Myth: Red wine has more sulfites than white, which is why I get a headache when I drink red wine. Truth: Red wine generally contains less sulfur dioxide than white wine, not more. If you get headaches from red wine but not white, this is likely because you are reacting to histamine, produced by lactic […]
Moira Peters
Posted inNews + Opinion
DRINK THIS: Domaine de Grande Pré’s Moscato
September is good for crowding enjoyment into late summer days, much in the same way that the Bay of Fundy’s rising tidal waters push beach-goers together onto shrinking patches of sunlit shore. Domaine de Grand Pré‘s Moscato ($25), launched in the height of summer this year, is my choice of wine to accompany the glow […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Winegrunt brings the buzz
Winegrunt grand opening 43 Water Street, Windsor Sunday, July 14, 12-8pm Something new is greeting visitors to Nova Scotia wine country: A wine bar run by former university professors, in an unlikely town, with an entirely sensible location. “So many times, we stopped in Windsor,” says Robert Buranello, of trips to the Annapolis Valley from […]
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DRINK THIS: Eileanan Brèagha’s rosé
Nothing decorates a deck party better than glasses of pink wine glinting in the sunlight. And no wine checks all the boxes of refreshment, food-friendliness and affordability like Nova Scotian rosé. Rosé suffers the unfortunate misconception that it is cheap, sweet wine, a rap left over from the ’80s when white wine was more fashionable […]
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DRINK THIS: Benjamin Bridge’s Pet Nat in a can
Never before has the Canadian public been so interested in their food. Television and social media, reflections and drivers of our culture, are brimming with food-focused content. And as the increasing global interconnectedness of the supply chain complicates our relationship to food, people are hungry to simplify: To understand the ingredients in their food, to […]
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DRINK THIS: Petite Riviere Vineyards’ Mighty Maroon
This Nova Scotian wine perfectly expresses our spring. Its rich, velvety, dark red berry flavours are the soft wool scarf you still need to wind around your throat to bury your chin before stepping outside. Its sweet heat is the wood fire that has been going since November, eating up your now dwindling supply in […]
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Nova Scotia winemakers are seeing red
It pools in deep garnet and edges the glass in bright purple, nearly magenta. A swirl releases stewed blackberries, ripe blueberries, pickled red pepper and the smoke and salt of a beach fire. A touch to the lips is a laser of acidity that melts over the tongue, and the mouth is awake and ready […]
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DRINK THIS: Blomidon Estate Winery’s 2014 Blanc de Noirs
A Nova Scotian bubbly goes great with food. No surprise, then, that contestant chefs at Canada’s Great Kitchen Party in Halifax—the rebranded Gold Medal Plates national culinary competition—choose overwhelmingly to pair their competition dishes with local sparkling wine. This makes for an especially good opportunity to size up some of the top sparkling wines in […]
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Weathering the storm: How the changing climate affects our vineyards
This year’s record-breaking warm, dry summer gave grape-growers and winemakers a sweet taste of what climate change has in store for Nova Scotia. That heat came just after a freeze in early June—late in the season for a frost so severe—offered another, bitter, glimpse at what climate change will look like in our vineyards. “There […]
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A Festival of Wines Grand Tastings survival guide
Festival of Wines Grand Tastings Saturday 28-29, 1-4 & 7-10 pm Cunard Centre, 961 Marginal Road $65, ticketatlantic.com For the first time, the Festival of Wines will expand its focus beyond one country, this year featuring wine made all over North America. At the fest’s four grand tastings this weekend, more than 350 wines will […]
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Avondale Sky’s blank canvas
Avondale Sky Winery 80 Avondale Cross Road Newport Landing When Justin Floyd was tasked with designing the menu at Avondale Sky Winery’s patio restaurant, he settled on a simple concept. “I wanted to make food that I would eat while drinking wine, on a deck, on a sunny day, in a beautiful place,” he said, […]
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DRINK THIS: Luckett Vineyards’ Ortega
Sometimes, while everyone else is flocking to the newest wine creations, a classic is quietly released to those waiting in the wings for something like Luckett Vineyards’s 2017 Ortega ($24). Ortega, an aromatic white grape of the vitis vinifera species, native to Europe, is also moderately hardy, surviving to about -25° C. Winemaker Mike Mainguy […]