Icewine
Do I love Icewine! Yes I do !

My experience with Canada's amazing drop of golden liquid began in the 1990s.
We recieved a sample of wines from one of Ontarios Niagara-On-The-Lake wineries.
Included was a bottle a Vidal Icewine. At that time we had never tasted this precious wine.

Sadley we did not enjoy the wine. It was too thick and tasted like syrup.  For the next ten plus years my wife and I avoided the product. Since icewine is rather expensive its not a wine to buy for a second change.

We did not try icewine again untill 2004, the year we traveled to Ontario and the Niagara wine region
It was at the home of Icewine  Inniskillian that we were offered the opportunity by Deb Pratt to tatse their icewine. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was so good.

Ever since then I have been a true fan of Icewine and have enjoyed many icewines from various wineries across Canada..Our website has six pages on Icewine.  These pages are our most visited.
They are also perhaps the most quoted pages on various websites, blogs and news articles around the world

Visit us www.winesofcanada.com

Sometimes it’s not easy running a website that features over 700 wineries, meaderies and cider houses. It is a challenge!  Not as big a challenge as the winemaker / winery owner must go to be successful. In today’s world of social media, the successful winery must adapt to the  forces of Social Media.  

Today’s social media includes Facebook, Twitter, websites , bloggers and numerous other platforms. We jumped on to the  new website trend  twenty years ago. There were far fewer wineries and the majority did not have websites. No one had heard of Facebook or twitter. We were there ,to except the Challenge, and introduce Canadian wines and wineries to the world.

With over 700 hundred wineries, meaderies and cider houses and the number growing the task of reaching out to all of them becomes more difficult. We only ask that the winery takes a few minutes to answer or initial question sheet so we may list them on the site. We also try to contact the winery once a year ( it use to be twice) and keep us posted on changes.
After twenty years of success there are still some wineries that cannot find the time to help us.

 

Grape researcher Robert Murphy says Wines of Canada is a great site to promote provincial wines to the world and to acknowledge special individuals connected to the wine industry. Robert Murray
 
Thank you for undertaking such as project as your wonderful website of winesofcanada" : David Craw president of the New Brunswick Grape Growers Association

 

You have a tremendous website. It's the encyclopedia of Canadian wine. Bryan McCaw

 

Today we use Facebook, Twitter and our website to help promote the wineries of Canada. We are a Social Media force that promotes our wines and wineries 24/7.  But we sure could use a little more support from those wineries

Visit us
www.winesofcanada.com

PS we also run www.winesofwoi.com

 

The perfect Hot Chocolate

 

Here is my method for making the perfect hot chocolate. It begins by placing two healing spoonfulls of
chocolate powder into a 12 oz cup. Now you add your fortified beverage; if you prefer add  hot milk or boiled water. Add just enough to make a paste. Now fill the cup half full of hot milk or boiling water.
Now add another spoonful of chocolate powder and mix..  If you have lumps change powder brands.
Continue to fill the cup leaving room to add either your fortified beverage to taste or whip. You may of course add both.

The milk and water must be hot enough to avoid producing lumps but please becareful and allow the
hot chocolate to cool before adding the whip cream. I strongly suggest you whip the cream yourself
Canned cream fades away quickly.

Happy New year!

The Power of the Pyramid

 

Kelowna is home to the Pyramid which resides on the grounds of Summerhill Pyramid estate winery
One of the oldest and most respect wineries in Canada. Its founder and owner Stephen Cipes first visited the Okangan in 1986 and believed he'd found unique conditions to produce "intensely flavoured small grapes"--the perfect base for sparkling wine. Cipes brought grape clones from France and "personally planted them on my hands and knees

At Summerhill the wines are stored in the Pyramid. The Summerhill Pyramid is second only to the Great Pyramid of Egypt for alignment and precision.  Mr Cipes says

The message is profound. We have a twenty year experiment proving the effect of sacred geometry on liquids with a twenty year track record of international gold medals. My goal from the beginning was and is to make the finest wine in the world, especially sparkling wines. The French tradition of putting sparkling wines in a dark cool place for thirty days for the cuvee and dosage to ‘marry’ was my original inspiration to achieve this goal. The wines are made using only minimal intervention winemaking, and grown 100% organically in this extraordinary pristine semi desert valley, and the clarification in this True Pyramid is the final step in production. These are alive wines full of nature’s grandness, made in the most unique winery in the world.

 Summerhill is a Certified Organic Vineyard using no herbicides, pesticides, or chemical fertilizers in the soil. In 2012 they achieved Demeter Biodynamic status. The wines are made under the direction of esteemed winemaker Eric von Krosigk.

In another first for the winery is pleased to share that they added a nitrogen generator to their production cellar just in time for the 2012 harvest, with the goal of reducing and/or eliminating the use of sulphur dioxide as a preservative in winemaking.  

Sulphur dioxide (a sulphite) is known to cause allergy-like reactions to people that are sensitive to this compound, so it is hoped that these reactions can be minimized. Using nitrogen in sulphur dioxide's place will also allow Summerhill to keep wine fresh in tank almost indefinitely, allowing much more flexibility with environmentally-friendly bag-in-box packaging, kegs, and with their acclaimed multi-vintage sparkling wines.   

