Why are the majority of people in Vancouver driven to seek out ordinary wine? By ordinary, I suppose I mean mundane, “varietally correct,” polite, unchallenging, fucking boring wine with zero personality. There also isn’t anything wrong with drinking ordinary wine from time to time - especially when budgetary restraints come into play, or the situation [...]

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Artwork above provided by the author.
One of the first daunting tasks with running the wine program of a new restaurant in a post 7-01 world, is trying to figure out what the hell is going on at the LDB and what it now means to be a ‘Licensee.’ This is a little timeline of recent [...]

I’m all charged up on coffee (some of you will understand how serious of a matter this is) and once again have been stewing over the ridiculous laws British Columbian wine lovers are burdened with.
Why is it illegal for restaurants in BC to buy wine from private shops? Who does this restriction benefit? The Government [...]

This post arrives amid the ongoing saga in New York State, where Governor David Paterson is supporting a bill to join thirty-five other states and legalize wine retail in supermarkets. Motivated by New York’s giant budgetary deficit, Paterson hopes to raise money through franchise fees, taxes, and an increase in wine sales (an estimated 20%). [...]

There have been economic woes in the state of California for quite some time, with many a solution being tabled.  The old “Should Marijuana Be Legalized?” debate is on the upswing and Governor Schwarzenegger needs to explore all possible avenues for revenue.  Would he look at this as a viable option?  While fiscally conservative, the [...]

Earlier this week, Jancis Robinson posted a short article, “Illegal substance found in wines” (unfortunately only available in full for website members), about German authorities finding low levels of natamycin in a few examples of imported Argentinean and South African wines. Natamycin is currently used in food products such as milk, cheese, yoghurt and some [...]

Did I miss something? Malbec is the “hottest red wine on the planet” again? And its cool to drink Grüner Veltliner again? Because New York sommeliers are saying otherwise, remember?
Then THIS article came out today stating that organic wines are becoming popular because:
“Wine critic Robert Parker, who used to snub organic wines, graded the Ardales [...]

(image sourced from PackagingNews.co.uk)
Tim Atkins, wine writer for the Observer, recently started a boycott - calling out producers who use unnecessarily heavy bottles to make their wine seem more prestigious in the article “Seeing the Light”. Common in Chile, Argentina, and Spain, but also found in nearly every wine producing region in the world, [...]

Yesterday, I stopped by Biondivino for my first experience with their popular wine tastings. The tiny wine merchant eventually became crammed full of tasters, yet it offered a good vibe with tasty snacks and an intimate experience with the winemaker. Last night featured the 19th generation family winemaker Alberto Cordero di Montezemolo of the eponymous [...]

We’ve been talking a lot around here lately about the Cellared In Canada controversy and Olympic Tangle.  The issue has been getting louder and it looks like we’re making progress in both increasing awareness and rocking the boat.
On that note, big kudos to NDP MLA Lana Popham for bringing the Cellared In Canada controversy and Olympic [...]

Wired dives into the controversial world of modern technology’s role in winemaking.  The report covers various points of view, from winemakers who unapologetically doctor their wine with state-of-the-art machines, to those who decide if grapes are ready for harvest by simply squishing one between their finger and thumb.  Kudos to the Wired team for getting [...]