The folks at Sparefoot created this amazing infographic on America’s love of wine.
It’s a no-brainer the California makes most of America’s wine – it is after all, one of the only newer wine-growing regions that is identified first and foremost by it’s regional territory, not by nation – but 90%? That surprised me.
And there’s so many more awesome tidbits.Are you among the 11% of wine drinkers who take a sip every day?
Have a look and retweet away!
It came as a complete surprise to me to see the Wayne Gretzky Estates brand come out with two Okanagan wines this spring. As it turns out, the whole Gretzky wine brand was dealt to Peller Estates in 2011 by Ontario’s Creekside Estate Winery. And as far as I can tell, no draft picks changed hands.
As a wee Prairie boy growing up, the Wayne Gretzky signature – so easily recognizable to any Canadian kid – created an emotional response that has less to do with wine and more to do with hockey collectibles of years past than, and very much to do with my urge to see what the wine is all about, and in hockey fan lingo, “get closer to the game”.
So let’s see what’s in the bottle…
The 2012 Pinot Grigio is pale in color, with a nose of candied pear, peach, honey melon, and sweet peas.
On the palate, there are pears, peach, honey melon and a hint of citrus on the finish.
This is a medium-bodied wine, with medium acidity and a soft mouthfeel.
It’s an easy drinker, best served ice cold so perfect for a hopefully hot west coast summer, and definitely for drinking now.
About Wayne Gretzky Estates
Wayne Gretzky established Wayne Gretzky Estates to raise funds for the Wayne Gretzky Foundation, which supports numerous charities, including minor hockey programs for less-fortunate kids.
Canada – heck, even all of North America – has all too rarely been known for great Cider. Oregon has made the biggest dent in this void, but beyond that it’s been slim pickings.
So it’s a sight for sore eyes to see some traditional cider-making in British Columbia. And to steal their tagline, it did hit me “From Outta Nowhere.” Left Field Cider Co. is the product of the combined efforts of two sisters, Kate and Theresa, from Mamette Lake, BC (Where’s that, you may ask… it’s over there, in the middle of nowhere. But in the middle of some of the most beautiful middle of nowhere in the world, and quite conveniently between Vancouver and the Okanagan valley).
Left Field’s current availability is a duo of small batch ciders, Little Dry and Big Dry, produced from a blend of English and French cider apples and local BC apples.
I’m a cider fiend, craving everything from the orchard scrumpies of the UK and the Magners of Ireland (Where are there orchards in Ireland, anyway???) to the more cosmopolitan and world-stage ready ciders of FInland (yes, Golden Cap take a bow …oh, I forgot, you’re Finnish, never mind), and everything in between. But I digress… Anyway, very excited to see what this new Canadian cider is all about, so let’s get to the sipping.
Little Dry
Little Dry is the sweeter – or let’s be frank, less dry – of the pair. We’re worlds away from the sickly sweetness of Growers 2-liters, and in a whole different league of premium ciders. On opening, the artisanal nature of the cider says hello with a faint and pelasant touch of yeast on the nose that doesn’t linger. The apples take over – the real thing, mind you, not lab-made essences or extracts. It’s just honest juiciness that’s quite simply delicious.
Big Dry
The Big Dry is the big boy here, the drier and bolder cider. But don’t be timid, it’s all in the crispness of the apples. Big brother is actually a hair less alcoholic, and I think it’s important to point out that these ciders are both nicely balanced. There’s no heat from the alcohol despite clocking in at a couple notches above 6%. The sweetness that is more held back with Big Dry lets the rustic, barnyard-y notes through, giving it a very old world, old school feel rare in ciders these days.
To borrow a quote from Lock, Stock cinema, maybe its “Little Dry for show, Big Dry for a pro” 
But it’s not that serious at all. There’s a great continuity between big and little brother, and I wouldn’t hesitate picking up either in the countless stores this stuff is popping up in, in British Columbia. These are fantastic ciders, so refreshing when served ice cold but giving you more of that orchard on warming up a bit.
