These five wines help set the mood. Better yet, they’re paired with recipes, so you’ve got five instant dinners. Beringer Third Century 2005 Pinot Noir, Central Coast, California(about $14) This bottle’s name refers to the fact that this winery is now operating in its third century–the company has been around since 1876. The Central Coast is similar to the cool climate of Burgundy, and the fruit shows the same characteristics of just-ripe fruit with an intoxicating undercurrent of earth and spice. (Though if you really like spicy, you might consider a Zinfandel instead.) Errazuriz Wild Ferment 2005 Pinot Noir, Casablanca […]
Wine Articles
Travel & Wine Writing
Natalie MacLean is the author of the book Red, White and Drunk All Over. It doesn’t matter if you are new to the wine world or a seasoned wine drinker, you will likely enjoy Natalie’s entertaining book that takes readers on a fun journey “from grape to glass.” If you would like to learn more about wine, sign up for Natalie’s free newsletter Nat Decants. 1. You travel throughout your fabulous book Red, White and Drunk All Over as a sommelier experiencing the world of wine. Have you always been a traveler? Yes, I’ve always loved travel, something I inherited […]
Corked Wine
Corked doesn’t refer to bits of cork floating in your wine glass. Natural corks, made from the bark of cork trees grown in Spain and Portugal, can contain a chemical compound called “2, 4, 6 trichloranisole” or TCA. The wine interacts with TCA to create the taint and it’s estimated that 5-10% of natural corks are faulty this way, though that’s improving with more careful practices and better technology. Even a mild case of taint from natural corks strips wine of its expressive aromas and a severe one makes it smell like moldy cardboard. This defect is why screwcaps are […]
Serving Wine
Raise a glass of great vino with help from Chatelaine’s wine expert Natalie MacLean. Here are her tips to serving – and enjoying – a perfect glass. 1. Decanting Pour wine out of the bottle and into a decanter, which can be a water jug, specially designed wine decanter or another large vessel to soften the wine and clarify it of any remaining sediment (the tiny particles from the grapes). Exposing robust red wines to air softens their harsh tannins, which make them taste smoother. White wines don’t have strong tannins, so they taste best when fresh from the bottle. […]
Wine Snobbery
In the vestibule of my home, the other dinner guests sweep past Sebastian as he clutches his bottle of wine like a talisman to ward off evil spirits—their wines. I have to coax him to join the group in the dining room by telling him about my antique corkscrew. While he’s distracted with its mechanics, I whisk his bottle into the kitchen to decant it. Later, as we sit down to dinner, he sniffs suspiciously at my stemware, holding it up to the light to check for spots. Then he clears his palate with several conversation-silencing throat noises while ceremoniously […]
High Tech Vintners
Cisco Systems just bought your little start-up for $350 million. Careful though — money without class lands you in a Rockcliffe glass house. If you have instant wealth, you need instant culture. Unfortunately, engineering school didn’t offer electives in Expressionist painting or Russian literature. A liberal education is useful only after you’ve made the big bucks – sadly, it doesn’t get you there. So settle for something more accessible, something conspicuous you can buy. You’ve already commissioned the yacht in Holland, Donatella Versace is coming to measure Thursday, and the Z8 is on order. What you’re missing is something Old […]
Food & Wine
Dinner with wine used to be simple. The rule was white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. But most of us don’t just eat meat and potatoes or drink claret and chablis these days. With modern fusion cuisine and wines from new regions around the world, the choices – and confusion – are great. One new school of thought is that any wine goes with any dish. However, most of us don’t put ketchup on our ice cream for the same reason as we don’t drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or […]
Ottawa Restaurant Lists 2
What’s that aroma wafting through the city? Is it poutine? No. Is it beaver tails? No. It’s the scent of a well-stocked passion. Ottawa used to be better known for hot chocolate than for wine, but a vinous Group of Seven is changing the dining landscape: seven local restaurants recently won Wine Spectator Magazine awards for their wine lists. Waiting for the awards to be issued is like waiting for Moses to come back down the mountain: first a lot of speculation, then everyone scrambles to see what’s on the list. The chosen few this year are: Juniper, Medithéo, Trattoria […]
Ottawa Restaurant Lists
Five years ago, I needed a drink just to read a restaurant wine list in this city. Most offered Kraft Dinner wines at Pétrus prices served in golf ball glasses with layers of detergent aromas. I’d like to say, “All that’s changed now.” But I can’t. Of the 1400 licensed restaurants in the region, there are about twenty-four superb wine lists or 2%. That leaves room for improvement. But rather than be a grape grump, I’ll focus on those who are doing it right — and save this magazine some legal fees in slander suits. Ottawa oenophiles are driving recent […]
Canadian Wines 2
What better way to celebrate the Olympics than by drinking Canadian wines? Choice isn’t a problem with more than 400 wineries in eight provinces. But it’s the quality of Canadian wines, rather than the quantity, will convince you that they are the ideal complement to this sporting event. Canada has a long history with the grape. Viking explorer Lief Erickson first named the country “Vineland” in 1001 BCE when he saw so many vines growing in Newfoundland. Although the classic vitus vinifera grapes such as cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay do not grow in the province, blueberries, cloudberries, lingoberries, or partridge […]
