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