Just got my copy of the Maclean’s Magazine first-ever Restaurant Guide for dining establishments across Canada. This is going to be my bible for where to eat when I travel. I was honoured to be part of the team of reviewers … pick up a copy to read the reviews. (An aside, here are my favourite restaurants in other cities.) Just a couple of hints … Sidedoor Contemporary Kitchen & Wine Bar Hours: Monday to Saturday Lunch: 11:45-2 pm, 7 Days a Week: 4:30 pm tacos; 5 pm Dinner Address: 20 York Street, Ottawa, ON Phone: 613-562-9331 Play Food and […]
Thanksgiving Wines: Turkey, Stuffing and Cranberry Sauce
My latest column in Active Adult Magazine has lots of terrific wines for your Thanksgiving dinner, including pairings for roast turkey, stuffing or cranberry sauce. You can also find my tips for pairing Thanksgiving (or Christmas) turkey and wine in Reuters (second story), Kansas City Star, The Vancouver Province, The Star-Ledger, Contra Costa Times and The Star-Gazette. Let’s give thanks for all of these great bottles!
Tyrrell Wines Australia Video: Semillon Magic + Shiraz
Bruce Tyrrell was a pleasant surprise: terrific interview with a great wit and insights into the Australian wine industry in this video chat below. He frames the magic of semillon, old and young… plus there’s his Rufus Stone Shiraz, black liquid enchantment. The Tyrrell family has been producing wines in Australia’s Hunter Valley since 1858. Bruce Tyrell is the fourth generation of his family to run the winery that now produces 500,000 cases per year. In 2006, Bruce was recognized with an Order of Australia medal for his contribution to the Australian wine industry; improving grape quality, research, tourism and […]
Best Cellar Wines in LCBO Vintages Release September 29
By Gaby Israel Here’s my best cellar wines list for this release as a shopping list that you can print and will show you LCBO stock availability. #1 choice – France – Midi – 2010 Les Vignes Bila-Haut Cotes Du Roussillion-Villages (168716) – $14.95 The Roussillon history is complex and compelling, and has at times been quite violent. Terraces on stony soil, with a rich geological background and a climate that man has adopted for his crops. The Roussillon was bound to attract Michel Chapoutier’s attention. He decided to locate his domain at Latour de France. Black and brown […]
Wine and Cheese Tasting on Google Video Hangouts October 10
The Wine & Cheese Gang is back together again for another Google + Video tasting on October 10 at 8 pm. After the fun we had during our first tasting, we started planning this one. The wines and cheeses are different, but we’ll take the same conversational approach, weaving in some great insights on pairing wine and cheese. Taste along with us that evening! In the meantime, we’ll also be on Twitter using the hash tag #CDNcheese. Cheers! La Fromagerie du Presbytère Bleu d’Élizabeth, Sainte-Élisabeth-de-Warwick, Quebec Elizabeth Blue is an organic semi-soft cheese made from pasteurized milk with non-interior mold. […]
Canada’s Best Sommeliers: Celebrating our Wine Wizards
A toast to Véronique Rivest who won the Best Canadian Sommelier Competition in Halifax on September 17, as well as to the finalists, Will Predhomme and Élyse Lambert. Semi-finalists included Bruce Wallner, Robert Noel and Bertrand Eichel. They all participated in extensive written exams, blind tasting, wine list correction and an hour-long simulated restaurant service in front of a live audience in their second language. You can watch two video interviews about the sommelier competition with semi-finalist Bruce Wallner. Winner Véronique Rivest Les Fougères Restaurant Chelsea, Quebec Congrats to our hometown gal on her extraordinary win: we are so […]
Wine and Women Go Hand in Hand – National Post
By Hollie Shaw Wolfgang Blass says women are his long time weakness and the secret to his success. In a recent interview with the thrice-married raconteur behind Australia’s Wolf Blass wine label, females were a frequent topic, both for a good bon mot — he repeats his oft-quoted trope, that his wines “make strong women weak, and weak men strong” — and detailing a canny business strategy. Mr. Blass, 78, was in Toronto last week to support the brand’s extensive film festival sponsorship, and chronicled how he left war-torn Germany at age 23 to pursue winemaking. Now the fourth largest […]
John Duval Wines Australia Video
In the video below, we chat with John Duval, who was the winemaker for one of Australia’s most coveted labels, Penfolds, for 29 years. He’s won many awards over his career, including Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London. In 2003, he left Penfolds to start his own winery. Why is Penfolds such an iconic wine? What has been your most memorable winemaking experience to date? How are you own wines different from Penfolds? Why is there a myth that Australian wines can’t age? We’ll post part two of our conversation […]
Fast Food and Wine: Drinking Outside the Box
Knowing that 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. However, most of us are racing from work to soccer practice to ballet class and then home again, so 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. Although wine consumption has increased 20 percent in the last five years, only 42 percent of drinkers say that they have wine with take-out […]
Wine Quotes Part 5: Wit, Wine and Whimsy
Here’s the latest batch of wine wit and scribblings that folks have sent me. Love the irreverence in some of these … You’ll find Round 4 of the wine quotes here.
