Bordeaux's Cru Bourgeois Classification Is Reborn

After years of legal wrangling, 243 châteaus can put the classification on their label; Has its usefulness passed?

"How Wine Became Modern" exhibit opening at SF MOMA

When the new exhibit, “How Wine Became Modern,” opens tomorrow at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it will mark the first time a major art institution considers the role of wine in modern culture. It may also be the first time most people have the chance to smell what “petrol” really means when it emanates as an aroma from a wine (usually Riesling).

Earth Notes: Oct/Nov 2010

A French trial plantation of genetically modified vines has attracted the wrath of activists, who uprooted and destroyed 70 experimental plants in August.

2010 Vintage Report: Europe

A first look at vintage quality in European wine regions, with eyewitness reports from growers and winemakers

Cork popped on 'oldest' shipwrecked champagne

They say a good wine matures with age. But does champagne lose its sparkle after nearly two centuries under water?

How vital is a wine qualification?

Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine has been looking at how vital a wine qualification is in the drinks trade. While wine professionals still see it as essential, the blogging community has different views.

Kiwi wine to display carbon emissions, by the glass

A New Zealand wine will be the first to display its carbon emissions by the individual glass serving.

As 'green' wines rise, will confusion follow?

I like the "green wine" movement, but I worry that it has become a marketing gimmick as much as a form of viticulture. A wine made by practices that respect the Earth should taste better, but when every wine becomes "green," how will we be able to tell?

SolarCraft Switches DuMOL Winery to Solar Energy

Oregon Grape Growers Hope to Preserve Farmland

Grapegrowers in Oregon's Willamette Valley are cheering two recent court decisions backing strict land use rules in their state. The rules, which limit development, especially in agricultural and forest areas, are crucial to preserving Oregon's wine regions, they argue. After 40 years of debate, however, the battle over land use is far from over.

New Canadian Wine Marries East and West

Vincor introduces a new wine blending BC and Ontario grapes.

Special Award Winners, 2010 World Value Wine Challenge

The results are in from the 10th Annual World Value Wine Challenge for wines $20 and under. Seventy-eight wines were named Special Award Winners, including these top eleven which were rated 92 points or higher.

Cork Bits: ideas for your Napa Valley weekend

November is flying by and before you know it the holidays will be upon us. That doesn’t mean the local events scene is slowing down at all. Want proof?

Tasting 2008 Oregon Pinot Noir

The 2008 vintage for Oregon Pinot Noir may be the greatest this decade and some have claimed it the best vintage in Oregon’s modern winegrowing history.

New Drinking And Driving Regulations – Home Winemakers Beware

Home winemakers have a love of tasting and enjoying their wines as well as sharing them with friends. Often, clubs will meet where wine tastings of different home made wines will occur. In most instances, home winemakers drink “responsibly” and are very careful about how much alcohol they consume before driving.

How to taste wine without being a wine taster

All those who enjoy wine and feel a weakness for exquisite flavors are unconsciously wine testers, the senses used to try the wine are: sight, smell and taste, and these senses are not exclusive of a taster or a sommelier.

BC's Best from A-Z

August 1st Gismondi's best of BC.

Wine Scoring Explained

Our scoring system explained:

The Globe and Mail’s 100-point scoring system represents the critic’s overall, gut-level impression of a wine, spirit or beer.

Dutch couple starts Lillooet’s first winery

One of the first things Rolf de Bruin and his wife, Heleen Pannekoek, bought when they started B.C. Fort Berens Estate Winery was a cash register.

Wine therapy: the perfect stimulus for youthful-looking skin

Sipping Icewine at Niagara-on-the-Lake

Are French Barrels Corking Your Wine?

Study finds significant levels of TCA in barrels; French Federation of Coopers calls foul and alleges conflict of interest

Drinking Well Early

By Craig Pinhey

Jancis Robinson Joins Fight Against McLaren Vale Development

Jancis Robinson, one of the world's best-known wine writers, has pledged her support against the construction of a shopping mall on prime vineyard land in South Australia's McLaren Vale.

Naked as Nature Intended

First organic, then biodynamic, and now 'natural'. Natural wine is the latest position in holier than thou wine and has invaded Britain surprisingly recently.

Napa 2010

Long cool summer promises "European" vintage.

Mondavi: cool 2010 will bring finesse to Napa

I drink, therefore I score (the wines, that is)

Wine gets people talking, and it's not just the alcohol. Put two or more grape nuts in the same room and they'll bond like soulmates over Mosel riesling or butt heads over delicate Volnay versus jammy California pinot noir. Screw caps versus cork? Get ready to watch the fur fly.

