Exploring a classic French champagne—Moët & Chandon
“Champagne is the only wine in the world that makes every woman beautiful,” a rather famous quote by a rather infamous mistress.
Wine
Taking (laughing)stock of the best of the Naramata Bench
The scenic Naramata Road passes a selection of my favourite vineyards. Our destination this day was Laughing Stock Vineyards.
Pour one out during the pandemic
Almost a year into this pandemic, we’re all dreaming about travelling again. Last summer, during the B.C. bubble, my wife and I took a road trip to explore Okanagan vineyards.
Fruits of the wine
You may have heard, we have a winery in the Yukon now. This winery comes from the team at Yukon Berry Farms. They were looking for a way to use their haskap berries to create secondary products that have a long shelf life and good margins – fruit wine.
Discover the Okanagan
Part 3 of 3 – West Kelowna and Kelowna Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to Huffington Post and I had to go find out how true it is. Day one and two where a blur of delectable foods, stunning views and copious amounts …
Discover the Okanagan
Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to Huffington Post and I had to go find out how true it is. Day one incorporated incredible views, delicious food and possibly too much wine in Naramata Bench, so the following day, we (Ryan and I) decided …
Discover the Okanagan
Part 1 of 3 Breathtaking views, delicious food and delectable wines. The Okanagan is the top wine destination in the world, according to the Huffington Post, and I had to find out if they were right. My boyfriend Ryan and I took a long weekend to fly down with Air North to Kelowna, where we …
Wines With a Cause
Wine-lovers will descend on the High Country Convention Centre on Thursday, October 19, for the 26th edition of the Rendezvous Rotary Wine Festival. These grape connoisseurs will have over 200 wines available for sampling and tasting. Those lucky enough to hold one of the 100 priority tasting tickets secured one of the hottest tickets in …
Making All the Right Stops for a Delicious Evening
Let’s make this as easy as possible. No cooking and no fussing, follow these directions and you will arrive at a delicious dinner destination. First stop, sushi night! Sushi is one of these tricky food-wine pairing combinations. Wasabi, pickled ginger, soy sauce, raw fish, sweetened rice – gah – it is a pairing nightmare. Luckily, …
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Benefits of Boxed Wine
If you drink wine in the Yukon, certainly you have had a glass of Copper Moon wine. Maybe out of a glass bottle, but probably out of a box. I personally love that the Yukon wine drinking community has embraced alternative packaging and the pile of benefits that come with it, but there is more …
The Best Trend in Wine
This is a wine trend that anyone could enthusiastically embrace – wine and chips! Planning a casual night of watching a show or reading by the fire welcomes a glass of wine and a little snack into the evening. But the snack suggestions with wine are often fussy and complicated. Hard-to-find ingredients and instructions that …
Cutting the Cost of Wine
Everything about wine is fun. It is delicious on its own and it is wonderful with food. There is a wine to match every mood, celebration or weather. All of this fun isn’t exactly free, though. Wine costs dollars and calories, two things that many of us put great effort into managing. With a little …
Aisy Doodles, November 23, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Aisy Doodles, November 16, 2016
Aislinn Cornett is an art therapist, writer, artist and adventurer born in Whitehorse, Yukon. She currently lives, writes and doodles on the beach in Mexico.
