Cocktail Exotic Dream Ingredients: 4 cl Cognac GAUTIER 2 cl Banana Liqueur 3 cl fresh orange juice 1 cl fresh lemon juice Preparation: Add all ingredients in a shaker with some ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish: Twist of lemon Glass: Cocktail glass Cocktail Golden Fizz Ingredients: 3 cl Cognac GAUTIER 4,5 cl fresh pink grapefruit juice 7,5 cl Champagne Preparation: Pour directly the cognac and the fresh grapefruit juice into a flute. Add champagne. Garnish: Sugar around the glass with grenadine or grapefruit syrup. Glass: Flute Cocktail recipe developed by Cognac Goutier.
Chateau Palmer Tasting: Bordeaux Wine Seduces and Satisfies
Château Palmer By Melissa Pulvermacher Château Palmer is a much-respected winery in the Margeaux appellation d’origine contrôlée in Bordeaux, France. You may recognize Palmer better as one of the classified Third Growths of Bordeaux. Palmer has been known as one of the most popular of this classification and some even argue that its consistent delivery of quality held up against First Growth, Château Margeaux. I was given the opportunity to taste several of the Palmer wines at an organized tasting at The National Club in Toronto, Ontario. After tasting the 2004, 1999, 1995 and 1983 vintages up against one another, […]
City Hall New Home for a Baby Grand
Baby Grand Piano at Ottawa City Hall Hitting all the Right Notes Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa Published Friday, November 9, 2018 5:07PM EST A fixture at Ottawa city hall is a resounding success, hitting all the right notes. The baby grand pianohas become the “go to” for kids at lunch time or pedestrians passing through. Where politics sometimes divides people, this public piano is bringing them together. It’s a rare sight to see the piano bench empty here but it doesn’t take long before someone takes a seat and the rich sounds of music fill the air at Ottawa […]
Why is Rose Champagne More Expensive than Regular Champagne?
Rosé Champagne is often more expensive than white champagne because making it is more labor-intensive and time-consuming, and therefore, more costly to produce. The most common method in Champagne is to blend non-sparkling red wine into the champagne. The other approach is more difficult because it involves carefully limiting contact between the red skin and the juice during the part of fermentation called maceration (soaking the grapes in their own flesh, juice and skins to extract the colour, tannin and flavour compounds into the must or juice) to create the coveted pale salmon color known as oeil-de-perdrix or partridge eye. […]
What is Blanc de Blancs Champagne?
Most Champagne is white wine made from red grapes. Two of the region’s three grapes are red: pinot noir and pinot meunier. Pinot meunier, found mostly along the rich floor of the Marne Valley and in Aube, is considered a simple workhorse grape, giving the wine a fruity, perfumed roundness and early maturity. Pinot noir, grown mostly on the slopes of Reims Mountain, contributes aromas of cherries, berries and other red fruit; it also gives the wine structure, length and body. The third grape is white, chardonnay from the south-facing Côte des Blancs; it offers aromas of daisies, white peaches […]
Veal Chop Recipe with Portabello Mushrooms Paired with Merlot
Veal Chop with Portabello Mushrooms Preparation Time: 25 MIN Total Time: 40 MIN Servings: 2 INGREDIENTS: 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 tablespoon butter 2 veal chops 1 portobello mushroom, sliced 1½ cups chicken broth 1½ teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped ½ cup red wine INSTRUCTIONS: Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil with butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chops until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Once browned, stir in mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken broth and rosemary; cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in red wine, increase heat, and cook, uncovered, until sauce is […]
Best LCBO Wine Reviews and Ratings: Vintages December 6
You can access the 136 wines that I reviewed for December 6 as a text wine list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches. You can also see my wine reviews for November 22. 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 […]
Pairing Wine and Lunch in the CBC Fridge for the Food Bank
CBC All in a Day host Alan Neal and I sneak into the CBC kitchen to snoop into employee lunches and pair them with wine. You can listen to our chat above from the drive-home show. It’s actually not as weird (or creepy) as it sounds … we’re kicking off the final 3 days of Food Fantasy fundraising for the Food Bank, with prizes like having a sommelier come to your home and pair wine and food for you and 11 friends. In addition to being your personal sommelier for an evening, I’ll also bring along 12 signed copies of […]
Pierre Sparr Wines: Alsace Value and Taste Pair Well
Maison Pierre Sparr By Melissa Pulvermacher We’re all on a constant search of high-value wines for a great price. I always say that your chance of getting a great quality wine for a large price tag is high, and although the odds are less consistent, it feels great to find a killer bottle of wine that doesn’t break the bank. Maison Pierre Sparr, founded in 1680 by Jean Sparr, is a winery and brand located in Alsace, France. Sparr owns 15 hectares of their own Domaine, while also sourcing grapes from 130 hectares of trusted farmer-owned vines, to produce their […]
Dominus + Napanook Wine Tasting 2011 to 1991 Vertical
Dominus Estate By Olivier deMaisonneuve Montreal Passion Vin is the annual rendez-vous when the Fondation de l’Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont invites wine lovers to open their wallets for a good cause. They also get the unique chance to taste world renowned wines and meet the actors behind those famous labels. This year funds were raised for a new integrated cancer treatment center. Tod Mostero, director of viticulture and winemaking at Dominus Estate, was presenting a few vintages of the two wines produced by this domaine, born by the joint venture of Christian Moueix and the heiresses of the Inglenook Estate, one of […]
