wine tips

Colour Me a Cab: Winelover Louise Wilson’s Crayons Come in Handy

September 12, 2012

When time (between wine) permits, The Hired Belly does like to dabble in the odd book review. But it’s been at least a couple of years since he pulled out his crayons for a colouring book. What have crayons and Cabernet in common—Aside from indigo? You might well ask. The Wine Lover’s Coloring Book, by [...]

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Alsace Puts a Spring in Our Palate

April 14, 2012

Up in the lofty surrounds of a marble clad tower high above downtown Vancouver, HiredBelly.com’s cutting edge IT department is still grappling with the challenge of how to present our ongoing Belly’s Best wine picks in a timely and easily accessible way. We’ll let you know when they finally get it figured out. (If they [...]

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Winners announced for the Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in British Columbia Wines

July 5, 2011

VICTORIA – The winners have been chosen for the 2011 Lieutenant Governor’s Awards for Excellence in British Columbia Wines. This year 309 wines were submitted from 83 wineries across the province. The winners are: • Howling Bluff Estate Winery 2009 Pinot Noir • Laughing Stock Vineyards 2010 Pinot Gris • Mt. Lehman Winery 2009 Viognier Reserve • Quinta Ferreira [...]

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When the lens speaks louder

June 27, 2011

One of our few regrets, we never seem to have enough time to get the photograph we really want. Images are becoming even more crucial these days, especially in the more visually driven on-line world. We like this shot of winemakers Howard Soon and Stephanie Leinemann for any number of reasons, none the least of [...]

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Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival Features Chile in 2012

April 13, 2011

We’re still scrambling to catch up on myriad Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival experiences (maybe it’s time to come up with a niftier handle?) that we’ll distill down and share in coming weeks. Out of 30,000 bottles, we figure did more than our share of tasting. The big news (and worst kept secret) announced at [...]

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What Makes the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival So Special, Anyway?

March 24, 2011

Here at Hired Belly’s lavish corporate headquarters, we’re resting up in preparation for the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (March 28-April 3)—one of the longest running and most successful wine events on the continent. If you live in Vancouver and drink wine but have never been (for shame!), there’s no time like the present. While [...]

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Our $38 Dine Out Picks. But First, Is Your Glass of Wine Priced Right?

January 24, 2011

$38 Menu Picks -scroll, scroll $28 Menu Picks $18 Menu Picks Okay. We’ll admit it. We were just a tad distracted in getting to our $38 Dine Out picks—detoured in part by the rising cost of a glass of wine. Truly smart restaurants are as creative with their wine offerings as they are with their [...]

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Could You Become a Zork Dork?

January 24, 2011

Last week we spent a couple of enjoyable and informative hours with Shingleback winemaker Jahn Davey, from Australia’s McLaren Vale. Wines tasted ranged from Shingleback 06 D-Block Shiraz (sequel to the celebrated 05 Jimmy Watson award winner) to value-based workhorse Red Knot Shiraz (BCLS $19.99) and Cabernet. The nicely designed Red Knot package comes with the [...]

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Running With the Pack at Dine Out Vancouver: Hired Belly’s $28 Picks

January 15, 2011

Sorting through the $28 list at DoV is more of a challenge. It’s tough to come up with just ten choices—and there are others not mentioned here who likely deserve to be. Once we’ve covered off the $38 picks, we’ll revisit this. Feel free to chime in if you have good experiences you want to [...]

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B.C. Wines: Unsung Players in Rise of Vancouver’s Culinary Scene

January 9, 2011

As you can see from elsewhere here, and from the crescendo this week of the on-line buzz surrounding the live launch of this year’s 200 plus menus, Dine Out Vancouver has more than earned its place as the country’s biggest restaurant promo of its kind. Now while you will hear plenty about deals on meals, [...]

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