Olympics and Wine
Yes, the two go very well together...

Sports has been pretty prevalent in my world since my good ol' country days. I remember being in elementary school and loving the day when track and field would came around. My favourite track & field sports were the 50 and 100 meter sprint and high jump. But they were only my favourite because I ended up always getting a ribbon in them. You would never find me signed up for shotput, ball throw or the 800 meter - I was never any good at those and you had to train for those ones. I also used to heavily play school team sports. Basketball and volleyball were my niche. Yes, as you can guess I was the point guard on basketball team, and spiking and blocking were never my strong suits in volleyball. My Dad (aka the best dad in the world) also used to coach my basketball team in an independent basketball league, and truly taught me the importance of teamwork. I played both Volleyball and Basketball for most of my time at High School as well. But once university hit, it was work, work and more work, and unfortunately I had no time for sports.

However, with the Olympics just finished, a blog on Sports and Wine seemed the perfect fit. I have to admit (and please don't judge) that watching the Olympics isn't the most exciting thing in the world, however, I truly enjoy routing for our Canadian Athletes. Even though the US tends to always grab the medal spotlight, there is nothing sweeter than seeing the Mens Eight win Gold.

From a media coverage perspective the CBC did a great job, and it was in HD to boot. The interactive website, with up to date medal standings and current competition videos were amazing. It was nice seeing Ron McLean in China, and he was great reminding us that China was 12 hours ahead, or else I would never have remembered.
Check out the CBC website with more Olympic information here.

After 16 days of the Olympics Canada came in 19th place overall. Not to shabby, but nothing to brag about either (as you can see from the final medal standing image above). Kudos goes to the US, China, Russia, Great Britain and Germany on making the top 5 medal standing spots. Congrats obviously also goes out to to Michael Phelps! If anyone could win 8 medals in any ONE Olympic Game, it was him. Congrats!
Other than the crazy smog all around Beijing (That is where the Olympics took place this year if you have been asleep the last 2 weeks) China did a great job of both the opening and closing ceremonies. The closing ceremonies were out of this world! There were a crazy amount of fireworks and very exciting pyromania that made the closing ceremonies, they were just phenomenal to watch.

Speaking of Olympics, in 2010 the Winter Olympic games are coming to Canada and are taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia. When it comes down to it there is nothing better that Canadian's do better than Winter Sports - so we should have a great shot on some Gold Medals. Vincor Canada is one of the Official Suppliers (of wine) of the 2010 Olympics, and hopefully they will be serving some of our truly Canadian Icewine. That is something we can surely win a Gold in!

Speaking of wine and China for that matter, it only makes sense to talk about the wine. One of the most popular wine that is being produced in China has been well coined and is called "The Great Wall Wine" (the label is the the left). Now to be completely honest, I haven't tried any Chinese Vino, but the name is sure fitting! They have a Dry Red and a Dry White option as well as a sparkling wine.


Wines to Drink to Celebrate our 19th place in the Summer Olympics:

Inniskillin Icewine - From Inniskillin Wines
Peller Estates Icewine - from Peller Estates Winery
Trius Brut Sparkling - From the famous Trius Family
Juliette Sparkling - from Palatine Hills
Hernder Pink Rose - from Hernder Estates

Joseph Phelps Cab Sauvignon - From Joseph Phelps

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To purchase great Ontario Wine Visit the iYellow Wine Store
To learn more about Great Wall wine click here
To learn more about Vincor Canada click here

August 27, 2008

A TRUE GIRLS NIGHT OUT
| Wine & Sex... & Music Anyone? |

I know what you're thinking, and no this blog write-up isn't anything about a Menage a Trois with some lovely ladies, and it isn't even about the the Menage a Trois wine, which sadly doesn't come out till 2009, this story is really about a Home Sex Toy Party. Some would compare this type of home party to a tupperware party gone 21st Century, but much more exciting. And what could possibly be a better match with a Home Sex Toy Party than a glass of Full bodied (or not full bodied) wine to sip on.

