By Lesley Quinn With a gold like colour, luscious tropical fruit tones and a full body to pull it all together, Viognier is a bon-viveur’s dream wine. If done properly a good Viognier can be like a late summer walk through a peach orchard. Aromas permeating the warm thick air with pungent ripe fruit. And although it’s decadent, somehow it still leaves you feeling refreshed as most Viogniers are vinified to dryness. But if done poorly a Viognier can be flabby and flat and feel like you’ve decided to take up coconut oil pulling again. Let these 10 great Viogniers be your next buy and these 5 facts about the grape be the talking points you share as you […]
Viognier
Malbec Day: A Tale of Tango and Taste
World Malbec Day on April 17 (#MalbecWorldDay) reminds me of both a recent Argentine tasting with the Opimian Wine Club as well as a trip I took to Buenos Aires several years ago. The tasting featured a terrific range of Latin American wines. It was an evening of Latin music, food, friends, and yes, tango! We gathered at a local restaurant, El Gusto Mazzola, where the husband-and-wife owners, Elena Mazzola and chef Victor Mazzola treated us to an authentic Argentine tapas dinner paired with the Malbec and other wines. Rounding out the feeling of an Argentine bistro, Réjean Simard and Diane Clément offered superb demonstrations of the three forms of […]
How to Pair Wine with Chips, Nuts and Snacks?
On Global Television’s Morning Show yesterday, we paired wine and snacks, from fish tacos to Sriracha chips from Loblaws’ President’s Choice Black Label line. Yes, there is a wine for sea salt giant corn nuts ;) . Click the arrow above to play the video. Wine: Yalumba The Strapper GSM Grenache Shiraz Mataro Food: PC 85% Cocoa Solids Extra Dark Chocolate Bar (100g): imported extra dark chocolate. Food: PC 70% Cocoa Solids Dark Chocolate: Irresistibly delectable, imported pure dark chocolate. Excellent for snacking or baking. […]
Wine Writing Ethics Plus Texas Wines with Gus Clemens (Video)
Gus Clemens and I chat about some delicious wine and food pairings… You can get a free copy of my Ultimate Wine and Food Pairing Guide here. Gus Clemens went to business college when he was just 12 years old to learn how to type because he knew even that he wanted to be a writer. He’s held editorial positions with the San Antonio Express-News and the Star Magazine in New York, and has written or contributed to about twenty books about Texas and a range of other subjects. Today he owns an advertising agency in San Angelo and […]
The 31 Most Difficult Wine and Grapes Names: How to Pronounce Them
On CTV News, Leanne and I chat about the most difficult wine and grape names to pronounce. Click the arrows to watch the videos both above and below. As anglophones, we find many of these names difficult since their origins are often European, with accents and inflections that are new to us. Tip: often e and i are pronounced in the reverse when in the middle of a word, and an e at the end of a name often sounds like a long a. Why bother? We often overlook these terrific wines, and don’t ask for them in liquor stores […]
Blending Humour and Wine in South Africa with Charles Back, Fairview Wine (Video)
Our guest this evening produces some of South Africa’s most coveted premium wines under the labels of Fairview Estate, a third-generation family-owned farm, located on the slopes of the Paarl Mountain in the winelands of the Western Cape with a winemaking heritage that dates back to 1693. He also founded one of the most successful black empowerment labels, Fairvalley. However, you may be more familiar with his more playful line of wines, Goats do Roam and the Goat-Father among others – a brand which went on to become the highest selling South African wine brand in the United States following […]
796 Wine Reviews, 113 Wines, 16 Wine Writers and Sommeliers, 1 Terrific Tasting
Canada’s top wine writers and sommeliers gathered in our national’s capital yesterday to taste through an impressive line-up of wines. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were on fire as they posted their reviews live and shared on social media. You can get the complete list of wines here, along with their reviews and the closest liquor stores that have these wines in stock now. This list is also accessible on the wine mobile apps. Stay tuned: we’re already planning our next big tasting! Jacky Blisson above has just returned from Napa Valley where she wrote her final papers […]
A Tasteful Wine Journey from Provence to Paris
Town centre of Beaune By David Skinner Provence stands as Southern France’s glorious gateway to the viticultural and gastronomic treasures awaiting discovery along the Rhône River Valley. A river cruise from Provence to Burgundy is likely one of the best ways to experience these famous wine regions and cruising is the most leisurely and convenient way to uncover abundant appellations and epicurean adventures. Of course, one of the attractions of seeing the countryside by boat is that you only unpack once and this simply eliminates the worry of transportation and lodging, granting more time to create memories of fabulous food, […]
Tania’s Magical Matches: Wine Pairings for Summer Salads
By Tania Thomas Among the great summertime pleasures are the relaxing patio suppers enjoyed with friends. Often, they are nothing more than a great salad dish, splashed down by a cool glass or two of a crisp summer white wine. Matching wine with salads can certainly present a challenge. Luckily, if you know a few easy tricks, it becomes effortless. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the acid in wine matches or is slightly higher than the acidity in the vinaigrette. With that in mind, a simple tossed green salad with citrusy vinaigrette dressing calls for […]
Celebrating Canadian Wine and Cheese with Great Pairings
One of our lead writers, Matt Steeves, chats with Leanne on CTV’s Morning Live Show about great Canadian wine and cheese pairings featured in The Great Canadian Wine Match. Well done Matt! You can also watch clips from CTV News, Global Television and CBC News with more pairings, as well as radio interviews on Sirius XM, syndicated nationally on satellite, and CJAD, Montreal’s most popular talk show. Celebrating Canadian Wine and Cheese with Great Pairings Leanne: We are going to celebrate with some good Champagne and we’re going to do it Canadian style. Joining us from […]
