December 16 - Skye, Woods Contractor

Another post from my parents about one of our family dogs, Skye. I always tell people he is possibly one of the dumbest dogs I've ever know. I once saw him poop uphill...so all his business rolled back to him.

Each time we hike the brook, Skye likes to help with storm clearance. 

He works away on various dead falls and then chooses a favourite to bring home. 

This involves maneuvering through some tight spots and then waiting patiently for the slow pokes. 

He usually needs some help at the gate but then he is triumphantly home. He generally has a collection going on the lawn which, sadly for him, disappears each mowing day!

Thanks as always to my parents for their great contributions (And Skye as well I suppose!).

If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

Dec 13 (This Friday) - Carols by Candlelight

Another blog post, this time courtesy of a friend of my parents who also works with them on the Belleisle Bay Watershed Coalition, Diane.

The neighbourhood is invited to attend a carol service at an otherwise retired church, the Bethel United Baptist Church in Lower Kars on Rte 124, right at the curve in the road. Someone leave car lights on so that you can get safely into the church, everyone brings their own candles. There is no electricity. 

An ancient oil stove provides a minimal amount of heat, but you need warm winter clothes too. The carols are lovely. The brief sermon is given by a retired preacher. Afterwards people gather at the community hall fifty metres toward the bay for cookies and cider or tea.

I've never been to this event myself but from the way Diane describes it, it sounds like an exceptional experience. I've included the details below. Hopefully I can convince Sara to brave the chill at attend this weekend!

7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13th at Bethel United Baptist Church, Kars.

BYOC (Bring your own candle!) and a little plate of treats to share for afterwards (I wonder if I should bring some warm mulled wine?)

If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

December 8 - Stream Walking Behind the Winery

Another day out, another great blog post from my parents!

One of our favourite hikes is up the stream bed on the hillside behind the farm. We had built a very nice trail along this stream but Mother Nature had other ideas. Each big rain storm the stream bed is diverted again and washes out a bit of trail. So we and the dogs just enjoy what is left.

There is beautiful fall colour everywhere. We have a pond behind the farm which is fed by the brook. Skye has to have a lengthy swim and fetch every time we pass this way.

This is a fun landmark, we call it the bum tree.

A newly carved waterfall courtesy of Mother Nature after the rain. Our beautiful brook brings us joy every time we visit.

The stream is alive and always changing.  Its music as the water tumbles over the rock is ever changing and brings a sense of serenity.  The songs of the stream after a heavy rain is loud and shouting saying look at us and in the periods of little rain it is a whisper saying we are still here.

 Rod and Judy

If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

November 27 - Preparing New Brunswick's Top Wine

Our winery enters into wine awards each year. Most local wineries enter into the Atlantic Canada Wine Awards. There they win lots of medals which they tell their customers about. The problem we have with that is they are not challenging themselves. Putting yourself up against only Atlantic Canadian wineries doesn't mean you have to truly commit yourself to the art of winemaking. That is why our winery only enters national wine competitions as we want to stack ourselves up against the best in Canada (And in the coming year, we are going to enter international wine competitions).

 

As I mentioned above with the commitment to winemaking, we are always trying new techniques (Or very old ones!). As some of you know, our Premium Red vintages have won multiple awards across Canada including a double gold medal this year from the All Canadian Wine Championships. We believe that success was in no small part to it being Amarone wine.

 

This is a traditional wine made in the heart of the wine world, Italy. We start by handpicking select bunches of grapes from the vineyard and placing them in a cool, dark room. We then blow air on them for 1-2 months constantly.

The process involves partially drying the grapes (Called appassimento) which allows the grapes to concentrate their sugars as they start to shrivel. After that time period we collect the grapes and process them as we would any other grape.

We put the grapes through our crusher/destemmer (Always a messy business!)

And are left with a deep, dark, rich grape juice from which we can ferment a nice high alcohol while maintaining a smooth, silky flavour.

This was our third vintage of this wine. The 2010, comprising of Baco Noir and Marquette grapes, has aged phenomenally in the couple of years it has been in the bottle. The 2011, comprising Marquette and Marchal Foch grapes, was so delicious that when it was still in our oak barrels my father asked us to wheel one up to the house for his personal stash. This recent vintage is comprised solely of Marquette grapes and we have, as ever, high hopes for it. Don't forget that if you want to sample these or any of our fine wines the winery is open 12-5, Saturday and Sunday, year round. We also can arrange to ship wines to you.

