You don’t need to tell me that wine is the most important meal of the day. The question is, which type of food do you prefer as a side? That’s the question being asked by Canadian wine writer Natalie MacLean who has worked up a time-sensitive way to pit region against region in The Great Canadian Wine Match, the object of which is to pair your favourite wine with a particular type of food, eventuating in a winner at the end to be voted on by participants in the social media campaign. Crowd-sourcing competitions like these have flourished in recent […]
Events
The Great Canadian Wine Match: Red, White and True North Food
In The Great Candian Wine Match, an annual battle of the bottles, you can vote for your favourite Canadian wines to pair with Canadian cheese, chicken, beef, seafood, pizza and dessert. As the people’s choice awards for Canadian wines, the competition takes a grassroots, “bottoms up” approach to get us rallying behind our favourite bottles from coast to coast. How do I nominate a wine? Go to the nomination wall for one of the six Canadian food categories: chicken, beef, pizza, cheese, seafood or dessert. Simply enter the name or product code of the wine. You can find product codes […]
Vancouver International Wine Festival Chardonnay Kitchen Party
By Mari Kane When I got the invite to a Chardonnay Kitchen Party at the Miele appliances showroom in downtown Vancouver, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I’d heard of tastings there, but having walked by the store many times, I couldn’t work out how they’d fit so many bodies into it. The Chardonnay Kitchen Party was part of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, and organized by consultant Dana Reinhardt and wine writer Tim Pawsey. With its labyrinth of demonstration kitchens, Meile turned out to be a fantastic venue for wine and food grazing. One kitchen after another had […]
Oprah Loves Wine and Living Life to the Full
When I went to listen to Oprah Winfrey talk last night, I expected to hear cliches about believing in yourself and taking a positive attitude. However, her insights were incredibly more practical, grounded, and ultimately, inspirational. She used the rise and fall and rise again of her own network to make her advice concrete: “I live a big life,” she observed. “My mistakes show up on the evening news. But that can force you to dig deeper, move in a new direction and do the next right thing.” She also talked about Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Facebook whose […]
The Great Canadian Wine Match: Recipe Cards, Bottle Neck Tags
Neck tags will be available to wineries and agents whose wines are either nominees and or winners in The Great Canadian Wine Match. These would have the competition logo and category in which the wine is a nominee or winner, such as Best Canadian Beef Wine, etc for seafood, chicken, cheese, pizza or dessert. Please provide your feedback on how to make these as effective as possible: Would you use a neck tag if it were designed for you? Do you prefer portrait (above) or landscape (below) for layout? Both orientations would open to 2 panels inside and there would […]
Wine Tasting Dinner with Canada’s Best Sommelier Veronique Rivest
Join celebrity-sommelier, Véronique Rivest, for a unique tutored wine tasting and small-plates dinner on April 10 at 7 pm. Véronique is the winner of Canada’s Best Sommelier and of The Best Sommelier of the America’s in 2012, as well as a top 12 finalist for The Best Sommelier of the World competition in both 2007 and 2010. Watch Véronique in action and learn from the master how to taste and pair wines with a variety of dishes. Novice and seasoned wine-lovers will enjoy this evening that will be a memorable experience.Wine Tasting and Small-Plates Pairing Dinner April 10, 2013 – […]
Importing Wine for Pleasure & Profit Seminar
IMPORTING WINE Spirits & Beer FOR PLEASURE & PROFIT Presented by C.S. Trenholme & Associates Saturday June 8, 2013 The Old Mill Inn & Spa – Toronto 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM Learn how to import wines, spirits and beers for your own collection or as a fascinating business opportunity. During this one-day seminar, you will be guided through the process of importing beverage alcohol in a professional, and entertaining manner. This seminar is organized in two parts. The morning session has been prepared especially for those individuals who have little or no knowledge of the wine, spirit and beer […]
BC Wines Toast Large Twitter Tasting
BC wineries celebrated a vibrant wine tasting on Twitter last night. The positive energy and support from the wine community coast to coast poured out in tweets that came rapid-fire one after the other. A tasting event like this proves what we can build and create together using these new social media tools. Not only did we support our homegrown producers, but we showed our strength and commitment to having access to all of our wines across this country. Ontario wants more BC, BC wants more Ontario and Canada wants more Canada. We were fortunate to have @DanAlbas join us […]
Canadian wine community gets behind (and into) BC wine
Here’s a toast to the terrific team of wine reviewers who joined in a terrific wine tasting on Twitter last night. Their enthusiasm and positive energy came through in both their tweets and their reviews for these incredible BC wines (scroll down on the page for each wine to see their notes and scores): Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay 2010, BC VQA Gray Monk Gewürztraminer 2011, BC VQA Quails’ Gate Chardonnay 2011, BC VQA Eau Vivre Pinot Noir 2008, BC VQA Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2008, BC VQA Mission Hill Quatrain 2009, BC VQA I raise my glass to an […]
Sommelier Guild Honours Wine Person of the Year Dan Albas
The National Capital Sommelier Guild is delighted to honour Mr. Dan Albas, Member of Parliament for Okanagan–Coquihalla, as its 2012 Wine Person of the Year. The award was presented at the Guild’s annual gala dinner at the National Arts Center on January 19. Mr. Albas introduced and was the driving force behind Private Members Bill C-311, which passed with unanimous support of the House of Commons and Senate on June 28, 2012. The bill amended the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act and removed federal restrictions prohibiting Canadians from moving wine purchased for personal use from one province to another. […]
