Lingua Vina

11/01/2024

WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) is soon offering beer courses - plus some quick webinars to get us in the mood ⬇️

To celebrate the launch of its new beer qualifications, WSET will run a series of bitesize webinars exploring the world of beer between 26 February to 1 March

What is beer made from? Monday 26 February, 3pm GMT

How is beer made? Wednesday 28 February, 7am GMT

How to choose the right beer glass - Thursday 29 February, 4pm GMT

How do you taste beer? Friday 1 March, 11am GMT

Registration links and details here:

The Wine & Spirit Education Trust has announced its first beer courses which are set to begin February 2024. WSET School London and TheDrinkSchool...

06/09/2023

New Zealand is having their best ever year of export growth and Canada is a very important market for NZ. Save the date - October 16 in YYC and October 17 in YEG to taste some of these tasty treats....more details to come!

Pic at Prophet's Rock in Otago

https://winetitles.com.au/new-zealand-wines-largest-ever-year-of-export-growth/

07/08/2023

“As I’ve got older, and the joys of pure drunkenness have dulled, vermouth—wine that’s been aromatized with herbs and spices and fortified with additional alcohol—has become my go-to for an easy, low-wattage drink on leisurely afternoons or for pre-dinner relaxation,” Helen Rosner writes. Read her full treatise on the fire and citrus of Spanish vermouth: http://nyer.cm/XiuUyLj

25/04/2023

Can’t wait!

Only a week away until we take off on our ALSA trip to Portugal! 🇵🇹 If you're joining us, we hope you're as excited as we are — and if you're missing out, follow along on our Instagram Stories to be a part of the action, and consider joining us on a future trip. Boa Viagem! ✈️

17/04/2023

Wonderful Chardonnay to be found all around - tho they missed the Jermann Dreams somehow

In a country known for native grape varieties, Chardonnay often takes a back seat—but it shouldn’t.

12/04/2023

Historic, skin-contact white wine added to the DO in Terra Alta:

Terra Alta is capitalizing on the growing popularity of orange wine by officially adding their historic, skin-contact white wine to the DO’s bylaws…

28/03/2023

World’s Main Bulk Wine Routes by Volume, 2021. Many surprises.

16/03/2023

Was lucky enough to hang out with Stuart for a day on my last trip to Barossa - what a day and great wines.

Soul Growers was formed in 1998 by the experienced winemaker Paul Heinicke with the addition of award-winning winemaker Stuart Bourne, and quickly gathered a strong following in their domestic, Asian and North American markets. Most of their dedicated team members are 5th generation descendants from the first grape-growing families who settled in the Barossa valley. They are fortunate to work with Old Vine, Survivor, Centurion and Ancestor vines, some being over 130 years old, and their goal is to let the unique character of these vineyard sites across the Barossa valley shine through in their wines. Where nature provides, they only guide.

This blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre is medium to full bodied with lifted fresh spicy notes and great complexity. Fresh fruit characters of plums, cassis and berries carry onto the palate underpinned by older oak. The finish is soft, fresh and smooth with wonderful, persistent length of fruit and oak flavours. Pairs best with pasta or pizza.

11/01/2023

New Zealand Wine has some new branding happening. I like it.
Excited to see it in real life in a few weeks ....

Some places have unblemished sunlight, young soil or beautiful water.Others have innovation, passion for the craft or care for the land.But only one place ha...

30/12/2022

Celebrate the New Year in style with our affordable 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 to 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞.

We've put together three options to help you kick the celebrations off:

🍾 Cap Classique: These wines are made, like Champagne, by the traditional method. Grapes are generally from the Western Cape and the best examples are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay blends.

𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐩: Look out for the Cap Classique Producers Association logo, as this is often an indication of quality!

🍾 Cava: Cava DO covers a number of regions that produce sparkling wine by the traditional method. The best examples from premium producers have undergone extensive lees ageing.

🍾 Crémant: These wines can be produced in seven French regions and one in Luxembourg. The most notable are Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne and Crémant de Loire.

29/11/2022

We have always been big fans of Cava (and Corpinnat) over here. Vintage variation will be playing more and more of a role in the region -

Regulatory and climatic changes are putting vintage at the forefront of Cava production, giving the Spanish sparkling wine a whole new level of complexity…

21/11/2022

Changes in Sherry DO ...

A suite of new regulations went into effect for DO Sherry that producers hope will pave the way for premiumization and push the category even further…

21/09/2022

‘Tis the season - for the Alberta Liquor Industry Conference (in Calgary this year). Two weeks from today and we will be right in the thick of it.

If you want a chance to speak directly to stakeholders and policy makers this is the best place to do it. Tickies at albertaliquorconference.ca

15/09/2022

07/09/2022

We sold out so quickly we added another date - Sept 24 2022 - Tuscan Cooking Party at the Get Cooking studio in Edmonton!