Bordeaux vs Meritage
Picking up a new bottle of wine can be as difficult as cracking a secret code. What do all of these symbols and words mean? What mystical juice is hiding inside the bottle? At the end of the day, we just want it to be tasty – right? Let’s decode one of these mystery words: …
Wine Jelly
My first try at making wine jelly occurred recently while visiting my hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. My mom and I spent an afternoon together attempting a wine jelly and a cherry whisky jam. I say “attempting” because the results were less than ideal. This could have been due to a number of things: a …
Fine Wine Starts in the Garage
There’s at least one person for whom the drought in California has a silver lining. Luigi Zanasi is hoping for some magic to come out of his garage this year, thanks to the intense wine grapes he believes the California drought has produced. An economist by profession, and an enthusiastic gardener, Zanasi has been making …
Learning As I Go
In an interview, Bob Weir, rhythm guitarist for the Grateful Dead, admitted somewhat sheepishly, that yes, it was a bit embarrassing learning how to play the slide guitar on stage. All his mistakes were out there for the audience to see. Judging by the success of the Grateful Dead’s live shows from the mid ‘60s …
How Farmer Friends Lead to Pretentious Wines
This is a story about ice wine, and we will get to it in a roundabout way. Recently my husband Hector forwarded me an email from the farmer who, last fall, had sold us half a pig, four chickens, and our Thanksgiving turkey. He and Hector have developed the kind of old-fashioned, collegial relationship between …
Big House Red
I was in the Yukon Liquor Corporation about six weeks ago, when I was delighted to make the acquaintance of an old friend. Looking for an interesting red, I saw a familiar label on an unfamiliar carton. On the bottom shelf of the American wines aisle, there stood an octagonal, blue and brown cardboard carton, …
Matching Wine to Cheese Fondue
I’m always interested whether when people choose the foods for dinner first, and then select accompanying wines, or vice versa. I use both methods. Several weekends ago my partner and I hosted a cheese fondue in honour of a friend’s birthday. The recipe called for a white wine to melt the cheese. We don’t really …
Some New Wines to Look For and Try
Since September there have been some good additions to the Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC) shelves. October and November seem to be emerging as the wine tasting season in the Yukon. In the span of five weeks, I participated in, or organized, three events: the October Rotary festival in Whitehorse, the second annual tasting held by …
Autumn Brings Renewed Interest in Chiantis
While we had an exceptional summer, part of me welcomes the changing leaves, grey cool days, slower pace, stars, and northern lights. This change of season has brought me back to our kitchen, making pasta, pizza and roast meats. And my partner and I have rediscovered the pleasure of Italian Chianti wines from Tuscany. We …
Fundraising Fun avec Vin
About a year ago, I worked with Yukon Artists @ Work on a project called “Canvas Confidential,” a fundraiser to help Yukon artists if illness prevented them from working. As part of this event, we hosted a wine tasting, and had very specific criteria for the chosen wines. First, we had to order wines from …
A Good Wine to Serve with Moose
As Yukoners, one of the real treats we have is access to a broad selection of game meats. While I don’t hunt, I am lucky to have friends who have generously shared portions of their moose and caribou meat. I have been wondering what might be a good type of wine to serve with game …
Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!
November is my favourite month of the wine year. While it is the month where we have to acknowledge, especially in the Yukon, that we are plunging irretrievably into the depths of darkness and winter, at the same time there is a day that for me is the harbinger of the holiday season. That day …
Sweet Dessert Wines For Long Winter Nights
Working the Rotary Wine and Fine Food Festival last month, I was reminded all over again why I love the world of wine. There were new wines to discover and old familiar ones that I hadn’t seen in a while. And the same was true for the people I met and poured for. For those …
Making Wine Without Getting Your Feet Dirty
As a wine drinker and (wine) lover, I was spoiled by the years that I lived in the United States. To this day, my recollection of the price ($5.99) we charged for Yellowtail Shiraz at the wine store I worked at keeps me from being able to swallow, and pay, the $14.85 asked for in …
Have Fun Learning At Wine and Fine Food Festival
Sharing wines is a wonderful experience. Coming on Oct. 23, here in Whitehorse, is an opportunity to gather with friends, try many new wines and make a contribution to the local community … all at the same time. The Rendezvous Rotary Club is holding its 17th Annual Wine and Fine Food Festival at the High …
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Holiday Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers
Sometimes, finding that special gift for someone who is a wine lover seems like a daunting challenge, so I’d like to devote this article to some suggestions for Christmas gift ideas. First of all, though it’s a nice thought, don’t feel obliged to buy a bottle of wine for the wine lover on your list. …
Good Friends, Good Food and Good Wine
The best wine experiences that I have enjoyed have been dinners with friends, often under unexpected circumstances. There was a night in the mortuary of the English Cemetery in the middle of a traffic circle in Florence, Italy, where I drank wonderful, local Tuscan reds with an Anglican nun as we shared a potluck, candle-lit …
Closing out the Old Year and Ringing in the New!