So keep these away from ice and, citrus wedged and straws, and get back to traditional cider, honest and oh so good. Great stuff, Left Field!
Also:
If you’re a cider fiend like me, head on over to cidermonger.com for more on cider.
Maclean’s has a new wine app out, and it’s all about Wine in Canada. Maclean’s Wine, brought to you by Rogers – they of cell phone fame who own Maclean’s, they of words-on-pages fame – explores all things about wine in Canada, including the people and the places that matter, tasting notes galore, and insider tips about where to go and what to do when you’re looking to get in on the wine action north of the 49th.
Made with the screen real estate of the iPad in mind, It’s first and foremost an ebook, but a glorious and ever=changing one at that. The imagery is gorgeous and the information, well, informative. These are early days for this fresh-fased addition to the wine scene, so I’m looking forward to seeing timely updates that will prevent this e-tome from being relegated to the category of out-of-date wine guides. More development towards interactivity and community would also be welcome, though this isn’t clearly the primary mandate of this app.
What’s more, the app is available not only in Canada but also the United States from the iTunes App Store.
Did you get yours yet? What do you think?
This wine is like a old-time fairy tale of sorts, in my mind. And in a good way. Picture for yourself a forest floor of blackberries blueberries and black currants, juicy and supple forest fruit from the late summer. It’s a comforting scene in mouth and mind, but as with any old school fairy tale, there’s a darker side. Wonder what it is that goes bump in the night? It’s that beast that only wine drinkers know so well. Indeed, the oak monster lurks in the shadows. But don’t be too afraid, especially if you’re not shy about the soft vanilla and toasty notes it brings to the table – there’s a harmonious balance of oak and fruit here.
And for such a young thing, it’s mature for its age, and instantly drinkable. Tannins are smooth, the mouth feel “round” for lack of a better word, and without heat despite clocking in at a hair above 14%. Perfect pairing for your favorite red meat off the grill, but stands up well on its own as a sipper.
As a footnote of sorts, Hester Creek states that this wine is aged in specially selected barrels. I’m curious, who selects them and what’s the criteria? Are the other barrels envious? And did the selector of barrels at any time stop and mutter to themselves “these are not the barrels you are looking for”? Let me mull on these with another glass.
We recently had a chance to taste the 2008 Coyote Bowl Meritage from Church and State, a winery in the Okanagan Valley, in British Columbia, Canada. I didn’t know much about the winery going in, and if you don’t either, here’s the dirty:
In the Okanagan Valley, Church and State farms 60 acres on estate land, mainly on the Black Sage Bench, and a further 30 acres through our partnerships with growers in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. They also have 11 acres of planted grapes on the Saanich Peninsula. Nestled in the Coyote Bowl Vineyard, the winery of the same name offers splendid views of the valley and graceful concrete and beam architecture.
And here’s what we found out about what’s in the bottle after some swirling, sipping, and such:
Church and State 2008 Meritage
Church and State 2008 Coyote Bowl Meritage (a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot blessed by the Meritage Alliance).
Developing complexity for what is still a young wine, the berry-dominant fruit plays nicely off the well-integrated oak, supported by smooth tannins. There’s a pleasant complexity here, with hints of hebality and smokiness.
According to the winery, “the fruit for this wine, sourced from different vineyards in Oliver and Osoyoos, was picked in late October, 2008. The juice was fermented in stainless tanks and transferred to French Oak Barrels – 20% new oak – where it was matured for 31 months before being bottled.”
Production was ramped up significantly from the 07 vintage, from 550 cases to over 1500 cases in 08.
The wine is not without critical merit, having won Gold at the 2012 New World International Wine Competition and another Gold at the 2012 All-Canadian Wine Championships.
This week, the British Columbia provincial government announced some wine law reforms to continue to open things up and update laws, many of which date back to Prohibition.
