|
Thursday, 14 October 2010 |
|
I recently judged at (and co-chaired) the Ottawa Wine Challenge, the new wine competition associated with the Ottawa Wine and Food Show (Nov. 5-7, this year). The other 14 judges included some of the best sommeliers from Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, with product consultants and leading wine writers from Ontario and Quebec. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 07 October 2010 |
|
We're approaching the end of a long LCBO promotion of Ontario wines. Sales are up, but Ontario wines can still be a remarkably tough sell for reasons that have little to do with their quality. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 30 September 2010 |
|
Unlike the wine agents and wineries I deal with every day, I don't have a stake in much of what happens in the wine world. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 23 September 2010 |
A reader recently wrote, "I've been reading your column and buying the wines you recommend since I came to Ottawa four months ago, but I just realized recently that you don't describe wine the way other people do -- with the names of fruit, etc. Did you just start doing that? I prefer your way, but is it very common?"
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 16 September 2010 |
|
There have been a few complaints in the wine media recently about the price of wine. Their focus is often high-end Bordeaux wines, mainly the few dozen châteaux classified as "Growths" in 1855, and still (most of them, anyway) widely regarded as the top tier of producers in Bordeaux. The 2009 vintage is considered exceptionally good, and prices have risen. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Friday, 10 September 2010 |
|
Last week, I brought out two bottles of 1998 Niagara Peninsula wine for a barbecue: a chardonnay and a cabernet-sauvignon blend, both from reliable producers. Both were on the wrong side of optimum. Each, in its own way, was heavy and lifeless, lacking the vibrancy that a wine should have. A couple of days later, at a friend's house for dinner, out came a 2002 riesling. Again, it had lost it. Of all varieties, riesling should present a good level of acidity, but this one was flat. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 02 September 2010 |
|
The LCBO is one of those perennial topics of conversation. Hardly a provincial government is elected that doesn't at least muse about ending the LCBO's near-monopoly on the sale of alcohol in Ontario. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 26 August 2010 |
I recently received this note from a reader: "I have noticed a trend towards stronger wines (14-, 15- and even 15.5-per-cent alcohol content is no longer uncommon) and more 'wood' content as well. I am not too sure this is a good thing.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 19 August 2010 |
|
Look for more good to great buys in Saturday's release of wines at Vintages. Good value exists at all price points, of course, but most of us search for them in the inexpensive range, so I've pulled out a few in the under-$15 range. |
|
Read more...
|
|
Thursday, 12 August 2010 |
|
Sometimes I think consumers tend to be less skeptical about wine marketing than they are about the advertising of other commodities. We tend to be suspicious about claims that this detergent washes cleaner, this toothpaste produces whiter teeth, and that mobility service has fewer dropped calls than any other. But prowling through LCBO stores, as I do from time to time on busy Saturdays, I hear shoppers say things like "This chardonnay got 90 points," and "This shiraz has won a lot of medals." This they say in a tone that means "so it must be good." |
|
Read more...
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
| Results 71 - 80 of 220 |