As I reflect upon the approaching year end, I would like to thank you, the readers, for providing me with encouragement, enthusiasm and support for my articles. I hope that they have encouraged you to explore new wine territory and given you new ideas of wines to try. I look forward to continuing to taste …
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Consider an Italian For Your Own ‘House’ Wine
One of the things that I have been delighted to find, moving from the United States back to Canada, is that a much greater percentage of wine drinkers prefer red wine to white. And I find myself wondering, like many other observed behaviours, “Is this a Canadian thing or a Northern thing?” Regardless of the …
Wines to Serve With Christmas Dinner
I was pondering what to write about in this article, when I was approached by a co-worker of mine who is heading out to family in Nova Scotia for Christmas. He was thinking about his family Christmas dinner and he wanted to pick my brain (what little there is of it) for some suggestions on …
A Home Run Malbec from Cahors, France
We are familiar with names of great French Bordeaux wines like Château Lafite Rothschild, that sell out immediately, year after year, and command prices that average, for the 2009 vintage, $1500 a bottle. When it comes to Roll Royce wines, the French have never lost their touch. The problem is, I haven’t seen any Roll …
Open-That-Bottle-of-Wine Night
For 10 years, living in the United States, I read the Wall Street Journal to keep on top of developments in the business world. But it was the Friday edition I looked forward to with true delight. Every Friday was, and continues to be, some of the best writing on wine that I have ever …
A Toast to New Pairings and Good Matches
I mentioned in one of my last articles, in 2008, that I am a big fan of red wines. I have found, to my delight, that there are far more of my fellow wine drinkers, here, who choose red wines over whites. I wondered if this was a Canadian thing or a Northern thing. Having …
Opening That Bottle Again
I have a confession. After encouraging friends and readers to participate in Open that Bottle Night, I remembered I had committed to attend the Rotary Club banquet where I found myself sipping the only red offered, a Jackson Triggs Merlot ($8.75). It’s a passable food wine and I will admit to it being infinitely more …
What’s Bubbly Without the ‘Buzz’?
For some time, my editor has been urging me to explore the world of non-alcoholic wines and I have to admit that I put off his request, perhaps not being really sure how to approach the subject. Or perhaps it was just that, to me, as a wine drinker of 30-plus years, the whole concept …
Winter Reds
As Northerners, we are profoundly touched by the end of winter, the slow return of warmth and the rapid return of light to our lives. Suddenly, we become aware of just how set in our ways we have become, and we resolve to change our lives. We start to put away the hats and mittens and …
Spanish wines? ¡Si!
