SOUTH WORLD WINE SOCIETY The South World Wine Society, Vancouver's newest wine club, focuses on the wines of the Southern Hemisphere. It is a non-profit society that is dedicated to creating a greater understanding and appreciation of the
I'm not sure what to make of the news that rock superstar Sting has bought a 180-hectare farm adjacent to his Tuscan recording studio some 25 km south of Florence, but it can't be good for already inflated Chianti prices. Certainly more recognition isn't
Friday, January 31, 2003 Studious wine drinkers will be familiar with the link between American zinfandel and Italian primitivo, but do they know it's Croatian? In 2001, Dr. Carole Meredith, a professor at the University of California
This year the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival marks its 25th anniversary, and it gets under way earlier than usual, with a late March start. Chile has been chosen as the spotlight country for this milestone festival, and some 30 South
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars is one of B.C.'s most celebrated wineries, and because production is relatively small and its fame large, the wines can be hard to find. It's been more than a decade since Ian and Jane Mavety opened the doors to Blue
The plan for today's column was to review more wines to buy with January's budget constraints in mind, but some samples bought at under the $10 ceiling turned out to be particularly disappointing. Along the way, a few bottles selling a little over that
Finding well made wine for less than $10 a bottle can be a frustrating task for today's wine drinker but it's not impossible. Columns like this can help point you in the right direction as can a trustworthy wine merchant or in-store consultant. But in
Gismondi on Wine Our 2002 Top 100by Anthony Gismondi and Stuart TobeWe taste thousands of wines a year including a large number of wines that are no longer available through traditional retail channels. This list is our top 100 picks that for the most
Do you remember all the hype surrounding the millennium celebrations and which wines would be opened? Big bottles, old bottles and lots of bottles were the talk, but it never really worked out that way. At the time, I remember thinking that as wine
I wish I had 100 suggestions to share as you head for your neighbourhood liquor store in search of the perfect wine for Christmas dinner, but there simply isn't enough space or time. No doubt a few of you have already made the decision about which
The Rhone Valley is on a roll. Since 1998 the French appellation has experienced a string of superlative harvests that most other regions can only dream of. Couple that with affordable prices, particularly for wines from the south of the valley,
A quick scan of champagne prices in B.C. reveals order has finally returned to a category that's been in chaos since millennium madness set in. After 18 months of sales and markdowns in government stores, prices have returned to more normal, dizzying,
Holiday entertaining sits atop just about everyone's agenda, and if you're planning to stock your wine cellar for use during the next month, the time to shop is now. There's but one theme that links today's selections: they're tasty wines that won't destroy
The pairing of New World and Old World wineries is, historically, the most talked about joint ventures in the wine business. The theory being each side can contribute something different to the mix. On a basic level, that usually means fruit
The results of last week's Canadian Wine Awards revealed what many of us who cover Canadian wines already know, that B.C. wine continues to improve each year and that in any national showdown to determine who's making Canada's best wine, Okanagan producers
I caught up with Lamberto Frescobaldi recently in Calgary where he hosted lunch at La Chaumiere Restaurant for a select group of Alberta private wine shop owners. Frescobaldi spoke to a number of new releases and led the group through a tasting of