It’s always a tough task choosing your favourite wines from any category, but when it comes to icewine, it’s even harder. I find there are few duds in this august group. However, here are my favourites that I tasted in 2015. I’d love to hear which ones you love, and which ones I’m missing. Click on the links below for the full wine reviews, food pairings and stock in your closest liquor store. Henry of Pelham Winery Riesling Icewine 2014 Niagara Escarpment, Ontario V.Q.A., Canada Alcohol: 9.5% Sweetness: Sweet Size: 375 ml Drink: 2014‐2022 LCBO: 430561 Score: 93/100 […]
Top 20 Wines Under $20: Beat the Heat with Bargain Bottles
In last night’s Facebook Live Video chat, we talk about how to get out of your wine rut with some ‘go to’ bargain wines. Continuing my tipsy quest for the world’s best bargain wines that I started in Unquenchable, here’s the July edition of my top 20 wines under $20. I love finding those bargain-priced bottles that taste twice as expensive as they cost. Here’s the full list of 20 wines. You can see the full wine reviews, ratings and food pairings if you are a Paid Member of our community. As well, you will see the liquor stores […]
Surprising Pairings for Villa Maria Wines from Antipasto to Steak
Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in the nation’s capital for a comprehensive tasting of Villa Maria wines from New Zealand. Terry Jeans Wine Writer, Ottawa Wine Guide What an elaborate tasting! We had the chance to have an amazing tasting with one of the viticulturists from Villa Maria– Ollie Powrie, who presented us with an insightful session of tasting over a dozen wines from one of the only New Zealand owned and family operated wineries. Founded and owned by the venerated Sir George Fistonich, a real icon of the wine industry, who has been part of […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews: Vintages Ratings January 7
You can access the 97 wines that I reviewed for as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for December 10. 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 or two […]
A Fuzzy Vine-acular: 3,000 Descriptors for Drunkenness Makes My Head Spin
By Natalie MacLean Last night’s startling discovery: there are more adjectives for drunkenness than there are Inuit words for snow. And I’m not just talking about being intoxicated or inebriated, or even blotto, blasted or bombed. There are well over 3,000 descriptors—just looking at the list makes me feel tipsy. What’s more interesting is the difference between the words used for men and women, young and old, bodily and behavioural effects—and how expressions vary across cultures and languages to reveal both positive and negative views. I had lots of help researching this subject from friends who came up with a bandwagon […]
The Wrath of Grapes: How to Cure a Hangover
Do your eyelids creak when they open? Has your tongue been scrubbed with sandpaper? Is the Little Drummer Boy playing on your cerebral cortex? At this time of year, we make merry in haste and then repent in waste, the next day. Thousands of years ago, man discovered alcohol; the next day he discovered the hangover. Since then, we’ve learned a lot about what causes hangovers but not what cures them. Their effects are as immutable as Newton’s law: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Of course, the only way to avoid a hangover is not […]
5 Dynamite Bubblies for a Sparkling Holiday and How to Find Wonderful Wines to Celebrate
By Melissa Pulvermacher ‘Tis the season for family, food and sparkling wine. Every year I feature my favourite bottle of bubbly before New Year’s Eve. This year, I decided to write about my top 5 picks to make sure everyone can ring in the new year with bubbles. To help you navigate the intimidating selection, all you need to know is the basics. Mostly you need to be able to navigate whether a bottle is traditional method or tank method and the level of dosage (sweetness added to the wine by concentrated grape juice). 1. Traditional Method This is the […]
7 Secrets about Prosecco Sparkling Wine that you don’t know but should
By Rebecca Meïr- Liebman of Chef & Somm As New Year’s Eve approaches our thoughts turn to bubbles, after all, for pure joie de vivre, there’s nothing like a flute of sparkling wine. Invariably, Champagne comes to mind, but good luck finding a decent bottle for under $40. Hey, if you can spring for a Jeroboam of Armand de Brignac Gold at $2,239 a pop, go for it, but for the rest of us, the search for something of decent quality and good value continues. Prosecco to the Rescue Often thought of as merely a cheap and cheerful alternative to Champagne […]
Balderson Cheddar Cheese and Canadian Wine Pairing Contest
You can read the 85 comments from our interactive tasting on Facebook. Savour your holidays with these terrific Balderson Cheddar Cheese and Canadian wine pairings. Congratulations to the winners of the Balderson Cheddar Cheese and Wine Pairing contest! It was a fierce race for 10 days … Lori Kilmartin Sommelier & Blogger Lynn van der Linde Certified Sommelier and Event Planner Donna Hargrove Wine Blogger & Tasting Group Leader Which Balderson Cheddar & Wine Pairing Gets Your Vote? This poll closed on December […]
Sex in a Glass: Getting up Close and Personal with Pinot Noir
By Rebecca Meïr- Liebman of Chef & Somm “Pinot Noir is like young love,” opined my private sommelier client in his luxurious house in Muskoka as I pulled the cork on a Romanée-Conti. “You do not know what to expect, but it will always make the blood run hot; either melt your heart or break it, sometimes even both.” Pinot Noir has been described in many ways. Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon went so far as to call it “sex in a glass”. So what is it about this grape – a variety also known as the heartbreak grape – that inspires […]
