By John Szabo MS, with picks from Sara, David, and Michael

There’s No Time to Die. When I first sat down to write this intro almost two weeks ago, the fact that MGM’s announcement to delay the premier of the new Bond film, titled: “No Time to Die” from April until November seemed one of the bigger inconveniences of the times. To badly understate it, things have gotten a lot more serious. I won’t bother to rehash the absolutely unprecedented near total shutdown of the world. You’ve heard and read it all already. To borrow WineAlign CEO Bryan McCaw’s analogy, “It’s like a giant computer and we’ve got to press reset. And while it’s resetting, there is nothing we can do.”

Things are no different in the wine world. All press trips and wine fairs, from the world’s largest, like Prowein in Düsseldorf or Vinitaly in Verona, to small regional tastings, have been cancelled, postponed or closed, as have all wine courses and masterclasses, winemaker visits, winery tasting bars, indeed any event, place or circumstance where more than a couple of people would be sniffing, slurping, and spitting in close proximity (what could go wrong?). This includes the LCBO Vintages release tastings, which have been shelved until the end of April, at least.

Nonetheless, we have a list of excellent wine recommendations from the VINTAGES March 21st release. But my personal suggestion to you is: DO NOT BUY ANY OF THEM. There are smarter options.  Read more…