The Grape Nut

with Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

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• Winnipeg Wine Festival, part 1

  Despite the thin blanket of snow covering the city, things heated up pretty quickly on Sunday afternoon as the Winnipeg Wine Festival officially kicked off at Niakwa Golf and Country Club. Dubbed World of Wine, the kickoff ancillary event seemed to go off without a hitch. I remember being there two years ago on a beautiful, hot afternoon and watching golfers tee off. This year? Not so much.

  View Full Post 05/3/2011 4:53 PM 0

• Is Terry David Mulligan going to jail?

  Could the former host of Good Rockin' Tonite and Much West be heading to the slammer? And why the heck would a wine columnist write about it?

  View Full Post 04/29/2011 10:53 AM 0

• Wine week — palate prep

  It's been, once again, far too long between posts, but that little e-hiccup is about to be corrected. I can't after all, remain silent in this little corner of the Winnipeg Free Press website as the Winnipeg Wine Festival descends on venues across the city. From the ancillary events  to the Gala Dinner to the weekend public tastings, I'll be taking in as much of the fest as is humanly possible.

  View Full Post 04/27/2011 11:58 AM 0

• Dashing dining at the Winnipeg Wine Festival

  I figured I'd make good on my promise to post the menu for the Winnipeg Wine Festival gala dinner, which takes place Thursday, May 5 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Each course is paired with two California wines (except the dessert, which gets just one). As a whole, I like the pairings — no real wacky wines except for maybe the Apothic red, which is almost off-dry but should do very well with a chocolate dish. I also like the decision to go with one white and one red wine on the second dish — I think if I was picking the wines I'd be torn on that dish as to whether I should pick a white or red.

  View Full Post 03/30/2011 10:46 AM 0

• Louis Riel, Caribou, fair trade and Flat Rock

  IN case you were wondering what is and isn't open tomorrow (February 21, Louis Riel Day), Manitoba's Liquor Marts are not - I repeat, NOT - open. Winnipeg's private wine stores, however, can open; I'm assuming many will, with  Sunday/holiday hours. Same with beer vendors - most will choose to open, but some may stay closed. DO yourself a favour if you're heading to a private wine store or beer vendor tomorrow - call ahead.

  View Full Post 02/20/2011 9:27 PM 0

• Bubble trouble?

  Well, Grape Nut readers, it's been a while since I checked in on my corner the Freep website. My family and I have been absolutely hammered by illnesses, including (but not limited to) stomach flu, strep throat, a sinus infection, general colds/flu, etc. It's been brutal and truth be told, I've been putting back more cough syrup and tea this holiday season than I have wine. But as we emerge from the disease-infested cloud, I thought I'd check in to the blogosphere quickly...

  View Full Post 12/30/2010 3:31 PM 0

• Mo' better booze

  With the mercury dropping and the snow rising, I'm looking forward to warming up tonight at The Crown Royal Master Blender Experience. I'm really interested in tasting through the entire line of made-in-Manitoba Crown Royal products, including the brand new Crown Royal Black.

  View Full Post 11/24/2010 3:10 PM 0

• Winnipeg wine lists - good? Bad? Ugly?

  So in this past weekend's column I mentioned that I was going to be hitting Peasant Cookery (formerly Oui Bistro at the corner of King and Bannatyne). Last Monday, my wife and I took her mother (visiting from Prince Edward Island) there, and got to experience the revamped menu (featuring more home-style French "comfort food" type cooking than the restaurant's previous incarnation).

  View Full Post 11/17/2010 3:30 PM 0

• More on the Lehmanns

  I had meant to post a follow-up to my entry re: lunching with Peter and Margaret Lehmann last week, but figured I'd hold off, as the Barossa couple made a quick stop in Winnipeg on Tuesday, and I had a chance to catch up with them after they had spent the better part of two weeks travelling across Western Canada (they're in Toronto today, where earlier they replicated the seven decade tasting I attended in Vancouver).

  View Full Post 10/21/2010 3:57 PM 0

• Tasting history

  

  I’ve been writing up a blog post about my trip to Vancouver last week for lunch with Peter and Margaret Lehmann, and to taste through what was billed as “Seven Decades of Winemaking”. Quite frankly, I’ve never had so little trouble spouting off so much copy about wine, so I’ve decided to break my thoughts up into a couple of pieces.

