New Vintages from BC’s Blue Mountain Winery

It’s been a minute since we’ve visited beautiful British Columbia, and we’re still reflecting on the sparkling insights we brought back with us on our last trip in 2018.  Reflecting on Blue Mountain Winery’s Bubbles When we think of pioneers in British Columbia (BC) sparkling wine, top of mind is Blue Mountain Winery, which was one of the first wineries to craft traditional method bubbles on Canada’s west coast in the late 1980’s. On our 2018 trip, we had the pleasure of visiting Blue Mountain and tasting with Christie Mavety, who grew up on the estate, and who joined the winery formally as part of …

L’Acadie Vineyards: An East Coast Sparkling Pioneer

Ah, Nova Scotia. As one of Canada’s maritime provinces, this part of the country conjures up images of cool sea breezes, high tides, salt water taffy and delicious, buttery lobster rolls. For us, however, first and foremost are… drumroll, please… the amazing sparkling wines! 😍🍾 Today’s COVID reality has prevented us from visiting and enjoying Canada’s Atlantic Coast (which is under a sensible but taxing two week minimum quarantine for Ontario residents). Thankfully, we have some great bubbles from L’Acadie’s latest release to enjoy (more on those in a moment!), and tide us over until it’s safe to visit (or …

Gifts That Pop: Holiday Sparkling Survival Guide

It’s the most ✨sparkling✨ time of the year! And while we all know that sparkling wine should not be reserved solely for special occasions, there’s something about this time of year that most certainly calls for bubbles! 🍾 After all, you can’t spell “Happy Holidays” without “sparkling”. Actually… you can. But why the heck would you want to?! 😜

Holiday Wine 101: 10 Tips for Selecting Wine for the Holidays

Despite all the good cheer and festivity, the holidays can be pretty stressful – especially if you’re hosting and in charge of selecting the wine! So we’ve put together some helpful tips and tricks – call it Holiday Wine 101 if you will – to help take the stress and guess work out of selecting your wine for the holidays. Whether you’re hosting, or in need of the perfect host or hostess gift, these Top 10 tips will make your holiday wine shopping and experience as easy as can be!

Ring in 2019 with 19 Sparkling Wines under $19 dollars for NYE!

That’s right, you heard it here. You can absolutely ring in 2018 with plenty of quality sparkling wines that won’t break the bank on New Years’ Eve.

Gifts That POP! Holiday Bubbles for Every Budget

The holidays are all about family, friends and getting #festive! 🎉 But in between celebrating… the whole “gift giving” thing can be stressful. 🤦‍♂️ Thankfully, we’ve got the answer: Sparkling Wine! 😍 This year, we’ve put together a list of effervescent gift ideas for the Sparkling Wino on any budget. From stocking stuffers under $10, to a Methusela (or 6000mL bottle) worth over $10,000 (Oprah, you out there girl?), the options run the gamut so you can cross everyone off your shopping list. Looking for that perfect gift for your Grinch Grab or Hostess with the Mostess? We got you! …

A Sparkling Recap of VQA Into the Bubbles

If there’s one thing we love, it’s sparkling wine. We could talk your ear off about the diversity of the category, and not to mention blog about it all day long. If you’ve seen some of our ventures with the Sparkling Winos project – like, our Sparkling Wine Map of Ontario – you’d have noticed that not only are we passionate about bubbly, but we’re totally enamoured with what’s happening in our own backyard. So, it was with immense pleasure, excitement and gratitude that we took on hosting duties for Wine Country Ontario’s VQA Into the Bubbles event on September 26, 2018!

Celebrating Ontario for Dinner with the LCBO

It’s the most wonderful time of the year in Wine Country Ontario… harvest season! And this year, we have lots to celebrate, as 2018 marks 30 years of VQA (the Vitners Quality Alliance, the provincial regulatory authority that administers Ontario’s wine appellation system) and 25 years of the iconic Food & Drink Magazine. And this past week, we had the incredible opportunity to celebrate these milestones with local winemakers, representatives from the VQA, LCBO staff, the Food & Drink dream team, and some of the magazine’s super fans at an intimate dinner. One of the best parts about Ontario is …

We Sipped, We Stayed, and We Ate… at Adamo Estate!

As you may have gathered from our posts, wine is produced in a number of regions in Ontario – from Niagara to Prince Edward County – and in other parts of Canada. In our beautiful country, the embrace of cool climate viticulture has created not only wonderful wines, but a truly special wine destination. From the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast, and inland along major bodies of water, viticultural regions are thriving and we have some trailblazers and pioneers to thank; people who saw the potential in the land to produce some seriously cool wine. Mario Adamo is one individual …

When Cool Climate Sparkling Wine Meets Cool Climate Cuisine…

Did you know that sparkling wine is one of the most food friendly and versatile wine styles? That’s right! Forget “red or white?” with dinner. You should be thinking “red, white or sparkling?”! Don’t believe us? 🤔 Well, give us the benefit of the doubt and let us convince you… twelve times over! We’ll take you through an exceptional twelve course tasting menu, and give you twelve examples of how the dishes from Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Backhouse Restaurant paired perfectly with twelve