Alsace...the Wine, the Food and its People !

So let me continue where my last post left off. This great French wine region, ideally located between the Vosges Mountains on their western boundary and the Rhine river on their eastern boundary, stretches along a beautiful wine route from Strasbourg in the north to Mulhouse at the southern end. Some of the greatest white wines in the world come from this region and I had the pleasure of tasting a lot of them during my recent visit.
Since in the title of this blog, I mention wine, food and people, let me begin with the people of Alsace.
So very friendly!
On my first visit to Alsace I met David Ling, the Export Director at Hugel et Fils in Riquewihr. David had been invited by the late, great Jean Hugel, for a training session, with a promise that "after the harvest" his future would be discussed. Only which harvest was never specified.
The long and the short of it is that David met and fell in love with a beautiful local girl and never left Alsace. Now back to who are the Alsace people. This description was given to David by a Canadian colonel, stationed at the airforce base in Lahr (across the river in Germany) which is now the Karisruhe-Baden airport. To quote his definition, the Alsace people are 100% Alsatian, 150% French, 100% European and 100% Germanic ( with an emphasis on the "ic" ), while the total of 450% explains their ego; 0. Well that is one man's opinion, but I think they are great!
Now to the middle part of my title ..."Food". Were the wines of Alsace created to match their wonderful cuisine? Or was it the other way around? All I know is. there are many food and wine matches and as the saying goes "are a match made in heaven" and a lot of them come from Alsace.













Finally the wonderful wines of Alsace. I am frustrated at the lack of Alsatian wines available to me here in BC.
I want to go into more details about the wines I tasted but will leave that for my next blog entry. But let me at least say that I was impressed with the great attempt to produce quality wines everywhere I visited. From the smallest to the largest, quality is number one concern. For instance, at the very sizable La Cave Des Vigneron De Pfaffeheim, and I quote "Every one of our wines is the object of scrupulous attention, from harvest to the moment the bottles leave our cellars." Pfaffenheim was started in 1957 by a small group of winemakers and today is a co-operative with 230 members. During harvest, the cellar master keeps a watchful eye on the quality of the grapes and the growers are paid accordingly. All grapes are picked by hand. The plastic containers used to transport the grapes are only half-filled, so that the berries do not get crushed. You can taste it in the end result.
Must go now, the sun is shining and I have a cold bottle of an Alsatian Riesling waiting for me.

Tulips and Wine from Amsterdam to Alsace ...

I must begin this blog post with a very special thank you, once again, to my good friend Katherine Andes. As regular readers of my blog will have noticed my blog has a new look. ( and thank you to those who have already sent me emails with positive comments.) Anytime I make changes to my newsletter or this blog I run it past Katherine and her extremely useful suggestions have always been very helpful.
Katherine develops custom content for commercial websites. She also has a free, very informative newsletter which you can sign up for by visiting her website. THANK YOU, Katherine !!

So while I am still in Amsterdam, lets stay on the Keizersgracht and go visit with Jessica Lombardo at Art Vine located at 471 Keizersgracht.
They were recently written up in the travel section of the New York Times. I had a great chat with Jessica while visiting her art gallery and plan on doing an art and wine event with her when I next visit Amsterdam. Hopefully next year.

Now before heading for Alsace with my cousin Gerda, who kindly offered to drive me down there, I must show you at least a couple of images that we can all recognize as being truly Dutch.


Windmills and tulips anyone?















It takes about 5 hours to drive from Vancouver to the Okanagan Valley, our main British Columbia wine region. Nice easy drive on a very scenic highway. Then you are only about half way across our province. Holland on the other hand is one hectic highway. When you look at a map, the whole thing is one road after another. Too many cars ! So it was nice to get to Belgium, then Luxembourg and end up in France with our final destination of Alsace. Imagine 4 countries in one day.

My visit to Alsace this time was confined to the Haut-Rhin region. So many wineries and so many wines and not enough time. I will cover some of the wines and wineries in the next few posts.
Colmar, the capital of Alsace, has a population of 67,000 people. Great place to shop and visit. But approximately 6 KM south of Colmar is the little village of Husseren les Chateaux nestled in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains.
That is where we stayed at the marvellous Hotel Husseren les Chateaux.









Fabulous facilities, great swimming pool, excellent restaurant and a bonus for me, the walls are solid cement. So you will never hear your neighbour in the next room snoring. Meeting facilities for up to 45 people. What a great hideaway place to have a group meeting and seminars. Another bonus for me was Lucas de Jong. Very knowledgeable about the local wineries. He took a day out of his busy schedule to take me to some of the best Grand Cru properties. More on that in my next posts. So tulips in Alsace you might ask? Lucas was originally from Holland. Then 20 some years ago before he and his lovely lady, whom he had met in Denmark, moved to Alsace and built the hotel. Lucas,formerly a sommelier, has extensive wine knowledge and yes they also own a vineyard in the Beaujolais. Naturally he would have a few tulips around. Look at them in the entrance to the hotel inviting you to the restaurant Au Sapin Dore.
Next up winery visits and some great photos and of course a discussion on food and wine in Alsace.
A Bientot!

