Tag Archives: Wine

Words – February 2016

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published this month:

On the blogs:

  • #HOTGV: On Bordeaux and the Chinese wine market with Suzanne Mustacich

Luscious ice wines, sticky maple syrup and a marshmallow to top it off: Why Niagara is the sweetest place on Earth

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on MailOnline on 27th February 2016:

Minus 10 degrees Celsius is a feeling that’s difficult to explain until you’ve felt it.

It’s the moment your face begins to feel the chill and then moments later, almost nothing at all. Until, that is, the wind lowers the temperature just a few degrees further and it becomes colder than you knew possible.

Those were the bracing conditions I faced when I travelled to Canada for the first time – to Ontario’s Niagara-on-the-Lake for the ice wine festival.

Read more at MailOnline

Chinese New Year is a celebration of feast and family

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on Matching Food & Wine on 7th February 2016:

Food, drink and travel writer Qin Xie explains what the Chinese drink with the most important feast of the year and what goes down well in her own family.

Like Christmas, missing the familial gatherings during this fifteen-day festival is, in a word, unthinkable. That’s why each year, millions of Chinese battle the impossible crowds to return for that reunion.

Typically, a feast on New Year’s Eve is a table loaded with dishes and surrounded by multiple generations. It will start at lunch, which might be lighter, with a break for snacks, tea and games like mahjong or cards, before continuing onto dinner. Several members of the family will have invaded the kitchen at some point to lend a hand or to create their signature dishes.

Read more at Matching Food & Wine

Words – January 2016

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published this month:

On the blogs:

The freshest seafood and the most lovingly made wines: Why gorging on the sensory delights of Chile’s Aconcagua Valley will leave you absolutely speechless

by Qin Xie | Leave a comment

Published on MailOnline on 29th November 2015:

Lush, green grape vines, neatly trellised in cross-directional rows, cut through the landscape. The sun slouched and cast a dim orange hue over the loose soil. Beyond, the snow-capped Andes framed the idyllic view.

It should be beautiful, but it’s not – there’s an unmistakable feeling of desolation in the air.

The soil is dry, cracked and studded with rocks. Sparse grass growing in between the rows resembled a bed of straw. And the only thing that took my breath away was the wind, which threatened to steal my hat at any given opportunity.

Read more at MailOnline