Author Archives: winecase

Tasting Note: Robert Mondavi 1995 Napa Valley Zinfandel

By winecase | Published: October 26, 2009
Zinfandel is like white wines: it doesn’t age well, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong. On Saturday night, I opened a bottle of 14-year-old zin I’d pulled from the cellar a couple of weeks ago, to set it up right and make it ready for drinking on the right occasion. Which, in the end, meant pizza night on [...]
Posted in California, red wine, tasting, wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Notes from Harvest at Closson Chase: decisions, decisions…

By winecase | Published: October 26, 2009
I know I was supposed to write more about the harvest I took part in at Closson Chase, last week, but you know what? That stuff was tiring. For a guy my height (6′4″), picking low-lying grapes for several hours is rather tough on the knees and back. And when you follow all that picking with [...]
Posted in Canadian wine, Ontario, chardonnay, harvest, wine | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Harvesting in Prince Edward County, just in time for new rules on Ontario wines

By winecase | Published: October 15, 2009
I’d call that an auspicious sign. Just as I was heading to the vineyards of Prince Edward County to harvest chardonnay at Closson Chase, on Tuesday evening, the Ontario government came out with new rules governing VQA and Cellared in Canada wines. These new rules give a push forward to VQA wines by introducing financial support – [...]
Posted in wine | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Cellared in Canada: changes in the stores and labels, but no help for Ontario growers

By winecase | Published: October 12, 2009
Note: I was originally hoping to post this article on Friday, but an overly busy schedule and a forgotten note pad with essential quotes are causing its publication to coincide with the beginning of the second Regional Wine Week, championed by Drinklocalwine.com. At first, I was disappointed about this coincidence, as I was planning to [...]
Posted in British Columbia, Canada, Canadian wine, Cellared in Canada, Niagara, Ontario | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cellared in Canada: big bottlers move to stem growing outrage

By winecase | Published: October 3, 2009
Over the last few weeks, pressure had been building nationally and internationally, concerning the deceptive Cellared in Canada wines. These inexpensive bottles, made by the country’s major wine bottlers, give a Canadian aura to blends made totally (or almost) from foreign wine brought in bulk to this country from Chile, Australia or elsewhere. Last month, articles [...]
Posted in British Columbia, Canadian wine, Cellared in Canada, LCBO, Ontario, wine, wine trade | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments