The November 16th RAW WINE Toronto fair is your ticket to tasting amazing, naturally produced wines. One RAW WINE grower/winemaking team clearing Isabelle Legeron’s very high quality bar is Scout Vineyard, a wine farm on the southern border of the incredibly beautiful Similkameen Valley, in British Columbia. Launched in 2018, Team Scout includes Similkameen friends…
Tag: sustainability
Sentient Wine & Alcohol Brands Amp up Organic and Sustainable Messaging
In 2018 – before the name Greta was etched into our consciousness – I was in a grade 3 classroom user-testing an environmental app for kids that explored climate change and plastic pollution in our oceans. Predictably, the students told us the app was buggy (which it was), and had way too much text (which…
Locals Drink Local: The Hidden Gems & Must Try Wines of Prince Edward County
There was a great advertising campaign in 2017 for the high-speed Eurostar train that connects London to Paris. The message read: “Ask a local, not your phone.” The campaign encouraged travellers to ditch their technology and tap the local knowledge and passion of the community. Paris isn’t in the cards for most Canadians living a post…
Trial by Fire: Raising a Glass to Australia’s Recovery from the Bushfires
If you’d like to help support Australia’s recovery from the bushfires, consider lifting a glass of Aussie’s finest. Like so many local businesses, Australia’s wine producers have felt the impact of the devastating bushfires and many top producers will not be making wine in 2020. While research suggests only 1% of total vineyard area suffered…
A little Green with your Bordeaux? Château de La Dauphine’s Green Wine Tour
Perched on a rolling hill above the winding Dordogne River, Château de La Dauphine is one of the most visually stunning properties in Bordeaux. I first eyed this peaceful right bank beauty last year, as we drove westbound into Bordeaux along D670, the highway framing the south Fronsac appellation. It was my first trip to…
Eco-Savvy Château de Chantegrive: Trailblazing Bordeaux Vineyards are Rolling out Green Wine Tours
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…
Going Going Green: The Noble Winemaking Efforts of Bordeaux’s Domaine de Chevalier
It’s a bright, refreshingly cool morning in the vineyards of Domaine de Chevalier in Pessac-Léognan when the gravel soil of the namesake Graves region really starts to make its presence known. I’m in minute four of a low-level, half-squat, half-kneel position wrestling with an unbelievably prodigious Sauvignon Blanc vine. The current challenge: to wedge my…
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, to lead with…
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…
Canadians in Napa! Faith Armstrong Foster’s ‘Onward Wines’ feature old-school sparkler – Pét Nat
That Napa winemaker Faith Armstrong-Foster harkens from Surge Narrows on the remote Inside Passage of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, should tell you something about her winemaking philosophy. Anyone who grew up amidst the pristine inlets and spectacular wilderness setting of this northern location is going to be on nature’s side. Coast&Kayak Magazine suggests Surge…
Hooked on Hunter Valley – Part 2
After a glorious morning of tasting, we enjoy a lovely lunch at the Bimbadgen Winery. On the ridge below, half a dozen kangaroos lounge in the mid-afternoon heat, indifferent to our presence. I can’t get over the fact these creatures are everywhere – including between the rows of vines – and their disinterest reminds…
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…
A Must Read Blog 