Take More Than a New York Minute to Visit City Winery
I read an intriguing article on a fully operational winery in downtown Manhattan, the heart of New York City. City Winery is the brainchild of Michael Dorf, entrepreneur, music man and wine lover. The article was informative, but the process intrigued me. How did they get the grapes to the winery? Where did the grapes come from? How big was the winery? Where in Manhattan could it be? The real estate prices are beyond belief and it takes some space to install an entire winery.
We stepped in one evening after negotiating the subway and drizzling rain. It was worth the visit. I had brought my research along and laid it out to our server. She was delighted and called over the General Manager, David Richter. David generously gave us a tour through the wine making process. It was tight and somewhat miniature compared to the typical winery one would see at a wine estate. The brilliant part of City Winery’s concept is customer involvement. Customers can buy a barrel and make the wine themselves. The cost is approximately $5,000 to $15,000.00 per barrel, with the average price being $30.00 per bottle. Customers can be involved in every part of the process. The grape clusters come in carefully wrapped and refrigerated. The people sort, destem, crush and start the juice fermenting. The bonus is a day of camaraderie with like-minded wine lovers. It has been a huge success, with the crush this year bigger than ever before.
The grapes are sourced from all the major wine regions in the United States. David Lecomte, City Winery’s Winemaker, personally visits all the vineyard estates in search of the finest grapes.
The concept of an urban winery could be adopted anywhere grapes don’t grow. In Canada, that is many cities. There are concepts like this in our country, but I believe Michael Dorf had done a professional, classy concept that supersedes a ‘you brew it’ model. The winery is attached to a wine bar and an entertainment venue, giving people many options to be a part of City Winery. That evening we heard Tony Visconti, music producer for David Bowie, T. Rex, Procol Harum and many more 60’s and 70’s bands, read from his biography. He stayed after his reading; I met him, was charmed and have since read the entire book.
Enjoy wine, food and live entertainment all under one roof. When in New York, visit City Winery. Some of the current entertainment line up is Marianne Faithful, Martha Wainwright, Joan Osborne and John Hiatt. The line up is varied and always changing. See www.citywinery.com for all the details. Drink wine, eat well and be entertained.

Connect Logistics – How To Find A Liquor Product in Alberta

For years now, Connect Logistics has been the main warehousing agent for liquor coming into Alberta. The Alberta Liquor and Gaming Control [AGLC] has to have liquor coming into approved warehouses so they can collect taxes. The warehouse is in St. Albert and from this location all the warehoused products will be distributed throughout Alberta. Connect Logistics won the contract and they, and a handful of other agents, are warehousing alcohol in Alberta. Connect Logistics created a customer service addition a few years ago that would allow the consumer to look up a product on the website and locate it within five kilometers from their postal code. It was extremely helpful for writing an article and including a way for the reader to actually find the wine. Any consumer could go on the site and look up the product instead of making a frustrating number of phone calls, or heading out in their vehicle to hunt down the treasure. The site has undergone a tremendous upgrade and now is ready for use. Stephen Dougans and his team at Connect Logistics have been working tirelessly over the past few months to create this new look. The website is much easier to navigate and has a lot of information included with the products.

How to Find the Product

Please follow these steps.

1- Choose a product you would like to look up. I picked Wrongo Dongo Monastrell. It is a fresh, juicy, easy drinking red wine that would be a great crowd pleaser. It has a suggested retail price of $14.99. Great value.
2- Go to www.liquorconnect.com When the screen is up, see on the right hand side of the screen, “Product Search”.
3- Type in the name of the product. Wrongo Dongo. Then click, “Find the Product.” The following comes up.

WRONGO DONGO
Wine — Table | Other 
Spain | Oro Wines | 750 mL glass bottle | 14.5% alc./vol.
SKU: 746354

4- Now click on the product name “Wrongo Dongo” for more information. The following is what you should see.

WRONGO DONGO

SKU: 746354 | Wine — Table | Other 
750 ml | Glass Bottle | 14.5% alc./vol. | $0.10 deposit 
12 per Case
Sweetness 01 | Red | 2010 
Wine — Table | Table
Origin: Spain | Other (Spanish) 
Supplied by: Oro Wines 

Agent: Christopher Stewart Wine & Spirits Inc.

