Personal Accounts

Smoking Scotch

Beppi Crosariol, wine and spirits critic for the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, has launched a weekly video series called Decanter. This informative series covers all things wine in two minutes flat!

 

In this week's segment, Beppi talks single malt scotch, just in time for Robbie Burns day.  

• what is peat, anyway and how it makes scotch smoky.
• three featured smoky scotches: 
  • Laphroaig Quarter Cask Single Islay Malt, C$63.95
  • Lagavulin 16 year old Single Malt, C$124.95
  • Ardbeg Uigeadail, C116.99,(only in BC) world wiskey of the year for 2009
  • Arbeg 10 year old, C$100.00 available widely across Canada)
• Islay is the island where these scotches are produced
• Quarter Cask means the casks are smaller so there is more exposure to wood, giving it a richer taste

Click below to view the video.

Smoking Scotch

How to Taste Wine

Beppi Crosariol, wine and spirits critic for the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, has launched a weekly video series called Decanter. This informative series covers all things wine in two minutes flat!

 

In this week's segment, Beppi provides everything you really need to know about tasting wine with confidence to impress your next date:

• what the color of the wine means, and it is different for reds and whites
• why you swirl the wine in the glass
• what to smell, and what does it mean when you smell nail polish
• how to taste the wine without being too pretentious

Click below to view the video.

How to Taste Wine

Duoro Valley in Portugal provides more than just Port

Beppi Crosariol, wine and spirits critic for the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, has launched a weekly video series called Decanter. This informative series covers all things wine in two minutes flat!

In this week's segment, Beppi talks Port.  In the winter months it is a great drink to share with a date by the fire, but Port isn't the only good wine coming out of Portugal these days. Beppi Crosariol tells you about a burgeoning style of red wine from the Douro region, historically famous only for fortified, sweet port.  Some of the largest brand name french producers are moving into the region to take advantage of it's prime growing conditions for great red wine.

Wines featured in the video:

• Carm Grand Reserva Red, 2005 C$23, organic, fruity and full of body
• Nieport Redoma Red, 2003:  C$40 from a well known producer
• Quinta do Cotto Grande Escolha, 2001:  C$60, from a well known producer

If you live in Toronto you can purchase these wines from Wines of Portugal 416 487 6153.

Click Below to View Video

Beyond Port

Decanting Demystified

Beppi Crosariol, wine and spirits critic for the Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, has launched a weekly video series called Decanter. This informative series covers all things wine in two minutes flat!

In this first segment, Beppi explains the reasons and benefits of decanting, as well as some nifty tools to stock your bar.

• Wines are decanted to separate sediments in older wine and to aerate (introduce oxygen into) the wine which does improve the taste. Younger wines lose their astringency and soften the flavour.
• Decanting whole bottles to share:  you can use any juice jug, but a number of vessels are available for sale in your homeware stores.   A wide base increases the amount of surface area exposed to air to speed the aeration process.
• Drinking alone?  try the Vinturi Wine Aerator which is a funnel your pour your wine through into your glass.  It is designed with a hole in the side which introduces air as you pour.
• the better the wine, the longer you want to leave them in a decanter, say 1 to 8 hours, but a younger wine really should only be decanted for an hour at most.

Click below to view the video.

Decanting Demystified