Sunshine into Wine.....!

Not this year, or at least not at many of the wineries on the west coast of Canada. Following up on my last blog entry, I contacted a few more wineries.

The song everybody seems to be singing is "Rain, rain go away, come back again some other day". But they say every cloud has a silver lining. Perhaps the sluggish economy of the last few years has left most wineries with enough inventory to carry them through till next year. At least those that as part of their marketing plan, hold back some of their inventory for a rainy day. When I spoke to Jerry Mussio at Starling Lane Winery he was fairly optimistic about this year, although their Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir was lagging behind. But since they make one of the best ( or in my opinion 'the best' ) sparkling wine on Vancouver Island that should make fans of their Célébration Brut happy. Over on Pender Island Keith Watt at Morning Bay Vineyard reports similar conditions and thanks his lucky stars to have a decent inventory. Then this morning, speaking to Eugene Kwan, the managing director of one of my all time favorite British Columbia wineries, once again a similar story emerged. Domaine de Chaberton is located in the Fraser Valley. Be sure to click on 'Winery' and then 'about us' to get the story behind this magnificent winery. I had the privilege of working with Claude and Inge as their Vancouver Island rep while running my wine shop, The Wine Barrel in Victoria. For all you Seattlelites, Domaine de Chaberton is located just across the Washington / British Columbia border and easy to find. Their Bacchus Bistro is very popular year round and is a must visit. Since I am leaving tomorrow to spend a few days on the mainland, I have made reservations at the Bistro and greatly looking forward to it.
Not everyone of course is unhappy about the rain. In the Bordeaux they were crying for rain and finally got it. Looks like they will be bragging about another good vintage and the first growth estates will be able to continue their obscene, outrageous prices.
My good friend Philippe, the export manager at Dopff 'Au Moulin" in Alsace sent me this picture of his Auxerrois and tells me harvest for the sparkling wines has begun.
I must tell you some more about why I love the wines from Alsace and my visit to Kuentz-Bas but will leave that for another entry.
In the meantime, rain, shine or otherwise, no matter how wonderful your wines might be, a little smart marketing goes a long way. So here for your 'viewing' pleasure is how one Okanagan Valley winery shares some fun with us. The View Winery makes a wonderful Pinotage and I reviewed the 2008 vintage for my newsletter. But Jennifer, the star in their video, tells me "Wait till you taste the 2009". OK Jennifer I am looking forward to it. So be sure to click on the above link to the winery and I am sure you will agree when you view the video that it is great marketing.

As always cheers and enjoy your wines!!

No Sunshine....No wine!

At least that appears to be situation developing on Vancouver Island. On the weekend I visited some of the wineries here on our island.
Veraison is barely visible and the only grape showing any signs of it that I saw, was the Siegerrebe grape at the Blue Grouse Vineyards.
If you click on the picture to enlarge it you might see some of the clusters picking up a bit of color. Summer took a long time coming and unless we see a lot of sunshine over the next 4 to 5 weeks, there will be no harvest this year. Although we might see a lot of sparkling wine produced this year and I do like my bubblies.
Meanwhile back to Alsace, the report I received from my friend Philippe Durst at Dopff "Au Moulin", in the middle of August, veraison was on its way. Slow start to their summer as well but the vineyards are shaping up for another good vintage. And of course that is where it all begins. That is cellar-master and oenologist Pascal Batot at Dopff keeping a close watch in the vineyards. Pascal's winemaking philosophy is that the quality of a wine starts first of all in the vineyards.

It definitely paid off recently when Dopff was awarded two gold medals at the very prestigious
Sélections Mondiales des Vins Canada in Montreal.
They received a Gold for the Riesling Grand Cru Schoenenberg 2007 and a Gold for the Gewurztraminer grand Cru Brand de Turckheim 2007.
Thought I would share with you a photo I took of the Schoenenberg Crus vineyard while visiting there in May. It looks like it is mostly hands on work required there, wouldn't you say?Yes, the fruit of the vine does like its share of sunshine!

Wine and Weather in the Alsace....!

Wether in the Alsace or in other wine regions, weather conditions continue to challenge wine makers. My number one source for info in the Alsace, is my friend Philippe Durst, the export manager at DOPFF "Au Moulin". In the middle of July this is what he reported. ( Photo courtesy Philippe )

"With the thermometer sometimes close to 40°C in the afternoons, we are long way from the -10 and even -20°C that we have experienced in the winter between november and right until Easter. It is tough not having felt spring in between!

And still we are long way from grape picking: at this stage, the grapes have the colour of green peas and they are best suited for producing ball bearings!"

Here in British Columbia weather conditions have not been ideal and unless we get nothing but sunshine for the next month and more, the Vancouver island wineries will be really challenged to produce a decent wine. In the Okanagan Valley it will also be a vintage that will be difficult to work with, except for the best of vintners. In a direct communication with Bradley Cooper of Township 7 and Black Cloud wineries here is his take on this year.

"The crop this year will be full of challenges. The two winters previous to this last one were tough on some varietals. The cold snap of early October 2009 was another kick in the pants. A lot of vines slowed by the late, wet spring will show remarable adaptive ability and appear to catch-up. But the actual grape clusters seem to lag behind the appearnce of the vine as a whole. Pinot varieties seem to be recovering quicker than Merlot and in some cases, Chardonnay. It's a mixed bag, very site specific."

So is this the year we will see a lot more sparkling wine being produced? It likes the higher acid from less mature grapes.

During my recent visit to Alsace, I fell in love once again with their great wines, but I now also have a particular fondness for the "Crémant d’Alsace". Crémants by law have to be aged for a minimum of 9 months. Champagne a minimum of 15 months. So what do you get when you age a Crémant for 24 months? You get Crémant Excellence Brut from La Cave des Vignerons de Pfaffenheim.


With an impressive complexity and a fine mousse this bubbly was pure pleasure to drink. Toasted almond and hazelnut on the nose followed by a richness on the palate, its no wonder they call it "Excellence".

I have to once again extend a big 'thank you' to Lucas DE JONG owner along with his wife Karin, of the Hotel Husseren les Chateaux for introducing me to an excellent winery in the village of Voegtlinshoffen where Eliane Ginglinger weaves her magic at Ginglinger Fix. Eliane produces outstanding Grand Crus wines using grapes from two Grand Crus d'Alsace, the Hatschbourg and the Goldert.
That is my cousin Gerda, who drove me from Holland to Alsace and that is Lucas de Jong posing with the delightfull Eliane Ginglinger. Her beautiful blue eyes are brilliant and sparkling and are matched by the brilliance and sparkle of her Crémant d’Alsace"

And I just loved her Riesling 2008 Grand Crus 'Goldert' and her Gewurztraminer 2008 'Hatschbourg'.
Once again I must stop and take an 'Alsace' break. I have one chilling in my fridge. So until more on Alsace in my next blog entry, here are my cheers to everyone!

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.