It’s one small step for the wine industry but is probably feeling like one giant leap for the Liquor board, but even small victories are welcome in this wine land where public and private co-mingle.
Among the reforms:
To get down to the nitty gritty and a sense of the ridiculousness posed when these laws were not yes passed, hop on over the Mark Hicken’s Wine Law website.
There’s nothing like a quartet of Canadian wine to pass the weekend. This time we were tasked with west coast wine from the Okanagan Valley in that best of natural playgrounds, British Columbia.
Let’s see what the
The 2010 Noble Ridge Meritage, a blend of predominantly Merlot grapes with some Cabernet Sauvignon aged in French and American oak barrels, is a friendly and fruit-forward with a little spicy kick. Berries abound, driven first and foremost by blackberries. Built to please, this one’s a crowd pleaser.
About Noble Ridge: Jim and Leslie D’Andrea began the Noble Ridge winery in 2001. When they purchased the property it had only 3.5 acre of vines. Since then they have planted an additional 18 acres. Tending to vineyards and making the wines is all done by hand.
The 2010 Sonoran Estate Winery Jazz Series Riesling Gewrurztraminer, is a crisp blend with an aromatic component to please any Gewurz lover. Green apples and stone fruit, and a hint of citrus. Great balance! And do I have a daring pairing for you with this one – roasted kale chips. It surprised me how well the roasted kale and this wine go together, but there was a harmony in my mouth that was pretty damn astounding!
About Sonoran Estate: “Immigrants from Holland in 1982, the Smits family were Fraser Valley flower growers until moving in 2000 to a Summerland orchard set on a dramatic slope overlooking Lake Okanagan. After opening a highway-side bed and breakfast, the Smits replaced the fruit trees with vines, opening a winery with the first fruit from the vineyard. The varieties grown include merlot, pinot noir, chardonnay, gewürztraminer, riesling, ehrenfelser and pinot blanc. In 2007, the family moved from the original Sonoran winery, which had difficult highway access, to a high-traffic site on the wine route in Summerland. Beginning with the 2005 vintage, Sonoran now releases its premium wines under the 13 Moons label. Inspired by the lunar cycles, the label also signals a commitment to biodynamic practices.” — BC Wine.com
2009 Dunham Froese MDC, a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Zinfandel, and 25% Syrah, is about as approachable as wine can get. Silky smooth, with the softness of a cool blueberry pie. A great solo joy, it doesn’t need food to make it memorable. The wine is a tribute to Dunham Froese proprietor Gene Covert’s late father, who was an avid Cab drinker.
About Dunham Froese: Dunham Froese, now known as Covert Farms, was founded in 2005 together by the Covert and and Froese families. Those wines from the early years were well received and the winery was named “Best New Winery to Watch for” in 2008 by the Okanagan Wine Festival Society. In 2011, the Covert family assumed full ownership.
2011 Platinum Bench Chardonnay, the inaugural release of this wine. It’s got even oaky backbone to make us know it means business, but without taking away that citrusy zing. MIngling iwth that citrus are crisp Granny Smith apples and a melony softness. Very refreshing on the finish. We previously wrote about Platinum Bench’s 2011 Gamay Noir and Pinot Gris, which we were fans of, so it’s very interesting to find another potent weapon in their vinous arsenal. These folks have sure come out swinging. Production is only 350 cases.
About Platinum Bench Estate Winery: We truly don’t know much yet about the Platinum crew. They’ve barely gotten here, and they’re winning awards and storming palates. The Oliver, BC winery was established in 2012 by Fiona Duncan and Murray Jones. And there’s a dog named Wally. What more is there to know?
And that’s all folks. Truly, it is.
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For more on wines from the Okanagan valley, this is the best book I know.
Blackberry released its new Blackberry 10 operating system today, along with two new phones – the iPhoneish Z10 and the more traditionally Blackberry-style, keyboard-laden Q10. In the release, Blackberry announced that there are over 70,000 apps immediately available. So this got me wondering how many wine apps are there? So we did some digging, and here’s what we found (and most of them are not your usual suspects).
