Jane’s Gems: 90 Point Wines in LCBO Vintages July 25

By Jane Staples The LCBO Vintages Release for July 25 offers a cool breeze to beat the summer heat. The focus is on refreshing, zesty white wines. You’ll find that these sippers are usually also light in alcohol and oak (sometimes completely unoaked) and have racy, mouth-watering acidity. They pair well with summer dishes such as fresh seafood, shellfish and salads. The wine regions that tend to produce these vibrant whites are often cool climates like New Zealand, famous for its Sauvignon Blanc, and Canada, for our Riesling. These regions are more distant from the equator than are warm climate […]

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Wolf Blass Wines Dig Into Their Australian Roots and Go Regional

Wolf Blass Winemaker Chris Hatcher shares some colourful history about Wolf Blass – the man, his history and work ethic – including an amusing story about a receptionist at the winery who didn’t believe that he was Wolf Blass ;) “Despite being a multi-millionaire,” Chris added, “Wolf still maintains his driving work ethic and frugal mentality. Just before he checks out of a hotel, he still cleans out all the shampoo and soap.” Christ Hatcher talking about the effect of fermentation by ‘committing a barrel’ to get that soft barrel character. Some insights that surprised me: – Wolf Blass first […]

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New LCBO Wines and Limited Time Offer Sale: April 2015

Sponsored Post by Delegat Canada Wine Agency You can get the complete shopping list of these wines in your closest liquor stores here.     Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2014 Marlborough, New Zealand Regular Price: $18.95 Sale Price: $16.95 March 30 to April 26       Oyster Bay Merlot 2013 Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand Vintage Release April 4  In stores while stock lasts     Oyster Bay Pinot Noir 2013 Marlborough, New Zealand Vintage Release April 18 In stores while stock lasts       Barossa Valley Estate Shiraz 2012 Barossa Valley, Australia New Vintage Release April 18 In […]

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10 Best Shiraz Wines to Buy Now + 5 Surprising Facts about Shiraz

      Shiraz and Syrah are both originally from the same clone, but various regions have chosen one name or the other. You’ll find my top 10 Shiraz reviews and ratings here. 5 Surprising Facts about Shiraz: They both create rich, robust red wines with a smooth texture and signature aromas of spice, pepper, clove and licorice leading, followed by dark fruit such as blackcurrant, blackberry, plum and black cherry, as well as truffle, earth, violets, vanilla, smoke, sandalwood, cedar, cigar box, earth and leather. The greatest of these wines can age for 25 years or more. The grape […]

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Get Out of Your Wine Rut in 2014: Try These Wines

What are the best wines to try in 2014? Want get out of your wine rut? That’s our wine topic on the CTV News video clip above. We looked at great wines to try based on what you already like, similar to how Amazon recommends books: if you like this one, then you might like that one. Let me know about a new wine that you discovered this year in the comments below.   Get Out of Your Wine Rut in 2014: Try These Wines News Anchor: And now back to Leanne Cusack with a little more on the good […]

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Joy to the World Holiday Wine Match

  You can help create the ultimate holiday wine shopping list in the Joy to the World Holiday Wine Match! Nominate and/or vote for your favourite wines from around the world under $25 to pair with holiday dishes. As the first people’s choice awards for holiday wines, the competition takes a grassroots, “bottoms up” approach to get us rallying behind our favourite bottles so that we can pour like Santa, but save like Scrooge.     In the video above, three festive wine lovers and I get into the spirits of the season and chat about wines to pair with […]

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