Unfussy Wine Enthusiasts | Wine Reviews & Articles

Now that the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium is over, it is back to reality for us.  It is now time to take everything that we learned and try and leverage as much as we can to do two main things: 1) Enhance the Content for this Blog 2) Become better Brand Ambassadors for the Wines and Wineries of Nova Scotia For the content we want to make sure what we are talking about is as relevant as possible for our audience.  I am taking to heart the discussion from the Media Panel with Christina Harnett, Craig Pinhey, and Peter Spurway where they stated (and I am paraphrasing) that you need to provide interesting material with which to write stories and that makes engaging your audience easier.  So, we are challenging ourselves to keep the discussion interesting and lively.  So, let's see how that goes. As for being a better Brand Ambassador, that task is much, much easier.  I saw so many good things going on and tasted some really great wines.  I think the ...

Final Day at the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium and I totally wish there was still another day or two to go, it was that much fun and that interesting.  I can only imagine what those who are actually in the industry might have gotten out the sessions.  Hopefully a lot. The day started with Matthew Speck from Henry of Pelham in Niagara.  His presentation revolved around the winery and its origins.  We have been to the winery and it is a beautiful spot with great wines.  In fact, we had the Sibling Rivalry Red last weekend and it was great.  Matthew runs the Vineyards at Henry of Pelham and his brothers Daniel and Paul manage the Sales, Marketing, and Government Relations respectively.  He went through the history of the winery including the fact that the property has been in his family's hands in one way or another since the late 1700's.  He also discussed their first vintage in 1988 and the learning that they had to do to get better and add ...

I have been able to chat with a lot of wonderful folks thus far in the Symposium and it has been such a great experience for me as a wine consumer but it is nice to see things through the eyes of someone on the inside of the industry. Karen Enright is the owner of Annapolis Highland Vineyards in Bear River, NS which is one of the newer wineries on the scene.  She was kind enough to let me ask her a couple of quick questions about her motivations and expectations for the Symposium.  She was on the planning committee for the Symposium so she certainly has a great understanding of the goals of the event.  Below is a summary of our chat. UW: What are your main expectations for the Symposium? KE: We are looking to gather information gathering and hopefully confirm the things we are doing are the right things.  That and network of course.  UW: What would make you feel like the event was a success for Annapolis Highland?  KE: Mainly we are loo...

Today was just amazing.  I had a great time yesterday but man we were just getting started. The morning started with Bill Redelmeier, owner of Southbrook Vineyards near Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario.  Their LEED Certified winery is an amazing place which we have visited on a couple of occasions when in the Niagara region.  It was a treat to hear him speak about the industry and his experience growing grapes and making wine.  His talk revolved around where the industry is heading.  He wanted us to focus on how everyone in the wine industry in Nova Scotia can work together to advance the entire industry. Nova Scotia Wineries are not as much in competition with each other as competing against Beer and Coca Cola for consumer dollars and attention.  He also told us about his adventures on Dragon's Den with his Bioflavia Grapeskin Powder product which was awesome as we are avid watchers.  Up next was the Commercial Vineyard Techniques with Wes Wien...

It is very cool to be able to attend an industry based conference like this as an enthusiast.  There is no pre-conceived notions on our part.  We are like an open book/blank slate when it comes to understanding the business behind the products we enjoy so much.  So, it is with a great feeling of anticipation that we kicked off the 2012 Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium. For Day 1 there were a few activities on the go.  For those of a more intrepid spirit, there was an Annapolis Valley wine tour with tastings at a few stops.  As we have done that on a number of occasions, we decided to pass on that.  There was also a Vineyard Management session for those who work with the plants in the vineyard everyday.  For me, it was Building Effective Customer Relationships.  This workshop revolved around discussing the strategies and best practices for wineries to enhance their sales activities and the communications with customers both actual and potential. ...

Yes indeed, there will be Blogging!  Live Blog posts (or Facebook posts) and Tweets will be produced.  We were hoping to both attend but work being what it is Chris is taking in this one.  Check out the Event's site here . The agenda of sessions and speakers is impressive and we hope to take away a lot of good information about the wine industry in Atlantic Canada and hear about the challenges and opportunities that come from it.  Admittedly we are novices when it comes to the industry side of things.  As we have stated before we are not insiders by any stretch but we certainly are interested in how the real business side of things works and cannot wait to hear about Social Media and Marketing end of the business (as you can imagine). So here is what we will be attending: Sunday May 27 Noon to 5 pm - Building Effective Customer Relationships Wineries Sales and Marketing Techniques to Increase Visitation and Drive Revenues (we passed on the Pesticid...

