Team member Matt Steeves above, chats about his favourite holiday gift wines on CTV’s Morning Show above. Click the arrow to play. Team member Tania Thomas recommends her favourite holiday sparkling wines on Rogers Daytime Television. Gift Wines to Make Your Holidays Sparkle 1st video Leanne: Well you don’t need to spend a lot to get great wines. In fact when it comes to entertaining often the best wines are some of the least expensive and the most appealing. So here with his top picks and tips on how to serve wine at your holiday party, we […]
Wine Articles
Holiday Wine Team Tasting: Your Wines for Gift Giving and Entertaining
On Sunday, 22 wine-loving, football-sacrificing souls (it was Grey Cup) gathered to taste more than 70 spectacular wines. Click on the arrow above to hear about Jennifer’s favourite wine from the tasting, a Chilean Carmenere with bright acidity, nice little spice, great for a wide variety of foods. Jennifer MacDonald Havers Wine Columnist, Ottawa Citizen Monique explains her reasons for picking Taittinger Champagne to toast her celebration events. Monique Ippolito Wine Columnist, Ottawa Living Magazine Craig’s take on Beringer Quantum […]
From Snout to Tailfeather: Wine Takes Wing in Niagara
Approaching Featherstone Winery, I can see a pepper storm of starlings flying over the vineyard. Husband and wife team David Johnson and Louise Engel have a passion for all things fowl. Before they became winemakers, they ran a gourmet poultry shop, selling tasty birds, from turkeys to quails. (That’s where the “feather comes from; the “stone” is the Niagara Escarpment.) However, those hungry starlings that feed on the ripening grapes are no friends of David and Louise. That’s why I’m going to meet their latest avian associate today, a Harris Hawk that’s trained to hunt those pesky birds. In 1989, […]
Panettone Brie Tower Recipe Paired with Merlot Wine
Panettone Brie Tower The Gift that Keeps on Giving: Holiday Entertaining Made Easy Can you feel that? It feels like the holidays are here. There is an exuberant amount of energy that surrounds us as people rush to finish last-minute shopping and prepare for their upcoming family festivities. It’s an exciting time of the year, and one that calls for a recipe that’s packed with pleasure and deliciously creamy Canadian Brie. Hopefully, this simply delicious recipe for Panettone Brie Tower will be the perfect little dinner party dessert idea. If you’re not familiar with Panettone, it’s a traditional Italian cake […]
Ferrari: Mountain Sparkling Wine of the Alps
Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in the nation’s capital recently for an extraordinary tasting of Ferrari wines, Italy’s benchmark sparkling wine producer. Matteo Lunelli, president of Ferrari, explains in the video above how the Ferarri winery survived unscathed during World War II and out of that fortunate chaos, founder Giulio Ferrari discovered longer aged vintages. Click on the arrow to play the video. With the help of a slide show, Matteo shares the beauty of the countryside at Villa Margon. As well as being a wine growing area during the summer months, there is […]
Ruffino Wines: A Taste of Tuscan Life, Sun and Soil
Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in the nation’s capital for an extraordinary tasting of Italian wines from Ruffino, a winery nestled in the heart of Tuscany. In the video above, Ruffino Global Brand Beppe d’Andrea shares the story on how, in 1861 Ruffino Ducale Riserva Chianti Classico got its name and how the term ‘Reserva’ came into being. Tania Thomas Wine Expert, Rogers Daytime Television It’s impossible to imagine Tuscan life to be anything but pure bliss. With all the fabulous food and wine, culture, history and art, it’s a place for living la dolce vita. We […]
10 Best Sparkling Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Bubbly
Sparkling wines made outside of Champagne, France, may not be called Champagne as it’s a trademarked term. However, they often use the same methods and/or grapes used in Champagne. 5 Surprising Facts about Sparkling Facts: 1. Bubblies made in Burgundy, France, are called Crémants de Bourgogne while those from Alsace are Crémant d’Alsace. 2. Spain makes Cavas (“cave”), Italy makes either Prosecco (lightly sparkling) or Spumante (fully sparkling and sweet), Germany makes Sekt or Deutscher. 3. Those from New World regions, such as Canada, California, Australia and elsewhere, are simply called sparkling wine. 4. Drink bubbly from a flute glass […]
Toronto Wine Tasting Shows Wide Diversity of Styles
By Mymi Myriam The wow factor as I walked into the sumptuous lobby of the Governor’s Room in the heart of the Exhibition Place is high. This is not just any room, it is a lavish, opulent and enormous ballroom. I proceeded through the enormous ornate wooden doors. Upon entering, I was warmly welcomed by a lovely lady who handed me an empty wine glass and my journey started. The Profile Wine Group is a coalition of three wine merchants: Barrique Wine Imports, VinVino Wine Merchants, and Du Chasse Wines and Spirits. They are one of Canada’s premier wine and […]
Pairing Wine with Helicopter & Quail at Malivoire Winery
On a recent visit to Niagara, I was fortunate to spend time with Martin Malivoire of Malivoire winery, a producer of spectacular Pinot Noirs. We arrived at his gravity-flow winery by helicopter along with Magdalena Kaiser-Smit of the Ontario Wine Council. This gave us a terrific overview of the region (though I was glad to be on firm ground again when we landed) We tasted through a range of his lovely Pinots, both from the estate vineyard and from the coveted Moire Vineyard. You’ll find my reviews of the current and past vintages here. Then we went on […]
Kim Crawford Wine Tasting: Blending with an Eye Dropper
By Mymi Myriam The room at Frank at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was flooded with light entering from large panel windows on a late weekday afternoon as I sipped on a glass of the Kim Crawford Fizz Methode Traditionnelle 2009. I took my place at the table and was quite puzzled at finding an eye-dropper amongst my tasting glasses. What kind of experiment would we be conducting? Our host for the event was Anthony Walkenhorst, Kim Crawford’s senior winemaker, who led us through the most memorable wine tasting I have ever attended. In front of each attendee were […]