I used an example postal code to find out where it is available. A map also appears on the page! The “Product Notes” may or may not be filled in. This is up to the agent to provide the details. If a wine has been sitting on the store shelf for more that thirty days it will not show up in the listing here. This is a way to keep the listing fresh. If the product is not warehoused by Connect Logistics, it will not show up. Molson’s and a few small wine agencies may have their own AGLC approved warehouse. Large operations such as Superstore have their own warehouse and will not show up on the site. There should be no problem finding most products though as the greatest number are under the Connect Logistics umbrella.

WHERE IS IT AVAILABLE?
Find a store near you using your City or Postal Code: locations closest to “T8A 1A8″. Click here to set a new location.

MILLCREEK LIQUOR STORE – (780) 437-4424
10.2km away

9606 82 AVENUE NW
EDMONTON, AB T6C 1A1

BIN 104 FINE WINE AND SPIRITS – (780) 436-8850
12km away

5454 CALGARY TRAIL NW
EDMONTON, AB T6H 4J8

Spanish Wine Review – The Mencia Grape

There is a grape hitting town in bigger numbers and it is time to take a good hard look at the Spanish variety Mencia. It is a red grape, known a Jaen in Portugal, with a tendency to make weak, mid bodied wines. It had a local appeal, but bringing it to the world palate needed some changes. Growers started working on crop management, vinification techniques. This draws out the best in the grape and aging in French Oak barrels. What I have sampled to this point is perfectly agreeable. It holds the old world value of earth, good tannins and power for the sake of food pairing while being very approachable now. Here is a stand out for me.

Manium Mencia Crianza, Bierzo, Spain, 2007,————CSPC#741931. The vines are between fifty and one hundred years old, producing concentrated low yields of highly flavoured grapes. The wine has earth, blackberry and enough grippy tannin that says it could age two to three years.

Available at Keg n Cork in Edmonton or find it at www.liquorconnect.com in Alberta.

Okanagan Crush Pad Wine Review

Great Wines Under $25.00

Haywire Pinot Gris, Clone 52, Switchback Vineyard, 2010. B.C. SKU#147009, AB CSPC# 1092950. This is one of Christine Coletta and Steve Lornie’s wines. It was made with a terrior driven approach. The wine speaks of flint and minerals with a tart lemon finish. It is dry and will compliment a vinaigrette dressed mesclun salad.

Bartier Scholefied Rose, 2010. B.C. SKU #164491, AB CSPC# 164491. The label is a clever double take for the consumer with it’s prominent B*S large and proud on the front. There is no BS in the bottle. Done in a Provence style, it is dry, tart raspberries and cranberries. It is refreshing, slightly acidic and would work well on its own or with a cheese plate.

New York – Gluten Free? Fugetaboutit!

In Edmonton we have many restaurants on board with gluten free options, tags on the menus and separate gluten free menus. I assumed the grand city of New York would have the same offerings in all of its restaurants.

Not so! I was surprised to find the gluten free idea is not embraced as much.
Who cares? New York is one of the world’s best cities for cuisine. It is plentiful and inexpensive. A restaurant will not survive if it does not serve very good food at competitive prices. I could have sourced out specific gluten free friendly restaurants, but when you are standing at 17th Avenue and 14th Street at 1:00PM starving, it was easy to find a great place with plenty of options. New Yorkers are into organic, sustainable and100 mile diet concepts. I ate really well. Salads are all “Mesclun” and Arugula based. I think iceberg lettuce has been banned from Manhattan! Fresh fish is easy to find and ethnic food is in good restaurants, food trucks and hole in the wall cafes. Gluten free? Fugetaboutit!

Moriarty’s Bistro, Wine Bar
Edmonton, Alberta
ISG Certified Sommelier, Heather Kingston