Drinking Wine in Amsterdam !

Having recently returned from a trip to Amsterdam, visiting relatives and a wine tour of Alsace, it has been difficult getting back into the swing of my normal routine. Met with my panel to taste 7 just released delightful wines from the Starling Lane winery and getting ready to taste 12 Rose wines for my next newsletter. And of course wading through all the e-mails and answering as many as possible. I fully intend to share pictures and experiences of my trip in the next few posts. I read with interest, Alder Yarrow's post over at Vinography on wine consumption statistics and thought that would be a good starting point. So I looked at the pdf posted on his site from TDA ( Trade Data and Analysis ) on his site and scrolled down to the Netherlands. The average liters per capita for the Dutch in 2008 was 21.68. Surprisingly that great nation of wine consumers, the United Kingdom, consumed somewhat less than the Dutch with 19.14 liters per capita. There are no silly regulations and restrictions on selling wine in Holland and it is available in grocery stores and great little wine shops everywhere. The picture of De Ware Jacob is an example of one of them, located a 3 minute walk away from my cousin's home on the Keizersgracht.
(Click on the pic)
Its difficult to translate accurately but
' De Ware Jacob' means 'the real Jacob' and is an expression used when a woman has found 'the' real man of her life. The shop was originally owned by a Jacob and after his death his widow continued to run the shop until the new owner took over.
Let me tell you, we did our best to raise the national average during my visit. But while we are at this location, kitty corner from the wine shop is an incredible chocolate shop owned by Mireille, the exuberant and gracious daughter of my cousin. Her shop, 't Goede Soet, at 95 Keizersgracht is a must visit while you are in Amsterdam. 't Goede Soet translates into the Good Sweet and is a chocolate lovers paradise. Google it and see some of the great reviews.













Meanwhile back to statistics. The average consumption for Canada is listed as 12.24 liters per capita but according to Statistics Canada, the official Government of Canada branch that carries out surveys, the national average is 13.1. The Yukon territory leads the way with 18.3 but what else would you do on those long winter days in Canada's great northern white? Second place goes to the province of Quebec with an average consumption of 17.4. Could that be because of its historic ties with France? Once again I am happy to report that I am doing my share of wine consumption in the province of British Columbia which ties down third place with an annual consumption of 14.5. Our burgeoning wine industry would account for that. Newfoundland and Labrador come in 11th place with 6.5 and dead last is Saskatchewan with only 5 liters per capita. Of course they do enjoy their beer. Finally our neighbours to the south of us are working on their annual consumption with a 9.68 liters per capita. But with wine becoming much more a part of our North American culture I would expect these figures to increase in the coming years. As they say in Dutch 'tot ziens' or farewell or until we meet again. Lets all do our share to help the economy and raise the national average.

Awaiting Another Vintage in Wine Country !

I am just a few hours away from flying off to Amsterdam and then on to Alsace. In Amsterdam I will be giving a talk on British Columbia Icewines and of course in Alsace its all good. Good food, good wine and good people.
So what will this year bring to various wine regions?
My good friend Philippe Durst, the export manager at Dopff au Moulin send me this picture a few weeks ago. The vineyards are budding and showing early leaf formation. But he says they are behind last year at this time.
I visited a winery, Rocky Creek, here on Vancouver Island, just a few days ago and early leaf is just starting to show and again somwhat behind last year.
Then I checked with Alessandro Dondi on the Tuscan coast and he reports nothing positive with the weather, cooler than usual and rain three times per week.
So there you have it. But I will be sure to give you first hand reports upon my return. When I told Philippe I was trying to lose a few pounds before coming to Alsace, he reminded me that I wasn't coming to weight watchers country.
So be it!! Food and wine, wine and food. Tell me, is there anything more enjoyable?
Cheers,
Wilf

Job Security in the Wine Industry !

