Mar. 7 LCBO Wine Picks: Tuscany + B.C. + Israel + St. Patrick's Day

The next batch of wines will be available on LCBO VINTAGES shelves across Ontario on Saturday, March 7, 2015. The major theme of this release is titled "Tuscan Renaissance" and goes through some of the projects that were undertaken over the last 50+ years to modernize and improve the wines from Tuscany. However, of the 14 wines featured, just two made my list of wine picks...

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Feb. 21 LCBO Wine Picks: Australia 2012 + Award-Winning Ontario Wines

Here are my wine picks from today's release. Apologies for the delay in posting my picks from the February 21, 2015 LCBO VINTAGES release as I am currently on vacation and had to deal with jet lag, a minor bout with a stomache virus, and a death in the family. Therefore, this will be a short write-up. This release focuses on Australia's magnificent 2012 vintage, while...

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Hoffmann-Simon Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese 2011 (Mosel) - Wine Review

Tonight's wine was purchased back in 2012 from the September 29 LCBO VINTAGES release and opened tonight to celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary. Not surprisingly, this excellent white wine is no longer available, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a future vintage re-appear on our shelves. HOFFMANN-SIMON PIESPORTER GOLDTRÖPFCHEN RIESLING SPÄTLESE 2011 - Prädikatswein, Mosel,...

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Burrowing Owl (British Columbia) Wine Tasting

In late November, I was invited to a very special tasting of wines by British Columbia's Burrow Owl Estate Winery. This tasting was hosted by their agent here in Ontario - Le Sommelier - and held at the Fine Wine Reserve. Founder Jim Wyse had no intention of starting a winery when he began replanting vineyards in 1993 - his goal was to produce world class, premium quality...

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San Raffaele Monte Tabor Soave 2013 (Veneto) - Wine Review

Opened this crisp and refreshing white wine Sunday night. Monte Tabor has been cultivating vines organically since 1970. In 2006, Monte Tabor began managing another 50 hectares of Soave vineyards in Illasi. Today, viticulturalists and oenologists collaborate on the production of organic wines from these vineyards with the Fasoli family - a family that has been organic producers...

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Feb. 7 LCBO Wine Picks: Italy + Southern Hemisphere

The next LCBO VINTAGES release will be on shelves across Ontario on Saturday, February 7, 2015. The major feature of this release highlights 11 native grapes found in Italy, while the mini-feature highlights wines from the 5 major winemaking powers in the Southern Hemisphere - Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Italy has many native grape varieties...

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Niagara Icewine Festival Review 2015

On the weekend of January 17-18, I visited Niagara as part of the 20th Annual Icewine Festival and a new initiative called Niagara Chilled. This new initiative combined all the events - Gala, Icewine Village in Niagara-on-the-Lake, special events at wineries and restaurants, Discovery Pass, and an indoor/outdoor food, wine and live entertainment extravaganza in Niagara Falls...

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