By Natalie MacLean Here are some tips to get the most out of Bordeaux wine — whether you’re visiting the region itself or just pouring over the liquor store shelves. Get a good grounding A few basics about Bordeaux can help you bluff your way through the next bow-tie tasting. The region, about three hours southwest of Paris, is bordered by three rivers: the Gironde, the Garonne and the Dordogne. It’s divided into five districts (or appellations): Pomerol, Saint-Emilion, Graves, Sauternes and Médoc. Within each of these are more specific districts, much like those hollow wooden Russian dolls, with each […]
Grapes & Regions
Gorgeous Wine Book Maps Wine Regions and Grapes
Want to learn about wine without falling asleep? Want to engage your visual senses while you taste wines from around the world? The Wine Lover’s Coloring Book is a great place to start. In the video above, author Louise Wilson and I chat about how she conceived the idea while taking the International Sommelier Guild courses. While the book may sound like it’s for children, don’t be deceived (or have preconceived notions). It’s part of next evolution of wine books that engage our senses. Really? Yes. Currently, a scratch and sniff wine book by a master sommelier is #11 on […]
Learn About Wine and Wine Regions with this Book
Louise Wilson, author of the Wine Lover’s Colouring Book, and I chat about which wine regions she’s most passionate about now and we taste one of her favourite wines in the video above. How do you suggest wine lovers and wine students use this book to learn about wine? Why are you passionate about the wine region of Tasmania, and which wines in particular in that region? Tell me about the Errazuriz Max Reserva wines that we’re tasting today. You can also watch our first video chat about her wine book and find out where to buy the book online […]
Black Hills Winery: Tasting Vintages of a BC Flagship Wine
By Valerie Stride Located on one of the most arid and sunny sites in the Okanagan, Black Hills Estate Winery is abundant in many things – including quality wines. Spread across a 27-acre vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Sauvignon Blanc, and Semillon are carefully grown and handled by the Black Hills team. The microclimate on property, in addition to long hours of sunlight and cool nights, offers this west-facing orientation vineyard added value. The vineyard manager, Steve Carberry, works closely with winemaker Graham Pierce to ensure that the authenticity of Black Hills wines remains bona fide. On October […]
Baco Noir: A Grape to Call Our Own
Baco Noir: if you live and drink wine in Ontario, then seeing this on a wine label is probably not a curiousity. But, if you don’t live in a cool wine making region, then this hybrid grape has probably never passed your lips. A cross of Folle Blanche from western France (historically used to produce Cognac) and a Vitis Riparia vine indigenous to North America, Baco Noir grows happily in vineyards of Ontario and produces wine that is deserving of the glass. Typically a smoky, fruity, deeply coloured wine, it was once a mainstay in Niagara, before the arrival of […]
Swiss Wines and Sommelier at Four Seasons
Although Fabio Masi, chief sommelier at Four Seasons’ Restaurant Il Lago in Geneva was born and raised in Milano, Italy, his interest in Swiss wines is anything but neutral. He spoke to us about how the revolution in the country’s wines, his remarkable experiences in the dining room and his own path in developing a passion for wine. When did you develop a taste for wine? When I was four years old, my grandfather would dip a piece of bread in wine at dinner and let me taste it, so my passion for wine started early. My first real wine […]
Riesling 1
Riesling has been called the wine for all occasions, and luckily, there’s plenty available in Washington. It’s one of the most versatile white wine grapes and can be made in styles to fit almost any mood or occasion and to match a wide range of foods. You can find a good one for under $6 a bottle retail, and it is often the lowest-cost wine on restaurant wine lists. Rieslings are versatile because they come in all measures of sweetness — from bone dry to syrupy sweet. The most popular seems to be off dry, with about 2 to 3.6 […]
Bubbly For New Years
Natalie MacLean, editor of one of the largest wine newsletters on the web and author of “Red, White and Drunk All Over”, says: “Santa Margherita Prosecco, D.O.C., Veneto, Italy: A lovely summer day with bright notes of ripe white peach and toast. Toast your good fortune to be alive. Score: 89/100. Bollinger Champagne Special Brut Cuvée, A.C., Champagne, France: Green apple, toasty bread and lovely white peach goodness. An extraordinary complex bubbly. This was James Bond’s favourite bubbly: it makes every occasion special! $79.95 Score: 93/100 Why? I love to have 2 choices: one a value option for larger parties […]
Champagne 4
Rappers pay homage to it. Marilyn Monroe was rumored to have bathed in it. And it’s probably what’s in your glass when you’re toasting the new year, your anniversary or any other special occasion. Champagne has long been synonymous with luxury. Although it is a sparkling wine, make no mistake — not all sparkling wines are Champagne. The only wines that can bear the name are those produced in the Champagne region of France — an area particularly primed (thanks to cold weather and chalky soil) for creating the more earthy taste that Champagne is known for. (Other types of […]
Champagne 3
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much champagne is just right,” opined the late great American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Many would tend to agree with Ole’ Fitzgerald, and fortunately this New Year’s may be the first one in a long time that those of us longing to party like rock stars can afford the good stuff. Shipments of champagne to the United States plummeted 41.2 percent from January to August, according to the Champagne Bureau, the U.S. arm of the region’s official trade group. The surplus left in storerooms still exceeds current demand, the excess supply resulted […]
