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.
Social Media: Women on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest
The latest study on social media from Forrester Research surprised me: women are the majority of users on Twitter and Facebook. I expected this to be the case for Pinterest, now the fastest growing social media site, but not for the two largest social media communities. All three social media sites are terrific for sharing wine info, whether it’s a great bottle that you tried recently or a pairing that really worked. Here are those stats… 17 out of 24 social media sites (71%) have more female than male users. Most male-dominated site? Slashdot (87% males), followed by Hacker News […]
Wolf Blass Wine Tasting Full Video with Wines Tasted
You can watch the video below of the whole Wolf Blass wine tasting in Ottawa and taste along with us. The full-house had a great vibe that night … not a drop of pretentious stuffiness that sometimes tries to substitute for lack of personality at these events. Yet attendees felt that they had learned a lot, per their comments below… I was so impressed that the 220 folks who attended the two events made a serious commitment to be there, about $100 by the time they paid for parking, unlike free events. There were another 70 tickets waitlisted, so it’s […]
Kung Pao Chicken Recipe with Grant Burge Summers Chardonnay
Grant Burge Summers Chardonnay won a Silver Medal at the Hong Kong International Wine Challenge 2011 for ‘Best Wine Paired with Kung Pao Chicken’. I was inspired to create a version of this classic dish for the home cook to enjoy. Kung Pao Chicken Ingredients: For the marinade: 3 boneless chicken breasts cut into small cubes 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry 1 tbsp cornstarch For the sauce: 2 tsp sugar 2 tsp Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar 2 tsp sesame oil 1/3 cup water 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice […]
Wolf Blass Wine Tasting in Ottawa, 2 Videos
The excitement for the Ottawa Wolf Blass tasting started with a long lineup that snaked down the sidewalk in front of Restaurant 18. The great vibe from the people who attended, Wolf’s rascal humour and the tasty wines made it a wonderful evening. Here’s more on that plus two video clips from CTV News below … Wolf loves women … I couldn’t find any pictures of him with men :) I couldn’t keep up with the tweets during the event, but it was lovely to see how much people enjoyed themselves with the comments […]
Domaine De Vaugondy Vouvray, Simonsig Chenin Blanc, Catena Zapata Malbec: Top LCBO Wines Vintages Release September 29
Here are my top picks from the September 29 Vintages Release. You can also get all 40 of my Best Value Wines and Top Rated Wines for red, white, rose, sparkling and dessert wines that encompass many price points, styles and regions. You can add my wine picks to your shopping list by clicking on the little shopping cart icon. You can also create a custom list just for this release that will be saved in your account. Print a text-only version of the reviews. 2010 Domaine De Vaugondy Dry Vouvray, Loire, France Juicy wonderful! Lemon essence […]