I, and the fellow wine enthusiasts I know, seem to have wandered from country to country in the process of discovering wines. We have familiar territories and sometimes work up the courage to explore new lands. I grew up tasting French wines first and, later, Californian ones. In the 60s, when I was a child …
Sipping Rosé Wines for Spring
The return of the light and the steady drip drip drip of the snow melting has re-awakened my yearning for all that the Yukon has to offer us in our other, non-winter seasons. Last week, I stopped at the Liquor Corporation store to look for a couple of rosé wines (rosé meaning “pinkish”) to try …
Kitchen Sink Wines
With the exception of New Years Eve, I think I drank two glasses of wine in January — not propitious behaviour for a wine writer. I even missed having something nice for my birthday, but I guess the flu followed by pneumonia is a decent excuse. I even managed to lose 10 pounds, which under …
Wine Indoors or Out
Two weekends ago, a friend and I drove up the road from Rabbits Foot Canyon, to Fish Lake, to take her dog for a walk. While the roads were mostly dry, there was still a good foot or two of snow scattered intermittently along the path that we walked. The sky was blue and the …
A Great Wine Match for Salmon
I suspect salmon and hospitality have been partners a long time in this part of the world. The salmon makes regular appearances in the artwork of the First Nations peoples all along the Yukon River and across the mountains to the BC Coast. I look at the old black and white photographs of the native …
The Italian Connection
I guess when most of us think of Italian food, we think spaghetti and those old-school straw-covered flasks of Chianti. I am channelling that scene from Disney’s Lady and the Tramp where they slurp on opposite ends of the same pieces of spaghetti and then share the meatball. So when I spent 10 days in …
What’s ‘Fun’ in ‘Funky’
It’s full-on summer. Kids are out of school; Canada Day is past and every weekend from now until the end of August will be packed with the warm-weather activities we all love but have such a short time to enjoy. Seems I’m grilling every second or third evening (not that I mind) and looking for …
What do you pair with muskrat?
I, like many wine enthusiasts, love the challenge of finding the right wine to pair with a meal. Many people start with this simple axiom: white wine with white meat; red wine with red meat – not a bad starting place as few things taste better than a citrusy Sauvignon Blanc with mussels, or a …
Reds for a Gathering
It’s always fun to be on the lookout for new wines to try, and this past weekend gave me the opportunity to explore two tasty and moderately priced red wines from Italy. They come from less familiar areas of Italy, that nonetheless are making excellent wines. There’s a wonderful trend in wines from countries around …
An Evening of Wine Tasting
Over the past several weeks, a number of my friends have been asking me when this year’s Rendezvous Rotary Club’s Wine and Fine Food event will take place. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a member of the Rendezvous Rotary Club and love working on the event each year.) This year, the event …
Films That Make You Thirsty
Julia Child, the late, great American cookbook writer and chef, was profoundly moved by her first French meal when she and her husband arrived by ship, in Rouen, France, in November of 1948. She wrote: “We began our lunch with a half-dozen oysters on the half shell. Rouen is famous for its duck dishes, but, …
Decoding Wine Names
Several weeks ago, the Rotary Club that I belong to held its 18th annual Fine Wine and Food Festival. We had a record turnout and everyone who attended seemed to have a lot of fun. I was working one of the tables, talking about the wines while I poured them. While there were some number …
Pairing the Sweet with the Sweet
I had some friends out to my cabin this past weekend for a great fall dinner with pasta and several good Oregon pinot noirs to try with the main course. For dessert, one of my guests brought a wonderful, home-made Tiramisu. I recently read an article that called it “heaven in your mouth!” All those …
Gifts for Wine Lovers
As the Christmas and holiday season roll around, several friends have asked me for gift suggestions for the wine enthusiasts on their gift list. Without knowing the wine tastes of their enthusiast friends, I am hesitant to suggest a particular wine, but often suggest wine-related items that have caught my attention and are available locally. …
A Toast to a ‘Sparkling Season’
With the drop in temperatures, the shorter days and the recent snowfall, I am reminded that we are headed into the holiday season. Few places give me more of that happy feeling, of the anticipation of Winter Solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years … the whole stretch of holiday celebrations and events, than the …
Wine Throughout the Year
As we race toward Christmas and the new year of promise that follows, I can’t help but reflect on the wonderful and poignant experiences that have transpired over these last 12 months. Post-Christmas, last year, began with a wonderful evening among friends at a cabin in Tagish, meeting and making new and special friends and …
A Happy Start To The Holidays in Dawson City
Christmas and New Year’s are fast approaching us here in the Yukon, and this weekend reminded me what a beautiful and magical place we live in. If Whitehorse was not beautiful enough, I just came home from driving 500 km through low-angle sun and fresh fallen snow to Dawson City. The Klondike Institute of Art …
Wine for a Winter’s Eve