  View Full Post 10/13/2010 3:56 PM 0

• A pile of wine info, brought to you by the letter P

  It's been a busy couple of weeks over here in my little wine world; last week I met with Vancouver-based Peter Lindenlaub of California's Caymus/Belle Glos wines out of California. We tasted through the latter winery's incredible portfolio of Pinot Noir, which more than made up for the hit-and-miss Chilean Pinot Noirs I tasted for last weekend's column. More on these elegant Pinots very soon.

  View Full Post 10/8/2010 11:26 AM 0

• (Hops and) malt stop*

  You can almost smell the roasted malt and hops in the air - that's right, the Flatlander's Beer Festival is here once again. The dinner takes place tonight at Bergmann's on Lombard - I'll be updating my Twitter page with pictures and descriptions of the courses and the beer from my table, technology and common courtesy permitting.

  View Full Post 09/8/2010 1:46 PM 0

• Brew and Gold

  Labour Day weekend! Whether you're heading to the cottage for some last-minute relaxation or hunkering down in front of the television for the Bomber game, make sure to put away those white pants.

  View Full Post 09/3/2010 2:03 PM 0

• Booze Brother coming to town

  I mentioned in a recent column that Dan Aykroyd is coming to Manitoba, and I've now got some of the details regarding where he'll be and when. Catch Elwood Blues (I prefer to think of him as Dr. Ray Stantz from Ghostbusters) at the Grant Park Liquor Mart on Saturday, September 11 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Brandonites can see Mr. Aykroyd the next day at the Liquor Mart at 10th and Victoria from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m..

  View Full Post 08/31/2010 12:50 PM 0

• Technology at your table/fall fests

  Does the future of the wine list reside in the iPad? Some restaurants think so - they have been working at converting their wine lists to electronic format, then handing the customer a pre-loaded version of the touchscreen device for their perusal. While the above-linked article doesn't look so favourably upon the whole experience, it does point out some of the benefits of digitized wine lists. In addition to considering the aesthetics and functionality of an iPad-based wine list, for example, inventory could automatically be updated as a customer picks a wine.

  View Full Post 08/30/2010 2:30 PM 0

• Brew patriot love

  Just a quick post - the good news is that most Liquor Marts in Manitoba are open (cityplace and Steinbach being the exceptions), all keeping store hours of noon until 6 p.m. (except Dauphin, which is open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. - Countryfest, dont'cha know). Most private wine stores, beer vendors and licensed establishments will be open, although I'd recommend calling ahead just to be sure - they may be on holiday hours.

  View Full Post 06/30/2010 4:31 PM 0

• Int'l Value Wine Awards — the finals

  I'll keep this update brief — I think a couple of days away from the Wine Access International Value Wine Awards will give me a chance to reflect on the event as a whole and will provide some perspective. Suffice to say that the event has been impeccably organized — 1200 wines were poured over the course of the last five days, about a quarter of which crossed this pooped palate.

  View Full Post 06/18/2010 5:48 PM 0

• IVWAs, Day 3: bring on the finals

  Today wrapped up the preliminary rounds of Wine Access' International Value Wine Awards, meaning the behind-the-scenes folk are tabulating the scores and preparing new flights for the judges of the final rounds (of which I am one) as I type this. We managed to get through six sets of wine by lunchtime, meaning I had the afternoon to myself. 

  View Full Post 06/16/2010 7:32 PM 0

• Wine Access IVWAs, Day 2

  Another day, another 70 or so wines tasted for Wine Access' International Value Wine Awards. We went through eight flights today - five before lunch and three after - once again figuring out which wines go through to the final rounds and which are weeded out.

  View Full Post 06/15/2010 6:41 PM 0

• International Value Wine Awards, Day One

  I'm currently in Calgary, acting as a judge for Wine Access' International Value Wine Awards. The goal is to find the best wines under $25 from around the world; this is done by tasting hundreds of wines blind (ie. we don't know what wines they are when they come out - all we know is the grape variety/blend). I'm lucky that this time around I'm joined by another Winnipegger, Banville & Jones senior instructor and buyer Gary Hewitt. There are other ex-Winnipeggers here too, but I'll save that for another instalment.

  View Full Post 06/14/2010 6:50 PM 0