Angela Aiello
Tuesday, July 14th: A tasting of The Juice Wine Company portfolio at the Crush on King with co-owner Angela Aiello.
Juice Wine Company Chardonnay 2024 ($33)
Straw colour, fresh bouquet of Granny Smith apple; medium-bodied, dry, Chablis style, with a peachy, apple flavour. (89)
Juice Wine Company Cabernet Franc Rose 2025 ($33)
Pink with a bluish tint; strawberry nose with watermelon; medium-bodied, dry, strawberry and pomegranate flavour. (90) Continue reading
Township 7 wines
Monday, July 6th: Tasted the following wines from Township 7 (Naramata Bench in the Okanagan Valley):
Township 7 Seven Stars Aurora 2022 (Blanc de Noirs – 100% Pinot Noir)
Pale straw in colour; active mousse of tiny bubbles; toasty, leesy nose of red apples; medium-bodied, dry, beautifully balanced apple and red berry flavours. Lovely mouth feel, great length. (92)
Township 7 Seven Stars Rigel 2022 (Riesling; Fool’s Gold Vineyard)
Pale straw; persistent mousse of tiny bubbles: toasty, leesy nose of apple and lemon zest; medium-bodied, elegant, green apple flavour with a long, lemony finish. (91) Continue reading
Monday, June 30th: My British passport arrived – after weeks of agonising back-and-forth over documents with His Majesty’s Passport Office.
Other arrivals today: our friend Zoltan from Bucharest and his travelling companion Dr. Enno Lippold, whom I knew from his days as a winemaker with Deinhard. They arrived from the Finger Lakes, where they had been attending a Riesling conference. They took an Uber from the New York border direct to Dobbin Estate in Niagara, where Ann Sperling and Peter Gamble had set up a tasting. Continue reading
Monday. June 22nd: Dinner: chicken pasta with a bottle of Cono Sur Bicicleta Reserva.
Tuesday, June 23rd: Dinner: Lamb chops with a bottle of Creekside Laura’s Blend 2022.
Wednesday, June 24th: No wine.
Thursday, June 25th: Winemaker Emma Garner invited me over to Thirty Bench to taste her Rieslings. Continue reading
Jeff Moote gets the boot as the 2026 Paul Pender Rising Star Award
Monday, June 15th: Andrzej Lipinski invited me to Big Head for a tasting of his newly bottled 2023 wines.
Lipinski Chenin Blanc Sparkling 2023 ($65)
Pale straw in colour; biscuity, reductive nose of apple; medium-bodied, crisply dry, elegant, beautifully balanced, green apple flavour with a honeyed note in mid-palate. (91) Continue reading
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