About Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson:

Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson is the Free Press wine columnist.

• Think inside the box

  ALBERT Einstein once said, “The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” I know this be­cause my accountant has that quote framed on his office wall; I think it’s up there to intimidate me, but it’s true nonetheless. Like most of you, I don't typically get a monstrous tax return (if at all), so at this time of year I often find myself looking for wines that over-deliver without breaking (or bruising) the bank.

  View Full Column | 6/03/2010 1:00 AM | 0

• The great grape swindle

  Is there such a thing as too big for your britches? It seems that may be the case for California-based winery E and J Gallo. Just how big is Gallo? Well, if the company were to become its own country, it would be in the top 20 of all wine-producing countries in the world. Gallo produces a variety of California-based wines, as well as owning wineries (or their proprietary rights) around the world.

  View Full Column | 27/02/2010 1:00 AM | 0

• Keep on trocken

  If you've ever sat through the credits of a film, you've probably wondered what a gaffer, best boy or key grip are. Well, I'm sorry to say that I won't be revealing the answers in this week's column. It is, however, a good segue into funny, silly or just plain confusing words in the world of wine, of which there are many. Is there any practical value in knowing these words? Probably not -- maybe if you're looking to impress some friends or a date with your wine knowledge, but otherwise they're just sorta kooky.

  View Full Column | 20/02/2010 1:00 AM | 0

• World, meet our wines

  The 2010 Winter Olympics get underway this weekend, and for the next two weeks the eyes of the world will be on Vancouver and surrounding areas. Thousands of people from around the world have descended upon the city, and you can bet your (or their) bottom dollar that local businesses are looking to cash in on the frenzy. Wineries, restaurants and the like are clearly no exception -- after all, these thousands of people need to eat, will want a glass of wine with their meal, and will indulge in a glass or two in the comfort of their hotel rooms as well. It's no surprise, then, that Canadian wineries are undergoing all sorts of PR campaigns to get people drinking Canadian (and especially British Columbia) wines.

  View Full Column | 13/02/2010 1:00 AM | 0

• The grape debate

  IT looks as if there has been significant progress made in the “Cellared in Canada” debate that has been raging in the Canadian wine industry for some time. Back in October, I (and many other Canuck wine writers) brought readers info about the "Cellared in Canada" controversy. While the issue has been fairly long-standing, a visit to the Okanagan Valley by wine-writing heavyweight Jancis Robinson in fall 2009, and her subsequent blog about the visit and the issue, brought the "Cellared in Canada" issue back into the spotlight.

  View Full Column | 6/02/2010 1:00 AM | 0

• A guide to the grapes

  IF you're a regular wine drinker, chances are you've got a fair-sized collection of wine-related books adorning your bookshelf; if you're just getting into wine, you're prob­ably looking for some solid informa­tion to bolster your knowledge of the storied drink. Either way, there is a huge collec­tion of literature to be leafed through -- bookstore shelves are loaded with volumes about wine, both informational and biographical. Newbies could go the way of the Wine for Dummies/Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine, but if you're look­ing for something a little less generic, I've got a great find for you.

  View Full Column | 16/01/2010 2:02 PM | 0

• Memorable mouthfuls

  It's awards season, so critics have been putting together lists of the best in their respective fields, etc. So while I'm a little late to the ball, I thought I'd mix it up a bit and combine my "2009 notables" list with a general "notables of the (not-quite-done) decade" -- best not to call them the "best," as some of them are far from that. Wines listed are available at Liquor Marts and beyond unless otherwise noted.  

  View Full Column | 2/01/2010 1:00 AM | 1

• All that sparkles isn't Champagne, and that's OK

  Along with most wine writers in the free world, I have written about how to get the best bang for your buck when buying bubbly. We've stood on our wee soapboxes and proclaimed that wine drinkers need not spend an arm and a leg on French Champagne, that there are great quality sparkling wines to be had from all over the world. Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, German Sekt and even up-and-comers like Chile, California and Australia offer great-value bubbly. Take the Carpenè Malvolti NV Brut Rosé (around $18, available at private wine stores), for example. Made from a blend of Pinot Noir and Raboso grapes, it's a brilliant dark pink in colour. Watermelon, bread dough, light rhubarb and floral notes show nicely on the nose of this sparkling wine. It's dry, with nice sharp bubbles and a great red-fruit-and-rhubarb punch on the palate. Purchased at La Boutique del Vino -- it may be available exclusively there. 90/100

  View Full Column | 30/12/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Sip, swirl, spit, repeat

  IN 2008, I managed to taste over 1,200 wines — between various wine festivals, judging wine competitions, trips to Chile, Germany and the Okanagan Valley, the dog-eared notebooks full of tasting notes kept piling up on my desk. Many a night was spent scrubbing the purple from my poor teeth post-tasting. This year, the birth of my son Owen in June meant almost no wine-related travel; as a result, the numbers are down from last year. Having said that, I still managed to taste around 1,000 wines. How did I end up sipping so much in one year? Read on and learn.

