Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 2

Winnipeg Wine

There is one local wine producer based in Winnipeg: DD Leobard Winery. This winery specializes in fruit wines and are known for a curious little oddity called Tansi (Birch Wine) made from fermenting the sap of the birch trees.

Tasting notes: Semi-sweet wine. On the nose: light bouquet of damp, freshlycut wood. On the palate, mild fruit flavours, low acidity. For a full review of this wine, please visit our sister site: http://www.iconscores.blogspot.com/
DD Leobard have stated that they are working on two new table wines made from outsourced grapes, essentially, blends made from imported juice concentrates. For more information about this winery, visit their site: www.ddleobardwinery.com/

Wine Lists

Many Winnipeg restaurants do have decent wine lists, but few had much more than house wines or one white and one red for by-the-glass sampling. Even a couple of the restaurants using “Wine Bar” as part of their marketing had very few options for by-the-glass. On the plus side, the use of the term “Wine bar” in these restaurants’ marketing material would indicate that they are starting to realize that interest in wine is on the rise, but they must produce the goods or remove the word ‘wine’.
Our favourite night out came in an area of Winnipeg called Osbourne Village. This neighbourhood is home to many of the city’s young and not-so-young hipsters who patronize the many restaurants, bars and funky shops. The area is also home to the city’s two true wine bars: Noir, and Fude. Noir () had an impressive by-the-glass wine list (impressive in length if not in quality). They offer wine flights, which is a fun way to try more wines than you normally might in one visit. Fude (www.fude.ca/) is slightly more of a restaurant but did have a good selection of by-the-glass wines and small plates to nibble on.

Where to Buy

Manitoba’s provincial liquor board authority has outlets all over the city which offer a reasonable selection of wines priced in the $10 - $25 range. Sadly, the name they came up with for these stores was “Liquor Mart” because nothing says “fine vintage wine” like “Liquor Mart”. In fairness, the name appeals to the majority of Winnipeg consumers who aren’t purchasing wine but, rather, are choosing from a large selection of spirits and beer. Many of the Liquor Marts do have small “Vintages” sections where they showcase a few premium import wines, and a few stores also had a premium Canada section with some of the top brands from Vincor and Peller Andrews.
I was able to locate only one private wine store during my stay. Luckily, it was a good one. Fenton’s Wine Merchants is located in tourist area called “The Forks”. This area is a fun place to spend a day or afternoon and offers a public market, restaurants, live entertainment and antique shops. Fenton’s has a great selection of Californian, Spanish, French and Italian wines and was reasonably priced. I picked up a fine Francis Ford Coppola Pinot Noir which I had to consume right away since I could not bring it home due to Canada’s antiquated liquor laws.

In Conclusion

There is no denying that Winnipeg is a beer and spirits city. However, if the younger generation frequents restaurants like Osborne Village’s Noir and Fude more often, and the wine festival continues to increase attendance year after year, there is hope in Winnipeg’s future for a true wine scene to develop.. As I will undoubtedly be revisiting Winnipeg for family obligations in the years to come, here’s hoping. - LC

Winnipeg Wine Scene? - Part 1

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Whenever I travel to a new city I am always curious to investigate the local wine scene and see what, if anything, stands out. Such was my goal for my recent trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba (July 2009). The impetus for the trip was to meet more of my wife’s extended family based in Canada’s central-most provinces. Manitoba, to a west coaster like me, seems more like the centre of the country than a western cousin until you visit the province and recognize the same laid-back approach to life that we are accustomed to in Vancouver.

Manitoba may be the land of 100,000 lakes, but the area around Winnipeg is pure prairie. You can literally see for miles and miles - a unique experience for someone used to mountains in every direction.

The province has a short and (normally) very hot growing season which is not ideal for growing grapes but is ideal for growing fruit. 2009 has been a bad summer for sunlight hours, which will lead to many crops ripening very late. The effect on the province’s fruit wine producers remains to be seen.

Winnipeg is the cultural and economic capital of the Manitoba and is by far, its largest city with over 600,000 residents. A few of them drink wine… but more on that a bit later.