Mobifusion has been busy for this release, and among their apps are a couple noteworthy wine apps, Instant Wine Expert, with a $5.99 price tag and which is by the sound of it is a 1WineDude-esque “tool for working out what’s what in the world of wine, without pretentiousness or pomp”, and Top Wines of the World, a “companion guide for wines from Australia, California, France, Spain, Italy, Chile, Argentina, and [elsewhere around the world]. Both these apps sound bookish, but that is the case with many wine knowledge apps across platforms.
Cytrus has put out a crowdsourcing type wine app called Top12Wines that you can download here.
The new version of the Vivino Wine Scanner (also familiar on iOS and available in the iTunes App Store) released today to be compatible with OS10, allows users to take a photo of any wine, and the app will automatically match it against an online wine database of more than 500,000 wines.
Wine Secretary looks to be a new app on the Blackberry platform, made specifically for the OS10 release. With it, you can guide your wine purchases using ratings, prices, and reviews from an archive of 1 million+ wines.
So where are apps from the Wine Spectator, Snooth, Nat Decants and others that are staples in iOS? Let’s hope they join the BB10 party soon!
We’ll keep updating as we find out about more wine apps, so keep checking back…
In this week’s app review, I’m taking a closer look at Pocket Wine, an app that, in the words of the developer, “unlocks the complex world of wine” and “enables you to easily navigate, explore and gain a clear understanding of all the major grape varieties and blends”. Pocket Wine’s main features are a wine Style guide, a listing of Grape varieties, a Food section that allows you to find a suitable wine match for whatever you’re looking at making for din-din, and My Taste (a taste profile feature that’s seriously fun).
The design is warm and inviting. The text pops out well, and the icons are distinguishable and memorable, so they’re doing their job. The navigation is traditionally iOS’sy and as such intuitive for anyone familiar with the platform.
The Style feature is a great access point into finding wines that suit my style (or what I think is my style – more on this below), and going into reading about a wine variety that I find interesting opens up so much information about everything from the variety’s origins, regions where it can be found, potential food pairings, and even a place to put my notes. The one thing that could open it up even more is a link from a proposed food pairing back to that food’s page in the Food section, so that maybe if I don’t like, say, Pinot Grigio with that fish, I can go to the fish’s Goof section page and find other potential wine matches.
The Grapes feature is a more direct link to what I just talked about above, and its inclusion on the menu is a great choice on the part of the developer as its an oft-needed reference not only for beginners but for more seasoned wine lovers wanting to venture into that more unfamiliar territory manned by the Arintos and Assyrtikos of the vine world.
My Taste, a feature that allows you to create a taste profile, is interesting and fun especially when comparing with friends while sharing a bottle and a few laughs. But more than that, it’s truthful. It doesn’t give you a Facebook game-like result of “You are a Cab Man!” but instead sliding-scale results for how you could potentially like multiple wine styles. And you know what? It was pretty spot on with my tastes – I do like smooth reds even if I’ve got a thing for powerhouse Cabs on occasion. What this feature may be missing is a direct link out of My Taste to a wine style. When I saw 80% compatibility to Smooth, I tapped on “Smooth” but nothing happened. Having said that, it’s not a long jaunt back to the Style view, but in this world of multiple access points, that direct access is something that would be a nice-to-have feature.
Pocket Wine is designed for both the iPad and iPhone, which – although almost being a must for most apps these days – is convenient as I like to have this kind of information with me on the go on my iPhone, but when settling down for some lengthier reading on grape varieties or that food-wine match for this Saturday’s dinner, the iPad is easier on the eyes.
All in all, this is a great wine app for both newbies and as a reference tool for veteran wine geeks, and definitely a step up from the various competing free apps that are out there. It’s available on the US App Store at Pocket Wine – USA and on the Canadian App Store at Pocket Wine – Canada.
Rating: 4 stars
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