Not our regular selection So, let us start out by saying two things.  First, Champagne for our purposes here = Sparkling Wine in all its many constituents (typing one word instead of two = lazy).  Second, our consumption of fine French Champagne consists of one glass of Dom Perignon , half a bottle of Perrier-Jouet , and a few bottles of Moet-Chandon .  Other than that we are under-educated bubbly drinkers.  We have certainly had sparklers from California, Australia, Argentina, South Africa, and Chile.  We've had Cava from Spain and Prosecco from Italy. With all that said, in all those bubbles, we have never had an out of body experience when comes to Champagne.  Don't get us wrong, the Perrier-Jouets and Moets were an experience (and a good one at that) but we haven't seen our wow-o-meter go off the charts with bubbly.  Some of it is definitely preference but putting that aside we do note that a lot of sparkling wine seems to be missing balance....

It was a long weekend here in Canada and so with it comes an enjoyable three days of wine drinking.  We took it upon ourselves to try a few wines during the weekend and we wanted to give some highlights: Day 1 - Jose Maria Fonseco Periquita ($12): Fruity and bold Portuguese Red that went well with the grilled steak and chicken sliders we had.  Made with Castelao grapes (could that be Castel to us???), it was a very reasonably priced red wine. 77.5% Day 2 - Torrevento Primitivo ($18): Very bold and bright red wine with a silky mouthfeel and excellent balance.  Primitivo at this price point can be a little one dimensional but this one showed really nice complexity.  A keeper for sure.  82.5% Day 3 - 2010 Farmer Robert Grenche Noir.....see below. This wine is purple.....not crimson or inky or ruby red.....it is purple.  Hold it up to the light...purple, look down at your glass...purple.  You get the idea.  Nice to look at and somewh...

This was a long weekend purchase and one we have tried previously but seeing as the weather is coming around we figured it would be a nice wine with dinner.  We really like the Vinho Verde wine which is not a grape it is literally translated as 'Green Wine'.  It is just that...a young green wine.  It is light and fruity and crisp and delicious. It is a very pale light yellow, greenish colour (thus the name)...which is a little thin looking. The nose is green as well though this time it is green fruits, light ones.  Kiwis and a little lime zest start things off with a nice Granny Smith apple undertone....see green. When you taste this wine it becomes clear where the Verde comes from.  It is a crisp and tart wine like an apple that is three days from becoming ripe.  The way the skin puckers your lips is the way the wine acts when you taste it.  Pucker then a touch of sweetness then a nice crisp finish.  Very nice.     Tasting No...

Yes, Chris has pronounced this wrong on many an occasion.  It is Meritage not Meritaaaage.  When someone corrects you like, "Isn't it called Meritage?", your reputation as a wine nerd takes a hit in old arse. Basically all you need to know (other than how to say it) is that Meritage = Bordeaux blend of grapes.  So, Cab Sauv, Merlot, and Cab Franc mainly (or Malbec or Petit Verdot or Carmenère - with no varietal comprising more than 90% of the blend - thank you Wikipedia).  This one is 40% Cab Franc, 36% Cab Sauv, and 24% Merlot. This is a Niagara Region version from Jackson Triggs so props to the Canadian wine again and from our perspective it is a bit of a gem.  Why you might ask?  Well it is $15 locally.  When we were in the Niagara Region sampling Meritage we routinely had ones that we north of $25 in the glass and this one holds up to that challenge. In the glass it is a nicely dark red wine with little light getting through when held up t...

Courtesy guardian.co.uk We had a great weekend of wine with family for Mother's Day.  Our list included a number of Canadian selections which really wowed us.  Below are the wines and their aggregate scores (it really was a busy weekend - there may be one on the list that make a return). Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there! 2010 Pelee Island Lighthouse Cabernet Franc (Ontario, Canada) - elegant and bold with ripe fruit and a little chocolate ($15 locally): 85% 2010 20 Bees Pinot Grigio (Ontario, Canada) - honeysuckle and citrus with a nice crisp finish ($13 locally): 80% 2010 Avondale Sky Lavender Dry Rose  (Nova Scotia, Canada) - lots of nice fruit and only a hint of muted sweetness, excellent mouthfeel ($17 locally): 82.5% 2010 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa) - crisp and dry Sauv Blanc with a light lemon-lime nose and taste, great patio wine ($12 locally): 77.5% We won't see this kind of volume until Father's Day....yeah right...w...

