Podcast #55 – Efficiency With David Paterson

If you have not yet tried a wine from Tantalus, you are truly missing out on a special BC wine. In the property’s former moniker of Pinot Reach, it was one of the few wineries to capture the attention of the wine world’s top cognoscenti - enough to be included in previous editions of Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine.  Riesling was the grape that got them there and Tantalus continues that tradition using some of the oldest grapes in the valley.

David Paterson has been in charge of wine making duties at Tantalus since 2009. He was gracious enough to make a little time for a chat last spring at the winery to talk about energy efficiency and why Riesling is the prime focus at Tantalus.

Podcast #54 – Wine Apps

Smartphones are everywhere now and there are a lot of wine-oriented apps out there to choose from. But did you know that some of those apps were developed right here in BC about BC wine? Crazy stuff, but very helpful when touring wine country. If the information is accurate and current, it is a great navigational aid to finding the wines that you love and new ones that you haven’t discovered yet.

In this podcast, Calli and I both had iPhones but many of these programs are available for other smart phone platforms as well. Check out the app’s website for more information on availability, compatibility and prices.

Some of the apps we talked about in this podcast;

Taste a Wine – This app can link to the Taste-a-Wine website which is an online, real-time tasting note bulletin board. It also functions on its own as a way to record your own tasting notes and you can record the label with your phone’s camera. It supports English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and has tasting notes available in all of those languages.

Nat Decants – Natalie Maclean’s app is so packed with stuff it would almost require a whole podcast to talk about it all. There are recipes, wine reviews, extensive wine pairing ideas, wine quotes, videos, and much more. It all cross-links with her other online media and products. There are two levels of wine reviews – free and premium reviews, which require that you log into your account on her website.

SAQ App - The Société des alcools du Québec has a great app for wine pairings and locating wines that are in the closest stores to wherever you happen to be at any time. If you need a Beaujolais, it will tell you where the closest store is and how many they have on site. While this feature is completely useless to anyone in BC, the food pairings are great – select a category, type of food, cooking method, and sauce and they’ll suggest something to suit it. The navigation is a bit funky (some dead ends) and you’ll need to be a little comfortable in French.

Wine Spectator’s Vintage Chart - No false advertising here, this is exactly what it says it is. And if vintage charts are your thing, then this is the app for you. It’s fairly general but is helpful when shopping for unfamiliar regions or vintages.  

Wine Tripper BC and Wine Tripper Ontario - Here we go, the locally produced, organically grown, boutique computer code that will help guide you through the wilds of BC or Ontario’s wine country with ease. Created by Jeff Pennal (Twitter link) from Bennalsoft Technologies in Coquitlam, BC, this app covers the whole province and was created in response to Jeff and his wife’s own travails in touring BC’s wine country. Using Googlemaps and a whole lotta contact information about each winery, this app gives you ability to plan your touring like nothing else. The BC and Ontario versions are available separately and other wine regions are apparently in the planning stages.

Did we miss any of your favorite wine apps? Let us know – leave a comment here or on our facebook page.

Podcast #53 – Wine in University Life

There is a lot to learn in post-secondary education. A small part of that is actually learned in the classrooms of the college or university. The rest is learned elsewhere: in the meal halls, dorms, hallways, streets, local pubs and bars, apartments and anywhere else you can spend your time as a student. It was in university that I first learned about wine.

I knew about wine way before that. My parents had wine occasionally at special meals and I’m sure they must have let me and my sister try it at some point before we were ‘supposed to’. We probably hated it and went back to our apple juice. Most of the wine probably came from the local corner store (called a depanneur in Quebec) where there was plenty of wine on the shelve, most for under $5 and probably of a pretty low quality. I’ve been known to refer to some wines as “dep wine” and it isn’t a compliment.

As a student later on, wine entered my life in a much more profound way for a few reasons. I could legally buy it, there were other people who were also interested in it and, for the first time it started to taste good. In fact, when I paid a little more money and attention to it, it tasted really good. Then I learned that wines could be paired with certain foods, which would make the whole meal that much better.

I was still a little freaked out when shopping for wine. Why was some wine called burgundy and others not? Wasn’t that just calling the wine by its color? What color were wines that weren’t burgundy? I really wanted to learn about wine so that I could know what all that stuff meant.

I also wanted to graduate. So I forgot about wine, went back to my whiskies and finished my degree with all the class and courtly decorum of a demolition derby. Later, after all the dust had settled and when I had a little extra time to read, I started reading about wine.  

Everyone who loves wine probably has a story about when they learned about it. A lot of the time, it happens in college or university as a young adult. With this podcast to consult an expert on university, someone who knows all about university life – an actual, real-life university student. So please welcome Calli as a guest host on this week’s podcast. Enjoy!

Podcast #52 – Organic Wine with Steve Dale

Sustainability Series #2

This week we feature a conversation with Steve Dale from Rollingdale Winery in West Kelowna. Steve has a lot of interesting points about organic grape growing, winemaking and packaging.

Can you imagine buying wine straight from a tank in the winery? Are you concerned about the levels of sulphites in the wines you drink? How about grapes that are grown with no synthetic chemicals sprayed on them? Is there a difference in taste?

There is a lot to chew on in this short interview. Let me know what you think. Do you seek out organic wines when shopping? Is it important to you to know that the wines that you drink are made without synthetic chemicals or sprays? Would you buy wine right from a tank in the winery? Please leave me a comment here or on our Facebook page.

Rollingdale Winery Website 

Rollingdale’s Facebook page

Rollingdale’s Twitter page

Certified Organic Associations of BC

Podcast #51 – Wine Magazines in BC – Savour

Ok, I have to admit that in the Okanagan’s home-grown magazine on wine and food, I find it difficult to read the articles. I am distracted too often by the photos, the beautiful photos of the tastiest culinary treats from the Okanagan’s elite chefs and food producers. On one page there will be the most amazing chocolates and then an article on cigars or espresso. There are also restaurant reviews, the latest cook books, recipes, and more about all things tasty in the Okanagan.

And of course, there is wine. While Savour is not a dedicated wine magazine, it is a major part of Okanagan culinary life and is a major presence in the pages of each issue. It isn’t all just sweetness and light. Industry professionals like Rhys Pender MW, Julianna Hayes, and Dr. David Bond, who wrote an article about the “Cellared in Canada” issue that made headlines in 2009, are all frequent contributors.

Savour is about to launch a full featured online presence with a brand new website (to be unveiled soon) to go along with their activity on Twitter and the fabulous local wine community on BC Wineries.net.  

So grab something tasty and listen to our interview with Savour publisher Chytra Brown and managing editor Joyce Wegner. And just a warning if you pick up an issue of any Savour magazine: be prepared to get hungry.