Just confirmed winemaker Tom DiBello will depart CedarCreek Winery for new challenges. The search is on for a new winemaker. The plan is on to find someone new perhaps from outside the valley. For the moment assistant winemaker Bill Pierson who has been
Ossau Iraty (OH-soh-ear-ah-TEE) is a delicious AOC, traditional sheep's milk cheese from the Basque region of the French Pyrenees using only unpasteurized milk. This is a cheese made on many different small farms throughout the area, where the sheep still
My goal this week is to embrace the Vanoc good host strategy and encourage you to try to be a great food and wine host for the Games. There is little doubt Vancouver is the most cosmopolitan food and wine city to ever host a Winter Olympics, and it comes
Earlier this month, I was invited to join a Canadian contingent of wine critics to judge at the seventh Wines of Chile Awards. Each year, the Chileans organize a rotating panel of critics from their leading export markets, hoping to gain some insight
We head back to the Rhone this week for one simple reason: real value. The current price-quality-ratio in the southern Rhone is one of the best in the business with particular emphasis on the quality side. Most everyone in the wine business (and you can
Today, a few thoughts on wine prices for 2010, beginning with the No. 1 question in the business: How much are you, the consumer, prepared to pay for wine on a regular basis? And when will restaurants return to buying wine and beef up inventories? If
As much as I enjoy a good glass of tempranillo (pronounced tempera-KNEEL yoh), I am confident 2010 will not change its global status, which is somewhere between what did you say and not very well known. The good news is this noble Spanish variety will
It's been a tumultuous decade for wine, beginning with a champagne meltdown in 2000 and finishing with a similar scenario in 2009. In between we saw the rising prowess of New World producers in California, Australia, Chile and Argentina coupled with seemingly
Gismondi on Wine Our 2009 Top 100 by Anthony Gismondi and Stuart Tobe We 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
An overstocked and overinflated global champagne market means many more people are likely to greet 2010 on New Year's Eve with a glass of champagne than perhaps retailers first thought. Prices have tumbled in most major cities around the world. In London,
I can confirm it is officially panic time for gift givers who have left their holiday shopping list too late. The good news is, bargains abound in BC Liquor stores. Okay, bargain may be too strong a word, but prices are softening and if you have the time
Week four of our holiday wine guide looks at the ever popular varietal wine categories. Perhaps classic may be too strong a word, but before the introduction of blends, aromatics and off-the-beaten-track bottles, buying wine by grape variety was marketed
Most of you will attend at least one, if not several, holiday parties this month and to make sure you do not arrive empty-handed, we have come up with a number of gift ideas for the host. Hostess gifts are hardly obligatory, but during the holidays,
In today's ultra-competitive wine market getting a foot on the international wine stage is sometimes tougher than making top-flight wine. Fortunately, for British Columbia's wine producers the key to the stage door has arrived and it's called icewine. The
Week 2 of our holiday wine- buying guide takes us into the red section, providing the perfect complement to last week's aromatic picks. Regular readers will know the days of cabernet and merlot as the only go-to reds in the market are over.