In this video, I read a few short sections from Unquenchable, including the parts about meeting Wolf Blass in Australia and Charles Back in South Africa. We also do a quick wine tasting with the 5 steps to tasting wine. It’s tongue-in-cheek but will give you the basics for getting more from each glass. What’s your favourite wine for tasting, or drinking? You can also watch a shorter wine video of the Airmiles Gold event at Willow Park Wine & Spirits. 10801 Bonaventure Dr SE Calgary, Alberta T2J 6Z8 Phone: 403.296.1640 http://willowpark.net
Wine Articles
Italian Wine Tasting with Airmiles at Willow Park Wine & Spirits
It was a spectacular evening of Italian wine and food this past weekend at Willow Park Wine & Spirits in Calgary, Canada’s largest wine store. More than 450 Airmiles Gold Members came out for two evenings, the largest wine and food events that Airmiles has ever hosted. Here’s a short clip from the evening. We’ll post the longer version tomorrow. Below are the wines we tasted… Barone Ricasoli Rocca Guicciarda Riserva Chianti Classico 2007, Tuscany, Italy Generous, even and balanced with classic dark fruit, sun-dried tomato and mouth-watering acidity. Medium- to full-bodied with smooth texture. Perfect for […]
Southern Ontario Sommelier Alliance Picks Best Ontario Wines
There are some incredibly fascinating insights about the Ontario wine industry in this new report from the Southern Ontario Sommelier Alliance (SOSA), published exclusively here first. The top sommeliers working in Ontario’s most respected fine dining restaurants provide their opinions on the best wines in Ontario. Is your favourite wine here? If you buy wine, read on to create your insider shopping list. If you make wine, review this report to see what the top influencers are saying about your wines.This expert guide sets the bar high and the provincial wine industry is up to the challenge. Winner of the […]
First Wine Competition: Southern Ontario Sommelier Alliance
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Southern Ontario Sommelier Alliance as well as how the competition was organized and the scoring system. I must say that I was impressed with the level of professionalism and thorough evaluation of the wines involved. Read the results of the wine competition here. I look forward to more great initiatives from this group that will support the Ontario wine industry. What would you like to see this group do? What Is SOSA? SOSA is, the Southern Ontario Sommelier Alliance. We are a group of Certified Sommeliers, educated in Ontario, certified by both the Canadian […]
Wine and Food Pairing Evening with the Visa Infinite Dining Series
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: […]
Huffington Post Wine Column
I’m excited to be starting a new weekly wine column for the Huffington Post. This online newspaper has a broad reach and so it’ll be great to share my passion for the grape with new readers. Let me know if you have suggestions for future columns. Here’s the second one … Here’s the full text of the article… Top 5 Wine & Book Pairings for the Holidays By Natalie MacLean I’m already savouring the books I plan to dive into this holiday season as much as the wines I’ll enjoy. Just for fun, I’ve paired some of this season’s bestsellers […]
Restaurant Wine Lists: Vintage Tips Video
In this video chat, Lance Hurtubise, CEO of the Vintage Group, a collection of restaurants based in Alberta and Prince Edward Island, chats about great wine lists and service. Wine plays a central role in both Lance’s restaurants and in his life. He’s also just launched his own line of wines. Before we dive into this topic, tell me about your race-car driving mother. You were very young when you started in restaurants: how old were you and what did you do? You started Moxie’s restaurants in 1986: how did you come up with that concept? Let’s talk […]
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 […]
How a Wine Name Impacts Price: Dr. Antonia Mantonakis Video Chat
In this fascinating video chat, Dr. Antonia Mantonakis reveals the insights from her research on how the name of a wine affects both our perception of it and how much we’re willing to pay for it. Difficult to pronounce names score higher, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that wineries should use them… find out why in this video. Why does the ease with which we can pronounce the name of a wine influence our perception of both its quality and price? How much more were research subjects willing to pay for the difficult-to-pronounce wine name? Why is that […]
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 […]