Additionally, it will add environmental and cost advantages, with the winery not having to purchase and transport nitrogen in tanks.  This new generator provides the extra benefit of reducing the need for climate control in the winery, thereby conserving energy.

You can count on the team at Summerhill to provide outstanding wines, innovative thinking  and hospitality

 

Léon Millot is a red variety of hybrid grape used for wine . It was created in 1911 in the Oberlin Institute in Colmar, Alsace , by the French viticulturist Eugène Kuhlmann (1858–1932) by crossing the hybrid grape Millardet et Grasset 101-14 O.P. (which is Vitis riparia × Vitis rupestris ) with Goldriesling , which is Vitis vinifera . The variety was named after the winemaker and tree nusery owner Léon Millot.

Léon Millot ripens early, and has high resistance against fungal diseases. It is therefore suited for cultivation in colder climates. It gives powerful wine with some foxy aromas.
Léon Millot is cultivated in small amounts in Switzerland (on 9.35 hectares (23.1 acres) in 2009), Alsace and Canada . In August 2011, a Leon Millot varietal wine produced by a vineyard in the Finger Lakes region of New York State won the prize for “best red wine” in the “New York Wine and Food Classic,” sponsored by the New York Wine and Grape Foundation and open to all of New York's 307 wineries.

In similarity with many other hybrid grapes, Leon Millot was originally not allowed to be used in professional winemaking in the European Union . However, after the regulations were somewhat relaxed, varieties with some Vitis vinifera in their pedigree, such as Léon Millot, are currently allowed to be used for wine production in Europe.
Léon Millot was the product of the same crossing trials as Lucie Kuhlmann and Maréchal Foch , and these three varieties are related.

At Saxon Estate winery in Ontario they are uniquely positioned to make Leon Millot in both Rose and in Red from Estate Grown Leon grapes which are rare in North America. The Grape is gaining popularity in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Leon Milliot is just on example of Grape Varietals been introduced to the Cold Climate wine growing regions of North America

Otheres are Agria: is an early ripping grape suited to cool climate vineyards Agria is also known as Turan. Blattner: is a Hybrid not commonly grown. But has found a home in the BC Coastal Areas. Barber: is a red Italian wine grape variety that, as of 2000, was the third most-planted red grape variety in Italy. the list goes on please see Grape Varietal

We Get Letters

actually we get e-mails, twitters, and Facebook messages..
The majority of which ask questions about Canada’s wine industry.
The most popular question is can I buy Icewine?  Can I buy it from you?  Can I import icewine?
Is Icewine sold in my town?

Yes you can buy icewine – Yes. Can I buy it from you –NO Can I import icewine- that depends where you live. Is icewine sold in my town.. for that answer we use to say check the yellow pages.. We cannot keep track of who sells what where..

The second most popular question comes from people who find old London or Brights wine bottles.
Can we drink the wine are the bottles valuable.  That answer can be found on the website under various subjects. We do have a page on Vincor (now Constellation Brands who both these labels) and Brights.
However “no” is the main answer. Although we try to provide a better response than just saying no.

We also get e-mails from people wanting to buy grape juice, icewine, vines or sell us a wine related product. This of course is not what we do. There are also students doing a report on wine seeking information. These are the e-mails that take longer to respond to. We try to help without doing the work for them.

Now we also have people looking for work. Today we received a letter from a man in China  who works harvesting apples; but wants to come to Canada to pick grapes over the winter. Sadly, in this case we could not help.

We like getting e-mails.. It tells that people are finding the website and we play a little role in promoting the wines of Canada.
Yes we have a  FAQ page

Last Wednesday evening on twitter I took part in the weekly BC Wine Chat #BcWineChat . The topic was a celebration of A Cabernet Franc Celebration. I checked my page Roberts Selections and realized I had tasted very few CabFranc wines.

 

Cabernet Franc is one of the major black grape varities worldwide. It is principally grown for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux style, but can also be vinified alone. In 2011 it accounted for 10% of the red grapes grown in the province. Winemaker Sandra Oldfield tweeted Best reason #16 for being Canadian: We have great respect for Cabernet Franc. It is so well suited for the South Okanagan. It has a great tolerance for cold winters  John Skinner of  Painted rock refers to it as one of the top 3 grapes for its potential in the Okanagan

Popular Grove Cabfranc was the first wine to be mentioned; followed by Tinhorn Creek. One of the wines I enjoyed was Quinta Ferreira Estate Winery 2008 !

Another fine Cabernet Franc is been produced by Cerelia in the Similkameen. Jeanette Montgomery @OkanaganWriting suggested her favourite from Seven Stones also in the Similkameen

Hester Creek from the Golden mile also received a strong recommendation.

Black Sage a new Brand from Constellation Brands was also mention was were a few other. It seems that the Cabernet Franc movement is under way both of BC’s winemakers and
consumers. In my future I see more Cabernet Franc