About Diane Nelson:

Diane Nelson is a long-time journalist and former Sun staffer who really likes wine. A lot. Chat with her online at www.vinelines.ca

• Vinelines: To prime or not to prime -- that is the question

  ‘Primer wines.’ I’ve been using that term a lot recently, and it’s time to delve into what the heck it might mean, and whether there’s any legitimacy to the notion it embodies. I’m not even sure the term exists in the wine lexicons of others, or if I just came up with it on my own. But what I mean by a primer is this: sometimes, in order to get the most out of a wine, it’s a good idea to wake up your palate with something else — another wine — before you get to the wine you really want to enjoy.

  View Full Column | 11/10/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Beautiful bubblies and respectable reds at Westman Wine Festival

  One of my favourite events of the year took place a couple of weeks ago. The Rotary Westman Wine Festival is always a delight — it’s run like a well-oiled machine, and every detail is attended to. The impeccable presentation, in addition to the chance to taste and compare dozens of wines, always makes for a memorable evening. Then there’s the added bonus of the wine discoveries one makes while at the festival, as well as the intrigue of seeing if follow-up purchases match one’s impressions from the event. Sometimes I find I like something even more when I try it post-winefest, and other times I realize my (admittedly compromised at the time) taste has been fickle at best.

  View Full Column | 11/3/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Vine Lines: A Swiss Army phone? Why not?

  I've just thought of a new app for my iPhone. A corkscrew.

  View Full Column | 10/20/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Vine Lines: This Chilean Chard is really nice -- but watch the vintage!

  “You’re not getting older. You’re getting better.” That was the slogan for “Clairol Loving Care Hair Color” in a pretty slick TV advertising campaign during the 1970s, created to make those who were a bit long in the tooth feel a little less so.

  View Full Column | 10/13/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Vine Lines: Riesling a great match for Thanksgiving turkey

  I’ve always been confused by Rieslings. And I’ve become even more so in recent years.

  View Full Column | 10/6/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• These Italian wines make you an offer you can't refuse

  It’s not too often that I’m surprised by a wine. I mean really, REALLY surprised.

  View Full Column | 09/29/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Silver Chardonnay a winner -- and the bottle is great, too!

  With gold prices in the stratosphere these days, they say silver is making a comeback. And with this Silver, I can certainly see why!

  View Full Column | 09/22/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• The Eisch (wo)man cometh -- and cometh again!

  I was going to begin this column by saying that, after today, I’d swear never, ever to write about the Eisch Sensisplus wineglasses again. But since I’m convinced that would be foolhardy as it’s likely to be a hollow promise, I’m not going to go there. So here’s the story: Just as I finished last week’s column, and sat back with a contented sigh, I thought to myself, “Oh geez!”

  View Full Column | 09/15/2012 1:00 AM | 1

• Vine Lines: Eisch Sensis Plus wineglasses as amazing as ever

  So here we go again… A few years back — almost four, I think — I was introduced by a dear friend to Eisch (then-called) Breathable wineglasses. I was skeptical of the company's claim that the glasses would, in two to four minutes, aerate wine to the same degree as two hours of decanting.

  View Full Column | 09/8/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• More-than-reasonable reds for more-than-reasonable prices

  Usually I remember when, where, and by whom I was introduced to a particular wine. In fact, I can’t recall an instance in which that hasn’t happened.

  View Full Column | 09/1/2012 1:00 AM | 1

• Creamy chocolate wine is a sinful surprise

  It’s just stupid. Really stupid.

  View Full Column | 08/25/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Rural liquor stores have products to satisfy picky city shoppers

  I’m a proud member of the Pelican Yacht Club. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t sail. I tried it, and thought I liked it. I took a week of lessons, and at the end of that five-day class, I was so enamoured that my husband and I even bought a boat!

  View Full Column | 08/18/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Great rooms, food and wine at Toronto airport hotel

  As is usual each year, I felt it was important last year to get away from home during the summer months. As much as I love July and August in Manitoba, the rigours of everyday work-a-day life are demanding and draining, and I think there’s nothing like travel to reinvigorate oneself. So I usually try to take a holiday of some sort during July and August. Last year, my husband, who scours the internet regularly to find great travel packages, discovered what we felt was a really good deal through WestJet Vacations for a trip to Barbados. We’d visited this tiny island in the Lesser Antilles six years before for six glorious hours, when we’d stopped off during our one and only cruise. (He got incurably, viciously seasick, and we’ll never cruise again. Not together, anyway. Which is sad, because I loved cruising!)

