March 21, 2020 LCBO VINTAGES Release Wine Picks: Classic Euro Regions + Okanagan + Annapolis

In these extraordinary times with COVID-19 at top of mind, this post seems almost irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. However, since the LCBO is still open (with reduced hours as of Thursday, March 19) and I think we would all like to step back and take a breather from all of the Coronavirus pandemic news, the next batch of new wines arriving at the LCBO are from the...

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Top Wines from Port & Douro Tasting - May 2016

May was an extremely busy month for tastings, so I've decided to highlight some of my favourites from each tasting. The first post in this series is the Porto and Douro wine tasting - a small event held at the beginning of May. This annual tasting normally has a very low turnout, but this time attendance was very good. The room at the Hyatt Regency Toronto was also on the...

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Senhora Do Convento Wine Tasting

Last month, I had the pleasure of tasting the wines of Senhora Do Convento with Donald Ziraldo and his Victoria. Included in this tasting were 3 red table wines, followed by a Ruby Port and Tawny Port (both of which are readily available at the LCBO). We ended the casual walk-around tasting with a pair of aged Tawny Ports, followed by a pair of Vintage Ports. Fine Port...

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Nov. 8 LCBO Wine Picks: Fine Holiday Wines + Ports

The next LCBO VINTAGES release will be in stores across Ontario this weekend - on Saturday, November 8th. As we get into the holiday season, the releases seem to getting bigger and feature more higher priced wines - this release is no exception. This release is titled "Uncork the Season" and features many fine holiday wines as part of the major theme. The secondary theme...

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Sept. 27 LCBO Wine Picks: Pioneers + Portugal

The next LCBO Vintages release will be on shelves this Saturday, September 27. The main focus of this release is titled "Breaking Ground" and highlights top wines from 11 pioneers from the world of wine. The mini-feature of this release is on wines from Portugal. Of the eight wines from Portugal, just one made my list of wine picks. The red wine from Quinta de Pancas is...

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KWV Wines Tasting with Izele van Bierk

On August 5th, I had the pleasure of attending the KWV Wines tasting at the iYellow Wine Cave. Coming all the way from South Africa to attend and host this special event was winemaker at KWV Wines - Izele van Bierk. KWV (Ko-operatieve Wijnbouwers Verenigingvan Zuid Afrika) Wines is one of South Africa's largest wine & spirits producers. It has a long and rich history...

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Hardys Winemakers Dinner and Wine Walkthrough

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a Winemakers Dinner and Wine Walkthrough hosted at the Edward Day Gallery by Bill Hardy, the great grandson of Hardys founder - Thomas Hardy. I arrived early and had the chance to mingle before the festivities got started. While mingling and waiting for everyone to arrive, we were offered 'The Gamble' Chard Pinot Gris, which ended...

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Smart Buys: Jan. 7 LCBO Vintages Wine Picks

It's been 1 year since I began this blog and I have enjoyed every moment. A BIG THANK YOU to all of my growing number of supporters and followers - you mean a lot to me! If you're enjoying my posts, send me note. If you think I can do better in some aspect, let me know! I would love to hear from you. Without further ado, here are my wine picks for the first Vintages release...

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Douro & Port Wine Tasting in Toronto

Earlier this week, I attended the IVDP wine tasting event in downtown Toronto. This event featured many Ports and Douros commonly found in the LCBO general list, as well as a few from the Vintages section. Some wines could only be purchase by direct order only. I was excited to find out that some wines (which are currently not available at the LCBO) were being tasted in...

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