Feeling Wine & Food - El ABC del Vino in English

Santa Julia Chenin Blanc 2016 Santa Julia Winery – Familia Zuccardi Maipú – Mendoza SAQ Price: $ 11,65 Looking for a fresh, affordable and different white wine? Santa Julia offers this delicate Chenin Blanc that stands out for its perfume and its excellent price-quality ratio. In the nose it sourrounds us with its pleasant notes of peach, pear, white flowers and grapefruit. In the mouth it is also seductive, its fruity character persists besides being pleasantly refreshing. A wine that can be enjoyed on several occasions: as a simple appetizer or to marry with refined dishes such as risottos, pastas, seafood in lemon sauces or summer salads. I invite you to discover this variety a little underestimated. Perhaps it has not had in history the reputation and glory like other white varieties had, but it is very versatile, intense, perfumed and generous. Mendoza is one of those places where it was able to adapt splendorously and today, wineries like Santa Julia seek to launch ...

Max Reserva 2014 Grenache - Syrah - Mourvedre Viña Errazuriz Aconcagua Valley - Chile SAQ Price: $ 18.65 Coming out from the stereotype of intense mono varietal which is characteristic of the new world wines, we can now find in the SAQ shelves this elegant Garnacha-Syrah-Mourvedre, docile and seductive. Originally from the Aconcagua Valley, one of the most prestigious wine regions in Chile, it is a wine of pure fruity character. The fact of being a reserve wine offers us as well all the elegance and unctuousness of oak aging. On the nose, it offers vibrant notes of blackberry, strawberry and cherry fruits, leather, spices and caramel. This aromatic intensity is also perceived in the mouth, with an unctuous and extremely pleasant and enveloping body. It is a wine of very soft tannins, easy to drink and overflowing with flavor. Its slightly refreshing final and aftertaste makes it even more attractive. I dare say he will captivate almost every palate. Ideal for sharing ...

Angimbé  Cusumano SRL Sicilia IGT – Italy Insolia (70%), Chardonnay (30%) SAQ Price: 13,35$ To still putting ourselves in a summer mode, today I present another particular and different white wine available in the SAQ shelves. Coming from Sicily, the Cusumano Angimbé is a bivarietal Insolia-Chardonnay fresh and easy to drink. I confess I didn't know much about Insolia, also known by the name of Ansonica. It is an ancient variety of Sicilia, vigorous and aromatic, and is usually part of many blends. In this case, together with the chardonnay, presents a wine with pleasant notes of peach, apple, pear and white flowers. On the palate, I might have expected a more fruity character, but instead, the Angimbé is a dry and rustic wine, with vegetable and mineral notes, possibly given by its geographic origin of island somewhereness. Also because it has an affordable price, I encourage you to discover this original and diverse wine just to continue exercising your curious p...

I've said it on many occasions: limiting a wine producing country to a single grape variety is shortening the chances of surprising our palate. In this case, I wanted to go to the search for different wines from Australia, well beyond their great wines elaborated with their emblematic Shiraz. And it has been a very enriching exercise to find and taste this exquisite white wine, available on the SAQ stores. Alternatus Fiano 2015 Angove Family Winemakers Mc Laren Vale – Australia SAQ price: $ 25.00 Fiano is an autochthonous variety from southern Italy, specifically from Campania and Sicily, but it is in Australia the second country in the world where it is beginning to give wines of international recognition. From the Angove family winery, Alternatus is an interesting "alternative" of dry white wine, fresh and with those notes that remember the mineral and stone fruit. I liked it for its Mediterranean character, with aromas of citrus fruits, melon, peaches a...

By Marina La Forgia As far as my pleasure of tasting is concerned, since I live in Quebec I have the fortune to surprise myself and learn new aromas, flavors, products, regions, passionate producers, wine histories.... I have learnt a lot, and about wines from all over the world. This insatiable thirst for knowledge and novelty has made me discover a new elixir, a pear ice wine made in Hemmingford, just 30 minutes from my home: Gaia by Vergers Philion. Its owner, Hubert Philion, fifth generation of this agricultural family, has been working since 2004 on the prestigious Friga ice cider and is currently adding to his portfolio this sublime pear wine with the absolute conviction that the mix of soil of gravel and rock terroir and the microclimate influenced by The Adirondacks, the Saint Laurent river, the Richelieu river and Lake Champlain offer the ideal conditions for cultivation and optimum ripening of fruits such as pear and apple. Gaia is a pear ice wine made only from rip...

Urban Uco Malbec 2015  Bodegas y Vinedos O. Fournier  Uco Valley – Mendoza – Argentina  SAQ Price: $ 18,70 The international Malbec day is fast approaching and, to get myself into this topic, I decided this Friday to bring you an interesting proposal to discover! This Malbec comes from the prestigious winery O. Fournier located in the Uco Valley, where the vineyards are planted at 1100 meters high. I was surprised by its character so intense and so pleasant with seductive notes of evolution. A Malbec wine with strong body and personality. In the nose, it is easy to perceive black fruits and plum in compote, notes of caramel, leather and marmalade. In the mouth, it continues to offer those sweet and fruity notes. With round and soft tannins, it is a succulent wine, flavoury, with a very unctuous and pleasant final.  Ideal for drinking now. A good food pairing: pork ribs in BBQ sauce. The sweetness of the sauce and the marmalade fruitiness of the wine wil...

By Marina La Forgia Every year, the prestigious Canadian agency Constellation Brands - Marques Constellation organizes a professional event to showcase the latest innovations, boost its already popular labels and discover the icon wines of its portfolio. It was the first time I had the opportunity to participate in this event, which undoubtedly I have to highlight its impeccable organization and the variety of wines available for tasting. But above all, I was impressed by the quality of the exclusive master class offered by 4 indisputable referents of the industry: Bruce Nicholson, Inniskillin Niagara State's chief enologist, Beppe d'Andrea, senior brand ambassador for Ruffino, Mark de Vere, brand ambassador for Robert Mondavi and Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood winery, oenologist and "godfather" of the Zinfandel. Eugene Mlynczyk, the director of the agency's high-end level wines portfolio, was in charge of the animation. During the master class, a ...