So now the rich, velvety darkness of the Yukon winter has descended and the temperatures at my cabin have dropped below minus 20, several evenings. And yet, it is probably my favourite time of year here. The blue lights are strung in the trees along Main Street and are alight by 4 p.m., as the …
Considering the Glass … of Wine
I was introduced to a neighbour who is planing to open a restaurant and it got me thinking about wine glasses. The restaurant is expecting to serve red and white wine, something bubbly, and some port-style wines. This covers pretty much the range that any basic wine drinker might expect to taste at home. It …
Special Wines for a Special Night
Several weeks ago, I mentioned OTBN, or “Open That Bottle Night”; on Saturday, Feb. 27, I had a small dinner at my cabin to celebrate it. Many of us have a special bottle that we have bought, or been given, and saved for a special occasion; so the intent of the evening was to gather …
Thai Food: A Delightful Challenge
Last Saturday evening, a friend of mine invited me and several of my co-workers to dinner at her cozy little apartment. My friend is an artist, and her work and her exploratory nature have taken her all over the Pacific Rim. Along the way she washed dishes in tiny island restaurants, trading her scrubbing skills …
Two Chilean Reds and One Surprise Ending
Sometimes you set out to explore one thing, and end up discovering something completely different. Such was the case, recently, and I wanted to share what I found. I had been thinking that I have not devoted enough time to getting to know South American wines, and felt that an article on those might be …
Wine Ephemera
Our copyeditor for What’s Up Yukon recently sent an e-mail to me, where she related that she had stumbled across an alternate definition for the word “Methuselah”. She cited the online dictionary where it said: Methuselah PRONUNCIATION: (meh-THOO-zuh-luh) MEANING: noun: 1. An extremely old man. 2. An over-sized wine bottle holding approximately six litres. ETYMOLOGY: …
A Bold, Brassy White – Organic, Too
Over the coming months, I hope to explore some new wines that I have not tried before, and also make a concerted effort to look at wines by country. A recent dinner I had with friends in Tagish was the perfect opportunity to explore some wines from Chile. When invited to dinner, I always ask …
In Search of a “Local-ish” Organic Red
I noticed, when I worked as a wine merchant, that wine enthusiasts love a challenge. Occasionally a customer would come into the store, and relate a menu he or she was planning for a dinner, and ask for advice about wines to serve. Invariably, two or three of us would huddle, pose more questions of …
The Ideal Wine Collection?
As I mentioned in my last article, I have been invited to develop a wine list for a restaurant that a neighbour of mine plans to open in the next four to six weeks. I was interested, and flattered, that she wanted my input. It also occurred to me that if a reader wanted to …
Legado Munoz: A Terrific Spanish Red
We’re plunging into the winter and holiday season at full tilt and for me this is a season of getting together with friends for dinner and searching out new and more robust wines to bring to the table. The falling snow outside makes me yearn for strong tasting reds to bring warmth and light to …
“Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrivé” (Almost)
By the time this article is in print, we will be on the cusp of the Beaujolais Nouveau season. Each year I look forward to the experience and wait impatiently for this new French wine to arrive on the shelves as soon as possible after the third Thursday of November. Each year the Georges Duboeuf …
Spanish Reds and How to Order Wines from Outside
In the days leading up to the Rotary Wine Festival, I felt as if I was eating, sleeping and breathing wine. At that point it was almost a subject I didn’t want to contemplate for a week or two. However, I recently tried some very good Spanish red wines and special-ordered one from the Yukon …
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How to Attend a Wine Tasting … and Look Like a Connoisseur
Over the last several weeks, I have been giving a significant amount of thought to wine tastings, and wanted to speak about them in more detail. Before I proceed further, I should provide the disclaimer that I am the president of the Rotary Club here in town that puts on the annual Rotary Wine and …
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Wine and Wine Gift Ideas for the Holidays
As we are invited to holiday gatherings at friends’ homes and begin to realize that our runway for shopping for gifts is rapidly running out, I had a few suggestions for the wine lovers on your list. At this season, we are often dashing in to the liquor store for a bottle to bring to …
Tasting France’s Most Famous Wine
Now that the Yukon snows have finally arrived and the all-too-brief weeks of skating the magically bare icy surface of my lake are done, I am looking forward to short, early twilights leading into our the long winter nights. For me this is the time of year to reconnect with friends, sit over long dinners …
Singing the Praises of the Much-Maligned Zinfandel
One of the fun questions I enjoy asking wine drinkers is, if you had one wine to take with you to a desert island, what would it be? I have several good friends who would choose New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, with their zesty, grapefruit-y notes, as exemplified by the Kim Crawford or Oyster Bay Sauvignon …
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Open that Bottle of Wine Night!
