Monday night I had the pleasure of being at friends’ in Toronto when they opened this special bottle of wine from their wine rack…not only was it Canada’s 2008 Pinot Noir of the Year and from the 2010-2011 Canadian Winery of the Year, Tawse Winery, but it’s made of grapes from their cousin Tom Lauritzen’s Lauritzen Vineyard in the Niagara Peninsula.

2008 Tawse Lauritzen Vineyard Pinot Noir  

Grape Variety: Pinot Noir

Aroma: Ripe red strawberry and cherry with slight spice.

Taste: Full of strawberry, ripe cherry and hint of cinnamon.

Price: $45 (2,998 bottles produced and sold out)

My thoughts: This wine is an excellent example of Pinot Noir. Very approachable with strawberry, cherry and cinnamon. Great pairing with cheeses or grilled pork.

The Niagara Peninsula’s 2008 summer was long and cool creating the perfect conditions for Pinot, Riesling and Chardonnay. Lauritzen’s grape grew in a limestone terrior giving it mineral notes. The wine is organic and biodynamic as Tawse Winery is a certified producer of these wines using no pesticides, fungicides or chemical fertilizers.

This fabulous wine won 2008 Pinot of the Year from The Canadian Wine Awards and was a Gold Medal winner in the 2010 Canadian Wine Awards and Intervin Wine Awards.

While this wine is sold out, I would highly recommend seeking out Tawse Winery on the Niagara Escarpment along Ontario’s popular Wine Route. They were named Canadian Winery of the Year by The Canadian Wine Awards in 2010 and 2011, a  stringent international-calibre competition with blind tasting by wine experts held annually  since 2000 by Wine Access Magazine.  This is the first time an Ontario winery has won this distinction two years in a row.  Also in 2011 Winemaker, Paul Pender, was named Winemaker of the Year at the Ontario Wine Awards.

Cheers to Lauritzen Vineyard and Tawse Winery!

With Black Friday behind us, online retailers are ramping up for their version tomorrow, Cyber Monday. One of my girlfriends mentioned a friend of hers books ALL her trips for the following year online tomorrow because the deals are incredible!

I subscribe to several online travel sale sites and noticed in my Jetsetter email today they are geared up for a huge day of sales tomorrow.

Starting at 9am EST they’ll announce a new deal every hour through 8pm. Each deal is only available for 24 hours and the first 10 people to buy each one will score special perks.

I haven’t used Jetsetter yet but I have had great experiences and gotten amazing deals with Luxury Link and SniqueAway. I also subscribe to Vacationist and LivingSocial Escapes.

Get ready to hit these sites tomorrow and check out great travels deals for your 2012 adventures!

It’s that time of year…Thanksgiving dinner shopping and choosing wines to serve with it. There’s lots of advice out there this week on-line so thought I’d share my pairing guidance.

Whether you chose red or white wine, I recommend serving both, the general advice is pair simple wines (lighter and less complex) with complex meals (meaning rich foods, heavy spices and herbs) and pair complex wines with simple meals. Thanksgiving dinner is a little of both so totally up to you! I’m going with simple wines for our big dinner at friend’s house…probably a bottle or more of each category below.

Bubbles

Any special meal should start and end with bubbles! You could go high-end Champagne or serve a bottle of Prosecco or other sparking wine.

• Champagne: Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut N.V. is a great everyday choice with delicate bubbles and balanced herbal notes ($30). Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut Rose N.V. is a gorgeous pink color with lots of red fruit undertones ($50). Louis de Sacy Brut Grand Cru‘s beautiful golden color with citrus and herbal notes ($35).
• Prosecco: This Italian option of sparkling wine is my favorite. I love Baby Prosecco for its crips tropical and green apple notes ($9.99).
• Sparkling Wines: Go American this Thanksgiving with Virginia’s fabulous Barboursville Vineyards’ Barboursville Brut, a great fruit aroma and pear taste ($18).

Red Wines

Red wines with low tannins are suggested for Thanksgiving so a lighter bodied fruity wine to go with the richness of the meal.

• Beaujolais: Beaujolais Nouveau, a red wine made in less than 10 weeks from the Gamay grape in Burgundy, France, is meant to be enjoyed immediately upon its release last week (always the 3rd Thursday of November). It’s light bodied fruity  easy to drink wine. Georges Dubouef’s is the classic you’ll see everywhere ($11). Or you could go with a fuller bodied Beaujolais-Village from Dubouef or Louis Jadot (either $14).
• Pinot Noir: Another great option is go American with Oregon’s red wine specialty, Pinot Noir, made of ripe red fruit for lots of berry and juicy flavor. Last weekend I discovered Lachini Vineyard‘s amazing Pinot Noir wines. Their 2008 Estate Pinot Noir was full of raspberry and white pepper with taste of sweet fruit, floral and dark chocolate ($40). King Estate is another great option…their namesake Signature Pinot Noir ($30) or their Acrobat ($19).

White Wines

White wines with bright flavors are perfect for Thanksgiving dinner.

