The first day at my parents house in Castlegar (Yup, thats where I’m from…) and I’m already thankful that I brought some good wine for the weekend (plus I can always tap into my cellar if need be). I stopped at three liquor stores today, one BCLDB and two private shops, in search of some wine to have with dinner over the next couple nights. Why do all the stores stock the same wine?! Does anyone know that special orders exist?? There’s definitely some less-than-inspired wine buying going on around here. Maybe they’re just catering to customer’s requests and know that those bottles of Vouvray and Morgon wont exactly fly off the shelf.

I was most disappointed to see the ratio of Cellared in Canada wine to VQA wine at the government run BCLDB – there were two full shelves of wines made from imported fruit/wine versus one shelf made from BC grown fruit. Again, probably catering to the price point people are seeking. Still, I can’t help but think that many non-wine people would be surprised (as my mom was) that two out of the three shelves with large “British Columbia” signs hanging over them were not very BC at all. The Wine Council of Ontario has put together a group of people and entitled them the “Industry Working Group on Label Clarity.” They have until the end of the year to come up with a plan on how to shelve and label “Cellared in Canada” wines in Ontario. They’re even interviewing Jancis Robinson to get her opinion on things. I’m curious how the practices will progress in BC with the big three wine companies saying that they will rethink labeling and with BC minister Rich Coleman seemingly ready to push for change.

While I was at one of the private stores, a fellow shopper came up to me and asked if I knew anything about wine. “Ah, yeah” I reluctantly answered while I quickly tried to recognize the label on the bottle she was holding to anticipate the question…perhaps an obscure wine region? Dinner pairing suggestions? Instead she blindsided me with “What’s Chardonnay?” and followed up by stating she didn’t want anything sweet. I happily gave her the Coles Notes version to walk away with – hopefully helping her pick a wine to have with dinner and not confusing her further. Funny how I’m conditioned to answering more challenging questions at the restaurant and it’s nice to get back to the basics sometimes.

Espelt ’06 Sauló – Empordà, Spain
For dinner, I was looking for something value priced that I knew wouldn’t offend anyone and decided to revisit the widely available Espelt (a blend of 60% Garnacha and 40% Cariñena). Medium weight with light tannin and obviously fruit driven. Bright and juicy spiced purple fruit with some dusty chocolate character and enough depth of flavour to keep things a little interesting. Good value at $15.99. I had the Espelt rosé at Mis Trucos a little while back and thought it was killer value as well. Check your local BCLDB supply.