Tag Archives: Wine

I4C – International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebrations!

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Charlene#I4C- July 2012 – Volunteering to get my feet wet. @SezmuCharlene

@Sezmu – I have always been interested in wine, beer and spirit ever since I can remember. This is because one of my earliest memories that I have, is helping my father making beer in our family kitchen.  Over the years, I have become more interested in wine making and all the elements that go into making great wine.  This has been noticeable in my visits to small artisan wineries and breweries in Quebec. Because of these visits, it led me to the new direction for my life in the pursuit of more knowledge for my love of wine, spirits and beer.  Deciding to jump into this with my both feet I  volunteered over the July 20th weekend, for my first wine festival in Ontario’s wine country.  It was for the International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebrations. This event brought together wine makers from all over Ontario, British Columbia, Australia, New Zealand, United States, France and Chile. With them, they brought some wines that are not yet available in Ontario or other parts of Canada, for people to taste throughout the weekend at these fantastic events.

I was privileged enough to be helping out one day at Rosewood Estates, for their “WILD for Chardonnay: Comparative Tasting of Wild Ferment Chardonnays luncheon.” Here, I was able to be a part of a conversation that was made up by Wine Makers that were new, others that are seasoned wine makers, and one wine maker, that comes from a winery where his family has been making wine for more than five hundred years.
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The History of Wine from Ancient Civilization to Today!

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Credit: http://winetypessite.com/the-history-of-wine-from-ancient-civilization-to-today/ 

The history of wine has its origins in early Mesopotamia as far back as 6,000 years before Christ (BC). The Mesopotamians were the first people known to have cultivated grapevines. From peasants to royalty and ancient civilizations to today, wine has been enjoyed by many for thousands upon thousands of years.

The History of Wine Ancient Beginnings:History of WineWhile wine was first known to be cultivated in Mesopotamia, the harvesting of grapes and wine making was first recorded in Ancient Egypt beginning around 4,000 BC. Ancient Egyptians used stone tablets or wrote on walls to record information about their grape harvests.

The production of wine and its consumption were given great importance in the social realm of Ancient Egypt and were drunk primarily by the country’s upper class. All of Egypt seemed to love their wine – Pharaohs in particular, as they were known to import what they could not grow and were often buried with bottles of wine so ensure a tolerable trip to the underworld. Egypt’s wine was fermented and stored in earthenware pots called “amphorae”, which were largely unsealed vessels.
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Alex Presents ~ Québec “La Route Des Vins”.

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Who knew beautiful vineyard getaways were right at your doorstep? I sure didn’t!
Quebec has beautiful wine regions that are actually quite well known (not for the social wine drinkers such as myself). La Mission Vignoble for example, perhaps you have heard of it, which is one that is pretty well known, available information can be found on Sezmu.com

Here is how I discovered what they call “La route des vins”. My good friend Karina purchased a 2 hour wine tour for two people for 22$ on one of these coupon websites. The coupon was for Vignoble Chapelle Ste-Agnes. We thought we would make a weekend out of it, since we were going to have to drive all the way to Sutton which is about 2 hours away, and since we were planning on taking advantage of the wine tastings, we were definitely not going to be in shape to drive home. So, we decided to book a quaint little bed & breakfast and enjoy our stay in Sutton! Gite B&B Vert Le Mont is where we stayed by the way. Very beautiful old home and extremely hospitable owners, and not to mention the breakfast was out of this world. They were the ones who gave all the information we needed about all the hidden vignobles!

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Alex the Wine Gal Presents ~ Cheap Tuesdays!

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Cheapy Tuesdays! I don’t know about you, but I always thought that Tuesdays are the worst day of the week. It is still the beginning of the week and has not yet passed the halfway mark. Tuesdays just make the week seem so much longer! There are of course Cheapy Tuesdays at the movies which makes this day of the week seem a little bit more exciting but I would prefer to spend my Tuesday night with my girlfriend catching up about what we did on the weekend and bitching about our long week ahead over a nice bottle of wine to take off the edge. This is exactly what I did last Tuesday! It just so happens that my good friend Heather and I found out a couple of months ago that Restaurant L’Academie offers 10$ pasta and mussels Sunday through Wednesday evenings!  Well it used to be 10$ anyways, they did hike up their prices to 11, 95$, however your meal does come with soup or salad so I still see it as a good deal considering its byow.  There are many byow  French/Italian restaurants downtown that offer far better selection and taste, however, when I am looking for a good, midweek, last minute restaurant, this is a good dining option. Both my friend Heather and I work in the city, so we meet at the SAQ in the faubourg, pick up a bottle each (no judgment- I did say Tuesdays are quite the brutal day, one bottle is simply not enough) and walk over to l’academie on crescent street. No Hassle! Heather is going through a red phase, so I picked up a bottle of white for myself. Chardonnay/Sauvignon C'est la Vie vin de pays d'Oc 2010

C’est la vie- a French fruity chardonnay/sauvignion wine. A few of my friends always buy the red equivalent and love it. It happened to come in white so I decided to give it a try. Let me tell you, the sweet, fruity taste of the wine paired with my tortellini rose was a great combination. I managed to polish off both very nicely. It was a very giggly evening. And of course what’s a Tuesday night without a movie. Long story short we somehow ended our evening in lovely Lasalle watching the Muppet movie. That story is for another blog another time.   I highly recommend this  byow (Bring Your own Wine) dinner+movie combination to any girl looking for some female bonding time. It definitely livens up your week a little bit. Even if you have an early morning the next day, it would have all been worth it and you will be laughing about the drunk stupidities you and your girlfriend talked about after finishing a bottle of wine each.  On another note, I will be going to Bombay Mahal this Thursday night with some friends and bringing a newbie with me :o ) It shall be a delightful Bombay/Barefoot evening! Love you all… Alex! xo

Friday Night Lights…Indian Cuisine & Barefoot Cellars Pinot Grigio Wine!

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Friday Night Lights Review ~ Indian Cuisine & Barefoot Cellars Pinot Grigio Wine! Where? Montreal,Quebec, Canada with Alex the Wine Gal!© 

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Friday at Bombay! Bombay Mahal, located at 1001 Jean-Talon Ouest, has got to be one of the best indian restaurants Montreal has to offer. Yes, it is perhaps not in the trendiest part of town. Yes, it is perhaps not the most well decorated restaurant in Montreal.However, I can assure that this “hole in the wall” will make you crave indian food on a weekly basis. I first found out about this hidden gem a while back, one of my indian friends recommended it. They had nothing but good things to say and always hired them to do the catering for their special occasions. I don’t know about you, but when someone recommends a restaurant that serves food of the same ethnicity, you know it must be like real home cooked food!
*** Wine from India on Sezmu.com - Buy Now!

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