• Viognier: Viognier (Vee-own-YAY) is the official grape of Virginia making a nice dry to slightly off dry white with tropical fruit and honey. So one of these must be your choice: Barboursville Vineyards 2009 Viognier Reserve ($22) or Blenheim Vineyards 2010 Viognier ($19).
• Pinot Gris: Oregon’s white wine specialty, Pinot Gris is a nice option as its between Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. I bought a bottle of Lachini Vineyards 2010 Pinot Gris last weekend, tart yet fruity with medium body. Again King Estate’s namesake Signature Pinot Gris ($20) or their Acrobat ($15).

Snooth and wine.com are great resources for your wine ordering online.

Cheers to Thanksgiving week with great wine and food!

As they say in France on the third Thursday of November each year, “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé,” the Beaujolais [pronounced BOE-zjoh-lay] Nouveau has arrived!

This first taste of the 2011 vintage will be interesting. A year characterized by unusual weather lead to early harvest which could benefit the 2011 Beaujolais Nouveau as it gave it a little more time to mature. We’ll have to see today as we taste it.

Want to join the celebration? In addition to events going on in restaurants, wine bars and wine stores, there’s a virtual event taking place, the 1st Annual Beaujolais #NouveauDay celebrating the official arrival of Georges Duboeuf’s Beaujolais Nouveau. So grab your bottle, pop the cork and get on Twitter to share, learn and celebrate!

Looking forward to later. Santé!

Toasted Pascal Boye, director of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, kicking off the French Regional Wine Luncheon at the 2011 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. Four delicious Bistro de Paris courses were paired with four sublime Champagnes from Nicolas Feuillatte and proved just that. Most people think of Champagne only as an aperitif or celebratory beverage but its great for all occasions and perfect with food.

Founded 30 years ago by Nicolas Feuillatte, who started out in the coffee business, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte (pronounced f00-yacht) is now the #1 selling Champagne brand in France and the #3 Champagne brand worldwide. They have 2,200 hectares of vineyards in Champagne, France including 13 of 17 Grand Crus and 33 of 42 Premier Crus (villages in Champagne are classified according to their quality, Grand Cru is 100% and Premier Cru is 90-99%). Winemaker Jean-Pierre Vincent and his team turn lovely wines into exquisite champagnes. As Pascal called out for us, Champagne is a wine before the yeast is added and the wine is aged a minimum of 3 years thus producing Champagne. While the company was sold in 1986 to Centre Vinicole de la Champagne, the largest union of Champagne producers, 86-year-old Nicolas at 86 years old is still involved in the business he created.

Over the three-and-a-half-hour luncheon, Eric Weistroffer and his fabulous Bistro de Paris team popped bottle after bottle of Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, 65 bottles to be exact for the 85 of us, to serve with our lunch.

Amuse-Bouche paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut N.V.

• Combines ’04, ’05 and ’06 grapes and aged 3 years.
• Grape Variety: 40% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Meunier
• Aroma: White fruit, herbal with a touch of nut.
• Taste: Delicate bubbles combine with smooth, balanced herbal notes.
• Price: $30
• My thoughts: Great everyday champagne and at a great price for this quality.

Snapper with Champagne Sauce paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Cuvee 225, Vintage 2003

• Aged 7 years
• Grape Variety: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay
• Aroma: Hints of honey, spice, vanilla.
• Taste: White fruits with vanilla.
• Price: $55
• My thoughts: This was my favorite course and pairing! The Champagne itself is divine but then paired with the gruyere cheese and bread crumb encrusted snapper and the Champagne sauce, it knocked my socks off! This Champagne has more structure, depth and a nice lingering aftertaste.

Veal Medallion & Sweetbread Forestiere paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Cuvee Palmes d’Or, Vintage 1999

• Nicolas created this champagne in 1985 in memory of one of the loves of his youth. It comes from 8 famous Grand Cru Vineyards.
• Aged 10 years, 1999 was a great vintage.
• Grape Variety: 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Chardonnay
• Aroma: White flowers, honey, pineapple, vanilla.
• Taste: Soft round small bubbles accentuate the aromas and leave them lingering on your pallate.
• Price: $139
• My thoughts: The story that goes with the Champagne is fabulous and when you see the bottle designed for it, its amazing! A lovely and very complex Champagne with many layers. This grand Champagne would be a wonderful gift or add glitz to any special occasion.

White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry and Praline paired with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Brut Rose NV

• Beautiful pink color comes from brief skin contact of Pinot Noir grape with the wine.
• Grape Variety: 60% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier
• Aroma: Red fruit bouquet.
• Taste: Full of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry layers.
• Price: $50
• My thoughts: I love rosé and this Champagne variety is no exception! Not only is it gorgeous in the bottle, the pairing with dessert brought out the fruit of the wine, lightened sweetness of the praline and sweetened the mousse.

It was an incredible afternoon of champagne, food and meeting new people, including my table mates Pat, Pat and Denise, and one of my highlights of this year’s festival. See the gallery for more great photos.

With all the holidays coming up, try pairing Champagne with some of your meals. Everyone will be pleased!

For more on Champagne, see more Grape Occasions articles.

Santé!