Feeling Wine & Food - El ABC del Vino in English

(By Marina La Forgia) If you are looking for good certified organic white Italian wines, here are three excellent proposals. Three different styles from north to south!   Alois Lageder Gaun Chardonnay 2016 Trentino Alto Adige - Italy SAQ price: $ 27.50 The nose is very attractive, with pleasant fruity and floral notes. In the mouth it preserves its elegance, a nice Chardonnay with the characteristics that remind us of white fruits, but coming from a different terroir which makes it more aromatic and less creamy. This Italian wine region always amazes me for the delicacy of its wines, they are very perfumed and seductive, and particularly the whites. Pratello Lugana Catulliano 2016 Lombardy - Italy SAQ price: $ 20,50 It’s been a while that I feel the Lugana appellation deserves to be discovered. It offers such elegant and floral white wines, above all. The Pratello is 100% Trebbiano di Lugana, a very aromatic autochthonous variety. In the mouth, it is easy t...

Santa Margherita Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore  Santa Margherita SPA DOCG Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco - Italy 100% Glera SAQ Price: $ 18.60 (By Marina La Forgia) I must confess that I am a faithful consumer of sparkling wines from all over the world. And if it’s time to mention some good ones, this Prosecco stands out! From one of the DOCG par excellence, Conegliano Valdobbiadene, the guarantee of quality is always assured. Like all the wines produced for this type, it is 100% made with autochthonous Glera grape and elaborated under the Charmat or Italian method. Light and attractive golden color and with delicate and vibrant bubbles, on the nose it has seduced me by its pleasant aromas of apple, pear, roses and honey. In the mouth, the bubbles are refreshing, enveloping and very pleasant. An authentic and very easy-to-drink Prosecco Brut that shows off now in the Quebec market with a new and beautiful label that reflects reminiscences of the region's medieva...

Viñas Viejas Garnacha 2012 Bodegas Paniza Do Cariñena - Spain SAQ price: $ 15.50 (For Marina La Forgia) I continue with my pleasant crusade of discovering wines of excellent quality and price virtues and enough diversity in order to fulfill all your different palates!  Today let me introduce you the Viñas Viejas 2012 of Bodegas Paniza, a mature, rich and complex Spanish wine. A great “terroir” wine made from historic vineyards that cannot be more than a delight in the glass! With the rusticity of the Garnacha grape cultivated in high altitude of Cariñena region, this wine presents on the nose nice aromas of caramelized black fruits, cinnamon, coffee, earthy notes of evolution, some leather and mushrooms. The palate is very kind, intense, tasty and round. A red wine with a good tannic structure that gives it body and unctuousness. The finale is long and persistent. This Garnacha is in my opinion at its best point of evolution. A good quality/price ratio wine from this S...

¡Hola! Cava Brut Pink 2015 Barcelona Brands - Spain 50% Macabeo / 25% Xarel-lo / 25% Pinot Noir SAQ price: $ 17.30 (By Marina La Forgia) If we talk about sparkling wines, the Spanish Cavas always have a place among my favorites. And today I’d like to bring you this Catalan wine that has seduced me firstly for its packaging, but of course then for its great content: Hola! is a rosé Cava Brut attractive, unctuous and different. Made as a blend of Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Pinot Noir, this sparkling rosé has everything that needs to be a nice wine. It has an attractive color and fine and dancing bubbles, then on the nose it is very expressive with a predominance of wild berries and lemon aromas. On the palate, these bubbles become a delicate foam, giving this Cava special unctuousness and creaminess. The nose notes return as elegant flavors and it has a fresh and enveloping finish. A perfect Cava to inaugurate the season of Quebec’s terraces: let’s say finally Hello! (Hola!) to th...

Champs de Florence 2017 Domaine du Ridge – Quebec – Canada 100% Seyval Noir SAQ Price: $14,55 (By Marina La Forgia) Nothing better than receiving the first spring sun with a glass of good Rosé from Quebec! The Champs de Florence by Domaine du Ridge is personally a pleasant discovery of what the humble local terroir can offer. I have had occasion a few months ago to visit and taste several wines from this winery and I really believe that almost all of them have an exceptional quality. Here the new 2017 vintage of its acclaimed rosé which is already on the market! Made from the native variety Seyval Noir, it seduces on the nose for its elegant citrus and floral notes, such as grapefruit, pineapple and jasmine. The palate is friendly, fruity, fresh, a true delight to enjoy without feeling guilty. Thanks to its good price-quality ratio, this rosé is one of those wines from Quebec that I have decided with conviction to adopt and spread the word. Santé!

Lalande Bellevue 2015 100% Merlot Vignerons de Tutiac Appellation Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux - France SAQ price: $ 13.60 (By Marina La Forgia) Fifteen years in the Quebec market is a merit that only few wines can be proud of. Here, one of them, the Lalande Bellevue, a classic that I usually enjoy vintage after vintage and that never disappoints me. A wine produced by the prestigious Vignerons de Tutiac cooperative, is always true to its style: a 100% Merlot from the Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux appellation, with pronounced spicy and herbaceous notes on the nose, while in the mouth gives us its ripe black fruits, some mineral character but mostly a great unctuousness that envelops the palate. Persistent, intense, round and generous, it is one of my favorite Bordeaux for less than 14 dollars. A detail that few people may know about this wine is that it is also a "vegan”, produced respecting the environment and giving priority to the use of herbal products during winemaking process...

By Marina La Forgia Many of you already know that one of my most fervent missions in this world of wines is to be able to discover and advise the ones that respond to my two main criteria: high quality and accessible to the public. Now I have added the crusade that these wines should be as natural, genuine and organic as possible. Here I share with you a nice selection of delicious, refreshing, well-made white wines, from my beloved Argentina, Spain and Romania. Thus, there are no excuses to not go to procure some bottles, available of course, at the SAQ gondolas. Bodega Piedra Negra Pinot Gris 2017 Francois Lurton - Mendoza - Argentina SAQ price: $ 14.60 A wine perfumed with aromas of the Andes terroir: cooked white fruits, jasmine and some mineral notes that remind us of its soil. The palate is friendly, with a slight acidity that makes it refreshing and alive. The Pinot Grigio Lurton in Argentina is one of those white classics that people adopt for their elegance, s...

Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Cru Clisson 2014 AOC Muscadet - France 100% Melon de Bourgogne (Muscadet) SAQ Price: $ 23.90 The Muscadet gives us endless and different sensations than perhaps other French white wines. They have a strong personality, well defined notes and very particular flavors. They are generally very elegant wines, but they can also awaken our senses of smell and taste very intensely. This is what has happened to me tasting the 2014 Clisson. Made by the Lieubeau family, from the Loire Valley, which for two years has been making its wines under organic agriculture, this Muscadet is a very delicate white wine, but with pleasant and marked smoky, floral and mineral notes. The nose is clean, fresh, friendly. In the mouth, its subtle acidity and its smoky character make it an unctuous and enveloping wine, with such good presence. The almost 4 years in the bottle have helped in defining and rounding it, for sure. The Clisson has a long final, with a definite charac...