner Veltliner. Read on as Alex sheds light on this versatile grape as well as other wines that are made in Austria. Priya: I don’t even think I knew Austria made wine! Why do you think it’s such a little-known region to non-sommeliers? Alex: For one thing, Austrian […]
Video: Valentine’s Day Wine and Chocolate Pairings
In the video chat above, Master Chocolatier Derrick Tu Tan Pho shares his tips for pairing wine and chocolate for Valentine’s Day and any other time of the year when you want to indulge. He knows his sweet stuff having won gold at the Culinary Olympics in the categories of sugar, chocolate, wedding cakes and dessert presentation. How did you train for the culinary Olympics? Your secrets to making great chocolate? What is the strangest chocolate sculpture you’ve created? Tell me about some of your specialized tools for making chocolate: induction burners, ganache frames, guitars, robot-coupes, heat guns and […]
Liquor up Your Lover on Valentine’s Day
I’ll be chatting with the hosts of the CBC radio drive-home shows from coast to coast this Thursday and Friday about wines for Valentine’s Day. But we’re going to depart from the usual natter about which wines are most seductive or how to pair them with chocolate. We’ll go straight to the heart of the matter: how do you liquor up your lover on February 14? More specifically, we’ll talk about why wines are getting more alcoholic these days and how does that affect their taste and ours? Is this just a cultural trend of winemakers responding to the market? Is […]
5 Great Reasons to Explore Armenian Wines
A View of Ararat from Armenia Wine Company By Rebecca Meïr-Liebman of Chef & Somm I’ve tasted thousands of wines – perhaps even hundreds of thousands – from all over the globe yet, until now, none had been Armenian. So when I was invited by the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia (VWFA) to explore Armenian wine culture, I was thrilled to say yes! There is a great energy here, with new wineries, wine bars, and wine shops popping up everywhere, many of them owned by Armenians who, returning from abroad, are investing heavily in this renaissance. Chances are […]
Nova Scotia Wines: Cool Climate Grapes Create a Wide Range of Styles
By Susan Desjardins A recent tasting event in Ottawa provided the opportunity to once again taste a range of wines from Nova Scotia’s burgeoning wine industry. Vines were planted as early as 1611, when a French settler, Louis Herbert, planted a vineyard in the Bear River area – he soon learned that climatic conditions in the region make wine production a challenging enterprise. It wasn’t until 1980 that an intrepid entrepreneur, Roger Dial, produced Nova Scotia’s first commercial vintage at the Grand Pré winery. The Jõst family soon followed suit, establishing their winery in the Malagash Peninsula. The Grape Growers’ […]
Tasty Cool Climate Chardonnay, Niagara, Italy and Tasmania, Robust Barolo and Brunello, Italy, plus dry Rose from France: July 23 Vintages Release Wine Reviews
My top picks and best value wines from the July 23 Vintages Release: Full-bodied, deep and delicious Italian red wines: Barolo, Brunello, Amarone Cool-climate, generously layered Chardonnay: Tasmania, Niagara, Italy, France Zesty, herbal, food-friendly New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc Blackberry-rich Cabernet and Shiraz from Australia Smooth and luscious Niagara Merlot Rhone and Okanagan Syrah You can get all 74 wines that I’ve recommended from a wide range of price points, scores, food pairings, regions and styles, including red, white, sparkling, rose and dessert wine. Make sure you pick some back-up choices from the full list in case some of these below […]
How Oyster Bay Tamed Prickly Pinot Noir in New Zealand
By Greg M.P. Hughes Winemakers who specialize in Pinot Noir are some of the hardest working viticulturists on the planet. This grape’s thin skin makes it extremely vulnerable to diseases, makes colour extraction torture to get right, and yields are minuscule (not a tremendous ROI compared to Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz). Pinot Noir’s idiosyncrasies are enough to make even hardened pro winemakers tear their hair out. That is why Pinot Noir is one of the most misunderstood selections that wine experts explain to their audiences. Most people understand it as byword for a quality wine, but have no idea what […]