To determine if the city you are exploring has a wine scene, you must first establish your evaluation criteria.. For me, a fair standard would be: a yearly wine festival, the existence of a local wine industry, long and diverse restaurant wine lists and the ability of the city’s residents to purchase a wide variety of wines.. With those being the criteria, Winnipeg scores on all counts. However, to be fair to the fine wine cities of the world, it scores pretty low.

Wine Festival

The yearly Winnipeg wine festival runs in May and is attended by the city’s glitterati and wine enthusiasts. The six-day festival offers many different tasting events to attend. Some are perennially booked and others are one-off specials. This year the festival chose to set as the theme for the festival “The Wines of Chile.” Thirty wineries from Chile were showcased including these Chilean stand-outs: Luis Felipe Edwards, Miguel Torres Chile and Concha y Toro. For more information about the Winnipeg Wine Festival, visit their website: www.winnipegwinefestival.com/

continued...

Adventures in Wine Smuggling - The Washington Caper Part I

60% of the time, it works every time. Brian Fantana (Anchorman)

The Set Up

I’m a stats guy by trade. So I look at wine in a couple of different ways. I love to drink the noble nectar (as LC so elegantly put it) and it amazes me that grapes can produce so many different flavours. However, this is only half the story. Wine investment and the business of wine intrigues me to no end. Graphs, charts, vintage tables, past performance, future prospects, marketing, and the wine “game” all get my blood racing. So when I found out that I would be going to a biometrics (stats applied to natural resources) conference in Vancouver Washington I was a very happy man. Washington State just so happens to be the second largest producer of wine in the grand ole US of A, and Vancouver WA is right on the border of Oregon which is one of the premier Pinot Noir producers in North America if not the world (things were looking up for HC).

I don’t visit Washington too much and rarely long enough to bring back any quantities of wine. Legally an individual is only allowed to bring 1.5 litres (2 bottles) of wine across the border after spending 48 hrs in the country. But the stars were aligning for this trip. I was heading down with 4 other colleagues (i.e. stats geeks) all of which were willing to help me out by donating their allotment of wine. This meant I had the potential to bring back 10 bottles! Now some may be thinking “what’s the big deal about getting wine in the States, you could get most wines anywhere”. Now this is true in most cases, however for an equivalent French Bordeaux (which LC and I are very interested in for investment) there is sometimes a difference of hundreds of dollars. For example a bottle of 2005 Chateau Palmer goes for about $450 CAD. The same bottle was as cheap as $279 USD when it was available at a big box store across the border.

The potential haul was pretty good. the risks were low, and I had a good crew to help me. The game was a foot.

The Crew

I work with a lot of great people, and I especially enjoy the company of the folks who talk my geek language. Each of the participants in this caper will remain nameless to protect the guilty. As with any great crew each brings something special to the table (although in this case I just wanted their wine allotment) and need to be recognized.

The Hungarian – The technician. This guy could brew wine with a spreadsheet program if it were possible.

Daddy-O – The mediator. Father to six. This guy needs to drink wine.

The Lady – The muscle. Hockey mom and mother to 3 teenage boys.

Slick – The face. Young and talented with looks to boot.

The American Prize

I had recently listened to a Tasting Room with Terry David Mulligan episode that was talking about the results of the Wine Summit in Lake Louise Alberta and there seemed to be a lot of buzz around a wine from the Columbia Valley in Washington called Long-Shadows Pedestal (www.longshadows.com). It had performed quite well against some high end international wines and I was hoping to get my paws on a couple.

Long Shadows has a very interesting approach to wine making. They bring in wine making consultants from all over the world to make their specialty wine which ultimately makes up their flight. In the case of the Pedestal the creator is acclaimed wine making consultant Michel Rolland.

So now I knew what the winery was all about but I didn’t know the availability and retailers. A quick Google search brought up the Long Shadows Website. I promptly e-mailed the info e-mail and was pleasantly surprised when I received a response the same day by an extremely helpful Dane Narbaitz. After a couple of e-mails I discovered that the Pedestal was available in Vancouver BC ($90 CAD) and also in a few stores close to the resort I was staying at in Vancouver WA ($60 USD). It was obvious that if I purchased a bottle or two in the US as soon as I crossed the border these bottles were potentially worth more.