Pronounced "Cooka-a-tharma" according to the back of the bottle of this Australian Shiraz from the Nugan Estate Winery was a gift that we didn't see beforehand so we decided to taste it double blind. The wine smelled familiar for sure, with lots of oak and was very fruit forward right up to the point of being jammy with a touch of nutmeg or chinese five spice but it it did not smell that sweet at all (kind of counter-intuitive, we know).  It was dark in the glass but not black or inky dark so we started ruling out the Malbecs and the Pinot Noirs.  It had a deep red colour so we immediately started leaning toward California cab given the nose.  Once we tasted it we started to dial in on Cab or maybe Tempranillo.  We dialed into those more than Shiraz and so we were off on the wrong foot already.  But that said it tasted fantastic. We continued to smell and taste and smell and taste until finally we proclaimed with no certainty at all...

Courtesy Costco.com For anyone that may have missed it last week, Costco's Head Wine Buyer for the US Annette Alvarez-Peters was interviewed on CNBC and made some comments that have caused a bit of a tempest in a teapot for wine lovers.  In an exchange with Carl Quintanilla she asked why wine should be considered any different from toilet paper.  Quintanilla said that it was more personal (we are assuming he was talking about personal preference for wine style, grape, etc).  She retorted (and we quote), "People can look at it that way. But at the end of the day, it's just a beverage."  Our first reactions were, "Well of all the nerve!" and "Who does she think she is?" and "Where does she get off?" and so on, you get the idea. :) But we then peeled ourselves off the ceiling and actually thought about what she was saying and suddenly the visceral reaction (though enjoyable) didn't necessarily make as much sense.  When you think ab...

Last evening we had this wine from False Bay Wines . From South Africa it is a very full flavourful Chenin Blanc grown and produced on the Western Cape.  It is also known as Steen in South Africa but it retains one of its French names in this version.  Unbeknownst to us Chenin Blanc is also known as Pineau de la Loire in France and is a grape that has a lot of interpretations in terms of wine making (thank you again Wikipedia).  This version is a crisp and full flavoured white wine.  It has a lot of nice smells and tastes and at $13 is a great value. In the glass it is a very pale golden colour and has seen no oak according to the False Bay website.  It is a light wine visually which belies the actual body in the glass.  The nose is very apple/pear with definitely a starfruit undertone.  It is a really nice aromatic wine and is also light compared to the taste. Now onto the taste, it has such a great mouthfeel for what would be considered a lighte...

Courtesy of Wikipedia There are a lot of people in this world for whom wine is an investment.  Futures markets, First Growth Bordeaux, $1000 bottles of wine on special occasions and $200 bottles of wine with dinner.  These are the Elite or in our frame of reference the Wine Elite.  They have means to purchase and enjoy wines that will never grace our tables nor our cellars.  The hardest of hearts amongst the Wine Elite must look at us in the wine drinking masses with at best with a bit of humor or pity and at worst with disdain and derision. For them (or the complete stereotype we are portraying) wine is a luxury item that is not in the least a luxury.  It is a place where the more you spend on a bottle of wine the better it must be.  To think otherwise, would lessen the value of every bottle of wine.  Thus by our crazy wine-conomics, a $750 bottle of wine must be better because someone would spend $750 for that bottle of wine.  Yes, i...

Courtesy IMDB This movie was on TV last night and we were intrigued so we gave it watch and it was super interesting.  It is a documentary about the Vineyard that Maynard James Keenan lead singer of Tool and A Perfect Circle in Jerome, Arizona.  It is actually the story of two men (and partners), Maynard and Eric Glomski who is the wine maker of the pair. The movie is a discussion of the entrepreneurial journey these two have undertaken in Arizona which is not exactly a hot bed of wine in America.  It talks about the money they spent (four failed plantings in one vineyard at $35K a pop - yikes) and it talks about the wine from both a philosophical and practical perspective.  Philosophical from the sense of the magic of wine experiences and what drives someone to sink a LOT of money into a venture with high risk and at best some reward. Maynard's label Caduceus has become a bit of a cult wine in the same way he is a bit of a cult figure from a music...

We decided to have a nice Organic wine given the fact we have been talking about Natural wine and all that. This wine was on sale $16 down from $20 locally at Cristall Wine Merchants  (newly re-named after a change in ownership). We love Spanish wine so Spanish wine that is Organic must be awesome....and it is.  Finca Sobreno is from the Toro region of Spain and has all the characteristics that made us love Spanish wine, bold and ripe with a good amount of oak. The wine is super dark and definitely not something you can see through at all.  It is purple and has that grape juice look to it, almost inky dark.  Makes you want to taste it for sure. On the nose, you get lots of vanilla and oak with a ripeness that is very attractive.  There is a warm spice scent in there, like a garam masala (the Indian spice blend) and if you can believe it a meatiness like hot dogs (absolutely NOT in a bad way).  It is not like a processed meat smell as much as a ball p...