BBQ Wines, Grill Tips and Cookbook, Thai Steak Recipe: Chef Rob Rainford

In the video below, Food Network celebrity chef Rob Rainford shares his grilling tips, his favourite BBQ wines and his new cookbook Born to Grill. There’s also a delicious recipe for his barbecued Thai flank steak and Asian noodles below. Rob has always loved cooking, but his consistent theme has always been his love for the grill. Rob Rainford is a Canadian chef with a world renowned reputation. Born in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica on November 30, 1966, Rob moved to Canada with his family when he was three. Rob enrolled in culinary school at George Brown […]

How to Pick a House Wine: 5 Tips + Why You Need One

September 22, 2013November 21, 2016 Natalie MacLean Leave a comment

You’ve just finished your yoga class with your friend and the two of you agree it would be great to have a glass of wine together. Do you invite her back to your place? If so, which wine to serve? The mother of your child’s playmate arrives to pick up her child. Do you invite her in for some vino? Which one? (Of course, the answer is no if she’s driving … non-alcoholic cider is a great alternative.) The holidays are right around the corner, when unexpected guests will be the norm. Are you ready with your house wine? If […]

Halifax Sommelier Pairs Wine and Seafood with Titanic Menu

August 1, 2013August 3, 2013 Natalie MacLean Leave a comment

Avery Gavel, assistant manager and sommelier at The Five Fishermen restaurant in Halifax, shares his insights about pairing wine and seafood, creating historic meals with wine and his take on Nova Scotian wines. What was your first wine experience? I grew up on a dairy farm in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the oldest of five children. Wine wasn’t part of our family traditions, not even special celebrations. Communion in church was grape juice, even. My first wine experience was at The Five Fishermen in the early 1970s when I was 24 and on a double date. We ordered the cheap German […]

Wine Reviews and Tasting Notes

May 21, 2013March 16, 2014 Natalie MacLean Leave a comment

Here are some quick tips on writing wine reviews and tasting notes. I’ll be adding new tips to this list regularly. Got one to add? Please post it below. You can also find tips on posting your reviews on this site and how to get the most of the site features to organize your reviews. Have fun! Cheers, Natalie What information should be in every tasting note? The smell and taste of the wine are essential: aromas and flavours. This doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it gives people a sense of the style of the wine. The Wine Aroma […]

Oprah Loves Wine and Living Life to the Full

April 11, 2013April 11, 2013 Natalie MacLean Leave a comment

When I went to listen to Oprah Winfrey talk last night, I expected to hear cliches about believing in yourself and taking a positive attitude. However, her insights were incredibly more practical, grounded, and ultimately, inspirational. She used the rise and fall and rise again of her own network to make her advice concrete: “I live a big life,” she observed. “My mistakes show up on the evening news. But that can force you to dig deeper, move in a new direction and do the next right thing.” She also talked about Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Facebook whose […]

Good Wine & Laughs for Girlfriend Get-Togethers

February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 Natalie MacLean Leave a comment

It’s my pleasure to introduce you to three women who blend friendship and fun in their approach to wine: Lynne Everatt, Deb Mangolt and Julie Smethurst. The three met when they worked at the same multinational company in Canada years ago, and all decided to pursue their passions instead. In the meantime, they’ve written a book together that has lots of ideas for girlfriend get-togethers, always of course, involving wine. You can buy their book in print or the the electronic edition on their web site Drink Wine and Giggle or from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indigo/Chapters. Here are […]

Dragon’s Den Wines: Breathing Fire into an Ontario Brand (Video)

In part two of our video chat below, Kevin O’Leary shares what he would consider to be the toughest questions he’d have to answer if he were pitching the idea for his own wine brand on Dragon’s Den. Plus he gives the Cold Hard Truth for the Ontario wine industry … Some would say that celebrity wines are derivative or even worse, a disservice that takes the focus off the wine region and on to the celebrity. What do you say to that? Your fellow dragon Arlene Dickinson also just launched her own wine brand: what’s your opinion […]

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 […]

Blue Cheese and White Wine Pairing: Video Part 3

In the final video chat below, Janice and I discover a surprisingly great new pairing between blue cheese and a light zippy white wine with just 6.5% alcohol. Who would have thunk it? Port’s not the only partner when you’re blue. You may also enjoy these video chats: Cheese and Wine Pairing Part 2 Pairing Wine and Cheese: Cheddar, Gouda, Blue Dragon’s Den Arlene Dickinson talks about wine, women, business Social Media & Wine Part 2: How wineries need to use Social-Local-Mobile See all wine video chats here. Is there someone else with a fascinating wine […]