Tickets and things here: https://getcooking.ca/product/gc-ip-italian-tuscany2

Quick trip to Tuscany anyone? Join us for an in-person cooking class and wine adventure....from the Edmonton Get Cooking studio 🍷🍝

Join Kathryn Joel together with sommelier and wine educator Margaux Burgess for this special Chef's Table class exploring the flavours of Tuscany on your plate, and in your glass! Kathryn will guide you through an evening of typical Tuscan fare starting with Crostini Toscani, Tuscany's beloved Chicken Live Paté crostini, and Margaux will talk you through a menu of Tuscan wines chosen to complement your meal. We'll whip up a Borlotti Bean & Rosemary Crostini too, in case you don't enjoy liver. Next we'll toss together a delicious Panzanella, another Tuscan fave then we'll get you all involved as we make fresh pasta for Pappardelle, to enjoy with a Wild Boar Ragu. For dessert we'll be making Cantucci, simple almond biscotti typically enjoyed dunked in Vin Santo, a traditional Tuscan dessert wine.

https://getcooking.ca/product/gc-ip-italian-tuscany

06/09/2022

There is a new call for the Cava Educator Certificate - online program - more details here:

https://cavaacademy.com/es/itinerary/certificado-formador-en-cava-4-a-convocatoria

22/08/2022

Quick trip to Tuscany anyone? Join us for an in-person cooking class and wine adventure....from the Edmonton Get Cooking studio 🍷🍝

Join Kathryn Joel together with sommelier and wine educator Margaux Burgess for this special Chef's Table class exploring the flavours of Tuscany on your plate, and in your glass! Kathryn will guide you through an evening of typical Tuscan fare starting with Crostini Toscani, Tuscany's beloved Chicken Live Paté crostini, and Margaux will talk you through a menu of Tuscan wines chosen to complement your meal. We'll whip up a Borlotti Bean & Rosemary Crostini too, in case you don't enjoy liver. Next we'll toss together a delicious Panzanella, another Tuscan fave then we'll get you all involved as we make fresh pasta for Pappardelle, to enjoy with a Wild Boar Ragu. For dessert we'll be making Cantucci, simple almond biscotti typically enjoyed dunked in Vin Santo, a traditional Tuscan dessert wine.

https://getcooking.ca/product/gc-ip-italian-tuscany

08/06/2022

It'r probably not the sulfites .... in faact low/no sulfite wine may be worse for irritation if it is a histimine situation. The plot thickens.... Biogenic Amine Toxicity

https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2022/06/08/biogenic-amine-toxicity-a-reality-for-histamine-sensitive-consumers?utm_source=AfternoonBrief&utm_medium=newsletter

04/05/2022

A couple weeks until - Vievinum - can't wait to taste all that delicious Austrian wine in situ - who's going?

Austria’s wines are now highly prized both by wine experts and wine lovers all around the world. There is a distinctive tension common to all these wines which should be emphasised, based on seven factors. Read more

07/03/2022

Great value and always under-rated. Dry Furmint from Hungary. There are a couple in Alberta, particularly like Chateau Megyer and Royal Tokaji....

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2022/02/furmint-a-misunderstood-grape-with-a-bright-future/

It’s a challenge trying to convince consumers to try Furmint, but when they do, it’s almost universally loved, according to Tatjana Puklavec from Slovenia’s Puklavec Family Wines.

04/03/2022

Austria always all about the quality. Looking forward to VieVinum in May this year. Hopefully will be able to make it....

Austria's wine regions continue to delineate their geographic areas by style, as well as demonstrate wines' quality.

17/02/2022

New Cava back labels - to help quickly and easily id info about bottling/producer

https://www.cava.wine/en/news-articles/the-ambitious-segmentation-and-zoning-plan-of-the-cava-do-can-now-be-observed-in-the-new-quality-labels/

The D.O. Cava takes another step forward as a benchmark of quality, guarantee and traceability, with the launch of its new labels.

03/02/2022

Standout, 95-plus point Pinot Noir wines of the New World, tasted and rated by regional specialists at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2021...

23/12/2021

Champagne isn't the only bubbs option - I even sometimes prefer Cava (and Corpinnat) 😱 - maybe I'm not alone....

https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/12/16/global-cava-sales-grow-16-percent-first-nine-months

VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS, December 16, 2021—The quality sparkling wines of D.O. Cava have seen a significant increase in sales over the first nine months of 2021, with figures forecasted to match those of 2019 by the close of the year—a positive recovery after the challenges caused by the pandemi...

18/12/2021

Nice work Bordeaux 💚

Bordeaux wines have reduced their carbon footprint by 30 % in 12 years -
https://buff.ly/3yE4emT

16/12/2021

lots of talk of Champagne Shortages - will they or won't they....
https://buff.ly/3sfwQSe