Away from home, pizza night at the Hotel 🙂

Glad to be back in Ottawa and even happier to order a Pizza from Ricardo’s Pizza, which I have enjoyed for over 20 years. Visiting this pizzeria brought back many great memories and great to see that it’s still the same pleasant, customer focused staff still working there magic here.

As for the wine, one wine wasn’t enough 😜

1- Paul Jaboulet Aîné Saint-Joseph Le Grand Pompée 2016, Rhône Valley, France 🇫🇷

🍇 Syrah 100%

🧐 Alcohol 13%

Beautiful, inviting nose with aromas of plums, blackberries, floral and peppery notes. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied, flavourful with smooth tannins and fresh acidity. The finish is medium length with lots of peppery plum and light earthy flavours lingering.

2- Prá Morandina Valpolicella 2018, Veneto, Italy 🇮🇹

🍇 Corvina 35%
🍇 Corvinone 35%
🍇 Rondinella 23%
🍇 Oseleta 7%

🧐 Alcohol 12.5%

Bright nose with aromas of strawberries, raspberries, red cherries and floral notes. On the mouthfeel, light bodied, fresh with lots of energy, fine grainy tannins and bright acidity. The finish is medium length and full of fruity flavour lingering.



🔹 Definitely interesting to compare these two wines with the pizza, darker fruit on the Saint-Joseph and red fruit on the Valpolicella, smoother tannins with the Syrah and much higher acidity with the Valpolicella. The Saint-Joseph is in a beautiful place right now and the Vapolicella is young with additional time in bottle to come soften up a bit. Both enjoyable in their own right but the Saint-Joseph was  the better pairing.

Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Touring Ontario Wine Country

This last Sunday with a visit to these three wineries 

🔹First stop at Rosewood Estate Winery and Meadery.  Even if it had been ten years since I last tasted this wineries Merlot, I could almost still taste it. To my surprise, they no longer make Merlot. Like many of their neighbours, they lost all of their Merlot after the vine-killing frost of 2014. A few wineries replanted their Merlot but most replaced with a more sturdy vines like Gamay. My favourites;

🍇 Pét-Nat 2018 (Pinot Noir/Gamay)

🍇 Chardonnay Renaceau Vineyard 2016

🍇 Pinot Noir BlackJack Vineyard 2017

A winery tailor made for my palate. Beautiful, aromatic, elegant wines with low alcohol. If like me, you enjoy local honey products and mead you will be delighted with a visit to this winery. Strongly recommended 👌😊

🔹Second stop Thirty Bench Wine Makers  This is my first visit to this winery. They do have a beautiful spot on the Beamsville bench and are known for their portfolio of Riesling. Strongly recommended. My favourite;

🍇 Small Lot Riesling Steel Post Vineyard 2017

🍇 Small Lot Merlot 2016

Beautiful, classic aromatics on their Rieslings with different levels of alcohol and sweetness and this Merlot is really delicious 🍷

🔹Third stop Hidden Bench Estate Winery  I have heard great things from Hidden Bench but never tasted their wines until today. Oh my Gosh! What a treat 😊 My favourites;

🍇 Pinot Noir Locust Lane Vineyard 2016

🍇 Pinot Noir Felsek Vineyard 2016

🍇 Terroir Caché 2016

All of these beauties are unfiltered 👌 A new favourite.  Period. 🙂  Such a delicious lineup from Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and their Meritage blend. Beautiful texture in their Pinot’s and their Terroir Caché (Bordeaux blend) is very flavourful. Thank you Melissa for this out standing wine experience 🙂

Happy Holidays to all of you and your families. The time to open something special is today 😊 Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Touring Ontario Wine Country

Day two of three, with a visit to these three wineries in Niagara-on-The-Lake

🔹First stop at Ravine Vineyard It’s been a while since I last tasted Ravine wines. I remember them as beautifully made and on the lighter side. I am glad to see that nothing has changed. Beautiful and stunning wines. My favorites,

🍇 Cabernet Franc 2017
🍇 Reserve Red Unfined and Unfiltered 2016

Definitely my kind of wines, elegant, aromatic, well made with lower alcohol. I heard that starting with this vintage year they have a new winemaker. Hoping that she keeps the winery style pretty much the same 👌🙂

🔹Second stop Icellars Estate Winery, I had never heard of this family run winery, it was strongly recommended by industry people. It’s always incredibly insightful when the wines are being poured by Adnan Icel the winemaker. My favourite;

🍇 Cabernet Franc 2016
🍇 Merlot 2017

Highly recommended for a reason, beautifully structured wines, medium to medium-full bodied and incredibly delicious 😋 Small production with 200 cases for the Merlot and 300 for the Cab Franc.

