How about a Vinterlude?

Any port in a snowstorm, I say

Rod Phillips

The Ottawa Citizen

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

The wine show season ends as the snow starts to fall. The next big wine events in Ottawa, such as the California Wine Fair and the Vintages Classics exhibition, take place in spring.

But, I figure we surely deserve a winter wine fair -- one full of deep-flavoured reds to compensate for the deep white stuff outside. Maybe there should be a wine show to go with Winterlude?

Vinterlude, anybody?

I’m thinking about the next wine shows as memories and tastes of the last Ottawa Wine and Food Show start to fade. The 2002 edition was the best yet. The concentration of wineries was higher than ever, the variety and quality of the food was great, and the crowds (and were there crowds!) were very good-natured.

As usual, there was a little grumbling among the exhibitors about the Friday and Saturday night patrons who didn’t care if they were drinking red or white (or both simultaneously). But more than 25,000 people attended the show, and you’d be lucky if there were as few problems in a town of 25,000 as there were in the Congress Centre those nights.

Besides, it’s good for the wine industry for younger people to enjoy themselves with wine rather than beer and shooters. The payback might not be immediate, but the wine industry has to face the problems of generational marketing, and the Ottawa show is a great opportunity to introduce people to the incomparable trinity of wine, food and good company.

There were interesting buzzes all weekend -- hot wines that I kept hearing about. One was Henry of Pelham’s Fronto because their best-selling red is Baco Noir, Baco, Fronto. Get it?

Another new venture on show came from Lailey Vineyards, quite a new winery in Niagara, which has already established a high reputation. The had a Chardonnay aged in oak barrels from ... no, not France, not America, not eastern Europe ... but Canada.

Oak from different places gives different flavours to wine, and a few wineries are experimenting with Canadian oak, but this was the first I’d tasted. It was really distinctive and gave the Chardonnay interesting herbal and licorice notes. It’s something to watch for.

I also tasted a great Pinot Noir from Lailey, more evidence that Niagara can produce excellent Pinots. In fact there are some people who think it may become the red grape of the region. But let’s not overlook the Cabernet Francs like Thomas & Vaughn’s medal-winner.

Chile was the theme of the 2002 Wine and Food Show, but Niagara really showed its stuff, too. Most of the best is available only from the wineries, though -- all the more reason to head to Niagara before too long.

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