  View Full Column | 19/12/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Holiday cheers

  MAKE list, check twice, naughty/nice, et cetera, et cetera. Yes, the holidays are well at hand — with only 13 days left until Christmas, you’d best be finishing up your  shopping pronto. Note to self... If you're not done, don't sweat it, and if you're still looking for gifts for a wine lover, you're in luck. Finding inexpensive wine-related gifts is easy, and you shouldn't have to delve very far into the mall.

  View Full Column | 12/12/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Feel red in the head?

  MOST  of us are able to enjoy a glass of wine without worrying about the repercussions. (Granted, enjoying two, three or more glasses can result in some nasty side effects the next day, but I can’t help you with that problem.)

  View Full Column | 5/12/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Red, white, no Blue

  Back in October, I offered my take on terms that applied equally to both wine and our Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who were soundly eliminated from Grey Cup contention earlier this month.

  While a bitter aftertaste may still remain in the mouths of many fans of the Blue and Gold, it doesn't change the fact that the 97th Grey Cup match takes place tomorrow and football fanatics will need something to wet their whistles while they watch. Sure, there'll be beer a-plenty being cracked open come kickoff time, but those with an aversion to the stuff (or a preference for wine) still need something to wash down the nachos, wings or other snacks.

  View Full Column | 3/12/2009 3:20 AM | 0

• Thrills & spills

  PEOPLE always tell me writing about wine is just about the best gig going, and in many ways they’re right. It was four years ago this week that I took the reins of the  Winnipeg Free Press’s weekly wine column, and in that time I’ve been lucky to have connected with some amazing people and tried some very special wines. Writing the column hasn't come without a number of challenges -- it's a freelance gig (ie. I have a non-wine-related day job), so I spend a lot of evenings and weekends tasting 1,000-plus wines every year. I'm lucky to have an understanding, supporting family; I've been able to travel to Germany, Chile, California, the Okanagan Valley and the Niagara Peninsula and talk to producers on their home turf, often using holiday time I'd otherwise spend visiting family or travelling with my wife and kids.

  View Full Column | 21/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Promotion Nouveau

  I THINK the release of Beaujolais Nouveau on the third Thursday in November (next Thurs­day) is more hype than substance. Yet some­how, I find myself writing about it every year. Why? Other than New Year's Eve (when people invariably turn to bubbly; column to come in December), it's the one day of the year that wine truly takes centre stage.

  View Full Column | 14/11/2009 2:33 PM | 3

• Top of the pops

  If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer (too soon?) for your wine-drinking friend, a corkscrew is usually a pretty safe bet. Sure, more and more wines are bottled under screwcap, but wines with a cork (or cork-shaped) closure will never go the way of the dodo bird. Here’s a quick overview of different types of openers out there today... Travel corkscrew

  View Full Column | 7/11/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Grave expectations

  HALLOWEEN is one of my favourite nights of the year, especially now that I’ve got a couple of kids of my own to take trick-or­treating (well, maybe the four-month-old will stay home, but I digress). I also love buying the big bags of candy. Heck, some­times I even give some out to kids! In honour of the scariest night of the year, I thought I'd share with you some of what I think are the scariest trends in the world of wine and beyond...

  View Full Column | 31/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Special delivery

  HOW do you define value? For some, "value" might mean something affordable that just plain does the trick. For others, it's getting the absolute best bang for your buck. When you're talking about wine, how do you define value?

  View Full Column | 24/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Pigskin, wineskin...

  THIS year's Winnipeg Blue Bomber season is enough to make even the stodgiest teetotaller of a fan consider a drink or two. The highs have been high and the lows -- well, the lows have been unprecedented. The team is on a tremendous upswing right now, and as long as the boys keep playing as they have of late, there will be more cause to raise a glass than drown our sorrows. While I enjoy putting back a few barley sandwiches, wobbly pops or (insert nickname for beer here), wine is obviously my focus in these pages. I'm more than willing to pop a cork as I cheer, cringe and/or yell at Coach Kelly and company on my television. As it happens, wine descriptors apply quite nicely when describing the Bombers, for better or for worse...