The French Prizes

As I mentioned before LC and I are really into wine investment. We know that from an investment perspective the French Bordeaux are the money makers. We did some research and were able to come up with a list of Bordeaux that we could potentially make some money with. This list included:

Chateau Clos des Jacobin 2005;

Chateau Leoville Las Cases 2003;

Chateau La Mondotte 2003; and

Chateau Pichon-Lalonde 2005.

I was super excited to get these as they were available in a big box store that could be found anywhere. I found the closest one to our lodge in Vancouver Washington and was ready to make a killing when I brought these over the border by potentially selling them after sitting nicely in the Icon Wines cellar for a couple of years. And heck who knows I might even drink them!

Will HC get the prizes and make it across the border? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of Adventures in Wine Smuggling.

The Spittoon List - Part 2: The Wines

The Spittoon List - Part 2: The Wines


These are the wines we want to taste before we die. What's on your list?

• 2008 Pontet-Canet
• 2006 Long Shadows Pedestal
• 2005 Mouton-Rothschild
• 2004 Mission Hill Oculus
• 2003 Petrus
• 2002 Glaetzer Amon Ra
• 2000 Lafite Rothschild
• 1995 Palmer
• 1992 Coche Dury Perrieres
• 1990 Cheval Blanc
• 1990 Montrose
• 1988 Penfolds Grange
• 1985 Haut Brion Blanc
• 1982 Calon Segur

Trip to Alsace - Part 5

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Colmar By Night


Colmar was founded in the 9th century but its physical allure is rooted in its well-preserved 17th century architecture, a preservation due to the town’s remarkable ability to have avoided major damage during the French Revolution and other wars through the centuries. This has made Colmar’s old town a Mecca for tourists. Be sure to try out your French (or German) to begin a conversation with the locals who mange the town’s many shops, as this will unlock the natural charisma the French possess. You’ll get brownie points for the effort, even if they respond to you in English. In one such exchange with a friendly French-only speaking wine shop owner, my wife and I were introduced to a small producer we’d never heard of whose grapes nonetheless came from a Grand Cru level vineyard near Riquewihr. We might never have found this vintner had we not approached the shopkeeper with our broken French. Courage! Toujours Courage!

There are beautiful canals that circle the old town area and form districts within; all are worth exploring. The very centre of the old town is where you will find the greatest concentration of restaurants and shops that feature wines, cheeses and various regional charcuteries. There was even a mini “super-store” grocer that had an impressive selection of wines at very approachable prices. I picked up a Grand Vin du Sauternes for next to nothing.

Should you not have the time or resources to visit each producer’s tasting room or village then ordering wine by-the-glass in a Colmar pub or restaurant is a great way to sample the best the region has to offer. Each establishment that we visited had an impressive wine list that was not limited to Alsace or even French wines. However, there is something very satisfying about drinking a famous region’s wines in that region!

As our evening turned into night, the lights of the city came alive, allowing us to appreciate the effort the city has made to highlight their well-preserved buildings. The prominent steeple of Église Saint-Martin can be seen pointing to the sky, and the canals are treated to a light show worthy of a theme park without the kitsch (or animatronics figures). The old town has a bustling nightlife that never feels primitive or immature; it has a sense of sophisticated inebriation. That is not to say the town doesn’t have a few pubs that cater to the younger, louder, non-traditional crowd, but these are fun to visit as well, only adding to the balance of nightlife that keeps the town from being pompous and boring.

Our weekend trip in Alsace ended the following day with a swift drive north and back over the Rhine to Germany where I was to return to work in Heidelberg and my wife to Vancouver. Our trunk, while not full, was definitely enhanced with Alsace wine, ready to bring back home to our cellar. There the bottles now sit, perhaps waiting to be introduced to an unsuspecting wine novice invited over for dinner, convinced that they just don’t have the palate for wine….If they only knew what was waiting for them! - LC

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 4

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Colmar


Using our rental car’s GPS unit, we programmed in our next destination, Colmar, using the device’s “direct route” setting. This is the best option to avoid getting lost but to also have a bit of an adventure driving through a series of gorgeous small towns as the setting avoids the faster route of the highways.

As an aside, I do highly recommend a GPS unit if your Alsace trip involves a rental car. Although not perfect, it does help navigate the narrow, twisty roads of the country villages. Occasionally it will lead you astray - in one case our GPS’s pleasant voice cheerfully recommended a route through a restaurant. Apparently there was a road on the other side of it that we needed to get to. However, despite the occasional satellite confusion on our exact location I’m sure we’d still be in Alsace if it weren’t for our GPS companion.

