Wine has had some fascination innovations over the centuries, which begs the question: What are the most revolutionary improvements to wine making in the last 500 years? Two items that we take for granted stand out – the wine bottle and the cork. It has been known since the time of the Romans that wines changed when stored exposed to…
This month’s virtual journey takes us to Malivoire Wine Company located near Beamsville on the Niagara bench lands. The story of their founding resonates with me. Martin Malivoire did not plan a wine career, but it found him nonetheless. It’s the same for many of us in the wine world! Malivoire’s initial vocation was special effects in cinema, where he…
This month’s feature, The Roost, is a boutique winery located in a place where you may not think of grape growing – The Blue Mountains, near Collingwood. It’s owned by the husband and wife team, Jessica, the winemaker, and Michael, the vineyard manager. They planted their home vineyard in 2013/14 and The Roost opened to the public in 2017. With…
This month we’ll take a journey back in time to see who we should thank for the wine we’ll be enjoying this Christmas season. This idea came from a book by wine writer Oz Clarke that proposes the ancient civilization responsible for the “discovery” of wine. The usual suspects are the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. There is certainly evidence that…
On our ongoing journey exploring local wineries,let’s take a look at another long time Niagara resident, Vineland Estates. Vineland’s story began in 1979 when Hermann Weis, a German winegrower, planted Riesling on the site. The first winery was established in the original farmhouse in 1983 by Dieter Guttler and he sold the winery to the Weiss family in 1988. In…
We continue to focus on local since we have so many amazing Ontario wineries to explore. This month we feature Niagara’s 13th Street. The winery is owned by the Whitty family and their patriarch, Doug, is both the President and the Vineyard Manager. As a 3rd generation grape grower, he takes vineyard management seriously and completely identifies with the philosophy…
Our ongoing series continues to spotlight local Ontario wineries; this month we feature Cave Spring Vineyards and a selection of their wines (plus a few extra Local and International wines). The founding partners of Cave Spring, Len Pennachetti and Angelo Pavan (who is also the winemaker), have a vision for their winery. They feel, like the vintners in the world’s…
Our ongoing series continues to spotlight Ontario wineries that deserve our support not only because they are a local small businesses, but because they produce an excellent, world class product. This month we feature Flat Rock Cellars. Flat Rock was founded by Ed Madronich Sr., and it is operated with his son, Ed Madronich Jr. They are focussed on environmentally…
Last month the importance of supporting small businesses was occupying my mind. Since wineries are local small businesses, we will feature some of them for the next few months starting with Featherstone Estate Winery. Featherstone’s 23 acre vineyard and winery are located near the village of Vineland in the Twenty Mile Bench sub-appellation of the Niagara region. It was founded…
The last 6 weeks has made things different for all of us. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on how we interact socially to protect us, our loved ones, and society from the virus. I’m lucky to be a writer since I can still reach you despite physical distancing and for that I am grateful. We Canadians are a resilient…
Wine Journeys Takes A Look at “From the Vine” – A movie worth seeing We have something completely different this month: a movie review. It does, of course, involve wine. The film called “From the Vine” was shot in Canada and Italy and is well worth seeing. First and foremost, it is very good cinema. “From the Vine” hits all…
A Journey Through Sonoma Wine Country We had the pleasure of touring the Sonoma wine region recently. Our plan was to visit wineries in certain Sonoma sub-regions since their micro climates are perfect for growing specific grapes. The only downside: none of these wineries are currently represented at the LCBO. You really need to go there to experience them yourselves!…