The room is beautiful and inviting. The staff is friendly and fun. The food is well executed and delicious. Moriarty’s is a great place to be. We were fortunate to be there on one of the last halcyon days of summer, so the patio was hopping and we found our place there. We started with the Graham Beck sparkling wine from South Africa. I love the sound of the popping cork! The wine was cold, crisp and refreshing. I would order this again!
We custom chose our Cheese and Charcuterie plate. One has the choice of many interesting cheese and meat items. The prices are according to how may choices you make. Our generous board came with a tasty fresh baguette, crackers, poached apple and raspberry jam. The meat came with grainy Dijon and house made pickles, which were very nice. I am a gluten free person so I matched my portions with Golden Beet Chips with avocado aioli $8.00. Thank you for thinking of us gluten free people! It was perfect.
I had the Tuna and Arugula salad, $23.00. The salad was lightly dressed with a flavorful touch. How do they do that? When I go to construct a dressing, it always manages to weigh down the salad. This was feather light and accompanied the large chunks of seared tuna in a delectable way. My friend had the Giant Butternut Ravioli, $14.00. This was a rich dish with sage, pine nuts, chevre and brown butter. The ravioli are hand crafted and enjoyable. We felt the Paracombe Riesling was a good choice for both mains and we were not disappointed. Riesling’s acidity is the key to good food matching.
The sweets, for those with room left, are well thought out. Loved the Chocolate Marquis with salted caramel hazelnuts; $11.00 and two spoons. The other two offerings were the Burnt Orange Crème Brulee, $11.00 and a House Made Raspberry Sorbet, $8.00. Next time for those!
For more information please visit www.moriartysbistro.com
Reservations can be made online.

Barr Estate Winery
Heather Kingston ISG Certified Sommelier

I am completely impressed with the two wines from Barr Estate Winery.
“The Other Red” is made from raspberries they hand pick. The berries work well with wine making as they have sufficient acidity and sugar content to produce a quality result. The wine is off dry, meaning there is some sugar content. The acidity is high enough to create a balanced, crisp wine. Try it on its own and with spicy food to taste how “The Other Red” can be served.

“The Barb” is made of rhubarb, but that is not obvious upon tasting. The wine is full-bodied with a smooth mid palate, medium acidity and great fruit flavor. If you had it blind, there would be a difficulty figuring out what the fruit is. This is an excellent wine I have enjoyed many times in my backyard. I have a glass on its own and with food. What food? Just about anything goes. It is full enough to stand up to just about every kind of dish. Versatile is the word to use.

Buy the wines at City Market in downtown Edmonton and the Sherwood Park, Festival Place Market.
Go to their website www.thebarb.ca

Girly Drinks Not for the Girls

Heather Kingston ISG Certified Sommelier

Every summer the cooler section of your liquor store is bursting with various sweet, fizzy concoctions. These offerings seem to be marketed to women moving from non-alcohol, sweet beverages, to a grown up version with alcohol. The alcoholic beverages are usually fruity and loaded with sugar. They are sometimes referred to as, “girly drinks”. Well, the girls are finding the high calorie count in each bottle is not conducive to healthy weight management.

Those coolers are roughly 220 calories each. Are you going to just have one? You can imagine how fast these empty calories add up. The ladies are opting out of the cooler and picking up wine or vodka. Both are lower in calories and can be mixed with low calorie infusions. A five ounce glass of wine has approximately 100 calories. Most wine is vinified dry; meaning there is little, or no sugar. Vodka has the same low calorie count and when mixed with diet soda; it can be the better calorie choice.

Move over coolers, the competition is here to stay.

Girly Drinks Not for the Girls

Heather Kingston ISG Certified Sommelier

Every summer the cooler section of your liquor store is bursting with various sweet, fizzy concoctions. These offerings seem to be marketed to women moving from non-alcohol, sweet beverages, to a grown up version with alcohol. The alcoholic beverages are usually fruity and loaded with sugar. They are sometimes referred to as, “girly drinks”. Well, the girls are finding the high calorie count in each bottle is not conducive to healthy weight management.

Those coolers are roughly 220 calories each. Are you going to just have one? You can imagine how fast these empty calories add up. The ladies are opting out of the cooler and picking up wine or vodka. Both are lower in calories and can be mixed with low calorie infusions. A five ounce glass of wine has approximately 100 calories. Most wine is vinified dry; meaning there is little, or no sugar. Vodka has the same low calorie count and when mixed with diet soda; it can be the better calorie choice.

Move over coolers, the competition is here to stay.

Prestige Oceanfront Resort, Sooke, B.C.

Heather Kingston ISG Certified Sommelier Diploma Instructor

I visited this gorgeous resort while on vacation on Vancouver Island. I grew up in Langford and have visited Sooke many times over the years. Sooke has never seen anything like the Prestige Oceanfront Resort. It is spectacular! A must see. The dining room overlooks the ocean, the prices are not overblown and the service is excellent. The rooms are well appointed and most have a view of the water.

Valerie Lessard, the food and beverage manager, and I were in the same Calgary 2007 International Sommelier Diploma class. It was a pleasure to see her there. She has landed in a beautiful place. Please visit the website for complete details.
www.prestigehotelsandresorts.com