It is always good to see Ontario wines being enjoyed and appreciated beyond our backyard.
This news release last week came across the wire (so to speak) celebrating that an Inniskillin icewine was served at the Nobel Peace Prize Dinner. Congrats!
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2009/11/c2348.html
NIAGARA, ON, Dec. 11 /CNW/Inniskillin Wines is pleased to announce that the Inniskillin Vidal Icewine was selected and served at yesterday's Nobel Peace Prize dinner at which United States President Barack Obama received the 2009 award. The Inniskillin 2003 Gold Oak aged Vidal Icewine was paired to a menu created especially for the occasion.
It is definitely organized wine tasting event time in Toronto. A press release for the 2009 Chilean Wine Festival made its way to my inbox and I'm more than happy to help spread the word.
The event is detailed at this site hosted by winesofchile.ca
Date: Wednesday, October 7th
Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: Distillery District, Fermenting Cellar, Building #6 (55 Mill Street)
From the press release, it looks like this will be both a broad tasting with 31 wineries showing their wines and it will also take on a Chilean flair with local music and culinary demos.
I don't have very much personal experience with the wines of Chile, but some of the big names like Concha y Toro (famous for Don Melchor), Errazuriz and Montes are listed as participating wineries. These producers garner some big scores from reviewers at The Wine Advocate.
I don't always share Beppi's assessment on the wine scene here in Ontario, but I enjoyed his story discussing the release of some 2007 vintage Ontario wines and how the weather for the 2007 growing season allowed red wines to properly ripen and develop.
Beppi Crosariol's Wines & Spirits (Globe & Mail):In my opinion, the most impressive red of today's Vintages release in Ontario is 13th Street Winery Gamay Noir 2007 ($18, product No. 130195). Gamay is the red responsible for light, fruity Beaujolais from France. There are not many, if any, better Ontario producers of gamay than 13th Street.
I was at 13th Street Winery a week or so ago (and their new tasting room is wonderful) and really enjoyed the 2007 Gamay Noir. And of course, being an Ontario winery, anyone (19 years old and over) can order directly from the winery (allowing them to receive all of the profits for the sale). And be sure to check out the sparkling wines and Rieslings from 13th Street. Delicious.
You can check out their entire portfolio out and purchase online at http://www.13thstreetwinery.com/
Congrats to WineOnline.ca! WineOnline has offered some of my favourite wines including Domaine Pegau and Radio Couteau.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2009/01/c9295.html
Canadian Online Wine Company Celebrates Five Successful Years With Launch Into AlbertaTORONTO, June 1 /CNW/ - Five years ago WineOnline.ca launched its website with the goal of making high quality and high value wines more accessible to wine lovers. Launched in Ontario in 2004 with just a few excellent wines (13 to be exact), the pioneering online wine company WineOnline.ca now offers an unrivalled and exclusive portfolio of over 300 wines from international and local producers with delivery across the three provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta.
Vintages has mailed out and posted online the Classics catalogue for May.
I've passed on the last couple of Classics releases but this one might tempt me.
There are some interesting Burgundy's from 2006 (a nice, very forward vintage) and some blockbuster wines from Chateauneuf-du-pape.
Of course a Classics release wouldn't be the same without over priced Bordeaux :)
Order deadline for the lottery is: 5:00pm, Tuesday, May 26, 2009
I just received my notice about the 2009 edition of the New Zealand Wine Fairs taking place in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver this year (and according to the website Edmonton & Montreal).
The fair last year was excellent. I was impressed both the the number of high calibre wines that were poured as well as the variety of styles and wines from New Zealand. From a world class Gewurztraminer to some excellent Pinots and Chardonnays all the way to some delicious bordeaux-styled and syrah-based offerings, NZ is an exciting wine region.
The detailed winery listing isn't posted, but here are the event details for Toronto:
Toronto New Zealand Wine Fair
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Design Exchange
234 Bay Street, Toronto
Trade Fair: 2:30pm - 5:30pm
Public Fair: 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Ticket price: $60
http://www.nzwine-events.ca/
Vintages is hosting what looks like a decent tasting event featuring some of the larger, big name producers from Burgundy. 83 wines are being poured largely from the 2006 and 2007 vintages. It should be interesting to see if the 2006 vintage offers the “charm” that many reviewers suggest it does.
Anyone planning on attending?
Vintages has posted the February 2009 Classics Catalogue here.
I haven't gone through in detail yet. Any offers catch your attention?
A press release was issued discussing the newish VINTAGES Online Exclusives site today.
(UPDATE: While the release appears to be from the LCBO as I previously suggested, it was issued by QLogitek, the company that collaborated with the LCBO on the site).
There's one tidbit that caught my attention.
Launched in October, the site has more than 300 registered customers and sold more than $100,000.00 of products on its first day of operation.
While selling $100K in the first day is reasonably impressive, 300 total registered customers is a very small number for a province the size of Ontario.
Here's the full press release after the break…
Continue reading "VINTAGES Exclusives - 300 customers and counting!" »
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