There will be many times you’re in a new place with unfamiliar sounds, people and menus. In fact, if this sounds odd to you…then I really do suggest you branch out and explore your city some more.
Some places will veer in the direction of ‘tourist’. The wine offerings here might just make you or someone you’re with shed a silent tear for the grapes that could have been. Other places will have leather bound anthologies of their expansive wine cellars…those aren’t tears, they’re the cold sweat of being faced with too many choices.
So what to do?
Defer to the most knowledgeable …read more

While dining at one of Toronto’s most unabashedly tourist-y restaurants, I figured it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give the man’s wine a try. Now the Creole Chicken Mac & Cheese? That was tasty.
But the wine. Oh, the wine.
While the taste of lemon was more than evident, there was little else to back it up. Bland and flavorless, this one truly lacked the character of it’s namesake.
But I drank on. In hopes that something else on the menu would brighten my disappointed spirits.
Unfortunately, their Parker Station Chardonnay also tasted unbalanced, with grapefruit undertones rising to one big overtone and …read more

Hosting a wine blog provides a lovely excuse for hosting complimentary events. The type of events that include delicious libations, laughter and conversations. Said events may or may not also include Mike & Ikes, Pop Rocks, baby carrots and a number of cameras. But that is neither here nor there.
Going into our wine tasting last Friday, we were well aware that Chile is far more well known for their reds then whites. But who wants to colour inside the lines? We take risks – which sometimes end surprisingly well and other times take us in directions we might have …read more

Last night I eschewed the common list of Chardonnay and Sauv Blanc for the more adventurous Marques De Riscal Rueda from Spain. I quickly learned that not only was this a good decision, but that the Spanish have a knack for whites I was unaware of. Delightfully balanced (I can’t stand a white that knocks you over with citrus) and playful, there was a little bit of a lime undertone that really took it to another level.
This was a welcome improvement from the wine tasting I co-hosted on Friday (more on that later) where no true winners really emerged. …read more