Blog - If you can't drink wine at work, at least you can read about it!
WineCollective partners with Willow Park
By Matthew Protti on 08 Mar 2010 | 0 comments
WineCollective is excited to announce a new partnership with Willow Park Wine & Spirits, Canada’s largest private wine, beer and spirits retailer. This new partnership will allow WineCollective exclusive access to Willow Park’s 5,000 unique and difficult to acquire wines. The partnership is effective immediately and the March delivery (going out on March 11th and 12th) is the first with Willow Park.
Current members of WineCollective don’t need to do anything, as their subscriptions will be transferred automatically. However, you will notice on your credit card statement that payment is now being made to Willow Park Online.
We look forward to becoming active within all of Willow Park’s many tasting and wine education events and encourage members to check out the new Willow Park Winter/Spring Events Program. (Checkout page 29 for a little press on us!)
If current or prospective subscribers have any questions about what this new partnership means to you, feel free to get in touch at 403.648.9094, or thecellar@winecollective.ca.
Quake hits Chilean wine industry
By Matthew Protti on 03 Mar 2010 | 0 commentsThe huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake to hit Chile which may have had enough power to shorten Earth's days also damaged Chile's wine industry.
The quake hit SW of the Chilean capital Santiago which is close to Chile's main wine producing region. The Miami Herald reports that steel fermentation tanks tipped over, wine bottles broke, bridges cracked and there are reports of wineries without power. The vineyards themselves appear to be ok, but the real loss was the "tens of millions of litres of wine" which was just being prepped for sale. While it is still early, it appears the area has escaped the devestation which occured on the coast.
We at WineCollective have featured Chilean wines recently from the areas impacted and will continue to support the industry.
German beer, Japanese sake and English champagne
By Matthew Protti on 31 Jan 2010 | 0 commentsBlind tastings are often wonderful fodder for stories. New world wine bests old world classic. Upstart beer wins taste test over best seller, or Taiwan scotch beats Scottish Scotch .
In this case, we have English sparkling wine (it can't be called champagne as indicated in the title of this article of course, because only grapes grown in the Champagne region get that luxury) winning a taste test over French champagne. Here is the full story from the Telegraph.
England is not known for its grape growing climate. While Britain is one of the world's largest importers of wine, English domestic wineries are tiny in comparison. The Romans introduced viticulture to England but in large part, England was warmer then than it is now. Indeed, in a previous inter-glacial period (when England was still part of continental Europe) it appears that grapes grew wild in areas which are currently far too cold to support vines.
Wineries in England are concentrated in the warmest areas such as Kent and Sussex, but due to England's latitude (roughly as far north as Calgary), the growing season extends into October, exposing grapes to rain, wind and frost potential. However, all of those factors mean high acidity which is an excellent feature for sparkling wine. Ironically that means England could be beating France at its own game. Nyetimber's Classic Cuvée 2003 (from Sussex) was crowned Champion of Worldwide Sparkling Wines in the competition run by Italy's wine magazine Euposia. Who would have guessed?
Unfortunately, Nyetimber's Cuvée is not available in Alberta. We will have to satisfy ourselves with French champagne.
US Wine Consumption up but California volumes down?
By Matthew Protti on 30 Jan 2010 | 0 commentsYesterday, the LA Times had an interesting article about California wine shipments being down in 2009 for the first time in 16 years. See the story here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-winedrop29-2010jan29,0,4062055.story
Wine consumption was up 2.1% in 2009 in the US, which is a remarkable achievement considering that 2009 was one of the worst years economically in the past twenty or thirty years. So it is obvious that people want to continue to drink wine, but California wine shipments fell by 4%, or almost 4 million cases.
It appears consumers are shifting focus to better "value" wines from "overseas wine makers", specifically Argentina, Chile and Australia. Wine imports to the US from those countries increased an incredible 87% last year.
Here at the WineCollective, we search for unique and interesting wines without a geographical bias, so we continually look at where the best value and most unique wines are being created. I think it is fair to say, we have been enjoying a fair amount of quality wine from South America and Australia recently and if these trends continue, we will continue to do so. While this may be bad news for California wine producers, an increase in choice is never a bad thing for avid wine consumers!
A whole new use for boxed wine
By David Gluzman on 20 Jan 2010 | 1 comment..besides taking with you to backcountry cabins that is.