Driving into Colmar for the first time is an alarming experience as the town’s outer sprawl has not maintained the charm of its original centre. However, once you get past all of the near ghetto-looking low apartments and budget shops you arrive at the most charming of city centres. Colmar’s old town is truly a diamond in the rough.

Bypassing the more expensive executive hotels near the old town centre we stayed at an agreeable Holiday Inn near the train station. This left us more money to spend on food and wine, which was the point of our trip. Arriving at 6 pm we quickly checked into our room, changed, and hurried out to explore the beautiful old town while we still had daylight. Little did we know that Colmar’s charm increases dramatically as the sun sets. - LC

Part Five

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 3

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier

Hugel et Fils

One of the top Alsace producers is Hugel et Fils (www.hugel.com/) whose store front is right in the centre of town on the main street. Hugel has been making wine in the Alsace region since 1639 and have a reputation of quality over quantity. They have skipped vintages of lesser quality to preserve this reputation and sold-off the grapes to other producers.

Hugel’s wine shop is very plain with no frills; the wines take centre stage. To accentuate this truth, the main decoration on the small tasting room is that of wine bottles of vintages past, bejeweled with the famous yellow Hugel label.

When we visited, the shop was manned by a very modern and hip twenty-something young man who explained to my wife and me that he was a university student from Strasbourg (the region’s capital city) working his way through school and unrelated to the Hugel family. I found him to be an interesting contrast to the rich history of the Hugel brand that has had continuous family participation for nearly 400 years. However, the more we spoke to him about the wines and Hugel’s process, the more I realized he reflected the company’s harmonious approach to blending traditional values with modern ingenuity.

Next door to the wine shop are the cellars where the wine is produced. Hugel produces four lines of wines Classic, Traditional, Jubilee and their premium brands; Selection de Grain Nobles (select reserve) & Vendage Tardive (late harvest). Each line is made from estate-grown grapes except the Classic line, which is made from grapes grown by local farmers on long-term contracts and sold to Hugel. Their wines are available in 100 countries worldwide including the United States and Canada. The Classic line will be the easiest to find; however for the true Grand Cru experience see if your local fine wine shop or liquor board can order from the Traditional or Jubilee lines.

My personal favorites are the Traditional Muscat, Jubilee Riesling and the Vendage Tardive Gerverstraminer. In my repeat trips to the region I’ve managed to stock my cellar with these much-loved wines. The finest Alsace wines will age much longer than traditional white wines, especially the late harvest wines. The star of my Hugel collection is a bottle of 1998 VT Gerverstraminer which I plan on cellaring until 2018. - LC

Part Four

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 2

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

Riquewihr

Our first stop in Alsace was the little town of Riquewihr; resting comfortably in the foothills of the Vosges Mountains, watched intensely from above by a medieval castle. The beautiful mountain range lining the valley acts as the backflow of a crowning wave pulling you up from the valley floor below to explore its many treasures. The crown jewel is Riqewihr which, with its three Michelin-starred restaurants and famous wine train, should be explored with an empty stomach and at a leisurely pace.

The town’s narrow cobble-stoned streets are lined with buildings dated from the mid-16th century to mid-17th century. As with many old towns the buildings seem to lean towards the street below in a way that feels as if they are trying to shield you from the sky. It reminds you that anything that humans construct is, in part, as alive as the beings who constructed it. Of course, the same can be said for wine, and Riquewihr has plenty of wine.

Being a prime tourist destination with a large tour-bus-only parking area, Riquewihr could be expected to have lost its once authentic charm, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, most small French villages can’t boast three Michelin-starred restaurants but the town has absorbed these tourist attractions so well that it seems as though they have always there.

Many wine and wine-friendly-comestibles shops line the main street smack in the middle of the medieval fortified walled village. The shops have an extensive list of Alsace wines available along with wines from the other major French regions. The prices can vary from shop to shop so you are encouraged to visit many and compare. However, for the true wine enthusiast experience I suggest visiting one of the producers who have set up shop in the village. - LC

Part Three

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

Trip to Alsace - Part 1

Words and Photos by Liam Carrier
Edited by Sheila MacCallum

My love affair with wine began 8 years ago much like my first foray into the world of dating; out of curiosity. What was all the fuss about? Well, after your first great kiss, you’re hooked.

