2014 Cesari Mara Valpolicella Ripasso – LCBO 506519 – $18.95 – **** – A nice black currant note climbs out of the glass with layers of cocoa mixed in there. For a bottle that comes from the general list there is nice structure and a bit of dustiness that takes...
It’s January. We are all waiting to open our bills and recoil in horror. Here are some suggestions from local sommelier Krystina Roman to save the day, and the pocketbook. You may know Krystina as The City Wino (twitter:instagram) on social media. I am pleased to welcome her wine recommendations...
Earlier this month I had the opportunity to taste a couple of outstanding wines from Umbria. There were two wines on the table from Tenuta Bellafonte. I’ll admit that I don’t drink a ton of italian wine, but even with my limited exposure to this wine region I can tell...
The Wine Writers Circle of Canada recently hosted a Rosé tasting. We had over fifty wines available to taste from various growing regions. France, Italy, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and Ontario were all present. There were a lot of great wines on the table. The table was full of surprises...
Michael joins the podcast for a very special Episode 4 live to tape from Italy. André is stuck at his studio in Toronto … enough said.
2014 Scacciadiavoli Grechetto – Vintages 427591 – $14.95 – **** – Don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with the varietal Grechetto. It seems this grape doesn’t make it into the bottle on it’s own very often and is often blended down with other varietals. Don’t let that deter you...
2012 Tenuta Frescobaldi Di Castiglioni – Vintages 145920 – $21.95 – **** – Mainly Cab Sauv, with Merlot, Cab Franc and Sangiovese to round out the package this is a very nice full bodied, easy drinking wine. The nose and flavours are licorice and black currant. Flavours are very fruit...
When I head out for Indian food often I find myself switching to beer, or cocktails. Indian food is difficult when it comes to pairing with wine. I was intrigued when I got the invite for the dinner at Pukka featuring Nals Margreid a winery in Northern Italy. I was...
I drink copious amounts of Riesling and Gewürztraminer year round. I think because of our eating habits bright crisp wines get relegated to the patio. I guess we don’t think to crack open a nice chilled Gewurz in the middle of winter. I come from the part of the country that...
On January 28th I was given the opportunity to attend a tasting in Downtown Toronto putting Italian and Ontario wines side by side. We had the opportunity to taste through 37 wines. It is amazing to see how well the Ontario wines hold up to the Italian wines. I still...
This week on November 20th we will be greeted with 9 offerings from France, Italy and Ontario in their local LCBO. Nouveau has a certain contradiction about it … the hardest wine snobs will turn their nose up at it… but the budding wineaux has no idea that it even...
I have made it my mission to discuss great Ontario wines, because I still feel there is a certain stigma out there that they aren’t very good. But even though I have no problems finding great VQA wines to talk about every week sometimes something catches my eye (and palette)...
