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An Introduction to Vintage Assessments by Gilberto Bojaca
Tasting and sharing information has always been a passion for Michael Vaughan aToronto-born economist, professor, journalist and creator/owner of Michael's Mussels. As a consumer wine advocate, he originally developed this not-for-profit website to share his personal reviews on wines and spirits for new LCBO VINTAGES releases.
Vintage Assessments was first published pro bono in 1990 for the Sommelier Guild of Canada at George Brown College). Prior to the pandemic, he personally tasted every Vintages release at weekly tastings in the LCBO's head office Toronto lab.
His website currently provides readers with 75,000+ detailed linked LCBO VINTAGES releases dating back over two decades.
For consistency, all tasting notes are based on the ISO certified wine tasting glass. Up until recently Michael was tasting up to 7,000+ bottles annually. These unpaid-for & unsolicited reviews are posted for fellow wine lovers on his paywall-free website which currently receives up to 4,000+ individual visitors daily.
An internationally-accredited wine judge & a founding director of the Society of Wine Educators at University of California (Davis campus), Michael is one of Canada’s leading wine critics. For 9 years he was the award-winning weekly columnist at the National Post. Before that he was the national wine columnist at the Globe & Mail and Financial Times of Canada along with Toronto Life Magazine.
He has traveled extensively judging at numerous international competitions - including the California State Fair, Vinexpo Bordeaux, VinItaly, South Africa's VERITAS & ABSA Top Ten Pinotage, Argentina's Vinos Los Andes, etc. His most recent judgings were the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon (2020) and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.
All 400+ weekly National Post features are archived on this website. A former economics professor at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) he holds a UofT PhD in international trade theory.
He is currently involved with various fund-raising activities and in 2021 donated 2,500 bottles of curated & controlled-temperature stored Canadian wines from his personal collection to Brock University's CCOVI Canadian Wine Library. In 2023, he supported the Scarborough Health Network Foundation with various donations and continues to appear and donate wines at various events, from Dymon Wine Cellar and Toronto Vintner's to Deppaneur.
As the LCBO no longer permits any certified wine writers to attend/taste upcoming Vintages releases, only a limited number of biweekly items are now reviewed - hopefully the best. The website offers linked pdfs of all Vintages Release Catalogues plus linked Release summaries (with case numbers and agent id) PLUS new wine & spirits discoveries from judgings & trade events from around the world. For more information email mbv@uniserve.com