Some excellent posts recently, as always, on Tom Wark's Fermentation and Alder Yarrow's Vinography. An issue that has made headlines everywhere, especially in the wine blogosphere, is the H.R.5034 bill before congress. Here is Tom's take on it.
Another couple of good analyses are on Palate Press and the 30 Second Wine Advisor.
Alder did an in depth review of "The Coming Carnage in the California Wine Industry" with excellent comments that followed his post.
Even though they are two different issues, what is their common thread? Why jobs of course. Both have the potential of some serious job losses. But hold on, coming back to my previous post about Prohibition and its results, who is not looking for a new job? Massive government bureaucracies were created to interfere, oh pardon me, I meant regulate, alcohol consumption and subsequent contributions to government coffers. Do you know or have you heard of any regulatory inspectors loosing their jobs? If anything, they will be hiring more, with great job security as a bonus thrown in for the lucky candidates.
After all making sure that proper licencing is in place ensures those extra revenues. British Columbia has also seen some significant government lay-offs with the last go around another 230 people losing their jobs.
Recently the Naramata wineries held another very successful annual wine event in Victoria. At the same, in the same hotel, some government liquor inspectors were holding a conference. Guess what? They just could not resist and marched right in to check that every winery had proper licencing for the event. And as an added bonus for their efforts they got to taste some awesome new releases.

May We Have a Little Culture with our Wine ?

It would have been inconceivable to think of Plato, Socrates and other Greek philosophers to have held their famous symposia without the benefit of wine. Ancient Greek society has contributed much to modern Western civilization, not the least of which is the culture of wine. For centuries Britain dominated the world wine trade and the nouveau rich upper middle class was largely responsible for creating the impression that wine was only for the educated well to do members of society.The poorer members of society went to the local 'Jug & Bottle' when they were thirsty.Thank goodness we are more enlightened these days.
Today there is a problem with young people and binge drinking. So how enlightened can it be for the French government's plan to bring wine education to French university canteens? It is not without opposition of course, but can you imagine some US state or in Canada a provincial government to even think of such a proposal? No, I am afraid we are still suffering from the hangover of Prohibition enacted in the US in 1920. And what were the results? Massive crime waves with the establishment of the Mafia. Ah, but the answer was to regulate alcohol consumption and of course use it as a cash cow for governments. It truly set back North American wine culture. Yes, it should be regulated as far as drinking and driving is concerned. Plato and the boys did not have to worry about getting into a car and causing accidents. It is morally very wrong to drink and drive. Killing yourself is one thing, but to be the instrument of death of another human life is reprehensible. Wine has been around since very ancient times and is not about to go away. So why not introduce wine culture and wine tasting at every opportunity out there?
How refreshing to read that at the California State University at Sacramento there is a course available on wine tourism.There is an enrollment limit of 20 students at a time because it involves field trips and yes, actually tasting wines.
There is I am afraid, a bit of nouveau snobbism out there. In our North American eagerness to catch up, there is a potential of wine education for the sake of the education itself. Consequently these 'experts' have an intimidating effect on large numbers of potential drinkers. They are forgetting about the best part of wine. Wine was made to be enjoyed to the fullest. Notice that the young lady in the picture knows not only how to hold the glass the right way, but most of all that she is taking time to enjoy the fruit of the vine. In Vino Veritas indeed. She has learned and knows the truth about wine. The truth about wine is that it is a most enjoyable drink and was meant to be shared and give pleasure to human kind.

Wine & Media at the 2010 Olympics !

I could not resist doing a follow up on my March 4th post on 'Wine & Sponsors at the 2010 Olympics'. On March 12th our national television broadcaster, the CBC, picked up on the Girls Hockey team and their celebration with the Sigura Viudas sparkling wine. It is now enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Permanent inexpensive advertising for Sigura. By the way, the girls have good taste. For the price, it is a delightful bubbly.
On a more serious note I did encounter a lot of misinformation by the foreign media about our outstanding Icewines. Back in 1994 I started a wine shop in downtown Victoria, British Columbia called The Wine Barrel. In 2005 I sold the shop and it is now in the capable hands of Bruce and Merrilee Stuart. During my tenure I sold a lot of BC Icewines and picked up a fact or two about them. But my mentor about Icewines was John Schreiner, the world expert on anything to do with Icewine or the original German version called Eiswein. John is the author of "Icewine The Complete Story" and I had the pleasure of hosting John for a book signing in my shop when his book was first released. I treasure my autographed copy. I have featured John on my blog a few times and here is one entry.












The image on the left is of the 2008 Paradise Ranch Merlot Icewine boasting a residual sugar of 218 g/l and the right image image is of the 2008 Paradise Ranch Riesling Icewine with a residual sugar of 134 g/l. As always be sure to click on the image to get a close up look. I had to give the images a framing of hot and cool. The Merlot is outstanding and will be a 'hot' selling Icewine. The Riesling is such an elegant Icewine that it gave the impression of a really 'cool' fresh and clean Icewine.
But now to the point of picking on the international media. Two write ups in different newspapers drew my attention and I just had to send them a message with the correct version. One writer stated that 'Icewines are often sweet'. NO, they are always sweet! And as my two above Icewines show, they may have different sweetness levels but please they are 'always' sweet. Another writer claimed that they were high alcohol dessert wines. NO again! The high sugar levels dehydrate the yeast cells and kills them before they get a chance to convert more sugar into higher alcohol levels. So they will range from a low of 9% to 12% at the higher level. Both of the above Icewines clocked in at 12%.
The Olympics have come and gone and are part of history but great BC Icewines will be around for a little longer and we might as well get it wright when we write about them.