  View Full Column | 08/11/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Dry rosés offer great options for summer sipping

  Versatile. That’s the operative word when discussing dry rosés.

  View Full Column | 08/4/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Which wines hurt when you snort them up your nose?

  So I know Vine Lines is supposed to be about wine and not about books. But there’s a connection here, and I hope you’ll bear with me until I make it.

  View Full Column | 07/28/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• This Really Did Happen (A Mostly True Column)

  (Much of what follows was inspired by — or should I say is the fault of — blogger-turned-author Jenny Lawson, who wrote “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened — A Mostly True Memoir,” and whose stream-of-consciousness style of writing is similar to my own, except hers is much funnier. And a fuller exploration of her book will follow in next week’s column. But reading her work has freed me to use the voice inside my head OUTSIDE my head, which has been really liberating. So for this, I thank her. At least thus far. Let’s see what happens.) Our friends Ann and Michael came over for dinner a few weeks ago. We were having venison (yes, OC, I’m talking about venison AGAIN. I eat a lot of it. I TOLD you that. Don’t think it’s weird. It’s not! It’s delish!), so naturally, because I love the combination, I paired it with Shiraz. Well, a Shiraz and a Syrah. And that’s where the problem started. Well, not really a problem. Just a difference of opinion. A pretty STRONG difference of opinion. Anyway ...

  View Full Column | 07/21/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Cheap, cheery, charming whites super for summer sipping

  So it seems to be summer. And in summer, I drink a lot more white wine.

  View Full Column | 07/14/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• As far as wines go, Quails' Gate is first rate!

  As I’ve said in this space before, I rarely read columns by other wine writers. Before I try a wine, I don’t want my opinions or impressions to be coloured by what others columnists think, or like, or don’t like about a particular beverage. But when I got a notification a few months ago from The Globe and Mail (I subscribe to that publication’s e-newsletter) and wine critic Beppi Crosariol heartily endorsed the 2010 Quails’ Gate Chardonnay, and said it was only available in British Columbia, AND I was planning to be in Victoria just a couple of weeks later — well, as you might understand, I broke my ‘rule’ and read all that Crosariol had penned about the wine:

  View Full Column | 07/7/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Ottawa has lots to offer -- and great food and wine, too!

  I’ve been doing a lot of travelling this year — three personal trips and two business trips in the last 10 months. So I’m feeling like a seasoned veteran of self-check-in terminals and security and airports — one who, mind you, is now quite content to be probably spending at least the next few months at home. But one of my recent jaunts was to a conference presented by the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada (BEAC), a wonderful organization of which I am proud to be a member and to have served on the executive for a few years. This congregating of media professors is an annual highlight for me, and this year’s line-up of speakers, presenters and panelists, not to mention the brilliant instructors whose wisdom and insight and friendship I treasure, was the best ever. I learned so much, and I’m so grateful, yet again, to have had the opportunity to attend.

  View Full Column | 06/30/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Cool cats crave copious cups of coveted California concoction

  Cougar Juice... REALLY? Well, according to a young clerk at one of the Liquor Marts in Brandon, that’s what some industry insiders are calling it these days.

  View Full Column | 06/23/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• These wines are great -- hope you a-Gris!

  I really like it when people, especially people I know, recommend wines to me. I mean, a person can only look at so many bottles on the shelves before his or her eyes start to blur. What distinguishes one from the other? What makes people try a particular wine, when there are thousands more available to them?

  View Full Column | 06/16/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Open-mindedness opens new wine doors

  As Patti LaBelle sang a few decades back, “I’ve got a new attitude.” And it’s been serving me very well.

  View Full Column | 06/9/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Plenty of Pinots to please particular palates

  I really need to stop saying it. I do it all the time in this column, and then I’m forced to qualify.

  View Full Column | 06/2/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Sandhill is a beautiful wine and a beautiful line

  “Howard Soon is a genius.” That’s what I said to myself (I might have actually said it out loud, rather than inside my head — I’m honestly not sure) at the Winnipeg Wine Festival during the first weekend of May.

  View Full Column | 05/26/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• No need to break the bank for these weekender wines

  I like really great wine. But I like a bargain, too.

  View Full Column | 05/19/2012 1:00 AM | 0

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