 

If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

November 9 - Hiking into Reddin Falls

As I've mentioned previously my parents love to wander the hidden back trails of our province. Here is another post on their trip to one of New Brunswick's many waterfalls.

 

The Reddin Falls in Keirsteadville was a great destination for a fall day tramp. This is a very special hike we've made before into a beautiful waterfall surrounded by impressive rock formations. We plan to go back on a summer day to try out the swimming hole at the base of the falls when the temperatures will be a little kinder.

 

That said, our black Lab, Skye, thought the swimming was great even at this time of year but then again he is tougher than us. You can see him paddling along to the right of the base of the waterfall in the picture below.

 

We invited along our daughter-in-law Sara and her family (Alan was working in the winery store). There are numerous stream crossings so rubber boots are recommended, unless of course you are a dog, in which case have at it!

 

 

More info on the route can be found on the waterfalls of New Brunswick here.

 

Rod and Judy

 

As always, if you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

November 3 - Golfing by the Washademoak

As some of you may know our winery is a family enterprise, myself having taken over from my father and sister in 2010. My parents are a great pair of ramblers and I asked them if they came across any fun or interesting local sites for them to document it for our blog. Here is their first post.

 

A visit to the Cambridge-Narrows golf course any time of year is fun but the fall colors made it especially nice today. The air was crisp and cool.  The visibility clear as far as the eye could see.  The colour was still present and the golf game was not bad.  The problem is with the views it is difficult to concentrate on hitting a little white ball.

 

 

After the game in the company of friends we returned to the club house for lunch.  The last two holes were somewhat hurried as we all had anticipation of what we would receive for lunch.

 

 

 

We had a delicious lunch prepared and served by Monica, one of the German owners. Schnitzel on a bun, of course, and her unique salads. The schnitzel was something we have experienced many times in Austria and Bavaria.  In fact on one trip my husband made a point of having schnitzel twice a day for the entire trip.  The memorable salad was the potato salad of small potatoes cut in half then cooked with bacon bits and caraway seed.  Served warm it was fantastic.

 

She had the table set for the 6 of us and a cozy wood fire burning to greet us. A great day out!
 

 

 

If you want to contact the Washademoak Golf Club about booking a tee time, just follow the link.

 

Also if you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

November 1 - Reflections on CETA and Wine

Some people have been asking me about my opinion of the new Canada European Trade Agreement with regards to wines and the winery. I thought I would write a little post about my thoughts.

 

Whatever else the merits of the deal are, as far as I know European wine and spirits will have much lower tariffs (By 98% I have read) to enter Canada. So the prices on European alcohols should drop nicely (Unless your provincial liquor corporation decides otherwise). I cannot find any information stating that Canadian products will be similarly received across the pond. If they are, I think it would be fun to introduce Europeans to the delight of our Cranberry Ceilidh.

 

I am not too disheartened by this news. It is important to remember that we are an artisan winery and our production volumes are kept inline with our sales in NB. We also produce a lot of delicious fruit wines, something which is seen as a lesser wine in comparison to grape wines in Europe. I'd have to imagine that we won't be seeing many of those on our shelves too soon. 

 

Canadians have become locavores in the past couple of years. If you don't know what a locavore is perform a simple test on yourself. If you had the option of buying a vegetable from a grocery store or a local farm for the same price, which would you choose? Even our grocery stores recognize this and are trying to change their packaging to say things like 'country sourced' and 'farmers market fresh'. Whether those statements are true or not, people do want to know where their food is coming from these days. It is no different with wines and New Brunswickers are discovering our award-winning varieties now.

 

Industrial wineries should be concerned about the deal as an influx of cheaper European booze means more competition for them in all their markets. That said I don't think they have to be too worried. Worldwide grape volumes are down so wines are going to be sold to the highest buyer which at the moment is generally China, at least for grape wines. When I was at a wine show in Guangzhou, China a couple of years ago there was a winery who brought 2 cases of 2009 Chateau Lafite. They sold it in a day at $2500 a bottle!

 

I have no say in the deal itself, but I hope it brings tangible economic benefits to NB specifically and Canada generally. I'd love to try my wines out in Europe but until we know more details, I'll stick to making exceptional products, using only 100% NB grapes and fruits, which I know my customers love.

