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Posts with category ‘Portugal’

Value Wines, Calgary Dining, Portuguese Whites

Posted on June 26, 2006

Howdy, from the Hotel Arts in Calgary—site of the first International Value Wine Awards. There are 800 wines entered from 18 countries, all available somewhere in Canada for less than $25. As far as I know, this is the world’s first international judging for less-expensive wines, and I suspect there will be big world wide interest in this process. Results will determine a best red and best white under $25, then provide “top ten values” in each major varietal category—for example, the ten best shiraz in Canada under $25. They will also break out winners regionally or by country. By rough count, about 300 of the wines entered are found on Ontario’s general list or as Vintages Essentials, wines that I will be reviewing in the Toronto Life Eating and Drinking Guide this fall. The competition is being held in Calgary because Alberta, with a privatized market and over 700 stores, has the largest number of brands on store shelves of any province in Canada, over 10,000 at any one time compared to about 4,000 in Ontario.

Cellar-Starting Portuguese Reds

Posted on August 14, 2006

Mid-August may seem an odd time to talk about cellaring inexpensive Portugese reds, but the character of this genre has been something of a revelation. I've tasted virtually the entire LCBO general list for the Toronto Life Eating and Drinking Guide (out in October) and December's Food and Wine CityGuide, and I’ve just finished the section on Spain and Portugal. Here's a sneak preview of what’s coming, plus four picks demonstrating the age-worthiness of Portugal’s reds.

David Lawrason

David Lawrason

David Lawrason has worked full time as one of Canada's leading, independent wine writers and educators for over 20 years. He was the founder of Wine Access magazine and Globe and Mail wine columnist for 13 years before becoming resident wine guy at Toronto Life, where he pens a monthly column and writes an exhaustive review of LCBO general listings for the annual Food and Wine Guide. As a wine educator he has taught sommelier programs at George Brown, Humber and Niagara Colleges, and has run popular public courses in Toronto since 1988. He has visited every major wine major producing country in the world, while focusing recently on the booming Canadian wine scene, as founder of the Canadian Wine Awards program, and Canadian wine columnist for Wine Access.

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