The first-ever LCBO/Vintages virtual wine tasting could be a bit of a Pandora's box: you'll have to open three bottles of wine and it's really not a good idea to try and keep an opened bottle of red wine more than a day or two... so gather a few friends around your biggest computer screen.

In a webcast on March 18th at 7pm, LCBO product consultants Janet Nastamagu and Laura Ruffolo will be tasting and comparing notes on three malbecs at three different price points: Argento Malbec 2009, Fuzion Alta Malbec 2008 and Domaine Jean Boursquet Malbec 2007. You are not only invited to join in and taste at the same time, you can also submit questions and comments in real time.

It might be weirdly alienating or it might be great fun... but you'll definitely learn about key characteristics of this rising red that's only a minor grape in Bordeaux and southwest France these days, but that's become Argentina's signature big bold red and is rising in popularity here.

Check out the tasting's page. I'm guessing that the "Malbec Tango" and "Virtual Tasting" tabs don't go live until the day. But "Featured Wines" is working.

If you're a real tech-head you can apparently also get information about the virtual tasting by scanning the 2-D code on the in-store signage promoting the event with your cell phone at certain LCBO locations. The press release says customers "will be directly linked to the malbec virtual tasting landing page, where they can receive an overview of the event, submit a question prior to the event, view a short video with the two host product consultants, add the event to their favourite calendar or social media application and learn about the featured products."

I thought the "2-D code" might be like those electronic boarding passes you can now display on your Blackberry at the airport... but how would that work if you're standing in a store? So I just ignored it and quoted from the press release.

Then, Twitter to the rescue: shortly after tweeting the link to this story, I learned from Bryan McCaw how it will work when Wine Align introduces it next month. You use your phone cam to take a pic of it.

Speaking of Twitter, you can follow me. No cavalcade of minutiae, just intermittent wine-related tweets with links to events, stories etc. OK maybe a bit of minutia.