🔹Third stop Big Head Wines  So much buzz about this fairly new winery. For me it’s reminds me of @hatchwines  in B.C. There is a young energy to this winery, a young clientele and they are pushing the envelope. Many wines here including a raw series. My favourites;

🍇 Pinot Noir 2017
🍇 Bigger Red 2016
🍇 Raw Series Chenin Blanc 2017

I feel that I was barely introduced to the wide range of products from this winery. Really interesting and delicious wines here. Strongly recommended.

More wineries to come. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Touring Ontario Wine Country

Getting my feet wet last Friday with these two wineries in Niagara-on-The-Lake

First stop at Stratus Vineyards. It’s great to finally visit this winery, I have read so many great reviews about their wines. I tasted through an extensive selection of their wines from white, reds and sweeter wines, all led by the very knowledgeable Ben. My favorites,

🍇 Stratus Red 2016 a blend of all five Bordeaux varietals plus Petit Verdot and Tannat
🍇 Botrytis Affected Sémillon 2017
🍇 Riesling Ice Wine 2017

It’s obvious there is a lot of attention to details in everything they do at Stratus. The entire tasting was a real treat, specifically their Botrytis Affected Sémillon 😋

Second stop at Two Sisters Vineyards. I have rarely been a fan of Canadian Sauvignon, well let me tell you how stunning this 2018 Sauvignon Blanc was; I usually prefer my SB to be stainless steel only, with no oak to preserve this varietals crisp acidity. First year that they made their SB without oak and it’s a winner. The best Canadian SB I have ever had. It is very aromatic, with a flavourful, crisp and refreshing acidity. Overall a very pleasant tasting led by Melissa, very knowledgeable. My favourites;

🍇 Sauvignon Blanc 2018
🍇 Cabernet Franc 2015

More wineries to come. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Oban Inn, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

A beautiful December evening at the @obaninn, where we are staying in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Duck confit is one of my favourite dinners, when I see it on a restaurant menu it’s a no brainer.

-Duck Confit with smashed sage potato, roasted Brussels sprouts in a Dijon cream sauce

-Maple berry crème brûlée with pistachio biscotti

Nothing has ever bested my favourite meal of duck confit that was prepared at Algonquin College, culinary school @RestaurantInternational where I received my Sommelier Certification. I have to say that Oban Inn’s duck confit challenged my previous favourite with it’s crispy skin, delicious tender meat and served with a flavourful Dijon cream sauce and beautifully prepared smashed potatoes. So good 😋 The dessert was also very good, almost forgot to take a photo in my rush to get started 😂 I almost forgot the wise words of @wyn8969. The camera eats first 😜

And the wine?

Megalomaniac Cabernet Frank 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

The winery description "Forthright and sincere, our Cabernet Franc delivers a knockout punch with a velvet glove"

Right now it’s more like a soft leather glove, the velvet will come later after another year in bottle. Still a very enjoyable wine but it would have been hard to upstage this duck confit.

Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Wine acquisition from the Liquor Board of Ontario (LCBO)

What a joy to be returning to the LCBO. Did you know that after Costco, the LCBO is the second largest purchaser of wine and spirits in the world? This kind of leverage can make for ideal pricing. I am here to find my personal favourite wines and explore products recommended by their very knowledgeable staff. I was lucky to run into @torontovino  at the Queens Quay LCBO location. I had already nabbed the Muga Selección Especial (a favourite 🙂) but Victor helped me select a few more beauties to bring home. Thank you.  🙏 It was great chatting with you.

🍇 from Spain 🇪🇸
-Muga Selección Especial 2014
-Urbina Rioja Gran Reserva 2006

🍇 from France 🇫🇷
-François Villard Jouvet Cornas 2016

🍇 from Italy
-Caparzo La Casa Brunello di Montalcino 2013

Pretty happy with the new addition to the family 😊 Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Maxime Magnon Rozeta 2018, Corbières, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 🇫🇷

🍇 Carignan 40%
🍇 Grenache 30%
🍇 Cinsault 30%

🧐 Alcohol 13.5%

 🍁 My Score 90 Points

🧩 50-60 years old vines, grapes are fermented together, aged wine in previously use Burgundy barrels from a producer in Chassagne-Montrachet, natural, organic and biodynamic, neither fined or filtered and no sulphur added at bottling

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Beautiful nose with aromas of red cherries, raspberries, blueberries, floral, peppery and light earthy notes. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied, very fresh with an elegant texture, silky tannins and crisp acidity. The finish is medium length with savoury and slightly tangy flavours lingering.

