Welcome Back Comfort Food The days are slowly getting shorter and there is a subtle crispness in the air, which can only mean one thing: fall is here. While some may scorn the cooler temperatures, I welcome them with wide, sweater-clad arms. One of the main reasons I love the cooler temps? Now I have an excuse to eat warm comfort food whenever I want! Comfort food like this amazing Monday Night Mac and Cheese dish. With delicious ooey gooey Canadian Cheddar, it will melt away the Monday blues and prepare you for a wonderful week ahead. Spoiler alert: it […]
LCBO Best Wines: Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon, Morgan Chardonnay, Burrowing Owl Syrah: November 9 Vintages
Here are my top wine picks from the November 9 Vintages Release, the most quoted Canadian source of reviews in the magazine. VIP Members can access all 79 wines that I reviewed as a text shopping list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. Stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. You can also see my reviews for the October 26 LCBO Vintages Release or take a sneak peak at the November 23 LCBO Vintages […]
Taste Ontario Features Great Wines: Thirty Bench, East Dell
By Kristy Gardner Out of all the fantastic wines at Taste Ontario this year, the biggest highlight for me is the vintages of Thirty Bench wines. The staff are friendly, ready to talk shop and most importantly, excited to have us taste their wines. While their 2011 Small lot Chardonnay is surprisingly fresh and fruit forward with notes of lemon and spice, and the 2011 Winemaker’s Red – a blend of cab sauv, cab merlot and cab franc – is well balanced, juicy, bold and smooth, it’s their 2006 Small Lot Wood Post Riesling that really impresses me. This […]
Wine and Truffles in Italy: Chef Massimo Capra
In the video above, Chef Massimo Capra talks about his most memorable wine during a truffle dinner on a hillside in Italy. He also talks about the Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival and a special wine on auction, Tignanello. You can watch part one of our wine chat here. Antinori 2009 Tignanello Massimo has chosen to taste one of the wines that will be featured at the Grand Cru Festival Auction this year: Tignanello is produced exclusively from the vineyard of the same name, a parcel of some 140 acres (57 hectares) at 1150-1325 feet (350-400 meters) […]
Twitter’s Profound Impact on Wine Purchases
Twitter has a powerful influence on the way make buying decisions, according to a new study published this week. The research firm DB5, which conducts studies regularly about Facebook, Google and other social media companies, found that: – 55% of people discuss gift ideas on Twitter, including wine, books and electronics – 66% of respondents said they learned about new brands on Twitter – 64% said they have bought a product because of something they saw on Twitter – 50% of survey responders said they check Twitter while in a retail store The Infographic below is a compelling visual representation […]
Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival: Vintage Pleasure
The Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival is Canada’s largest wine and culinary fundraiser for medical research, raising more than $11.4 million since it started in 2005. In the video below, chef Massimo Capra, who writes a column for the Globe & Mail and has appeared on the Food Network, is one of the celebrity chefs who will be cooking a special dinner this year. He reveals the details of this special meal in the video. You can also watch our second wine video chat here. Chef Massimo Capra has been involved with Grand Cru since it began in 2005, and […]
LCBO Best Wines: St Hallett Shiraz, Wither Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Featherstone Merlot: October 26 Vintages
Here are my top wine picks from the October 26 Vintages Release, the most quoted Canadian source of reviews in the magazine. VIP Members can access all 67 wines that I reviewed as a text shopping list with my complete tasting notes, scores, food matches and the stock for each bottle in their closest LCBO stores. Stock numbers are usually posted online a day or two before the release based on the LCBO doing so. You can also see my reviews for the October 12 LCBO Vintages Release or take a sneak peak at the November 9 LCBO Vintages […]
A Tale of Two Ruffino Wine Tasting Dinners with Authentic Italian Food Pairings
Our second Ruffino wine tasting took place October 19 at La Cucina Ristorante with another team of our top-notch wine reviewers who share their observations of the wines, pairings and experience below. You’ll find the pictures, videos and notes from the Ocober 18 Ruffino wine tasting here, and reviews of all Ruffino wines here. “The more I drink Italian wines, the more convinced I am that they are made for the purpose of enjoying good food. And when you have the perfect pairing, it gives you the kind of evening we had at the great Italian restaurant La Cucina in […]
Ruffino Wines: Tasting Italy in a Glass
Our third winemaker dinner team tasting on October 18 featured the wines of the Italian winery Ruffino. Our team did an excellent job of summarizing the wines, food pairings and overall experience of the evening. A second Ruffino wine dinner was held the following night at a different restaurant. You can see all of the Ruffino wine reviews, showing stock at your local liquor store. “Graffiti’s Italian Restaurant in Kanata was the perfect location for a Ruffino tasting dinner with Brand Ambassador Robert Ghezzo. Though dimly lit and boisterous at times, we were nonetheless transported to the Tuscan countryside as […]
Stratus Wine and Food Pairing Dinner with Beckta Cuisine
Stratus Winery hosted a spectacular wine and food tasting dinner in Niagara on September 28 that featured the cuisine of Ottawa restaurateur Steve Beckta’s three establishments: Beckta Dining & Wine, Play and Gezellig. I found that the Stratus wines paired beautifully with partner and executive chef Mike Moffatt and chef de cuisine Katie Brown Ardington’s dishes. Click on the arrow above to play the short Instagram video clip. The missing word at the end is windmill ;) Chef Moffatt is a two-time Gold Medal Plates winner and Katie is a rising star on the Ottawa restaurant scene. This dinner paired […]
