Here’s a toast to the terrific team of wine reviewers who joined in a terrific wine tasting on Twitter last night. Their enthusiasm and positive energy came through in both their tweets and their reviews for these incredible BC wines (scroll down on the page for each wine to see their notes and scores): Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay 2010, BC VQA Gray Monk Gewürztraminer 2011, BC VQA Quails’ Gate Chardonnay 2011, BC VQA Eau Vivre Pinot Noir 2008, BC VQA Osoyoos Larose Le Grand Vin 2008, BC VQA Mission Hill Quatrain 2009, BC VQA I raise my glass to an […]
Wine Region
How to Buy a Gift Wine (Screwcaps are Fine): CBC Fresh Air
In this chat below with CBC Fresh Air host Mary Ito, we discuss how to choose a great wine as a gift for someone depending on their taste and style preferences, or when you don’t know those details. (Hint: Try wrapping a story around the bottle.)Wine is the ultimate gift: doubles are okay, one size fits all and re-gifting is easy! We also chat about screwcaps, whether you can get a good wine under $20, underrated wines, wine and food pairing, low-alcohol wines, the differences between Ontario’s regions and some of my favourite Ontario wines, including those below. Listen by […]
Wines Available in BC Liquor Stores with Stock Check
Do you live in British Columbia or have wine-loving friends who do? We’ve just added several new features on our web site to make shopping easier in the province: – Check how many bottles of each wine recommended on this site are in stock at each BC Liquor Store including both B.C. wines and those from around the world (click on the number of bottles under the picture of the wine bottle) – See only BC-available wines first, not those that are available in Ontario but not BC – If you add your postal code to your private account page, […]
Konzelmann Estate Winery: German pedigree, Niagara flourish
By Susan Desjardins The Konzelmann family delivers consistently good and good-value award-winning wine—10 medals at this year’s Ottawa Wine Challenge and 5 at the Canadian Wine Awards. It’s hardly surprising considering the focus and dedication of 75-year-old Herbert Konzelmann, and his extensive winemaking pedigree. His great grandfather, Friederich, a successful restauranteur and wine connoisseur, created the Konzelmann Estate Winery in Germany in 1893. Friederich was soon producing over 200,000 litres of wine, and the successful business was passed from one generation to the next. Herbert joined the family business in 1958 and continued its growth, almost doubling production. But as […]
Ontario Produces Such Great Wines – Maclean’s Magazine
This story about Ontario wines by Jessica Allen in Maclean’s Magazine deserves to be shared widely: she makes some excellent points about Ontario wines … By I spent American Thanksgiving with friends in Washington D.C. They’re enthusiastic wine drinkers and the last time they visited this side of the border they couldn’t contain their excitement over a variety of Niagara wines they’d enjoyed. So, I brought along a couple to share. They did not disappoint. But I did: when they asked me how it’s possible that cold Ontario could produce such standouts, I babbled on about Southern Ontario being on […]
Coyote’s Run Winery: Two Soils, Two Styles, Many Fans
By Susan Desjardins Coyote is the trickster in much native American mythology, known for inventiveness and creating mischief. This adaptable creature can still be seen through the vineyards of Coyote’s Run Estate Winery, and is a fine namesake for co-owner Jeff Aubry, who has reinvented himself from a soldier to high-tech engineer and now to winery owner, and admits, “Sometimes I’m serious, sometimes I’m a goof!” A tour of Europe with a group of university buddies introduced Jeff to fine wines and activated the dream of someday opening his own winery. Fast forward . . . the intervention of a […]
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 […]
Ontario’s Best Winery Restaurants
Cave Spring Cellars Inn On The Twenty 1-888-806-9910 Hillebrand Estates Vineyard Café 800-582-8412 Ravine Vineyard’s Bistro 905-262-8463 Vineland Estates Winery Restaurant 888-846-3526
Summer is upon us and it is a great time to visit wine country!
Steven and Chris with winemaker Roberto Steven and Chris stopped by Reif Estate Winery last week to check out the new plantings of Pinot Grigio that are being cultivated for a future bottling of their white wine. The Trend Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio is a wonderful blend as the Chardonnay offers apple, lemon and pineapple notes while the Pinot Grigio provides a fresh acidity and minerality that is most refreshing on a hot summer day. After touring the vineyard Steven and Chris made a stop in the wine sensory garden to enjoy an artisan cheese plate and local charcuterie with our Reif […]