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Lovely dining experience at Damas restaurant in Montréal this last Monday. Like always, I research the wine list before arriving at a restaurant. Unfortunately it was a waste of time since the wine list was out of date 🤷‍♂️ None of the wines which had caught my attention where available. Now, I did take up the offer for the Sommelier to review the wine list and help with my selection. Good wine list, mostly from France and Italy, with many natural wines. I was very happy with the wine selected, it went beautifully with our mix grilled platter. The food and the presentation as usual, was amazing. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Wine acquisition from the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ)

It’s always enjoyable returning to Montréal. There is so much to like, great restaurants, cafés and my favourite pastime of visiting the SAQ to find wines I can’t find in British Columbia. Such variety; One varietal that continues to evade me is Barbera d’Asti, there certainly was a very good selection of Beaujolais 👌 I finally settled with these six wines which will be returning home with me;

🍇 from Italy 🇮🇹
-Arianna Occhipinti Il Frappato 2017
-Prá Morandina Valpolicella 2018
-Castello di Neive Barbaresco 2016

🍇 from France 🇫🇷
-George Descombes Morgon Vieilles Vignes 2016
-Paul Jaboulet Ainé Saint-Joseph Le Grand Pompée 2016

🍇 from Spain 🇪🇸
-Imperial Gran Reserva Rioja 2010

Looking forward to enjoying some of them soon. Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Bodegas Cepa 21 Hito 2016, Ribera Del Duero, Spain 🇪🇸

Bodegas Cepa 21 Hito 2016, Ribera Del Duero, Spain 🇪🇸

🍇 Tempranillo 100%

🧐 Alcohol 13.5%

🍁 My Score 91 Points

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Lovely nose with aromas of black cherrie, blackberries, plums, leather, cloves, vanilla and earthy notes. On the mouthfeel, medium-full bodied, seductive texture, flavourful, fine grainy tannins and fresh acidity. The finish is medium-long with flavours of black fruit, peppery, earthy flavours all wrapped up in fine tannins.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

This wine ticks all the boxes for me, from it’s beautiful aromatics, superb texture and it’s flavourful and smooth finish. A powerful but elegant Tempranillo, with many pairing possibilities but also enjoyed on it’s own. Even better on the second night, which tells me it’s should keep improving over the next few years. Strongly recommended 👌 Cheers my wine friends 🍷

Unsworth Vineyards Allegro 2018, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada 🇨🇦

🍇 Sauvignette 40%
🍇 Petit Milo 40%
🍇 Amiel 20%

🧐 Alcohol 12.5%

🍁 My Score 88 Points

🧩 Stainless steel tank fermented, extensive lees contact and full malolactic fermentation.

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Beautiful, expressive nose with aromas of peaches, pineapple, pink grapefruit, light floral and mineral notes. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied, intense, electric texture and crisp acidity. The finish is long with bright delicious flavours of sweet tree fruit and crisp tart green apple with a touch of minerality.

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The word Allegro is a musical term referring to a cheerful, playful and lively tempo. Well it’s certainly lived up to the name, exotic and tasty, quite an oral experience. On the second night the acidity softened up a little bit. I recommend serving it well chilled. A well enjoyed first experience with Allegro. Recommended, even if it’s just to experience the taste of those hybrid Blattner varietals. Cheers my wine friends 🙂

Summers Andriana’s Cuvée Cabernet Sauvignon 2015, California, USA 🇺🇸

🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon 77.5%
🍇 Merlot 16.5%
🍇 Petit Verdot 2.1 %
🍇 Petit Sirah 2.1%
🍇 Malbec 1.8%

🧐 Alcohol 14.1%

🍁 My Score 89 Points

🧩 Fruit 67% from Sonoma County and 33% from Napa County
      Oak treatment: 16 months in French oak, 50% new oak

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Very attractive nose with aromas of cherries, wild berries, black currants, violets, leather and vanilla notes. On the mouthfeel, medium bodied, creamy oak covering the palate with silky tannins and low acidity. The finish is medium length with ripe fruit flavour and oak spices lingering.

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A most interesting blend here. I recall a few years ago, this was 100% Cabernet. It’s definitely a wine with great appeal, beautiful aromatics, well integrated oak, smooth texture and most enjoyable. An uncomplicated Cabernet that goes down easy. Cheers my wine friends 🍷