Blog
Our Top 20 Best Buys for the September 5 Vintages Release
This week’s Vintages release seems smaller than usual. Maybe that’s because it doesn’t have a specific theme like the releases usually do. Still, there are some great wines being released this weekend – some we like for their terrific value, others are intriguing cellar dwellers. Let us know what wines you’re sipping lately – and if...
Best Wine Pairings for Your Long Weekend Cookout
So here we are: the last long weekend of summer. Even though Labour Day marks summer’s swan song, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet (technically fall doesn’t start this year until September 23). So, we still have a few weeks to squeeze the sunshine out. If barbecues and picnics are on your long weekend agenda, here are...
Stratus at 10 Years Old
We just returned from the cottage. A right of passage for Canadians (depending on where you live, you may call your summer wilderness excursion the cabin, camp or cottage but it’s all basically the same thing) this yearly (and for some lucky ducks weekendly) city escape truly brings about Canadian pride, and weirdly current nostalgia...
Wine for the Weekend
Ortas Cave de Rasteau “La Domlière” Rasteau, Rhône 2013 We posted on our Facebook page yesterday that red wine season has begun. Of course, that comment was slightly in jest, as there is no true, definitive red wine season, you are certainly welcome to drink red wine anytime you please, just as you are white....
The Best Sangria Ever
We’re off to the cottage! Smell ya later Toronto, we are headed north for canoeing, kayaking… and more than our fair share of eating and drinking. Speaking of drinking, we’re bringing a little Mexico to the great Canadian north – Sangria. Now, we’ve rarely been wowed by this wine-based Mexican punch. Too often we’ve been served...
Wine for the Weekend
Westcott “Lillias” Unoaked Chardonnay Westcott “Lillias” Unoaked Chardonnay, VQA Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, ON 2013 $20 Vintages 425322 Lillias is one of a trio of Westcott wines named after legendary women (for better or worse) who lived life on their terms (Westcott also has a a rosé called Delphine and sparkling called Violette). Lillias refers to Lillias...
Our Top 20 Picks from the August 22 Vintages Release
CANADA Gray Monk Pinot Blanc, VQA Okanagan Valley, BC 2013 $19.95 Vintages 321612 One of the most impressive white wines of the release, this is flat out delicious. The winery is in the north end of the Okanagan, where crisp, Germanic style whites do really well and Gray Monk is known for producing some of the best....
Summer Wine Read: Harvests of Joy
“At the age of 52, I should have been a happy man.” And so begins Robert Mondavi’s engrossing memoir of a life spent in the California wine business. Highly engaging, and occasionally boastful (why not? The guy pretty much put Napa Valley on the map), this 350 page autobiography has it all: rags to riches...
Wine for the Weekend
Kacaba Cabernet/Syrah, VQA Niagara Escarpment, ON 2013 We’re currently relaxing lake side at the cottage. The days are very warm, and in the great Ontario North, the evenings are starting to feel a tiny bit cool. Maybe it’s a sign that we truly are Canadian, but we’re actually enjoying these cooler nights, putting on a...