Last week, I visited the Wall Street Journal website to read the most recent article by my favourite wine writers, Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher … it wasn’t there! They retired at the end of 2009. They had my dream job: they are a married couple who, for a dozen years, had written the best …
Wine on the Go
Last week I was cornered by someone who asked what her options were for taking wine along on a paddling trip. For me, part of the experience of enjoying the outdoors is to end a day with friends by setting up camp with a great view, a good dinner and a glass or two of …
BC Pinot Gris: Well Worth Trying
A kind friend returned from a trip with a belated gift for my 50th birthday – a mixed half case of British Columbia VQA wines, five reds and a white. What a terrific gift for a wine lover. As a bonus, BC wines are an area with which I am woefully unfamiliar. Recently my paddling …
Five Superb Wines Tried with Beef Wellington
In past articles, I have written about the fun of trying to match wines with food, and have also suggested that there is no one “right” answer to the question of which wine goes with which dish. These ideas were beautifully illustrated to me at a party I held several weeks ago to celebrate my …
Aerating a Red (and a Money Diet Suggestion)
Drinking inexpensive wines does not have to mean you are missing interesting wine experiences. This was brought home to me this past Sunday evening, when I invited a friend from work, and her partner, to my cabin for a dinner of home-made pizza. My friend knew I wrote the wine articles for What’s Up Yukon, …
No Reservations About These Reserves
Holy cow, it has a cork!” These were the exact words I exclaimed to a friend when I went to open a bottle of Australian Yellow Tail Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve ($17.90) several weeks ago. If you’re a wine drinker, you’re probably familiar with Yellow Tail. It’s the most successful wine story of the last decade, …
Message in a Bottle
I try to write a wine column every couple of weeks, unless life gets crazy, as it has over the past month or so. In that period of time, I will usually get the chance to have perhaps two or three dinners where I will want to serve a bottle of wine. Because I’m such …
Exploring Gray Monk Estate Wines
Several weeks ago, I had the happy opportunity to explore a significant portion of the range of Gary Monk Estate wines. A friend of mine who helps organize the annual Rotary Club Wine Festival represents the Gray Monk Estate Winery, and invited me and several other Rotary Club members to taste their wines. Gray Monk …
A Walk Through the YLC Wine Store: Part 2
The third Thursday of November, chalkboards across France announced, Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé! (literally, “The new Beaujolais has arrived!”). This annual event is the first opportunity for wine lovers to taste the first wines made from the 2011 vintage harvest, grapes picked just six to eight weeks earlier. I always look forward to this …
EA Wine Triple Treat
I was asked by some friends to participate in “An evening of Art, Wine and too much fun” presented by The Artist Relief Fund Society, and I was delighted to get involved. The Canvas Confidential event will be held on Saturday May 14 at the Old Fire Hall, and proceeds from the event will go …
Washington Comes to Yukon
Most Canadian wine drinkers are pretty familiar with California wines. Their Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays have been celebrated in such movies as Sideways and Bottleshock, and their top-of-the-line Cabernet Sauvignons, like the 2007 Screaming Eagle Cab, can command prices of $2,400-3,400 a bottle (US pricing)! A visit to the Yukon Liquor Corporation (YLC) will yield …
Turning to Argentinian Whites
In the week that followed the holidays, when I returned to earth with a thump to reflect on the fun and parties and food and drink I had consumed over the holiday season, there was a moment when I thought I’d spend all of January eating those boxes of mandarin oranges, and drinking nothing by …
Last-Minute Christmas and New Year’s Thoughts
I can’t believe I am writing my last wine column of the year! This is a time when I reflect on what I have experienced in the year, and what I hope for for the next one. I have seen the departure of friends, the meeting of new ones, changes in my personal life, and …
