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Holiday Food and Wine Pairing

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As we enter the holiday season every one is marking their calendars to squeeze in as many get togethers, festive parties, and year end celebrations as possible. Like many, you are usually wondering what wine to bring or what wine to serve. Here are a few idea's and tips to help guide you to success this year.  1) Choose complimentary pairings:  LIGHT with LIGHT and BOLD with BOLD. 2) Match flavours in order to enhance perception of taste: FRUITY with FRUITY 3) Keep in mind the fundamentals of flavour balancing: SALTY & SWEET and ACIDIC & FATTY  Holiday Charcuterie Board This is a super simple, ready made charcuterie board. All ingredients were purchased at  Loblaws . WHITE WINE PAIRING:   2014 Civility Chardonnay from 16 Mile Cellar Oak aged Chardonnay is great with hard salty cheeses or very ripened soft cheese, as it has enough weight and richness on the palate so it harmonizes well with the cheese. RED WINE PAIRING:   2012 Rebel
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2018 Vintage at 16 Mile Cellar

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This year I started a new adventure as I accepted the position as winemaker/GM of  16 Mile Cellar . Working closely with Susan Barnacle and Joe Groia I am determined to put my mark on 2018! As many already know, this growing season was full of sun, heat, and a little bit of rain when we needed it most. However, like many vintages in the past, most winemakers were harvesting around days of rain, high humidity, and lots of disease pressure. 2018 marks the first year 16 Mile Cellar will be making 100% estate fruit wine. Vineyard view We hand picked our very first crop of Chardonnay in early September after a long 4 year wait! The fruit was sun kissed, fully ripened, and incredibly clean. Pressed whole cluster, the juice had a wonderful balance of acid and sugar and was put into french oak barrels right away. After a short couple days of waiting, the fermentation started naturally and slowly bubbled away creating a symphony in the cellar! Now we wait for the sugars to fully f
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FRANCE - A Weekend Escape to Jura

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One of the best parts about living in France is being able to take weekends away in old wine regions that are bursting with regional flare and flavour. Jura is a 'small' and often overlooked wine region in Eastern France and only a 2.5 hour drive from where I am living in Alsace. The winter here is a bit longer than most other regions in France which allows vignerons to produce stellar whites and fresh fruity reds. But the region is mostly know for producing Vin Jaune - a nutty oxidative style white wine aged for at least 7 years in barrel. Its lush green landscape with rolling hills also provides the ideal environment for producing (in my opinion) the best cheese in France - Comté. So when I found out about  Le Nez Dans Le Vert , a natural wine show showcasing the best of the region I knew it would be the perfect weekend escape.  We went with a group of friends and rented an AirBnB in Arbois, a beautiful village in the heart of it all. When you
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Backpacking Indonesia - On a Budget

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Indonesia was our first stop on ‘Tour D’Asie 2016’ (Jean and I made this the official title of our adventure). Regardless if you travel to a country for a short time or a long time you will always be confronted with the decisions of where to go and what to do. We travelled Indonesia for 23 days, flying into Denpasar, Bali and flying out of Jakarta, Java. A good way to start planning is to be honest with yourself about your daily budget and think about what kind of experiences you wish to have. We aimed to explore important cultural areas and sights that would expose us to dramatic landscapes and new experiences. Below I will give a summary of our budget, itinerary, favourite places/things, and tips for travel. BUDGET FOR TWO PEOPLE EXPENSE DESCRIPTION COST Flights Cairns to Bali $200 Cost of Living Per Day Accommodation, food, drinks $60 x 23 = $1380 Transportation Boats, Buses, domestic flights
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