Cathedral Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Continues to Impress
To call me precocious about wine as a teenager would be more than accurate. At 17 I was already bragging to my (surely uninterested) peers about my growing wine journal, where I recorded tasting notes of the relatively infrequent glasses I was afforded the opportunity…
Nicolas Feuillatte Brut is a Great Gateway Champagne
Who doesn’t love Champagne? I mean, I can imagine balking at the reputation-driven price, set to limit itself to very special occasions or the ultra-wealthy, but strip away cost-conciousness and you’re left with a fine beverage. Oh, that’s right — my very own wife is…
Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée Brut is an Archetypal Champagne
One of my oldest (and favourite) traditions is springing for a decent bottle of proper Champagne for New Years Eve. Previous inductees have included the absolutely divine Pol Roger and the very-good-for-its-price Taittinger. Nearly a decade ago, it even included a different L-P — the…
Faust Cabernet Sauvignon is a Fantastic “Treat Yourself” Wine
With inflation surging, the safety of the “$20 bottle of a varietal and region I like” is getting shaken. By that I mean, if I grabbed a cab sauv north of $20 from Cali, at the very least I expected to enjoy, if not love…
What Happens When You Age Wine? Comparing 2 Reviews of the Same Wine 8 Years Apart
Take a trip back in time with me. All the way to the hyper distant world of 2014. My then-girlfriend (now wife) and I had just come back from a 5 month soujourn in South East Asia, and my parents (presumably grateful their feckless son…
Krug Grand Cuvée Champagne: Joining the Cult of Krug
The first time I ever heard of Krug Champagne was in novelist and wine writer Jay McInerney’s collection of wine essays Bacchus and Me. In an essay on Krug, McInerney shares an account of a man at an open champagne bar asking for another glass…
Cave Spring Pinot Gris is a More than an Alright White
Quietly, without a great deal of fanfare, inexpensive Ontario wines have been getting really quite good. The majority of them are still only available from the vineyards directly (which is why I make routine pilgrimages to Prince Edward County) but more than a few are…
Taittinger is a Tasty, Entry-Level Champagne
When I picked Taittinger (pronounced “Tay-ton-zshay”) to be my New Year’s Eve champagne, it was for simple reasons — it cost under $70, was on sale, and wasn’t Veuve Clicquot, a bubbly I have mixed feelings about. While a non-vintage champagne (not a bad thing…
Erath Pinot Noir is a Perfect, Light, Fall Red Wine
The cold weather cometh — and while that can be a bit of a rocky transition for everyone, I don’t think anyone is hit harder than white wine drinkers. Ok that might be an exaggeration, but seriously one day you’re reaching for that bracingly cold…
13th Street Premier Cuvée Is a Brilliant Vintage Bubbly
Alright, so, I realize that reviewing a sparkling wine during the apex of pandemic pandemonium might be on the odd side of decisions to make, but having recently tried the phenomenally good 13th Street Premier Cuvée, (2013), I simply had to share. And since we can’t…