Informative to see you really like practical suggestions and tips – from corkscrews to wine glasses! Also vintage information and wine & food matching ideas. Please keep sending us your tough questions about either wine or food for this popular Wednesday feature.

1. Best Corkscrew for Older Corks

2. Best Method Of Drying & Polishing Wine Glasses?

3. Best & Worst Of Last 15 Bordeaux Vintages

4. Wine match for grilled salmon?

5. Storage of Wine with Screw-Top Closures?

6. What is the Best Order For Vertical Wine Tastings?

7. How long will Château Haut Brion 1985 last?

8. Best value white wine?

9. Best Vintages for Malbec in Argentina?

10. Best Service Temperature for Ports?

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Fun to look back on the regular Monday postings of our Blog during 2016. Pleased that the many diverse topics raised are also reflected in the Top 10. As expected you are interested in fine wine, quality food, and culinary travel. Surprised that alerting you about trendy smaller focused wine festivals topped the hits according to data. Look forward to providing some more thought provoking issues in 2017.

1. Small Focused Wine Festivals Are Trendy

2. Burgundy Wines La Paulee

3. 1986 Bordeaux at 30 Years

4. Tignanello & Guado Al Tasso Verticals

5. Seattle & Portland Tips

6. Comparing Bordeaux Twin Vintages 1989 & 1990

7. Best Italian Wines 2016 Rated By Gambero Rosso

8. Some Amazing Old Spanish Wines!

9. Magical Menu with Château de Fargues Sauternes

10. Culinary Skills of Canadian Chefs Shine Brightly

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Question: This Christmas we will have some friends visiting us from the UK. My daughter says we should serve them mulled wine. What are your thoughts?

Answer:  Excellent festive idea. Mulled wine is your own homemade recipe of usually red wine or white (or even for a non-alcoholic one use fruit juice like apple juice) boiled with various fruits, many spices and sugar to personal taste. Once made it can be served at almost any temperature you like anywhere between hot and cold. Perfect during winter when served hot and as an appropriate celebration for an old United Kingdom Christmas tradition. Similarly popular in many other countries too such as Scandinavian glogg, Chilean candola or German gluhwein. May not be the best matching wine for your turkey dinner but certainly lovely as an easy drinking warming beverage at any time over the holidays. These days if you are too lazy to make your own you can buy it already made up for you at retail. Check out the sweet cinnamon-orange Mrs. Beachley’s Mulled Wine from California selling in BC & Ontario for around $14 or the Warm ‘N Cozy one from Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery from Ontario at $12. Enjoy!

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Question: Last month at an anniversary dinner party I was served an old bottle of a Bordeaux marie jean. What is that?

Answer: That was indeed a special treat! I would need more information to give you a definitive answer on what you were served. However a Marie-Jeanne (or sometimes called Dame-Jeanne) is that rare Bordeaux unique format of 3 regular bottles (2.25 litres) between a magnum and a double magnum in size. Seldom seen currently. The best one I have enjoyed is the 1934 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande of Pauillac with May de Lencquesaing that was truly a memorable old complex bottle of wine. Hope your experience brought you that same joy.

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Question: Just moved to Cape Town and I drink chardonnay. What to do?

Answer: Experiment by trying all the different styles of chardonnay wines available there. Should be an enjoyable learning masterclass for you in finding the chardonnay wines you like best. My favourite is the Hamilton Russell from Hemel-en-Aarde Valley in South Africa. I enjoyed last month a well-balanced delicious bottle of their 2012 so well matched with a lobster dinner. The brand new 2016 Wine Spectator Top 100 has their current release 2015 scored 94 points and ranked #11. Please let us know what chardonnay you discover.

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