15 Golden Rules of Wine Collecting

And while strictly speaking there's no cellaring season for those of us who buy our cabernets and merlots ready-made and punitively taxed, this is the time of year when stockpiling instincts tend to go into high gear. Liquor stores also ramp up their big-red offerings, making it a good time to hunt for bottles to lay down.

Harnessing Healing Powers

It was the report that changed the world's perception of a glass of wine. In 1991, 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer came on television screens and told viewers what many wine drinkers had always secretly believed—that wine is good for us.

2010 Vintage Tests California Vinters

A plague of locusts is about the only challenge that Northern California growers and winemakers haven’t faced in 2010. The growing season has delivered one headache after another and as the harvest begins in force, winemakers are already wiping their brows. As if the sluggish economy wasn’t already making their lives difficult.

Champagne Harvest Begins

Picking has begun in the vineyards of Champagne amid ‘promising’ conditions, with production set to top last year’s figure as sales around the world continue to recover.

The Bordeaux 2007 release on September 25

is a highly anticipated event for many as the world's most sought-after wines are finally available in BC Liquor Stores. Don't miss your opportunity to own and taste some of these highly coveted wines from France.

How to pair your favourite takeout with your favourite wine

Picking a wine to enjoy alongside takeout can be daunting when you don’t know the specific ingredients used and are faced with flavourful, often complicated dishes.

Cru Bourgeois: new listing launched

The new Cru Bourgeois selection has been announced in Paris and London – to the relief of everyone concerned.

Bordeaux - the 2010 vintage so far

Terroir and Biodynamics in the Cellar

After the first roundtable discussion concerning terroir and biodynamics in the vineyards, Return To Terroir’s Los Angeles Tasting featured a second distinguished group of winemakers to talk about terroir and biodynamics in the cellar. Moderator Anthony Dias Blue introduced the audience to “party guy of all time” Ales Kristancic of Slovenia’s Movia Winery, Julian Castagna of Australia’s Castagna Vineyard, “our mentor” Nicolas Joly of France’s Clos De La Coulée de Serrant and Tony Coturri of Sonoma’s Coturri Winery.

Hot Dog And Wine Pairings: 5 L.A. Sommeliers Answer The Dog

Good news for chocolate, wine and tea lovers

Dr. Tim Harlan, aka Dr. Gourmet, explains the health benefits of polyphenols.

Weather affecting wine grapes in the Umpqua Valley

The unpredictable weather this year has made things tough for vineyards around the Umpqua Valley, and now it could mean low bottling numbers

Man dines and dashes on 5 glasses of wine, tries to kick deputy

DESTIN A 42-year-old Ohio man recently stormed out of the Olive Garden after a manager wouldn't serve him a sixth glass of Pinot Grigio.

15 golden rules of wine collecting

Mistakes, we collectors have made a few. Here's how to avoid some common ones

12 Rich Washington Reds

Ideal conditions during the 2007 harvest and cool, clear weather through October allowed Washington winemakers to pick their grapes with an emphasis on pure fruit flavors without excessive alcohol. This translates to rich, plush wines that should appeal to a range of tastes...

Beppi Crosariol

Wine is made from grapes, but if it tasted merely of fruit juice, think how much poorer the world would be. No amusing wine-critic adjectives to snicker at. No snooty sommeliers to satirize after the meal. No trophy cellars to envy.

Canadian Wine Awards

The Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards is Canada's leading national wine competition. The Canadian Wine Awards, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, are open to all wines that are 100 percent Canadian grown, fermented and bottled. It has become the most important Canadian wine competition Canada.

Canadian wine – from bottom to top

Urban Farming Gets a Swanky Boost from Organic Wine-Maker, Bonterra Vineyards

Cork taint can be transmitted by new oak barrels, says research

Cork industry unveils new campaign

A nod to the bold wines from B.C. and Quebec

Beguiling Bubblies - drinking well at every price

Value is most certainly in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps no more so than in these economically turbulent times. And just as the light is seeming to appear at the end of the world's collective tunnel of financial malaise, there has been a subtle, downward tick in price of that most celebratory of wines, Champagne.

Chilean Syrah

Rosé wines are red hot

Until recently, pink was wine’s polarizing colour. People who knew nada about fermented grapes drank rosé. So did people who knew a lot. Pretty much everybody else feared it and stuck to white or red...