Tuesday, January 6 2009

Mmm, there's nothin' like home cookin'

One of the things I hear from consumer winemakers is that their home wines sometimes don't measure up to their expectations (well, I hear that a lot, actually, from people who are tasting it during primary fermentation or from the carboy, a week or so after pitching the yeast. 'It tastes sharp and funny! What's wrong?' Well sir, perhaps if you took a pork roast out of the oven when it was half-cooked and tried to cut yourself a slice, you'd find it odd-tasting as well).

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Monday, January 5 2009

Just looking at this picture makes me want to take up smoking and drinking bourbon.

I love modern journalism. So much of it has been streamlined to make way for more advertising and less budgets for research, follow-up and analysis that the most errant nonsense shows up as gospel, and gets recirculated by other news services eager for cheap and usually sensational pronouncements that sell papers (or increasingly, pixels).

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Friday, January 2 2009

Coffee, the most important meal of the day for a Santa Claus in training

The Annual White Rock Polar Bear Swim was a success. My pal David couldn't swim, as he came down with a rotten cold at the last minute, but he did show up to take pictures for me, which does show a lot of fortitude. It was one of the coldest swims I can remember--less than 2ºC out there!

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Wednesday, December 31 2008

There must be something between us, even if it's only an ocean of wine.

Another year on it's way out, and a busy one it was: national elections in Canada and the USA (yes, America had one too, believe it or not), total financial meltdown (apparently I'll be retiring when I'm one hundred and sixty-five), grape harvests, the Wine Spectator spoofed, mergers and acquisitions in the kit industry wine running from water fountains (and vice versa) and Victoria British Columbia, Canada's Riviera, had the most snow of any city in Canada on December 25th.

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Tuesday, December 30 2008

It's been a busy season for my liver

'Tis the season to be drinky, and to share good bottles with friends. Despite the cooler weather we've been eating some lighter dishes, and thus the spread is heavy on whites right now--with a few interesting exceptions.

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Thursday, December 25 2008

Where's the Festivus pole? Photo by Wikimedia

The wheel of the year rolls on, and it's hjól. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hannukah or other midwinter and religious festivals may the season bring you blessings and the new year challenges and joys.

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Tuesday, December 16 2008

If the glass fits . . .

There's an old legend that the classic coupe glass was modeled on the endowments of Marie Antoinette. I can understand how this has an appeal as a salacious story, but it's pretty darn silly. First, coupe glasses and the broad, shallow bowl style have been around a lot longer than 18th century France:

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Tuesday, December 16 2008

Do you love potatoes?

"Oh, do you like potatoes?"

Do I like potatoes? I like:
Mashed potatoes
Boiled potatoes
Scalloped potato
Whipped potato
Curried potato
French-fried potatoes
Baked potato

"Hash browns!"

Potato chips
Potato roti
Potato soup
Potato salad
Potato knish
Potato pari
Potato gelatti
Potato fritters
Potato pancakes

"Buddy, oh I want a potato pancake!"

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Sunday, December 14 2008

I'd drink to that

December 5th marked the 75th Anniversary of the enactment of the 21st amendment to the US constitution, repealing the 18th amendment, also known as the Volstead act. It ended an experiment in social engineering that started on January 16th 1920 (pretty visionary of them to enact it on an important date like my (eventual) birthday).

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Wednesday, December 10 2008

Don't you wish you worked here?

What is it with Italians and plumbing? Attentive readers may recall my blog of October 21st, when I made fun of Italian plumbing and household taps suddenly running with wine (sure it won't get out stains in the wash, but you won't care).

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Monday, December 8 2008

Oh, the humanity!

Just a couple of months ago the unbounded greed of French winemakers in the Champange region of France was on display for all to see. With ever-increasing demand for bubbly, they lobbied the INAO to expand the boundaries of 'Champagne' to include land previously on the basis of 'quality'.

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Thursday, December 4 2008

I'd ride off into the sunset, except my horse can't swim . . .

My candle burns at both its ends;
It will not last the night;
But oh, my foes, and oh, my friends --
It gives a lovely light.

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Friday, November 28 2008

Contrary to photographic perspective, Cal's customers actually look up to him.

It's my last night in Calgary and I'm doing a Limited Edition tasting event for Cal and Tom of The Vineyard, a Calgary wine supply shop with locations in the north and south. I've known the proprietors for at least 15 years, and this is my first event with them in three or four years. It's going to be great to see them and their customers again.

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Thursday, November 27 2008

At Home With the Vintner

What is it with bearded guys and wine?

It's another beautifully sunny day in Calgary, and after a bit of business this morning I'm off to the Cambrian Heights community centre and a Limited Edition tasting for The Home Vintner. Paul Sass (pictured above) and I have known each other for many years, and he's been teaching winemaking classes as long as I have. I understand we've got a big crowd tonight, so I'm glad my voice is recovering and my cold is abating.

