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Buyer’s Guide to VINTAGES January 21 Release
John Szabo’s VINTAGES Preview January 21: Top California, As Voted by You; Icewine at the Table, Best 2018 Brunellos, Refreshing Aussie Reds and How to Prune a Grapevine By John Szabo, MS, with notes from David Lawrason, Michael Godel, Sara d’Amato and Megha Jandhyala We’ve got plenty of coverage for you in this report, featuring […] More
The Art of Vine Pruning: Getting Schooled in Lake County, California
By John Szabo, MS The most critical vineyard action takes place in the dormant season: pruning. Get it wrong, and your production drops at best. At worst, you shorten the life of a vine and compromise wine quality, while also causing yourself more work in the summer. This past December I took a trip down […] More
Text and Photos By John Szabo MS After tasting close to 150 Brunellos from the 2018 vintage last November in Montalcino, arriving in markets now, the overarching conclusions are that the vintage will provide plenty of drinking pleasure over the near and mid-term. It’s not generally a year that needs decades in the cellar. On […] More
National Wine Awards of Canada
Discover Canada's best wines! In 2021, 24 judges tasted over 2,200 wines from 260 wineries across the country to identify Canada's top wines.
View Award-Winning WinesThe Exchange
The Exchange is a club that taps into the world of wines beyond retail stores and delivers a curated, mixed case of top quality wines directly to your door. All the wines are 90pts+ and have been carefully chosen by our panel of critics for their quality and value.
View The Exchange
Meritage is pronounced Meh-rih-TIJ, rhyming with Heritage. This is a made-up word, registered as a US trademark, that wineries must pay to use on their wines. Back in 1989, wineries were all choosing names for their various blended wines, and it was getting hard to keep track of them all. An association was formed to try to define a "Bordeaux Blend" of grapes that was done on non-French soil. They had over 6,000 people submit choices for the name of this blend, and "Meritage" won. Just like Bordeaux, since they're made with the same grapes, Meritage wines tend to have a rich, full aroma. Depending on the particular blend, it can be blackberry, black cherry, spices, chocolate, and vanilla. Most Meritages have the Bordeaux signature flavours - cigar box, rich fruits, with a hefty feel. They're great with a steak, or with game meats - venison, pheasant etc.