Girls nights out, are a very popular and a much needed agenda item for girls. We girls need our girl time, it keeps us sane and allows us to do what we do best and no it isn't pillow fighting or feeding each other ice cream. Girls take nights out to catch-up with each other and of course do a bit of gossiping. But more than anything we get to together because we love just being girls. That means being able to openly talk about lots of very girly things, such as makeup, hair, fashion, wine and of course shoes.

If you know me at all, you will know that I really enjoy entertaining, and more than anything I love throwing Girls Nights. The one nice thing about a girls only night is that women seem to know how to help out that extra little bit so hosting the party isn't so labour intense. You can always expect a woman to say "Can I help?", or ask "What can I do?". Women lighten to load, take part in the hosting and are always happy to do so.

My latest Girls night out was my 3rd Annual Fantasia Party. In total I had 25 hot ladies at my house on a Thursday night. Each one bringing a bottle of wine and their wallets ready for lingerie, sexy toys, massage oil, bubble bath and much much more! All of us drank wine and had some fantastic cheese before the real party got started. Usually when you come to my parties there is always a cool wine component to them too! On this occasion everyone's bottle was put into the middle of the table, and we all got to share and drink all sorts of wine from around the world. It wouldn't be a true girls night without some Riedel "O" glasses to drink our wine from! Some of the wines we were to enjoy were Gnarly Head Cabernet & Chardonnay, which is a great Californian wine, with a really funky label. And we also enjoyed some fantastic Girls Night Out Rose that had a small sparkle in the taste. It seemed to go over very well with the girls and was gone quite quickly. It was also really nice to see that someone brought a VQA wine to the party - because the wines in Ontario are World Class!! Colio Estates Winery makes this wine and it is also available in the LCBO for a about $13 a bottle.

Some other "girly" wines that should have been at the party are, Pink Slip Rose by Megalomaniac, Little Black dress, Montes Cherub Rose, Lulu B, and I'm sure there are lots more that could have been there as well*. Overall, we all had an amazing time and went home with some really exciting goodies! Iam sure this will become a great annual party and already I can't wait till next year!

* Do you know a wine that should be a girls party? Enter it into the comments for this article

Sharon has been our Fantasia lady for 2 years now, and she is honestly the best one in the business. She brought along her daughter Sarah who fit right in! Now you would think that selling sex toys with your mom would be a weird thing, but they were such a team and really complimented each other. Sharon & Sarah you were awesome!!

If you wish to have your own Fantasia party you can contact Sharon and be sure to tell her Ange sent you. Sharon can be reached at 416-505-7660 or fantasiabookings@gmail.com through Shawn her booking rep.

Music to go with a Fantasia Party or A sexy glass of vino:
Salt N Peppa - "Lets Talk about Sex" click here
Color Me Badd (The In living Colour episode) - "I wanna Sex you up!" click here
Justin Timberlake - "I'm Bringing Sexy Back" click here
Marcy Playground - "Sex & Candy" click Play on the YouTube Video Below



Lambs in the Vineyard
Dave from Featherstone Winery Explains why Lambs?

To view more Le Gourmet Videos click here
To visit Featherstone Winery click here


I was in Pure Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock Film Review

Alike many of the Bottles in the world that go through Bottle Shock, I was in shock and pure happiness that another film about wine would appear in theatres. And Yes as you may have guessed, Pax and I, were very enthusiastic about the pre-screening we were able to attend thanks to Wine Beagles and Bottle Shock!. We brought along a whole bunch of iYellow Wine Club members to see the pre-screening of the California Wine Film called Bottle Shock. If you're wondering how all of us got tickets, all I have to say is that is pays to come to our events, there are always great giveaways! Also a thanks goes out to Wine Beagles who were a great partner on this event and also were able to come to our pre-screening reception on Monday night!

I had a few thoughts about the film and figured I would do my first ever real film critique. I am no Siskel, Ebert or Roeper, but none the less, I do drink wine for a living and love watching movies, so it can't really be that hard can it? I wonder who really has the better job, film critiques or people in the wine industry. For me life couldn't be any better, wine and great film about wine, I would say "Yes please, I will certainly take seconds."

