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Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday wines
A day or two of anomalous warm temperatures aside, the dead of winter engulfs and conjoins 35 million Canadians in communal countenance. A weekend invite or beckoning may extract and cull us out of our...
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Super Bowl wine prediction: Red 49ers over black Ravens
Three more sleeps before the much anticipated ”Harbowl,” a brother versus brother, mano a mano American football war set to play out in New Orleans at Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVII. Forget about the risqué...
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We played pond hockey, we drank wine
Pond Hockey. Is there a comparable Canadian cold weather activity yet apposite to define our sense of place or recreational state of being? Summer assigns us to a canoe but winter demands a bipedal,...
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Wine chat anyone?
It’s not as though everyone is doing it, but chatting live online about your favourite pastime is all the rage these days. Discussions can be about food, sex, music and yes, wine. I join experts across...
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Just say no to pink wine for Valentine’s
If you have spent some quality time with @mgodello you will know by now that he is not shy to champion rosés, especially Ontario’s ambient, rich pinks and the savoury, dry versions from the south of...
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Your man wants these wines for Valentine’s
Cupid’s got a dilemma. He knows his arrow will pierce the man in the relationship’s heart, hypnotize him to hunt and gather the finest chocolate and sweet-smelling roses that money can buy. But what...
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Real wines, whisky and Boys’ Night Out
This has been a most excellent week for tasting real wines and high-spirited whisky. Real wine is made in the vineyard. That refrain plays truer than ever in 2013. Robert Parker and Antonio Galloni...
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The Wine Diaries: Hockey and tasting notes
I’ve been for a walk. On a winter’s day. Just in case you were not privy to the wisdom, I’m here to put you in the know. Some phenomenal wine is made here in Ontario. A rather large and excited group...
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Wines with Oscar
What’s in a name? Oscar might mean “deer lover”, derived from Gaelic os ”deer” and cara ”lover”. On Sunday night the 85th Academy Awards will air. I’ve read many a Tweet and been privy to a host of...
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‘Somewhereness’ over the Canadian wine rainbow
Canada’s wine business is booming. To what do we owe this present day Renaissance of pleasant surprise and coast to coast quality? Passionate industry professionals for sure. We can thank the...
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A March of French grapes to dinner
With just about a month to go before grapevines in temperate climates begin an annual cycle by entering bud break, the 1st of March signals those first thoughts of renewal. I for one wait with...
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Top juice flows at Cuvée 25th anniversary
You’ll declare it’s simply topping To be there and hear them swapping Smart tidbits It was a night for putting on the ritz at the Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario. On Friday, March 1,...
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A long and ‘wine-ding’ tasting road
It was right in my wheelhouse and on so many levels. Thirty-three wines, all but two from the Niagara region, spanning vintages from 2001-2010. Poured blind, each of five flights introduced analogous...
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Big wines from California and the Bench
If you can’t make it big in California selling Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel, you can’t make it anywhere. Merlot once played a starring role in that ensemble but it currently...
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Wines for the Ides of March
Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me. And we, like friends, will straightway go together. – William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar March 15th is not just any old day, that is if you are a...
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Wine on St. Patrick
Do you have the time to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once Basket case. Surely you didn’t die your wine green today. If you insisted on drinking something green, I hope you...
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New wave under $20 wines go kosher for Passover
There is life beyond Manischewitz. Not all kosher wines are made from cloying, insipid and super-sweet Concord grapes. Conversely, a Jew’s worst, ’11th plague’ wine nightmare, the nights of suffering...
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Stratus and Momofuku: Modernity incarnate
Consider the winemaker’s style not merely embraced but created by J.L. Groux of Stratus Vineyards. Most wine folks know him as a mad scientist, a mathematician, as Niagara’s ‘Master of Assemblage.’...
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The Wine Diaries: Grapes and Peaches
If I had my little way I’d eat peaches every day Eat a peach. Listen to the music. Taste wine. Feel like a president. My wine codex is in full, binary cross-cultural mode. These days I can’t help...
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100 kilometre wine for spring
If you adhere to the 100 km rule, this wine’s for you. Riesling. Can there be a more versatile white grape? From natural, mineral spring, bone-dry to concentrated, candied sweet, this grape runs the...
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