Just back from a mouth-watering journey through the streets (strada) of Rome. Here are some pictures and videos to whet your appetite, from olive oil and bruschetta tastings to thin-crust pizza and fresh tomato sauce pasta. Click on each picture at the link above if you want to see the comments to the right about the food and wine. Have you been to Rome? I’d love to hear about your favourite food haunts and restaurants. Ciao! Natalia
Food & Wine Pairing
Pairing Wine and Seafood, Shellfish and Steak with Sommelier Allison Vidug
Allison Vidug, sommelier at the Shore Club in Toronto, shares her tips on pairing wine with fresh seafood and shellfish, as well as great cuts of juicy steak. Tell us about the wine list at The Shore Club. Since I took over the wine program, my focus has been on creating a classic list with wines that suit the menu. The Shore Club’s menu is all about simplicity and quality of ingredients used in steak and seafood dishes. The wine list will include classics from the Old World, New World and, great Canadian wines — which I am most excited […]
Wine App Pours its Way to the Top of the App Store
Thanks to reporter Trish Crompton with the technology magazine Communitech for this terrific review of our new wine mobile app! Wine app pours its way to the top of the app store Natalie MacLean may have uncorked the secret to helping even the most amateur of wine drinkers to become their own sommelier. As an award-winning wine writer, MacLean is constantly asked for recommendations on the perfect wine. “I would get lots and lots of emails all the time,” MacLean says, and they were filled with questions like, “I want to buy an anniversary wine for my parents, I have […]
Pairing Wine + Art: Sommelier Courtney Henderson
Courtney Henderson, sommelier at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Frank Restaurant in Toronto, shares tips on pairing wine with art, finding the gems on a restaurant wine list and the artist with whom she’d love to share a great bottle. What makes your wine list unique? We have thirty red wines, thirty white and six sparkling, with six by the glass for red and white and three for the sparkling. More than 85 percent of them are Canadian. We feature Vintner Quality Alliance (VQA) wines that includes lots of local gems such as Niagara’s 13th Street Pinot Gris, Nyarai Sauvignon […]
Panko Avocado + Havarti Pesto Recipe Paired with Rose Wine
A Taste of Summer I think the last of the cold weather is finally behind us, and now we can breathe a collective sigh of relief and finally enjoy the beginning of summer. For me, the best part about summer is the refreshing culinary delights. There’s so many different recipes available online and I’m always anxious to try something new. So when I found the following recipe for Panko Avocado with Canadian Havarti Pesto I was excited for two reasons: one, because I love avocado; two, because I’ve never tried it broiled in the oven. I also thought the Havarti […]
10 Best Ripasso Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Ripasso
Ripasso is not a grape variety, but rather a winemaking process, made famous in Italy. This sends the wine into a second fermentation and gives the wine more tannins, body, flavour, and alcohol. You’ll find my top 10 Ripasso reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Ripasso: 1. The wine of Valpolicella, made from a combination of native Italian grapes most commonly Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, is re-passed over the leftover grape skins and seeds of the wine, also known as its pomace. 2. Some refer to the Ripasso style of wine as a “baby amarone,” more powerful than […]
10 Best Valpolicella Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Valpolicella
Valpolicella, like Chianti, is a style of wine from a specific region of Italy bearing the name Valpolicella. Valpolicella is not an actual grape variety. You’ll find my most recent Valpolicella reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Valpolicella: The grapes that are typically used to make Valpolicella include Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara. The area known as Valpolicella is a part of the greater wine region known as the Veneto and is inside the province of Verona, in the North East of Italy. Valpolicella labels can give you clues as to what wine you can expect from the wine […]
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 […]
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 […]
Canadian Wine Pairings for BBQ Steak, Chicken, Seafood
On Monday’s CBC radio drive-home shows, we talked about great Canadian wines to pair with your summer barbecues. You can listen to one of those clips above. Discover 10 Surprising Facts about Canadian Wines here. The wines we discussed here included: Jabulani Vineyard & Winery Frontenac Gris 2013 Richmond, Eastern Ontario, Canada Sibling Rivalry Pink 2010 Niagara Escarpment, Canada Mission Hill Five Vineyards Cabernet Merlot 2011 Okanagan Valley, BC VQA, Canada Benjamin Bridge Nova 7 Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada Posted with permission of CBC. Canadian Wine Pairings for BBQ Steak, Chicken, Seafood Giacomo: Well according to national stereotypes, […]
