The Argentina Wine Awards (AWA), one of the great annual events for the country’s wine industry, was held in Mendoza for the fourth consecutive year. During two days of closed-door tasting sessions, 12 Masters of Wine from 8 different countries evaluated the quality and progress of the Argentinean wine industry.

As with every year, the event was organized by Wines of Argentina and the Argentina Wine Corporation (COVIAR), with the collaboration of H&C, the English agency in charge of the design and organization of the tasting sessions, and Area del Vino, the Argentinean company responsible…

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MoRoCo is an acronym for owner Kelly Kimel’s labours of love: her two children and…cocoa. Once an art gallery; MoRoCo is an elegant, French inspired lounge in which every nuance, every accoutrement, has been lovingly created with no expense spared.

Enter through a sparkling boutique that showcases extreme chocolate confections into a Baroque salon of plush purple and tantalizing refinements. The menu reveals a culinary landscape fit for an Alice in Wonderland tea party, and entreats us with the decadent salutation: “Welcome all Chocoholics. We don’t promise sobriety. We encourage your addiction.”

All the chocolates…

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Olympic Postcards Notes on Olympic Memories, Cookbook Awards and The Most Romantic Night of the Year

Vancouver + Whistler, B.C. - Like yours, our Olympic memories are rife with wonderful individual moments and the spirit that celebrated excellence at every turn. We enjoyed a great mix of our regulars and locals at each of our restaurants - Araxi in Whistler, and Blue Water Cafe, CinCin, and West in Vancouver - along with many visitors, royals and celebrities of an extraordinary diversity. But in…

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To celebrate World Book Day, March 4, 2010, Emirates Airlines took thousands of travellers on a literary journey by orchestrating a mass book sharing initiative across its global network of more than 100 destinations. Lucky passengers on board every Emirates flight departing the airline's Dubai hub today were presented a novel as part of the annual drive to encourage the joy of reading and promote literacy. Cabin crew were integral to the operation, with more than 1000 of them arriving for duty with a stack of books written by authors who are part of the Emirates Airline Festival of…

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This winter thirty wines received the Judge’s Award for Best Value at the 2009 InterVin International Wine Awards, an intensive three-day blind tasting competition staged in September at White Oaks Resort & Spa in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The special citation was granted to wines receiving high scores from InterVin judges that retail for less than $15. The 30 best value winners — six of which are priced under $10 per bottle — represent a dynamic array of wines from Canada, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Italy, Spain, South Africa and United States. “Given that eight out of 10 bottles of wine sold in…

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It’s there in Black and White. Lunching with names in the movie-tone news at a chic beach front restaurant on the Croisette in Cannes, I ask the waiter in my best high school French for fresh black pepper for my Salade Nicoise. “You want black pepper,” he snarls, “go to Africa.” Still, he grudgingly brings an ancient pepper mill.

In restaurants all over the world, before I can put fork to lip, waiters are wielding pepper mills the size of Mark McGuire’s bat, grinding and twisting them at my table. I’ve become addicted to hot pepper: black,…

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St. Regis Installs Sculptures for Olympic Period and Beyond Set to Feature Pieces by Renowned Artist Seward Johnson

The St. Regis Hotel is featuring two works from renowned sculptor Seward Johnson during and beyond the Olympic period. The St. Regis Hotel Vancouver is already graced with a superb collection of original art which includes over 20 pieces placed throughout the public spaces of the building. This year, to coincide with the Olympics, the St. Regis Hotel is housing two pieces of art from internationally renowned sculptor Seward Johnson. The two sculptures that are installed, “Anticipation” and “Aprés-Ski,” capture…

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Top Table Bars Fête Olympic Victors with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Podium Athletes Invited to Celebrate at Araxi, Blue Water Cafe, CinCin + West

Vancouver + Whistler, B.C. - Winning an Olympic medal is no easy feat. The road is long, the sacrifices many, and the support structures that enable athletes to reach the podium are elaborate. But ask an Olympic athlete the key to their success, and the reply is almost always, "My family and friends." Araxi in Whistler, and Blue Water Cafe, CinCin, and West…

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Il Mulino always succeeded in providing casual neighbourliness as well as its natural sophistication. Managed with loving care and professionalism from the kitchen to the wine cellar to the service, no one element of the dining experience was ever taken for granted here, and so patrons have always expected, and been treated to, the very best. When ownership changed hands last fall some wondered if that high standard would be affected, until word broke that the new face at Il Mulino would be none other than Oscar Valverde of such renowned establishments as Sotto Sotto,…

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How do you pair oysters and wine? According to World Oyster Opening Champion, Patrick McMurry of Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill, “it all depends on your personal preference”. There are so many different varieties of oysters, and different types within those varietals, that to try to pinpoint one wine that goes well with each and every oyster would be in vain. Moreover, “wine changes by the year; oysters change by the week. Depending on that week’s weather—whether there was a lot of rain or not—the salinity in the water changes.” Therefore, McMurry suggests any of the “classic, traditional white…

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