Pine Cone

Right now I'm sat here in Aussie, eating my overpriced imported British Blue Stilton and drinking a tasty glass of locally produced McLaren Vale Shiraz, that would have cost me less in Tesco after being shipped 12,000 miles arong the planet.

Recommend to me some of the cheeses and wines (imported or locally produced ones) and wines that are readily available in Canada. Tell me how overpriced they are too please. Can you even get decent stinky ripe blue and mould ripened cheese there? How easy it is to get imported cheese from Europe?

dbd33

Almost all kinds of cheese are readily available so long as you're prepared to drive to the St. Lawrence Market. Similarly, a fantastic selection of wine is available just down the road in Buffalo NY.

The rest of Canada is, I believe, hopeless for cheese and not much cop for food generally. Alcohol is weirdly regulated so you need to be near to the US border for that.

Canada does have lobster on the one coast and salmon on the other. That's nice.

gryphea

You can get good cheese elsewhere in Canada. Good cheese is available in Calgary. But its very pricey

Pine Cone

Give me some examples of pricey?

My 125g block of Blue Silton was a shade under AU$10. Is that bad? I don't know as I stopped compaing prices with the UK years ago.

BristolUK

No doubt that market has a great selection but away from the chiller cabinets containing the standard Cheddars, Gouda and 'Swiss' surely the bigger supermarkets all have their separate cheese sections with the Irish alternatives, Derbyshire, Stilton, Wensleydale, Gruyere, Emmental, Brie, Camembert, Cambozola, Parmigiano Reggiano, DuVillage 1860 Sir Laurier, Saint-André, Dame du Lac, Provolone, Sauvagine, Roquefort, Bocconcini, Various Goat...and all those I recognise by sight but can't remember the name....

I lifted a couple of those names from the Sobeys website (I'd not heard of them ) but they and Superstore sell a ton of different cheeses of the 'non-plastic' variety.

It may not match what I remember from across-the-channel trips but it seems no less than I recall from Sainsbury and Tesco. Perhaps they stock more now.

Either way, it's a long way from hopeless. I'm sure they have most of those requested by John Cleese.

Shirtback

Lots of excellent and reasonably affordable local and imported (especially French) cheese in QC, not necessarily in supermarkets however.

The St. Lawrence market is amazing, imo; I did find it a tad expensive.

In reference to your specific example of Stilton: my local IGA is advertising it at 8,69 $ CDN for 150g.

dbd33

I have access to the Superstore. Indeed, I looked at their cheese selection on Friday to see if there was anything that would do to keep us going for a few days pending going to the market. I've fallen into that trap before, taking home something like Balderson's only to feel disappointed and even cheated that I'd shelled out good money for something so bland.

The supermarket selection is, I suppose, adequate if you intend to melt the cheese and dump it over your previously frozen reconstituted oven fries.

dgagitw

In Toronto, there's a huge selection of cheese available at Loblaws on Carlton & Church (including stilton and other blue stuff) or, if you prefer smaller shops, there's Nancy's Cheese and many other small deli places. Booze is pricey as others have noted and the selection is mostly limited to what the LCBO has decided to stock. Having said that, you can get all the usual brands you're used to albeit at slightly inflated prices compared to the UK (possibly not compared to Aus though).

BristolUK

Yes, I've read you post that before and I don't doubt you're way ahead of me on cheese expertise. But this time we're not talking how tasty or otherwise you find the cheddars. This is about selection and I'm quite sure that most of the selection available in the Deli areas of Superstore/Loblaws and Sobeys is not something you want to melt.

dbd33

The camembert typically available at the Superstore are fine if you just want to conceal a pill before feeding it to the dog. For eating, not so much.

Alan2005

The cheese selection at the supermarkets round here has really improved over the last few years. They even have imported wensleydale, double gloucester and red leicester now.

I quite like baldersons, but it's pricey for what it is. Still, while I like good cheese, I'm not at dbd level's of snootiness - as long as it's not the orange/white brick kind (which we do actually buy to put dog tablets in) I can probably eat it and enjoy it, or at least drown it out with a pickled onion.

not2old

available in the GTA under government controlled outlets at a place called the LCBO

From the website, search the catalogue of offerings of what you like & the price. Many, OZ, NZ, SA & the rest of the world is available

Wine

When it comes to cheese, the GTA supermarkets have a good selection. You could google Toronto cheese stores

Top 5 Cheese Shops in Toronto - Dose

or take a trip through St Lawrence market

St. Lawrence Market : Directory

St. Lawrence Market : Directory Individual Vendor

St. Lawrence Market : Directory Individual Vendor

MarkG

The cheese we picked up from the Cheesiry last time we drove to and from Edmonton was pretty tasty, but it doesn't last as long as the plastic supermarket stuff, and I don't fancy driving 500km to restock.

not2old

There are several McLaren Vale Shiraz on sale in Ontario. How do the following few compare?

Chapel Hill Shiraz 2012 | LCBO

Skulls McLaren Vale Currency Creek Shiraz | LCBO

Dandelion Vineyards Lioness of McLaren Vale Shiraz 2012 | LCBO

price comparison for the same plonk sold in other countries

Chapel Hill Shiraz, McLaren Vale, Australia: prices

.

neill

In Calgary I note there are generally 3 separate cheese sections:

1) The Kraft "Cheese" section;

2) The locally sourced supermarket bulk section (usually the best price/quality compromise);

3) The imported section. $10 and up for a modest brick.

I usually went for (2) but if i was feeling exotic or had just been paid, ventured into section (3).