| 14 January 2010
Looking to add some sparkle to your weekend? If you happen to be near the Niagara region, check out Twenty Valley's "not just icewine" festival.
There is a new reason to venture out on a chilly January weekend this year....over 50 reasons, in fact. Visitors to the new Twenty Valley Winter WineFest will be able to sample over 50 wines from 30 area wineries, and this year icewine will share centre stage with some of Ontario's best sparkling and premium VQA wines. The "not just icewine" festival - which will be hosted in Jordan Village January 16 and 17th - will allow wine enthusiasts to sip and savour from a list of specialty and reserve wines not offered at any other wine festival.
Over 25 award-winning wines are on the list, including Fielding Estates' 2007 Cabernet Syrah, the 2008 Natalie's Sussreserve Riesling from Rosewood Estates and the 2007 Van Bers Cabernet Franc from Tawse Winery - a gold medal winner at the 2009 Intervin International Wine Awards. Wine-lovers will have the opportunity to sample wines from Hidden Bench, Le Clos Jordanne, The Foreign Affair Winery andSue-Ann Staff's new winery - some of the premium Twenty Valley wineries who do not generally participate in street festivals. 13th Street Winery will feature 2006 Cuvée and 13 Rosé.
| 15 September 2009
The lure of a journey through Montreal’s sea of restaurants was an experience that I was not willing to forego. It had been more than thirty years since my last visit to the host city for the 1976 Olympics, yet I have always held a fondness for its European feel and sincere food culture. So when Tidings editor Aldo Parise asked if I would be interested in writing a piece about Montreal, I jumped at the opportunity. Actually, I jumped on a plane from Paris with great anticipation for what lay ahead.
Upon being received by Monsieur Parise at Pierre-Elliott Trudeau airport, my first task was to convince him to not only serve as my guide, but to also join me on this culinary expedition. Although the prospect of twenty restaurants in thirty-six hours appeared to panic our young editor, he agreed, after some gentle coaxing and with the best interests of the magazine’s beloved readers in mind, to temporarily abandon the creative and technological helm of the publication to partake in this culinary field study (bottle of Tums in pocket).
I can think of no better place to initiate our journey than Montreal’s smoked-meat institution: Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen. Firmly established in its original location on the now-fashionable Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Schwartz’s has seduced and satisfied the appetites of locals and celebrities since 1928.