Eggnog is all well and good, but this year it's time to branch out with your holiday libations. In Japan, when it's cold, people drink saké to stay warm. In fact, I spent a day at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal washing bucket after bucket or rice and then … [Read more...] about Ho-Ho-Holiday Drinking: Draft Saké and 4 Award-Winning Cocktails
wine
Amie Watson on Breakfast Television: Talking Wine in Montreal
In case you missed me drinking at 8 a.m. a little while ago, here's my segment from Breakfast Television Montreal on CityTV talking about three Montreal wine events and tasting some organic and natural wine with show co-host Derick Fage: You have no idea how relieved I was … [Read more...] about Amie Watson on Breakfast Television: Talking Wine in Montreal
Negroamaro del Prete Anne Review
Have you ever opened a bottle of wine that made you stop in your tracks? As in one of the best wines of your life? One that you could drink again and again? No special occasion necessary, except for the fact that you assume it's very expensive because it's so good? And then you … [Read more...] about Negroamaro del Prete Anne Review
The Wine Whisperers, Part 2: Coturri Winery, Sonoma Valley, California
I was on a mission. I was spending a week in Sonoma and Napa in search on natural, biodynamic and organic wines. There were to be no trolley tours, no limo tours, and, as one of my favourite Montreal wine import companies proclaims: "No shit in my wine." My next stop? Coturri. … [Read more...] about The Wine Whisperers, Part 2: Coturri Winery, Sonoma Valley, California
The Wine Whisperers, Part 1: Budweiser Wine, Foot Yeast and Carbonated Sparkling at The Scholium Project
The Scholium Project isn’t your average Napa winery. Instead of a posh tasting room, the unheated rental of a barn is filled with bladder presses and stacked barrels with names like Polupous (Octopus in Greek), Sally Field and “lees poop.” Only the first of those is for … [Read more...] about The Wine Whisperers, Part 1: Budweiser Wine, Foot Yeast and Carbonated Sparkling at The Scholium Project
Sonoma Wine Tasting and Restaurants: An Organic Itinerary
I’m not saying this is the best way to drink and eat Sonoma in a week, but it’s a very fun, very delicious, very off-the-beaten-path way to see the area. It’s even relatively healthy. Here’s how I planned my trip: I contacted three sommelier friends who specialize in natural … [Read more...] about Sonoma Wine Tasting and Restaurants: An Organic Itinerary
The Best Thing I Drank at the Sparkling Wine Salon…Was Cognac
Sparkling wines from around the world (mostly Europe) was this year's theme at La Grande Dégustation, Montreal's largest wine salon that takes over the Palais des Congrès in early November. The other two themes (because one should never lack for themes) were Grenache and … [Read more...] about The Best Thing I Drank at the Sparkling Wine Salon…Was Cognac
Wines to Try and the Beginning of the Cold-Weather Drinking Season
Craving a glass (or so) of Sangiovese, Syrah or Xynomavro around the end of November doesn't mean you're an alcoholic – it just means you're Canadian. There's a hibernating effect of the cold weather that makes a lot of us want to spend the early onset evenings sipping something … [Read more...] about Wines to Try and the Beginning of the Cold-Weather Drinking Season
Alexandre Jipa’s Wine Tasting Club and a Blind California Tasting
You've seen Bottle Shock, right? It's about the 1972 "Judgement of Paris," a blind tasting of California wines versus Bordeaux. The French got their sous-vêtements in a knot when Napa took down some French heavy-hitters. One of the reds in the competition was Stag's Leap, the … [Read more...] about Alexandre Jipa’s Wine Tasting Club and a Blind California Tasting
The Best Wines of the Season
I written about wine lately, but it's time that changed. I've attended wine salons, drank glasses of exquisite offerings at restaurants and occasionally splurged at the SAQ, though I can't go back to my neighbourhood one any time soon. This has nothing to do with kissing and … [Read more...] about The Best Wines of the Season