Heather Wall Wine Columnist, Huffington Post Canada Wine tasting lunches that I have had the pleasure of attending usually follow a similar format. A visiting winemaker/owner/agent; a group of local sommeliers and bloggers; a lovely meal paired with six or so of the winemaker’s selected wines; and some technical notes with some storytelling. We all leave with tasting notes and stories we can share with our wine loving community. A recent Ottawa Castello di Gabbiano tasting at Sidedoor Kitchen in Ottawa threw that format out with the must! As we entered the private dining room there […]
Wine Region
The Champagnes of James Bond and Rappers: Bollinger and Cristal
Part 2: Champagne Widows By the 1930s, French winemakers faced even greater challenges: a country about to go to war, a worldwide Depression that made running any business difficult, and U.S. Prohibition, which made selling luxury champagne to the lucrative American market almost impossible. Camille Olry-Roederer This was the forbidding business environment that Camille Olry-Roederer stepped into when she took over the champagne house Louis Roederer after losing her second husband in 1932 (her first husband had died in World War I). Sales were 264,000 bottles that year, compared to 2.3 million bottles in 1876. 1954 1954 […]
Which Food Films Co-Star with Wine? The Oscar for Best Bottle Goes to …
Wine is often a co-star with food in the movies, especially films about food: The Big Night (1996) Like Water for Chocolate (1992) Soul Food (1997) Chocolat (2000) The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1994) Tampopo (1985) Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978) Dinner Rush (2000) Rare Birds (2001). The three movies I most want to see right now in this genre are Chef, The Hundred Foot Journey and The Trip to Italy. The lush landscape of Italian wine country makes a bucolic backdrop for […]
The Dark Side of Wine in the Movies: Days of Wine and Thorns
In films such as the Godfather series, wine and food are expressive of Italian culture, and its fierce loyalty—wine is part of family gatherings, and presented as something simple, without pretense. It’s often consumed from shot glasses. But also represents the darker side: the brooding nature of the family members, and the blood ties that bind. You’ll find my TIFF and Oscar-worthy, award-winning wines here, with all-star ratings. Looks alone have made red wine the preferred drink of horror movies, often an omen of evil. The Dracula movies associate wine with blood. “Aren’t you drinking?” inquires the guest, as Count […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings February 20
You can access the 112 wines that I reviewed for February 20 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for February 6. If you are a Paid Member, you can add my wine picks to your custom shopping list with one click and access that list on your smartphone to find the stock for each wine in your closest LCBO store. These are just some of the benefits of supporting out wine community as a Paid Member. Inventory stock numbers are usually posted online a day […]
How to Get the Most from a Wine Show? 17 Insider Tips
You’ll find my Top 10 Wine Shows in Canada list, as well as a tongue-in-cheek story of attending a show. And here are my top tips on how to get the most from a wine show: 1. To build your stamina in the weeks leading up to the show, walk around Price Club during the weekends. Eat lots of the cheese-doodles and toothpick wieners. And be nice to the Demo Lady: she may well be pouring your sample at the show. 2. Eat before you come to the show even though there are often lots of food exhibitors. A full […]
Days of Roses and Red Wine: A New App for Your Valentine
By Olivia Villalta Valentine’s Day and roses go hand in hand. Want to tell someone you love them? Roses. Want to show someone you missed them? Roses. Want to get out of the dog house? Roses. But there’s more to these flowers than a beautiful gesture, composed in an elegant vase. Let me share some secrets with you on how to plan the perfect date night using roses in some surprising and creative ways. First, you’ll need two bouquets… one red, for your loved one, and one with a rainbow of many colours, just for fun. The Perfect Delivery With […]
Why is Champagne the Wine of New Year’s Eve?
On CBC Ontario’s CBC drive-home shows we chat about bubblies for the New Year’s in the third part of our holiday wine series. We also chatted about this on CBC’s Alberta at Noon as well as The Morning Edition in Saskatchewan and Metro Morning in Toronto. Champagne is the traditional sparkling wine to ring in the new year, but there are other alternatives. Further below are the wines we talked about in the audio clip above. Do you know the answers to these bubbly questions? Why is Champagne the wine of New Year’s Eve? Savvy champagne producers have managed […]
Winemaker Eduardo Chadwick: Errazuriz Wine Tasting
By Mymi Myriam On a beautiful, warm and sunny fall day, I rode my bicycle to the Ritz Carlton for the extraordinary opportunity to sit down with Mr. Eduardo Chadwick, the President of Vina Errazuriz and iconic ambassador of premium Chilean wines. I walked into the Ritz’s sumptuous, modern lobby and headed up a staircase towards TOCA, one of the hotel’s restaurants where our luncheon was taking place. Mr. Chadwick stood in a magnificent dining room and welcomed me with a warm smile and handshake. I joined the few selected guests at the dining room table and kept […]
8 Zensational BC Zinfandels to Challenge Californian Wines
Being a Sonoma County gal, I’ve eagerly followed the progress of BC Zins over the past ten years. In November, I gathered eight of the nine current vintages of BC Zinfandel and analyzed them with some friends and food. Here’s the state of BC Zinfandel.
