deVine Thoughts

Author: Dirk Chan

Time to start thinking about what wines to pair with that traditional Christmas Turkey dinner.  Here are recommendations (in three price points)  for all the wines you need for that special Christmas evening,  starting with Sparkling wines, White wines, Rosé wines, Red wines and finally Dessert wines.

Sparkling wines are a great way to start off your festive evening. Great as a reception drink and to pair with appetizers. I recommend the great bargain that is the Seppelt Great Western Brut  – $11.99 , from Australia – lots of citrus notes and a crisp dry finish. At the mid-price level from Alsace, France – try the Lichtle Cremant d’Alsace – $24.99, great quality at half the price of real Champagne.

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Author: Dirk Chan

Our first ever sale will  be a three day Red Dot Sale to be held from Friday, December 12th till Sunday, December 14th

All in-store tags of wine and sundry items marked with a red dot will be discounted 10%.

SAVE EVEN MORE – buy twelve bottles and get our regular case lot discount on top of the sale price!!

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Author: Dirk Chan

The Wine Spectator Top 100 wines of 2008 was revealed on Monday and the searching and buying has begun in earnest. deVine has secured many wines from this much anticipated list: See the available Top 100 Wines here..

Some of the wines on this list are extremely limited and will be gone within days, so please visit the store or order online asap  to avoid disappointment. We are holding back eight wines in anticipation to the two Wine Spectator Top 100 tastings we have scheduled for Jan 15 and Jan 17/2009.

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Author: Dirk Chan

104th Street continues to grow and strengthen its hold as the driving force that is attracting more and more people to the downtown core.  From the City Market to the arrival of tenants into Icon 1, and the City and mayor of Edmonton striking up a ‘104 Street Vision Steering Committee’ to look into further improving 104th Street, the excitement is catching on. As community members, we were thrilled to read in the Travel Section of the national edition of the Globe and Mail on November 1, a writeup featuring several businesses on 104th Street by Katherine O’Neill: Read the Globe & Mail Article here..

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Author: Dirk Chan

Every year at this time, the buzz begins as we speculate what wine will top the list of the Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2008. The influential American wine publication has long cast a spell over the wine collector or enthusiast, each of us wanting a piece of the action. We secretly hope some of our wine purchases made throughout 2008 will be reinforced by the inclusion in this prestigious list. A pat on the back for having made good choices. So do you want to know what wine is #1?

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Author: Ed Fong

According to the Chinese zodiac calendar, and some of my friends and colleagues, I am a Rat.  I share this distinction with people like Idi Amin, Heinrich Himmler and Alexander the Great.   However, I’m from the 1960 edition, which I take great comfort in as it helps to separate myself from this villainous bunch.  2008 also happens to be the Year of the Rat, and the year I chose to find the perfect pig.  I consulted a Chinese calendar and found that I was not compatible with Horses, but should seek out Monkeys, Dragons and Oxen.  My journey was therefore safe, though unendorsed.  And so my search begins.

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Author: Dirk Chan

As Thanksgiving approaches, we get numerous request for suggested wine pairings for the traditional turkey dinner. We worked with Nick Lees of the Edmonton Journal and came up with a Baker’s Dozen wines that would be appropriate. Our choices are actually not for the roasted turkey but rather the focus is on the fixings (candied yams, sweet potato, cranberries, honeyed ham etc), all of which have some degree of sweetness. A dry white is not the best since the sweet fixings will strip the fruit and make the wine taste more dry. Thus, an off-dry white wine with some sweetness is best.

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Author: Ed Fong

I grew up hearing about Cognac from my father.  I saw him enjoy it at the dinner table, I saw the beautiful decanters displayed on his bar, I went to the liquor store to pick it up with him before I was of age and I heard him talk about it, constantly.  For many Orientals, it was spirits, and not wine, that brought people together when they broke rice at the dinner table.  I learned to appreciation Cognac at a relatively young age because of my father, so when I had a chance to visit the city that gave its name to this special elixir, I jumped at the chance. This summer, I had the great pleasure of visiting two cognac houses on the same day, François Voyer and Camus.

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Author: Dirk Chan

It is not every day that one of the world’s great winemakers visit your store, but that happened this past Saturday as we were thrilled to have David Powell of Torbreck Vintners based out of Barossa here to do a sit-down tasting with us.  For a winery that was established in the mid 1990’s, Torbreck (named after a forest in Scotland where David worked as a lumberjack) has had a fast track to super stardom in the Australian wine scene. A favourite of the influential American wine critic Robert Parker, the flagship wines are highly collectible cult wines that are sought the world over.

What a stellar lineup it was! Fascinating stories about how the names of the wines were derived: Woodcutter’s from David’s days as a lumberjack, Juveniles and Les Amis from famous restaurants, The Steading based on barns, stables and outbuildings, The Struie from a hill that rises from the Glenmorangie Distillery, The Pict from a tribe of Scottish warriors, Descendant build from rooting planted from the RunRig plots, and finally RunRig from the famous and legendary Scottish Gaelic Rock Band by the same name.

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Author: Dirk Chan

Hard to believe it has only been since 1986 that Portugal broke the monopoly of the British shippers to start their own export of estate-bottled ports and the Quinta do Infantado (the Portuguese word for ‘prince’) was the first grower to take advantage of the new laws and start shipping to North America. The high altitude (150km) winery is located in Pinhão, on the north bank of the Duro River in the subdistrict of Gontelho with its ‘Class A’ vineyards, where the best port houses are found. Ran by the dynamic João Roseira, vineyard manager and winemaker, along with his sister Catherine Roseira, Chief Executive Officer.

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