  View Full Column | 17/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Sour grapes

  As much as some of Canada's biggest wineries would like it to go away, the Cellared in Canada debate seems to be picking up steam, especially among this nation's wine writing community. The issue: base-level wines (typically between $8 and $12) made by some of this country's largest winemakers are being made from foreign grapes and being bottled and labeled as having been "Cellared in Canada" (CIC). In Ontario, only thirty per cent of the grapes in these bottles must be Canadian -- the remaining 70 per cent come from countries like Chile or Australia. In British Columbia, CIC wines can be made from 100 per cent imported juice.

  View Full Column | 10/10/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Glass half full

  While Canadian wine consumption still hasn't caught up to our beer drinking -- and let's face it, probably never will -- there's a lot of wine-related news to be digested out there, much of it coming from our own backyard. Pop a Canadian wine and enjoy... "ö Wine Access Magazine has taken the results of the 2009 International Value Wine Awards and has created the Top 50 Killer Values category. The list spans a number of regions, grapes and styles, and most are fairly widely available. They're counting down to No. 1 by revealing a new wine each day on their website (www.wineaccess.ca/killer) leading up to the IVWA results being published in the magazine on Oct. 5.

  View Full Column | 26/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Made in Canada

  MY  recent trip to Toronto to judge at  Wine Access’s Canadian Wine Awards was quite the eye-opener. Besides tasting hundreds of the country’s best reds, whites, sweet wines, rosés, bubblies and fruit wines from Ontario, British Columbia and beyond, some of the judges took a whirlwind day trip around Lake Ontario to the Niagara Peninsula. The trip was meant to highlight regionality within the Niagara Peninsula, and while I definitely came away better-informed on the strengths and weaknesses of various sub-appellations, in Manitoba, there aren't many Ontario wines available from these sub-appellations. We're lucky enough to get a smattering of mid- to upper-level Canadian wine in Manitoba from both B.C. and Ontario, but we also miss out on some real beauties -- smaller wineries, limited releases, etc.

  View Full Column | 19/09/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Say Cheese

  FRED and Ginger, Donnie and Marie, Kenny and Dolly — classic pairings of one sort or another. In the gastronomical world, you’ve got milk and cookies, fish and chips and — my favourite — wine and cheese. Seriously — has the person who first paired wine and cheese been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yet? Has s/he been canonized? How and when wine and cheese became such a potent pairing is a question for the ages. Someone with more time on his hands could probably trace the history of the two products back through time to the point where they first intersected; I'd be willing to bet it was centuries ago in a small European town (monks may or may not have been involved).

  View Full Column | 29/08/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Booze buzz

  Summer's not over yet -- in fact, it feels as if it just got started. But late summer and early fall bring more than just thoughts of sending the kids back to school. This time of year also delivers a lot of great drink-related events, be they wine, beer or otherwise. And whether you're staying close to home or heading south of the border for a quick holiday, there's something going on that's sure to please your palate.  

  View Full Column | 22/08/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Thirsty traveller?

  YOU’VE probably got your favourite wine produ­cers, regions, countries, grapes and so forth, right? I mean, it would be weird not to have faves. But I implore you — no, I dare you! — to set your go-to wines aside at some point over  the next couple of weeks and get global. Why? Well, in celebration of the world's many cultures -- Folklorama, of course. The two-week celebration is the perfect backdrop/excuse to get your palate's passport deliciously stamped. In these spooky economic times, you can sample drinks from the world over while enjoying an oh-so-responsible August stay-cation. Besides, almost every pavilion in the 2009 Travel Guide touts some sort of beverage, be it beer, wine or otherwise -- they want you to try them.

  View Full Column | 1/08/2009 1:00 AM | 0

• Summer = sangria There's no right, or wrong, way to make popular wine-based drink

  ONCE again, I’ve taken the opportunity this summer to espouse the virtues of dry rosé, wax poetic about pairing barbecued foods and wine, and even penned a Dear Beer letter that appeared in this space a few weeks back. Which leaves still untouched one of my favourite summer wine-based drinks -- sangria. There are many ways to prepare this punch-like mishmash of wine, fruit, etc. -- it seems as if everyone's got a secret ingredient or two that they throw in the mix. But before debating whose sangria reigns supreme (in the words of Iron Chef), it's worth ruminating on this summer punch.

  View Full Column | 25/07/2009 1:00 AM | 0

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