Here are my thoughts on the film.

CAST & CREW
Overall, Funny, witty, and very enjoyable to watch. Great casting, directing, and writing.

Director: Randall Miller

Producers : Marc Toberoff, Jody Savin, J. Todd Harris, Randall Miller, Marc Lhormer & Brenda Lhormer

Screenwriters: Randall Miller, Jody Savin, Ross Schwartz

Starring:

SOUNDTRACK
Personally, I loved the music. It was very relaxing and suited the film quite well. Wonder where I can buy the Soundtrack... would love to have it, any ideas?

PHOTOGRAPHY
I really enjoyed the vineyard shots that were present many times during the film, that might just be because I am a wino, but at the same time, I think they really captured the beauty of the vine and all the mother nature elements of California (such as the earth, soil, grapes, leaves, sun etc). However, I would have to say that there was a few too many long aerial shots, I kind of felt like I was seeing the same images over and over again. But as said, love looking at any vineyard no matter how many times, it is still beautiful to me : )

SET
The set was just dynamite. I enjoyed the vintage vehicles, the cool chateaus, the bar scenes, and the final wine tasting scene a la Francais was my favourite set with the coolest details, including vintage king and queen chairs, great glassware and a just gorgeous location. The stunning details throughout the film I really enjoyed seeing and appreciating (such as a faded logo on the car door of Chateau Montelena drove mostly by Bo and Jim Barrett).


STORYLINE
Other than the broad concept which was a great and also very American Concept, there were a few things i didn't really like. I didn't like how the only woman in the film wass portrayed in a very sexualized light. Overall, The casting was basically men, with only 2 real woman in the entire film, the other one being a final judge at the finale tasting. Personally I think there could have been a better integration of females into the story line - but that is just me. The end of film was horrible when it came to the romantic part of the storyline. Sam and Bo jump on eachother like they were made for eachother, when clearly this relationship has barely been developed. All in all, the romantic part of the story line wasn't well told, however, the wine story was well told so kudos to California wine!

STYLIST
Ok someone please cut Bo's hair, honestly by the end of movie, I just didn't understand why it couldn't of changed at all, it stayed long and straggly the entire time, so unattractive. However, there were some great coveralls that may very well come back in style (especially on women) after this film!


Overall, I would give the film a 4/5 stars. I think it is definitely worth seeing, especially on the big screen in the Theatre. It obviously isn't a Sideways film - and I bet you're asking why is that? - well the answer is this... Sideways had no pretention, no ideology of "we are American and we need to conquer the world" it really focused on the addition of wine (specifically Pinot Noir) to your lifestyle and loving what it brings. Sideways was Sweet, short and simple. Bottle Shock was very Americanesque in styel and resembled that of an American war movie. However, I am a firm believer in making wine and not war, so overall it is a way better film than an American war film, and even though it was a bit to American, I still enjoyed watching it.

SHOCKING WINES PERFECT FOR THE FILM:
  1. Bottle of Chateau Montelena - Pricy, but a wickedly cool way to experience the film and contribute to its wine authenticity.

  2. Naked - Not you the wine! Get a bunch of people together and taste all the wines you are drinking blind (or Naked as we like to call it!), Gustavo does a great job of picking out wine with his intense palate totally blind in his home "Cheers" like bar. If you're interested in purchasing the Naked Wine Tasting kit, email us for the iYellow Discount!

  3. Red truck Wines - Jim Barret, drove around in a red truck throughout out the film, as did Bo sometimes too, but this is a cool wine, that is also from California and it also has a unique parallel to the film.

Special thanks again goes to our partners for the screening as well as the Shocking Reception!! Wine Beagles and Bottle Shock! :



More info:

To learn more about the Film Bottle Shock click here
To learn more about California Wine click here
To learn more about Chateau Montelena click here
To learn more about Red Truck Wines click here (yes they are available in the LCBO)
To learn/buy the Naked Wine Tasting Kit Click here
To learn more about WIne Beagles click here


Aug 5, 2008