OK, so the Beaujolais Nouveau has landed and it's out there for sale now. Every year on the third Thursday in November, these wines are released to the public, with increasingly dwindling fanfare. As the quality of the wines has plateaued and the prices have continued to rise, there's been little reason to get overly excited about the wines. You can read more about my thoughts on Gamay/Beaujolais here.

Having said that, I'm generally a big fan of wines made with the Gamay Noir grape, although the Nouveau wines rarely impress over the long term.

Generally speaking, Beaujolais Nouveau wines are fresh and fruity, and should be drunk sooner rather than later — they're optimal reds to have with turkey dinner at Christmas. 

Here are my first impressions of a couple of the reds available in our market...

If you have a hydrometer or a carboy in your basement, chances are you've made your own beer before — heck, you may consider yourself somewhat of a budding brewmaster.

Well, if you think your lager or ale stands up to other homebrewers, you may want to think about entering the first annual Half Pints Pro/Am Brew Challenge. Put on by the Winnipeg Brew Bombers in conjunction with local brewery Half Pints, the competition pits homebrewer vs. homebrewer in a battle to see whose beer reigns supreme.

(Of note: There are also categories for mead, cider, and perry [pear cider], which I get to help judge.)

There are two overarching categories — professional and amateur — with first, second and third place in each category. A professional and amateur winner will be named from each beer category on both sides, from which a Best of Show will be crowned.

I've been thinking a lot about the way I review wines as of late — specifically, about how I score them, and whether I should be using the 100-point scale or not.

For those that don't know, the 100-point scale is fairly widely used among wine writers. Arguably invented (but certainly popularized) by American lawyer-turned-wine writer Robert Parker in the Wine Advocate newsletter he founded (and more recently sold), the scale became popular among many wine magazines, writers, and retailers (a high numerical rating is good for moving bottles).

The first time I ever scored wine on the 100-point scale was when I started judging at Wine Access' International Value Wine Awards and Canadian Wine Awards, in around 2007. The numerical scores of each taster mattered more to each wine in that context than it would for something like a column or even a standalone wine review. In the competition, the numerical score — once parsed out and juggled by some software with other judges' scores — determined whether a wine made it to the final rounds of the competition or was left behind. The same system is used for WineAlign's National Wine Awards of Canada and World Wine Awards of Canada, at which I'm also a judge (the latter starts this coming Monday, Sept. 8). In that context, the 100-point scale makes sense.

I later became a member of Wine Access' national tasting panel, and since the now-defunct magazine used the 100-point scale in the reviews section, I decided to adopt it in the column as well. Fine.

Other than sherry, sour beer has been the toughest category for me to truly embrace/"get into" in all my years tasting grown-up beverages. (Well, schnapps might be up there too but that has more to do with a bad experience in Germany on a high-school band trip.) It took a while but I've come to embrace Spanish fortified wines as better-quality options became available in our market.

Thankfully, I can now say with some certainty that I'm a sour beer convert as well. It just so happens that Half Pints Brewing Co. is releasing the Old Red Barn this Saturday — the brewery opens at 9 a.m., and if you want to grab some of this stuff for yourself you'll have to move quickly.

It's the brewery's first foray into the world of sour beers, a style that's popular among the hardcore beer geeks but not so much on a wider scale. With nasty-sounding bacterial cultures in the brew like Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus, it sounds more like high-school science class than it does beer.

Well, these cultures are what create the sour notes as well as complex, earthy/barnyard characteristics in the brew. Brettanomyces (or Brett as it's often called in the drinks world) pops up in certain wines as well, delivering a slightly funky, gamey component sometimes found in reds, particularly from South Africa, Portugal, Spain and occasionally Italy.

While my initial plan was to write about many more of the wines brought in special for the Winnipeg Wine Festival, a quick trip to the Grant Park Liquor Mart (where all the leftovers landed) Thursday revealed many of the wines have already flown out the door.

What I thought I'd do instead then is let you know about a half-dozen of my favourite festival-only wines that you are still actually available at the Grant Park Liquor Mart. A few of the Argentine and New Zealand wines I wrote about a few days ago are still hanging around too, but not in large quantity for the most part.

Cono Sur NV Sparkling Rosé (Bio-Bio, Chile — $13.99)

This dry pink bubbly is made from Pinot Noir grown in the Bio-Bio region of Chile — further south than most grape-growing regions, Bio-Bio is a touch cooler than other spots, which is good for Pinot. Toasty bread dough notes work well with raspberry, cherry and strawberry aromas on the nose. It's lighter on the palate and the bubbles are very lively, adding intensity to the red berry flavours here. That bread dough note comes through on the finish as it does on many of my favourite sparkling wines. A fantastic value. 89/100

If we can't have grape wineries here in Manitoba, we should at least be thankful we've got some decent breweries in our 'hood (although we could always use more). Both Fort Garry Brewing Co. and Half Pints Brewing Co. have new brews out there worth trying — especially if you're after alternatives to mainstream, uninspired beer...

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Fort Garry Brewing Co. just released their latest in the Brewmaster Series, the Portage & Main India Pale Ale. It's currently just at the Grant Park Liquor Mart, but will be hitting more stores next week. Check out the super-sharp packaging on the 650ml bottles via their Facebook page. 

Fort Garry Brewing Co. Portage and Main India Pale Ale (Winnipeg, MB — $6.38/650ml bottle, Liquor Marts)Copper in colour and just a bit hazy, the Portage and Main IPA is made using West Coast and Manitoba flower hops. In addition to the hoppy, slightly bitter/herbal aromas typical of an IPA, there's a floral component on the nose that's quite pretty. While it has that crisp sharpness of a classic IPA (it clocks in at 60 IBU), there's also a rounder toasty caramel note that brings some body on the palate. It's 6.5 per cent alcohol — not too crazy high for an IPA — and highly drinkable. I'm a fan of Fort Garry's Brewmaster Series (good news — the hearty Kona Imperial Stout is back on shelves now), and this is probably my favourite of the line. Here's hoping Fort Garry keeps this in regular rotation (it sounds like they are) — it has the potential to be a big hit with both beer geeks and those simply looking to try more local beer and/or IPAs.

Have a nose for discerning certain grapes in a wine? Is your palate is pretty fine-tuned to where a wine comes from and when it was made? Not sure, and want to put your senses to the test? Think you've got what it takes to taste wine with (or like) the pros? Then the First Annual Manitoba Wine-Tasting Championships should be right up your alley.

The event is being put on by (and staged at) The Winehouse (1600 Kenaston Blvd.) and begins today, with preliminary rounds running into early March. Contestants are given 40 minutes to taste five wines blind — ie. pre-poured in a glass and without any knowledge of its origins.

A possible 10 points can be earned per wine: three for the correct grape variety/ varieties, three for country of origin, three for region of origin, and one for vintage. The top eight highest-scoring tasters move on to the live final round on Friday, March 15.

Prizes! Oh yes, there are prizes. The winner of the live final gets a wine fridge as well as a dinner for eight (with wine) at The Winehouse valued at $1,000... pretty sweet. (All of the final eight tasters will get prizes, as it happens.) To register, visit www.ticoswinehouse.com and click on the Manitoba Wine Tasting Championships link, pick a date and then email it to info@ticoswinehouse.com.