 

Alan

October 27 - Market Life

Yesterday was my last farmers market of the season of what was my second year at the markets. There are several people that I want to thank later but first I'd like to share my thoughts about market life. Being a vendor is a curious experience that I liken to owning a Jeep Wrangler, once you've tried it, it is hard to not want to return to it. I chose that comparison specifically as it is both something which I have found to be true and because being a vendor is not an unhealthy addiction. I think I can sum it up fairly well with something I said to Sara when I got home:

 

I believe in the past six months I've met more people, bartered more goods and breathed in more fresh air than some people do in six years.

 

I also know the experience can differ from vendor to vendor. For instance, a lot of baked goods vendors are up well past midnight getting their wares prepared whereas my wines are bottled months in advance. Conversely they tend to move a lot more volume on market days than most. There are battles of balance all vendors play with, how much to prepare, how much to bring, how fine the margins are, even our market fees all are considered each week.

 

Then there are the intangibles, the things which we have no control over. The good and bad sales days, the vendors who retire (I'm looking at you Saint John Cupcake Salon) and the bad weather days. Ah the weather, you can read all the forecasts and radars you like but you can never prepare for it. Some rainy days are actually great for sales, some sunny days no customers turn out. Then there was that one Friday in Sussex where we expected an ark to pull up...

 

 

 

Having been a vendor the past two seasons and already looking forward to 2014 markets I think I can safely say I'll always need to be at the markets in some form or other. Even if I sold the winery tomorrow I think I'd look into another product that would allow me the opportunity to participate. After all, how many get to experience this on a chilly Saturday morning:

 

 

 

I won't try and list all the vendors I know but I would like to thank my neighbours specifically. All told I spent a little under 400 hours since May variously in the company of these people and having someone you can chat with, laugh with or scrabble with makes the time go by much easier. Bob and Jackie from the R and J Honey Bee Farm, Ann from Soap Works, Erin and Ian from Totally Raw Dog Food, Keith and Brenda from Wilier Creations and Bob and Madison from Bates Landing. Others include Doyle, Anna, Henrietta, Dan, Mike, Greg, Tom, too many to send shout outs too, suffice to say I've never actually met a vendor that I couldn't at least have a chat with.

 

I'd also like to thank the market managers. Lynn from the Sussex Farmers Market, Lorraine from the Kingston Farmers Market and Jody and Brian from the Queen Square Farmers Market. Being a market manager must be a hectic job, from constantly promoting the market to dealing with vendors complaints (Oh, we'll complain about anything, weather included!) and these individuals manage to pull it off smoothly every market. My thanks to them.

 

I save my biggest thanks for you, my customers. My repeats, my newcomers and my old friends, as long as you support us I'll always do my best to bring you New Brunswick's most award winning wines!

 

 If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter,

Alan

 

 

September

I've decided to revive my blog, with some tweaks. This will be a monthly blog focusing on the new awards, fun events and different wines we are creating. Rather than try and teach about winemaking as I learn, I figure people might want to know about the creative things we get up to at the winery. Oh, and I've changed to name to match the winery twitter handle as well (@grape_stains).

 

September was a great month for us which kicked off with a welcome return of our Quilts in the Vineyard festival. The weather tried to dampen our spirits a little each day but could only muster a short shower each day.

 

 

We organized the day with our newest tour partner Uncorked Tours and its owner Gill Nadeau who helped make it a great success. We had several local craft vendors onsite including Rustic Endeavours, Patience Jewelry and a delicious food vendor Belle's Grill.

 

We also added a fun new event which ALOT of people we apprehensive about but quickly warmed to when they got in, blueberry stomping!

 

 

You see our wine press isn't fine enough to get a good press from blueberries so last year we found the best way to get a good press is from stomping! We ensure it is entirely hygienic and the fermenting process means just the blueberry goodness survives.

 

Our day was also enlivened by the Belleisle Bay Watershed Committee, a local non-profit organization working to protect our pristine waters. They held a blueberry bake sale to raise funds which sold out both days! It seems everyone loves blueberry pie.

 

 

Don't worry though, if you missed us this year we'll be having the show again next year. Gill and I are planning on the third weekend of August and are going to make it even bigger and better. We are thinking of lawn mower races, team blueberry stomping for charity and a frolf course in our apple orchard!

 

We were also featured in a great news story about Uncorked Tours on Atlantic Journal. Check out the August 12 episode #58, the second story, 8 minutes in.

 

I will have a post about all our October doings in the next couple weeks. If you want to keep in touch with us follow us on Facebook or on Twitter, I'll let you know about which farmers markets I'll be at and other winery news!

Alan