By Jane Staples The LCBO Vintages August 8 Release offers an exciting collection of wines from the Pacific Northwest, namely British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. All three regions have undergone dramatic changes over the past five years, making great stride in both quality and diversity of the wines they produce. Yet the three regions are also vastly different, despite the fact they’re often grouped together geographically in the wine world. Oregon winemaking has its roots in the 1970s, and has since taken the silky, medium-bodied red wine, Pinot Noir, to great heights. Now it also produces a zesty white wine […]
Riesling
Vegan and Vegetarian Wine Food Pairings
By Alex and Priya, A Vine Romance One of the most interesting things I’ve realized since meeting Alex is that although wine and food pairings are common, it is extremely rare that wine pairings are offered for vegetarian or more specifically, vegan foods. With Meatless Mondays gaining momentum and scores of celebrities (Beyonce, Jared Leto, Bill Clinton, Ellen Degeneres) going vegan and since I have my own, in-house sommelier to help me out, I thought I’d pay it forward and offer some general thoughts on how to pair wine with vegan foods. To begin, I should clarify ‘vegan’ from ‘vegetarian’. […]
Wine and Cheese Meet Their Match: Together
CBC News host Marivel and I chat about pairing Canadian wine and cheese for Canada Day and beyond in the video above that was syndicated nationally (click on the arrow to watch). We are filming in the CBC studios head office in Toronto, which has an open atrium in the center the building, and is open to 15 floors. Down in the main court, you can hear the sounds of the band warming up in the background for a gala event that night. We just rolled with it ;) Beyond the tips we discuss, some interesting health-related tidbits include: Cheese […]
Celebrating Canadian Wine and Cheese with Great Pairings
One of our lead writers, Matt Steeves, chats with Leanne on CTV’s Morning Live Show about great Canadian wine and cheese pairings featured in The Great Canadian Wine Match. Well done Matt! You can also watch clips from CTV News, Global Television and CBC News with more pairings, as well as radio interviews on Sirius XM, syndicated nationally on satellite, and CJAD, Montreal’s most popular talk show. Celebrating Canadian Wine and Cheese with Great Pairings Leanne: We are going to celebrate with some good Champagne and we’re going to do it Canadian style. Joining us from […]
Matching Cheese and Wine for Entertaining
Sirius XM talk show hosts Christine, Kate and Sharon and I chat about The Great Canadian Wine & Cheese Match in the clip above (click on the arrow to listen) You can also watch clips from CTV News, Global Television, CBC News and CTV Morning Live with more pairings, as well as a radio interview on CJAD, Montreal’s most popular talk show. Matching Cheese and Wine for Entertaining Christine: Hi there, I’m Christine Bentley and I don’t think Kate Millers going to let me say one word here because we are talking about wine with Natalie MacLean. Hi there Natalie! […]
Pairing Canadian Wine and Cheese: Why are They so Natural Together?
Liza, Jeff and I chat about pairing Canadian wines and cheese on Global Television Morning Show. You can watch the video above by clicking on the arrow. We’re just a few weeks away from Canada Day, and what could be better than celebrating with a glass of Canadian wine, and of course pair that with some Canadian cheese. Here to show us how which wine and cheese pairings are is Natalie MacLean, the editor of Canada’s largest wine review web site. So why do wine and cheese pair well together? – both start as natural liquids and are products of […]
First Families of Wine Tasting: Primum Familiae Vini Bring Family and Place to the Glass
By Mymi Myriam At 11:30 a.m. on a windy Thursday, I walked into a sumptuous room at the Four Seasons Hotel. Immaculately decorated, it had high ceilings and an incredible view of Toronto’s affluent Yorkville neighbourhood. In the center of the room was a very large and beautifully dressed… dining room table! I was at the right place: the long-awaited Primum Familiae Vini (PFV) luncheon. The PFV is an international association of some of the world’s finest wine producing families from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It was created in 1992 by Robert Drouhin and Miguel Torres as they […]
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 […]
Charles Smith Rocks the Wine Scene with Music and Vino
By Melissa Pulvermacher We all think of pairing food and wine, but have you ever thought of pairing music with wine? Charles Smith, a self-taught winemaker, has brought a new element to the world of wine – soul. Smith is undoubtedly a full-bodied personality with a genuine passion for both music and wine. The only way to truly describe the experience of Charles Smith and his wines is to crank rock music and pour yourself a big glass of red or white… or both and just enjoy. During a 1999 road trip, when Smith was managing rock bands and concerts, […]
Drinking Beside the Box: The Ultimate Guide to Pairing Wine and Fast Food
Knowing that saffron-flavored mille-feuille of red mullet and langoustine pairs perfectly with Dom Perignon, or that prime fillet of Kobe beef with braised oxtail and potato rosti will make Château Pétrus sing is useful if you have a fat trust fund and a kitchen staff of twenty. But when most of us are racing from work to soccer practice to ballet class and then home again, we’re far more apt to grab some take-out food or heat a frozen TV dinner than to prepare a multi-course dinner every night of the week. We’re more aware than ever of health issues […]