Some of the Best Wines You’ve Never Tasted
This past weekend I had a very tasty bottle of red wine that I will be going back to buy more of. It was a little over $13 for the bottle, and my friend and I enjoyed it very much! It is from a wine producing country that I’ll bet you may not have ever …
An Evening of Fine Pairings
For at least 4,000 years, wine drinkers have chosen food to accompany certain wines and vise versa. When I imagine trying a good wine, it is always in a setting around a table or gathered with friends, and food is always a part of the picture. I worry that the North American wine industry has …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Part One
Several years ago, my then-editor at What’s Up Yukon asked me to do a walk-through tour of the Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC) store in Whitehorse, and write a bit about it. At first, I thought it was a little obvious, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized many residents who pick …
Why Wines Differ
Last night a friend stopped by for dinner. He brought moose sausages to grill; I boiled up some Yukon grown red potatoes and added butter and rosemary. We washed it down with the better part of a bottle of one of my “go to” bottles of Italian red wine, a 2009 Citra Montepulciano D’Abrruzzo (about …
Trying Some Malbecs
After more than a month of grey skies and rain, the sun finally made a re-appearance over my lake. Still, it feels like it is too late for summer, with the first trees turning yellow, the underbrush taking on reddish hues, and falling leaves starting to mass on my road. I am trying to find …
Wine Money Diet: Part 2
One of the delights of wine is that there are always surprises to be found and bargains to be enjoyed, if you are open to trying new things or going off the beaten path. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the Yukon Liquor Corp selection until I went on my “money diet”, …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Finale!
Several articles ago I promised to finish my tour of the Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC) wine shelves before the snow melted. With the rains coming down and my frozen lake looking mushy, I’d better hurry! I’ve been writing episodes of my walking tour for so long that when I was in the liquor store last …
Drop that Corskcrew
You are NOT going to eat that burrito with a glass of merlot. There are just some foods that were meant to be diluted by beer, not wine. You’re sitting in a sweltering taqueria in Playa del Carmen. You order a Pacifico, not a cabernet sauvignon. Nuff said. My sister-in-law Dallas phoned one night and …
Planning a Wine Tasting
Several months ago I was asked by my friend Wendy in Dawson City to plan a wine tasting at her B&B, Bombay Peggy’s. We’ll be doing it over the May long weekend, so by the time you read this it will have been completed. I was explaining to a friend the thinking that I was …
New Finds from Italy (in time for Thanksgiving)
A recent article on the consumption of Italian wine pointed out that, for the first time, the value of Italian wines exported was greater than the value of that consumed by Italians at home. In 2010, Italy exported 3.93 billion euros ($5.3 billion in Canadian dollars) worth of wine, while spending 3.89 billion euros ($5.25 …
Two Fine, Big Reds
This is a funny time of year in the Yukon. The return of the light and the moving forward of the clocks speaks to the impending arrival of spring. The other day I stood outside my cabin and heard birds calling their songs out, and thought… am I just noticing these calls, though they have …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Pt. 5
I’m getting thirsty doing this ongoing wine tour of the Yukon Liquor Corp (YLC) store in Whitehorse, but I hope my articles in this series are causing you to think about tasting wines from some of the countries represented on its shelves. If you have a tasting experience, or other comment or question, please feel …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Part 4
In January, I wrote part three of a wine drinker’s walk through tour of the Yukon Liquor Corp. (YLC) store, covering Australia, and wanted to move on to the section next to it – the wines of Argentina. The purpose of this set of articles has been to share wine information with those folks who …
Beer Cocktail, Anyone?