Wine & Sponsors at the 2010 Olympics !

The 2010 Winter Olympics have been a great success in spite of the lack of snow. The sponsors of course, have been very happy with the huge exposure of their products. But wait a minute here. What was that Canadian Women's gold medal winning hockey team up to? Two of the major sponsors at the Olympics were Molsons Canadian Beer and Vincor Canada's Sumac Ridge Winery in the Okanagan. Fittingly the gold medalists were treated to a three litre sized Molson Canadian beer that looked very much like a Champagne bottle and Sumac Ridge's Tribute Gold sparkling wine. The Tribute Gold and Silver were created in honour of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.
Click on these pictures courtesy Alex Livesey/Getty Images and Surprise !!
That ain't no Tribute going down that gullet. Looks suspiciously like Sigura Viudas to me. Sigura Viudas was rated as one of the top 100 wines by the Wine Enthusiast. And yes that is a cigar in the picture on the right. Now cigars and beer maybe. But cigars and sparkling wine? That is a no no. Especially when it is not even from one of the official sponsors. Oh well, at least the ladies'?' won't be at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Vincor Canada is again one of the sponsors. Its not cheap to be a sponsor and Vincor did not get their money's worth at this event. But Viudas received a bonus and how do you suppose that happened? Oh the joys of being a sponsor and the politics in wine!

I Want to Teach the World to Drink....Wine!

In a recent article in Decanter, philosopher Roger Scruton, postulates that Muslim fundamentalists could become more tolerant were they to consume wine. In the comment section, Stephen Hobley points to the magnificent jade drinking cup of Shah Jahan (picture courtesy London's V&A Museum) in support of Roger's thesis. This theme was also also enlarged upon in the Telegraph.co.uk.
The Islamic Society of Britain's Ajmal Masroor wonders if Roger made these comments while sober or intoxicated.
I believe the whole world, not just Muslims, could benefit from partaking of the 'fruit of the vine'. Pliny the Elder said it all when he proclaimed 'In Vino Veritas', origin in Latin, there is 'Truth in Wine'.
Do you know how many "World Day of.." there are? There is the World Day of Peace, the World Day of Prayer, the World Day for Water, the International Women's Day and a host of others. I would like to propose a 'World Day of Wine' when the whole world stops for a few precious moments and we toast one another and drink to world peace!
In the seventies the Coca Cola company had a major hit on their hands when they produced the 'I'd like to teach the world to sing' advertisement where the singers proclaimed they would like to buy the world a coke.


Similarly I would like to teach the world to drink ..wine of course. We raise our glasses, toast each other, forget our differences and just love one another.
Perhaps I will leave the last word to Alice Feiring at 'Veritas in Vino' who simply wants her wines, like her friends, to speak the truth.

Chinese Wine Made in Australia...!

Before I delve into today's topic, just a quick update on my last post. It seems that Brussel's concern about labeling is not impressing European consumers. In a report just released by the European Food Information Council and published in the Journal of Public Health, it states that only 16.8% of consumers looked at nutritional information on labels. Say no more.
We all know that the Australian wine industry is going through a bit of a hard time and we also know that there is a potentially sizable market in China, but is selling out to the Chinese the answer? Doing business in and with China runs into many governmental snags. It is after all a communist regime running the show. Good for Google for taking a stand. Google stated that hackers had tried to infiltrate its software coding and e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Of course the Chinese immediately condemned the US and Google.
China has a "one child" policy whereby only one child per family is allowed to be born. Forced sterilizations and abortions, especially of baby girls, are not uncommon. Boys are favored over girls. Now there is a problem in the making. Women in the wonderful world of wine are becoming increasingly more important. Starting with some outstanding women wine makers, sommeliers and above all consumers. Maybe that trend will not be possible in China. There won't be enough women around.
Meanwhile back in Australia.... It seems that Chinese communism with a small 'c' is embracing Capitalism with a big 'C'. Chinese companies loaded with cash from state owned banks are on a buying spree in Australia.
Australia pioneered the cute and cuddly critter labels. Look no further than the very successful Yellow Tail with the Wallaby on its label. So can we expect to see the Koala bear replaced by the Panda bear? Click on the pics to get a closer look at these two famous icon bears from both countries. Good luck and best wishes to our Aussie friends!