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Here are my top wine picks from the September 13, 2025 LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection (link to digital edition). The fantastic wines from Ontario are the feature story of the release. Also included in this release are a new selection of Online & Flagship Exclusives (OFE). This is the first of what should be…

Discover Hvar, Korčula, and Dubrovnik through local food traditions, family-run wineries, and cultural treasures along the Adriatic The rocky coastline, historic towns, and crystal-clear waters of the Dalmatian Coast have the allure of Italy’s Amalfi Coast, with over 1,000 islands and islets. Chief among these are Hvar Island, Korčula, and Dubrovnik. A ferry conveniently connects…

By Rick VanSickle Four of Canada’s rarest, oldest and most historic wines — three original bottles of Inniskillin, alongside a bottle from Château-Gai — are up for bids in the current Waddington’s Fine Wine Auction. Donald Ziraldo and Donald Triggs. The wines from the cellar of Michael Vaughan honour the four visionaries who revolutionized the…

Tonight’s white wine review is an excellent Marsanne from the AOC Saint-Joseph Cru des Côtes du Rhône of the Northern Rhône Valley. It is brand new to the LCBO, arriving in last month’s August 16th LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection as an Online & Flagship Exclusive, with quite a few bottles still available for purchase…

By Rick VanSickle It’s a pretty simple recipe for success at Niagara’s Westcott Vineyards: “We’re working on how to make wines that people want to drink. We can do that.” Those are the words of co-owner Carolyn Hurst, who along with husband Grant Westcott, have that part down pat, establishing Westcott as one of Ontario’s…

Tuesday, September 3rd: A meeting with Karen Gill to discuss the October cruise on the Danube to Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Hungary (ending with a couple of days in Budapest). For dinner, I opened a bottle of Battersea Viveaux 2024, a Charmat-method sparkling wine made with a field blend of Niagara grapes – Auxerrois,…

Two sommeliers, four courses, one delicious debate over the art of food and wine pairing Though it’s moved far beyond the “white wine with fish, red wine with meat” debate, the whole “which wine with which food” conundrum generally falls into two camps: “Critically Important” vs “Who Cares?”. The pendulum seems to swing between “be…

Tonight’s white wine review is the latest vintage of a consistently excellent, and now vegan-certified, Assyrtiko that landed at the LCBO in the August 16th LCBO VINTAGES New Release Collection. It is featured as a wine to ‘Arrive in Style’, as well as part of the fantastic mini-feature on wines from Greece. It is produced…

Photo: Winemaker Kathy Malone Two new releases from Hillside Winery include a new red blend from a great vintage; and a surprise: a rare 2024 wine made with Okanagan grapes. Hillside winemaker Kathy Malone elaborates on the surprise in the frost-blighted year that destroyed about 95% of the vintage in the Okanagan (and Similkameen) in…

Another week, another tasting at Franco’s Liquor Store in Kelowna. This time, the spotlight was on Nebbiolo—one of Italy’s most prestigious (and temperamental) grape varieties. Often called the “king of grapes,” Nebbiolo is primarily grown in the Piedmont region, where its expression shifts dramatically depending on the local terroir. Key areas include Barolo, Barbaresco, Langhe,…