It was an evening of spectacular wine and food at Sidedoor Restaurant recently with the Visa Infinite Dining Series. Chef Jonathan Korecki, a contender on the Food Network’s Top Chef Canada, welcomed fellow competitors Carl Heinrich (Richmond Station, Toronto) and Trevor Bird (Fable Kitchens, Vancover) for a wonderful pairing of French wines and tasty dishes noted below. Wine expert Nick Hamilton provided lively and informative commentary on the wines and why they paired well with each dish. Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne, Champagne, France: A robust and tasty champagne that floods the senses with freshly baked bread and hazelnuts. Pair with: […]
Events
Taste Canada: Wine, Food and Books
It was a spectacular evening celebrating Canadian wine, food and books at the Taste Canada awards November 5 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. Here are some pictures of the event courtesy of Laura Berman, Greenfuse Photography I’ve posted a short video below with Alison Pryor, owner of Canada’s best culinary book store called the Cookbook Store in Toronto near Yorkville. You can find my first post about Taste Canada here. The food that evening was terrific … a full-on, dazzling display of culinary delights by a number of the country’s top chefs. That’s Bonnie Stern above, the […]
Celebrating Canadian Wine, Food + Writing – Taste Canada
Monday evening was a terrific celebration of Canadian food, wine and writing at Taste Canada―The Food Writing Awards. According to Quill & Quire, the magazine for the Canadian publishing industry, the competition drew 73 book submissions this year, “a brilliant snapshot of the vibrancy and diversity of Canadian culinary publishing.” Karen Gelbart, National Chair of Taste Canada, commenetd, “The selection and diversity of the publishing and the cuisine in this country are breathtaking. Our judges were in the unique position of spending time with each of these books — reading the narratives and studying the presentation — to finally decide […]
Toronto Symphony Wine Auction November 8
Don’t miss this terrific event in support of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on November 8. There will be some rare and fabulous wines on the auction block. You can find more details on my first post about the wine auction.
Importing Wine For Pleasure & Profit
Importing Wine for Pleasure & Profit Seminar (9:30 a.m.-4 p.m) Saturday November 10th – Toronto – The Old Mill Inn & Spa, 21 Old Mill Road Saturday November 17th- Ottawa – Novotel Hotel, 24 Nicholas Street Featuring C. Steven Trenholme, a 30-year veteran of the international beverage alcohol industry, with details on how to import wine, spirits and beer into the Ontario marketplace for personal use or as a career. $295.00 Pre-Registration Required Contact — C.S. Trenholme & Associates, [email protected] What Professionals Have Said About My Seminar It is refreshing to see new people excited to get into our industry. […]
An Evening of California Wine Tasting with David Mirassou
By Loukia Zigoumis I’ve always been a wine lover… red, white, I wasn’t picky. I went through a phase where I only drank Chianti, and then I made a switch, and decided to only drink Pinot Grigio. Now, I enjoy it all, and will experiment with different flavours and types of wine depending on where I’m going, whom I’m with, and what I’m eating. I’m learning a lot from reading Natalie’s book Unquenchable, too. If I’m just going out for drinks, I’ll choose my wine carefully. I am learning about the different flavours and tastes, and what goes well with what, […]
Toronto Symphony Wine Auction November 8
Toronto Symphony Wine Auction Imagine your delight sipping a fine wine, say a 1990 Chateau Cheval Blanc or a 1999 DRC Richebourg, that you acquired at auction for a fraction of its appraised value. This fantasy could become reality by attending the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Annual Fine Wine Auction on Thursday, November 8. Discover the many gems from around the world that will be up for auction this fall. Share the wine list with your friends, colleagues and followers. We are at: http://tsvc.ca/wineauction The complete auction catalogue will be available for download on October 1. This year’s auction will take […]
Canada’s Best Sommeliers: Celebrating our Wine Wizards
A toast to Véronique Rivest who won the Best Canadian Sommelier Competition in Halifax on September 17, as well as to the finalists, Will Predhomme and Élyse Lambert. Semi-finalists included Bruce Wallner, Robert Noel and Bertrand Eichel. They all participated in extensive written exams, blind tasting, wine list correction and an hour-long simulated restaurant service in front of a live audience in their second language. You can watch two video interviews about the sommelier competition with semi-finalist Bruce Wallner. Winner Véronique Rivest Les Fougères Restaurant Chelsea, Quebec Congrats to our hometown gal on her extraordinary win: we are so […]
Wolf Blass Wine Tasting Full Video with Wines Tasted
You can watch the video below of the whole Wolf Blass wine tasting in Ottawa and taste along with us. The full-house had a great vibe that night … not a drop of pretentious stuffiness that sometimes tries to substitute for lack of personality at these events. Yet attendees felt that they had learned a lot, per their comments below… I was so impressed that the 220 folks who attended the two events made a serious commitment to be there, about $100 by the time they paid for parking, unlike free events. There were another 70 tickets waitlisted, so it’s […]
Wolf Blass Wine Tasting in Ottawa, 2 Videos
The excitement for the Ottawa Wolf Blass tasting started with a long lineup that snaked down the sidewalk in front of Restaurant 18. The great vibe from the people who attended, Wolf’s rascal humour and the tasty wines made it a wonderful evening. Here’s more on that plus two video clips from CTV News below … Wolf loves women … I couldn’t find any pictures of him with men :) I couldn’t keep up with the tweets during the event, but it was lovely to see how much people enjoyed themselves with the comments […]
