Tag: Wine

The fino points: Exploring Spain’s fortified wines

| January 24, 2022 | 0 Comments
The fino points: Exploring Spain’s fortified wines

Sherry often gets a bad rap. Sweet-style Harvey’s Bristol Cream, despite being the world’s best-selling sherry, does little to positively fortify this wine’s reputation. The southwestern Spanish region of Jerez has been a historic wine region for centuries. Under King Alfonso’s rule in the 1200s, knights were rewarded with vineland in the region. The Valdespino […]

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To cork or not to cork?

| October 16, 2021 | 0 Comments
To cork or not to cork?

Despite being the first step in opening a bottle of wine, the closure is often the last thing that we put any thought into. Traditionally, cork has been the closure of choice as it provides a near-airtight seal that allows minute oxygen interplay, a necessity for wines that require long cellaring times, aiding the evolution […]

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The flavour-packed skin of grapes and why it matters

The flavour-packed skin of grapes and why it matters

Most wine grapes’ characteristics and colour come from the skins. Grape pulp houses sugars, water and acids, but it’s the thin protective layer that gives the grape its true character. Tannins, volatile aromatic compounds and bitterness all come from the skin. And upon it? Blooms of yeast, the inoculant for fermentation, can be found on […]

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The boozy pivot from restaurant to bottle shop

The boozy pivot from restaurant to bottle shop

Like you, I’m sure, I, too, long to sit and dine with all the delights that entails. But the next best thing is to take a little piece of your favourite restaurant home to enjoy. Restaurants are already well-versed in finding the perfect bottle for your night out, so why not for your night in? […]

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To vinfinity and beyond

| January 20, 2021 | 0 Comments
To vinfinity and beyond

A grape’s life often ends in the production of wine, but that’s becoming less the norm. Producers are looking to tradition and sustainability by using wine byproducts, expanding into new and old territory alike, while crafting beautiful beverages. “Great wine comes from good beer,” is a truism I’ve heard countless times at wineries around the […]

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The inherent white privilege in the wine industry

| October 31, 2020 | 0 Comments
The inherent white privilege in the wine industry

Wine is complex. For fruit that goes through fermentation naturally, it sure does have a lot of hang-ups. Buried under its generations of pretension lies the root issue: racism. At its core, wine holds an overwhelming amount of underlying white privilege, namely land ownership, winemaking, farming and fine dining. I spoke with industry professionals — […]

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Austrian wines: Fresh, light and wholly drinkable

Austrian wines: Fresh, light and wholly drinkable

With centuries of grape-growing and wine-making in the region, and best practices that date back to the time of the Romans, Austrian winemakers are implementing the traditions and knowledge to make wines that taste of a place. Terroir is at the fore. Regardless of style, Austrian wines tend to have a lithe core of bright […]

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Syrah: Big, bold and rich — or savoury

Syrah: Big, bold and rich — or savoury

As Rajat Parr, author of The Sommelier’s Atlas of Taste puts it, Syrah is a callback to our ancestry — a primitive side we rarely tap into. Done right, Syrah is “the glory of coming across a path of sweet, juicy, ripe wild berries, the smell of running through a thicket of untamed, flowering herbs […]

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They make wine in Quebec?

| September 29, 2019 | 0 Comments
They make wine in Quebec?

Yes, they make wine in Quebec — and in a few cases, some of my favourite wines in the country. Historically, due to the brutal winters, producers in the province mainly planted hybrid grape varietals (grapes developed in a lab to be able to withstand colder temperatures), which can certainly make tasty wines, but rarely […]

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Champagne: Why smaller producers are worth a try

| July 6, 2019 | 0 Comments
Champagne: Why smaller producers are worth a try

When we hear “Champagne,” our minds tend to conjure up images of opulence and prestige. Years of brilliant marketing on the part of Champagne producers have resulted in an instant association between the region and a few major brands — Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Moet & Chandon and Pol Roger, to name a few. The […]

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