Sometimes it takes a few tries; finding the right partner, because it’s not just any kiss that hooks you for life, but rather it’s that first knock-your-socks-off, time-stands-still kiss when you realize just what the fuss is all about.

The same goes for wine; it was not my first glass of mass-produced California “Chablis” at my uncle’s wedding when I was 20 that got me hooked on wine. That came 5 years later at a quiet dinner party amongst my mother’s friends in the form of a fine Alsace Riesling matched with spicy Thai food that awakened my curiosity. From that point on, I gradually sought out more challenging wines for my late-blooming palate and thus began my life-long love-affair with the noble nectar.

Today, my tastes range from old ports to Nouveau Beaujolais but the “gateway” wine that started my addiction, the white wines of Alsace, remains a sentimental favourite. How fitting then, that my first visit to the wine regions of France would be a weekend trip across the upper Rhine River from southern Germany into Alsace.

Driving into Alsace in the modern EU is far from ceremonial. A small plaque on the bridge we were traversing which spans the Rhine is the only sign that you have left Germany and entered its neighboring country; France. The only difference noted by my wife, the main driver in our relationship, was the existence of speed limits posted on the highway (the pleasures of driving in Germany deserve their own article).

The similarities of Alsace to that of southwestern Germany are due to a long history of the region having passed back and forth between the French and Germans. You will hear both languages spoken in the small villages around the valley, along with English in some of the higher tourist traffic areas. The wines, however, are far from similar despite the use of the same varietals.
On the German side of the Rhine you will easily find sweeter and lower-alcohol content whites. In Alsace the whites are dryer and more complex. For me, this complexity and the abundance of fruit aromas make the drinking of an Alsatian wine a very different experience from that of its German counterpart. - LC

Part Two

(Photos by Liam Carrier - Copyright 2008)

2008 Bordeaux Futures Order

The 2008 en primeur verdict is in, the prices are down… this should be an interesting year!

The 2008 Bordeaux vintage is intriguing to many, alarming to some, but for Icon Wines, this vintage means only one thing: opportunity.

The opportunity to order world famous wines at discount prices for what could turn out to be a great sleeper vintage was too good to pass up. This being said, much research was needed as we weren’t able to get in on the en primeur tasting in Bordeaux.

Our research took the form of reading every wine expert’s opinion that we could get a hold of for their take on the quality of the vintage and of the individual wines. We then tabulated the rankings and created an average score for each wine. This score was then weighed against three things:

1. Which wines were available to our Vancouver, BC distributor.
2. What we could purchase the wine for and,
3. What the previous vintages sell for in Canada. (Ignoring the 2005 prices.)

We targeted wines with high tasting scores, longevity and a good purchase-to-resale price. We purchased:

Château Calon-Segur
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Château Leoville-Barton
Château Montrose
Château Pavie Macquin
Château Pontet-Canet
Vieux Château Certan

Unfortunately, we could not secure any First Growths, but we’re very happy with the selection we were able to secure.

Two great resources for determining what the secondary markets are for a particular wine is Wine Searcher (http://www.wine-searcher.com/) and Liv-Ex: The Fine Wine Exchange (http://www.liv-ex.com/ ).

Please keep in touch and let us know about your own 2008 Bordeaux adventures by using the comment option on this post. We look forward to hearing from you. - LC

Getting started with blogging

Hello Wine Drinkers, Cork Dorks and Enthusiasts,

We are IconWines.ca. We are a small Vancouver-based company evaluating the world’s icon wines for our investment portfolio. Along the way we will be blogging about the trials and tribulations of the wine trade and establishing a secondary market for the investments we make.

At heart we are wine lovers who are eager to use our experience from other fields to create a website that is both fun and informative.

We will also be offering weekly wines recommendations, wine reviews/tasting notes and articles on traveling to the great wine regions of the world.

A special focus of the site will be devoted to the amazing wine regions right in our backyard: The Okanagan Valley, The Similkameen Valley, The Gulf Islands and The Fraser Valley.

Regards,

LC & HC