Beer adulteration. It sounds dirty. But it’s a way to make an otherwise pedestrian beer seem wildly exotic. So-so wine can be made into sangria. So-so beer can be mixed with clamato for a great hangover remedy and an inscrutable flavour combination. However, I suspect people who drink this abomination are either caesar drinkers in …
Fine Pairings for a Birthday Treat
I’m not looking to expand my writing into the restaurant review arena, but I couldn’t help but relate an excellent dining experience I had last week. A couple of close friends invited me out to dinner last Thursday night, to celebrate both my birthday and the successful completion of an exam one of my friends …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Part 3
It is amazing how the experiences and passion for wine that I have shared with friends has come to colour and enrich my life, and the way my friends and I share together. Yesterday I received a very special little postcard from France from an Australian woman I met three years ago, who was visiting …
A Happy Find for Bordeaux Lovers
It’s a treat to ease off of the money diet as I shop for wines these days! While I have made some terrific wine discoveries that are well worth exploring regardless of your budget, I’ve been able to look again at a few more wines in the $17-20.00 range, rather than trying to stay in …
And the Winner Is …
I was reminded again recently of the role that sharing wine can have in igniting enthusiasm and making new friends. As I mentioned in my last column, I had been invited by the staff of the Yukon Arts Centre to help them offer up a wine tasting as part of the launch of their new …
A Taste for the Arts
Love of (and interest in) wine has opened wonderful doors for me in my life. Tasting wine has been the lens through which I have experienced lessons in history and geography. Friends have mailed me bottles from places such as Malta, and I have had the chance to sit with vineyard owners and chat over …
Treats for Summer Evenings
It took until the middle of July, but it seems (I don’t want to jinx us) that summer has arrived in the Yukon! The past two weekends have actually been HOT, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend two Saturdays nights kayaking, swimming and sitting outside with friends, enjoying picnic dinners and treats off an …
The Other Side of the Andes
In my last several articles, I have been reviewing a number of inexpensive, yet tasty Malbec and Malbec blend red wines from Argentina. The high altitudes, dry climates and pure waters of the Andes contribute to the growing of terrific grape stock, which makes a large contribution to the success of the Argentinian wine industry. …
Argentine Finds on the Money Diet
As mentioned previously, I’ve been on a “money diet” these past months, but still want to be tasting interesting wines to go with meals I have with friends. Sometimes force of circumstance leads to happy discoveries. I wanted to share some new finds with you, in the hope that you will enjoy them as much …
Learnings from a Wine Tasting
In my last article, I told you about the wine tasting I was planning at Bombay Peggy’s in Dawson City over the May long weekend. We had about 20 people attend, a few less than I would have hoped for, but a good first effort. Three of the bar staff participated and helped do the …
A Walk Through the Wine Store: Pt. 6
When I set out to do a walking tour through the Whitehorse Yukon Liquor Corporation (YLC) store, I imagined I could make it through the wine aisles and be onto a new subject by the New Year. Instead, a trip begun last November has taken me through to Easter, and beyond. We may finally finish …
Tasting the Money Diet
It wasn’t until I moved to the Yukon six years ago that I heard the term “money diet”, but I immediately liked the concept. Sometimes we diet because our life circumstances require it in order to restore or maintain our health. Other times we do it just because we are feeling a little beyond what …
Looking off the beaten path
Searching for wines is a little bit like a scavenger hunt at times, and sometimes it calls for looking at the outliers of the wine world for new and exciting finds. Here in the Yukon, we’re well familiar with French, Italian, American and Australian wines. More recently Canadian, Argentinian and Chilean wines have become more …
