Tag: review

Beer has a long history, perhaps longer than wine, either way, both have ancient roots.  I received The Meaning of Beer by Jonny Garrett to review and was surprised at how beer has been intertwined with so many aspects of society. Jonny sifts through thousands of years of the evolution of beer, its effects on society, and innovation to today,…

Have you ever wished you had a proper wine glass when you were away from home?  Copain de Vin is an innovative product, a portable wine glass, designed to revolutionize how wine enthusiasts enjoy their favourite drink outdoors. Developed with the renowned three-time Vinologist of the Year, Alessandro Matrone, Copain de Vin asserts you will enjoy an authentic and enhanced…

  Jupiter’s Blood novel by Steven Laine Steven Laine is a fiction writer with WSET III, FWS, IWS, SWS, CWS, and Champagne Academy credentials.  For the 2020 harvest, Steven worked as a harvest cellarman for three months with the winemakers at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery in BC.  His novels revolve around some aspect of wine.  In his previous novel,…

Geoffrey Finch, a Canadian born in Victoria, moved to Paris and has been sharing his passion for wine and gastronomy in France for over 40 years.  He operates a series of historic walks through Paris’s vineyards, both visible and open to the public, those closed to the public, and some open only for special occasions.  His love of wine led…

I recommend opening two bottles of wine at the same time, not so that you have to finish both bottles in one sitting. Rather so that you can compare the two wines. What do you like about one wine more than another? What are the differences in their aromas and flavours?  Don’t open the first bottle, finish it, then open the…

If you are a wine lover like me, you probably like to go on vacation to areas that grow grapes and make wine.  Lonely Planet has produced the second edition of their Wine Trails book where they outline 52 perfect weekend trips in different wine regions around the world.  The book does not go into depth for the different wine…

We have all heard about ChatGPT and how it can answer questions that sound human-like.  I did read that you can ask ChatGPT to also write text in a style of an author, for example, Ernest Hemingway.  I wondered what one of my wine reviews would sound like if it were written by some famous people from our past and…

Mandy Naglich is an Advanced Cicerone & Certified Taster and wants you to learn how to really taste your food and drink.  Her journey to learning about tasting happened through being a brewmaster and Cicerone which then spread to everything else that you can eat and/or drink.  I think many people that review food or beverages start in one category…

Karen MacNeil is the author of two editions of her Wine Bible and now has come out with the third edition where she expands the book to cover new chapters of Great Britain, Croatia, and Israel, adding a revised Great Wines section for each country and region, plus expanded chapters on France, Italy, Australia, USA, and South America, plus much…

The more you taste wine and learn about grapes, viticulture, and vinification methods, you will likely drift toward more wines that highlight terroir.  Author, Joe Campanale, with Joshua David Stein, take a deep dive into Italian wines from small artisan producers using indigenous grapes and artisanal methods.  In the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, Joe Campanale notes, “My…