For me, the really juicy story swirling around the food and beverage category – and indeed just about every retail category – is the changing values of customers. Many consumers now rank a company’s environmental record higher on their list of “purchase considerations”. Seminal research is indicating this ‘sustainability mindset’ is a marketing game-changer. Some…
Category: Viticulture
A Second French Revolution: Château Guiraud’s Sweet Eco Manifesto
Xavier Planty and his son Luc Planty may not be direct descendants of the 16th century owners of Château Guiraud in Sauternes, but they definitely inherited their revolutionary spirit. In fact, if there’s one word that best describes the wine business modus operandi of the Planty family, it’s rebellious. Which is exactly how one might…
Digging into Bordeaux’s Green Movement
I’m back from Bordeaux. Yes, again. How many visits to Bordeaux in a year constitute an addiction? No need to answer; it’s a rhetorical question. But for the record, I’m up to three. Some of my friends are calling me a wannabe Bordelaise. I am happy to report that’s true. Disclosures aside, the focus of…
Wines that are Better for You & the Environment. Meet Canadian Environmental Steward – Ann Sperling of Southbrook Vineyards
“Prescience” comes from the Latin verb praescire, which means to know beforehand, to have foresight. Prescient organizations often have leaders who – as the brilliant Queen’s University marketing professor Ken Wong says – aren’t afraid of leadership. “They recognize the ultimate competitive value is to be the best you.” Needless to say, (I’m saying it…
Canadians in Napa! Steve Matthiasson: Farmer, Viticulturist, Winemaker & Guardian of the Galaxy….aka Grape
The 2017 Matthiasson Rosé. Photo credit: Matthiasson Wines Did I happen to mention Steve Matthiasson, venerated winemaker, chief viticultural steward and all round humanitarian at Matthiasson Wines, grew up on my street in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA? It’s true. Napa’s guardian of the grape is indeed Canadian, spending his early years on Queenston Street, just around the…
Bordeaux’s Château de Reignac: a Case Study in Risk and Reward – PART 2
In a region with over 7,000 chateaux, it’s hard to find an estate offering a truly unique selling proposition. Quality is the attribute most Bordeaux producers hang their hat on. But how are you going to convince audiences of your quality when all 7,000 of your competitors are making the same claim? You start by…
Bordeaux’s Château de Reignac: a Case Study in Risk and Reward
If you’re of a certain vintage – or a student of advertising – you may be familiar with the seminal 1962 advertising campaign for Avis. The car rental company summed up their ‘customer promise’ in the pithy advertising tagline “We Try Harder”. Of course, consumers everywhere wondered try harder than whom? Without saying as much,…
Anthony von Mandl’s Kelowna Triple Threat: Mission Hill, Cedar Creek & Martin’s Lane Wineries
If you live inside (or outside) of Canada there’s a good chance you have limited experience with the full breadth of Canadian wine…and by limited I mean not much at all! Protectionist provincial politics, byzantine interprovincial shipping laws, and the generally glacial pace of change in industry regulations mean we have an utter dearth of…
The Niagara Escarpment’s Culinary Haven: The Good Earth Food & Wine Co.
It’s Saturday morning and I’m following Lake Ontario and the “Golden Horseshoe” arc that so aptly describes the southwest journey from Toronto to the Niagara Peninsula. Another 30 minutes of drive time, and I can visit one of the world’s most famous landmarks – Niagara Falls. But I won’t be a maid in the mist…
Testing our Symmetry Chops: The Rodney Strong Meritage Blending Workshop
I think it’s fair to say if I could hit the replay button on life, I’d come back as a winemaker (….working at a winery with gently rolling hills, south and southwestern exposures, limestone soil, a long growing season, warm climate – where you don’t have to bury the vines, 36 inches of annual rainfall,…
Hooked on Hunter Valley
In my books, Hunter Valley Semillon from New South Wales Australia is liquid gold. It’s one of those quiet, under-stated whites that’s a poster child for cellaring. I tasted a 2007 Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon in wine class last year and it made quite an impression. We were studying “crisp racy whites” except the Semillon…
Waipara Valley Terroir
You can’t drink wine and not consider the geography, botany and geology of the place that goes into your glass. Wine descends from the surface soils, bedrock, aspect, slope, winds and the geological cocktail of minerals and nutrients that feed the viticulture in the region. Most of us tip, pour and drink and…
