Tuesday, April 27 2010

The Life of a Wine Man is Always Intense

Harry Dean Stanton, patron saint of all those who live life on the edge

It’s been a fast-forward, full-auto, two-fisted, red-meat kind of week around Chaos Manor, and it’s not about to let up soon. I finally got the last edits done for the instruction sets (whew, I’m glad I started early!) thanks mostly to the diligent work of my editor, Phyl, who has done yeoman’s work on them.

Next I had to get really cracking on the scripts for the new DVD I’ll be shooting in a month or so—this one will be for my Winemaking Excellence 101 program, teaching winemaking basics and protocols for Winexpert Retail Partners and Staff. This will be my third video where I’m writing, scripting, directing, co-editing and producing the whole she-bang. Luckily I’ve got Maverick Studios in my corner for professional shooting and editing work, and Julie backing me up (well, making sure I’m not slacking in an entirely-not-freaked-out-quite-yet kind of way).

Happy Drinky People

Also, last week was both the Vancouver International Wine Festival and the Fermenter’s Guild of Ontario trade show, so I was kept hopping. I attended the trade day on Thursday. I got some great ideas for Limited Edition wines for next year, met with old friends in the business and generally gathered some good intel and kept my palate sharp. Believe it or don’t, I studiously kept notes, drank with an agenda, and spit 90% of everything out. Of course, this means I was pretty drinky anyway, as there were 1700 wines to get through. Thank goodness for public transit!

The missus, light of my life--and she taught me to drink wine. Is it any wonder I love her?

My wife and I have a couple of completely unbreakable dates in our calendar, August 3rd (both BC day and her birthday, although she believes that the province is just being nice enough to throw her a parade and fireworks), New Year’s Eve and the Wine Festival. This is our 16th or 17th year, and we never miss. We make a big deal out of it too, with a nice dinner, dressing up and taking a limo (the trade days are one thing, but getting from White Rock to downtown Vancouver and back late on a Saturday night is not possible: taxis won’t take you [although they’re required to by law, they refuse] and there’s no transit, plus, a limo is fun, once a year) and swanning our way through the crowds like bigshots.

Of course, I couldn't let her have a better outfit than me!

We had a smashing time as usual, and this time I didn’t have to be so careful not to spit . . . except I did: I had to get up at 6 am to catch a plane to Toronto for the FGO conference. Oh my aching noggin! I did sleep on the plane (my poor seatmate is probably deaf in his left ear and still dealing with PTSD from my drooling) but by the time I got to Thorold and the Sheraton I was pretty bagged. However, I made it through a couple of meetings and a very nice banquet and hosting duties in the hospitality suite afterwards. The Sheraton is a pretty nice joint, but I could have slept on a pile of burning rocks I was so tired that night.

No, it's not elegant: it's work!

The next morning I was up early to prep solutions for my component tasting seminar. This is a fun event, because it’s outside of the realm of what most guided tastings cover: instead of dealing with aromas, I compare one white and one red wine to solutions of tannin, acid, alcohol, sugar and oak. Figuring out how the balance of a wine comes about and how high key/high dynamic balance wines are popular in tasting competitions but less fun when it comes to drinkability is pretty interesting for most folks. I even had a couple of attendees from the hotel restaurant who must have enjoyed the seminar: one of them bought me a pot of tea later that afternoon.

The Three Amigoons: Andy, Gavin and Peter pouring some Twisted Mist Strawberry Margaritas. Don't you wish you were there?

I hung out and got a chance to talk with a few people, and snagged a quick meeting with our Director of Sales, Gavin. The G-Unit and I rarely get a chance to sit and shoot the breeze anymore, not since he chose exile in the wastelands of Niagara on the Lake, so it’s really good to catch up on inter-company jibber-jabber and doings.

Then it was a race through GTA traffic back to the airport, where I promptly found out I had a six-hour wait for my plane, with no chance to take an earlier flight—something about a volcano and everyone in the world trying to get home all at once. At least my frequent flying has left me with the perk of the Air Canada lounge: free Guinness, wireless access and a nice selection of veggie-platters can compensate the weary traveller to a great degree.

I’ll hit dirt at about ten-thirty, wind up at home an hour after that and then it’s in to work for an early meeting and an action-packed week! I’ve got internal product testing tomorrow and a whack of correspondence to get through and some marketing write-ups.

But it’s okay: I think I’ll sleep good tonight.

Posted by Harry 'Tim' Stantongrift AT 1:30PM

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