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Tuesday, November 25 2008

Apostrophes and winemaking, two great tastes in one!

Another day in sunny and fine Edmonton, and I'm looking forward to seeing all the folks at the Cap an' Corks event at Delwood community hall. One small catch for me:

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Monday, November 24 2008

Dionysisus, aka Bacchus. For a god normally characterised as 'womanly', this statue is

really macho . . . it is for a beer company, so maybe they know their audience

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Thursday, November 20 2008

Is it am already? I'm late!

My friend David Foley sent me an interesting link the other day. It's a segment from the news program, Canada am, by reporter Pat Foran, on Wine On Premise. I'm normally pretty gun-shy about news reports on our industry. It's not that I'm unwilling to talk (ha ha ha, that's funny) or that I think we have anything to apologise for, but it's a lot easier and for producers to take the angle of 'look at the funny people making fake wine'--looking at someone else ironically is a kind of culture virus that doesn't really convey the right kind of message, for me, and I've seen dozens of news pieces that talked about consumer wine disparagingly.

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Thursday, November 20 2008

Makes sense to me!

It was another great night at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg. We had just under 200 people in attendance for the lecture and tasting, and it seemed like everyone had a good time:

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Tuesday, November 18 2008

And if Vicky Hanover shows up, she'll be all set

Whew! We made it all the way to Brandon today, through icy conditions and freezing wind. My Starbucks chilled down to a frappuccino all by itself! Good to be back in the heart of the prairies, though.

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Tuesday, November 18 2008

First things first: my event for Signature Wines in Comox was a huge success!

Would you make wine with these people? Of course you would!

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Tuesday, November 11 2008

Remembrance Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

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Tuesday, November 11 2008

Hong Kong? Paris? Not important enough to rate their own clock.

Comox might not be the most beautiful place on earth, but it's in the running. I'm off there tomorrow to do a Limited Edition tasting for my pal Sigrid at Signature Wines. She runs a wonderful store, and has some great folks working for her, so I'm looking forward to dropping in on them. It's been a few years since I've seen them and that's too long!

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Thursday, November 6 2008

Always yakking, while the poor folks wait patiently to taste wine.

We had a great night out in Sidney, with a Limited Edition tasting for customers of Peninsula U-Brew Winery. Stan and Marueen went all out, and the venue was great, the food was spectacular (they had a great caterer working with them) and the crowd was lively and asked some great questions. Good job, everybody!

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Thursday, November 6 2008

Hiya Joe!

Wine: is there nothing it can't make better? According to a study done at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, wine may protect against dementia. The study was a long-term population study began in 1968. According to their findings,

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Monday, November 3 2008

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour? No!

Ah yes, this is the part where I insert the obligatory apology for not updating my blog on a more regular basis. Anyone remember the scene between John Belushi and Carrie Fisher in The Blues Brothers, where he 'apologises' for leaving her at the altar? "I ran outta gas. I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locust's. It wasn't my fault!! I swear to God!!"

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Tuesday, October 21 2008

Now, if I can find the meat fountain and the salad waterfall, I'm set.

Not since the Mario brothers stereotyped Italian plumbers as tortoise hating, gorilla baiting, princess-rescuing do-gooders has civilisation seen such a miracle of modern ablutionary events. According to The UK Times online, bungling plumbers caused wine to flow from the taps of local residents.

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Tuesday, October 21 2008

Cal! Don't look so sad!

Ah, Limited Edition season. For me it forms about one-third of my entire work year. It’s not just being on the road from the beginning of October until the middle of December: there’s a lot of work involved in choosing and testing the Limited Edition varietals, the commercial equivalents for tasting purposes, and the recipes and food items that match up with them. Once that’s done I put together a one-hour presentation on regions, grapes, flavours and foods for use across Canada, the USA, England, Australia and New Zealand, etc. etc.

It occurs to me at this late date that when I say ‘Limited Edition Tasting Event’, some folks might not know exactly what I mean. It’s simple enough in concept: we partner up with a retailer who wants to show off this year’s Limited for his customers, show up and give a talk about the wine, do some Q&A, and then try the wines with some food.

One thing: the wines themselves are not Winexpert kit products. In Canada this would be illegal under all circumstances, and there’s no getting around it. We could do it in some places in the USA, but there’s a hitch: none of the kits exist yet, except as 3-litre benchtop prototypes. In some cases we’ve only just gotten our hands on the juices from Europe by November. So we go to the local wine shops and purchase commercial equivalents. They’re not always exactly what we’ll be doing with our kits, but it gives folks a good idea of the aromas and flavours they’ll see in the Limited Editions.

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