By Rick VanSickle
Calling all Ontario wineries — there’s a new wine competition in Canada and Calgary is calling on you to send those wines west.
Also in this Canadian Wine Report, all the details you need on the Niagara Icewine Festival taking place in January, plus an exciting new wine from Last House Vineyard in Prince Edward County you need to know about.
The inaugural Stampede Cellar Showdown is being held in Calgary Feb. 23-25 in the BMO Centre at Stampede Park. This international wine competition highlights beverage production and will showcase the best of the best in Canadian and international wine, as part of the Calgary Stampede’s commitment to agriculture and the agri-food industry.
The competition is open to all products from Canadian and international wine producers and distributors that are registered within the province of Alberta. The competition portion will take place prior to Stampede – with the winning wines earning a spot to be showcased at the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.” Stampede guests will get to enjoy swirling, sniffing, and sipping these award-winning wines as part of their festival experience.
For winning wineries and distributors, recognition will also include the opportunity to feature their award-winning wines at retail outlets and restaurants with the Stampede Cellar Champion labelling.
In the Stampede’s commitment to highlighting regional producers, the Canadian wine industry will be showcased in the competition with its own class of recognition and prizing.
This high-profile competition is aligned with the Stampede’s agri-food vision, connecting the agri-food and beverage industry to Calgarians and southern Albertans by facilitating signature programs and building understanding of grape to glass between regional food and beverage producers and consumers.
For Ontario wineries wanting to enter the competition, they can do so now. The early bird entry is Jan. 15 and the final entry deadline on Feb. 5. Deliveries of wine entries are accepted at Stampede Park from Jan. 15 to Feb. 15.
Why you should enter the Stampede Cellar Showdown:
• Be part of the inaugural Stampede Cellar Showdown, a world-class international wine competition adjudicated by internationally recognized officials, with a double-blind competition format
• Have your wine named the Calgary Stampede Champion. This distinction comes with prizes befitting a Stampede champion including bronze trophy sculptures & belt buckles
• Receive recognition in publications such as the National Post, Globe and Mail, Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast
• Be featured at the new and highly anticipated Stampede Cellar Uncorked and Best Bites Competition in June 2024
• Be featured at the heart of Stampede Park during the 2024 Calgary Stampede July 5-14 in the new Stampede Cellar Wine Garden
• Have your wine celebrated in select Calgary Stampede venues such as Ranahans, The Lazy S, Bar 1912, 30X Saloon, The Big Four Roadhouse, and Western Oasis
• Showcase your wines at year-round Calgary Stampede events
• Leverage Stampede Cellar vhampionship branding in retail point of purchase and restaurant environments through exclusive marketing packages provided by the Calgary Stampede
How to register for the competition:
• Create an account with Enofile, a third-party entry system, by clicking here
• Set up your wines in your account
• Enter your selected wines into the Stampede Cellar Showdown Wine Competition
• Pay your entry fees
• Ship your wine samples using the instructions provided in link above
Ice Ice Baby!
Niagara’s iconic Icewine Festival, one of Canada’s largest wine celebrations, will embrace the winter magic once again early in 2024. For three weekends in January, wine lovers, cocktail fans and foodies can create sweet memories to last a lifetime, all while discovering the region’s famous VQA icewine and culinary scene through a collection of events.
The festivities begin with the return of the Cool as Ice Gala at the Niagara Parks Power Station on Jan. 13. The kickoff to Niagara’s renowned Icewine Festival features premium pours of VQA Icewine, a VQA icewine cocktail bar and locally inspired dishes from some of the region’s most beloved chefs.
The event provides exclusive access to one of Niagara’s coolest new venues for an evening filled with exceptional VQA wine and food, paired perfectly with dancing, featuring a live orchestra and DJ, and immersive performances. Guests will also have the opportunity to descend 180 feet in a glass-panelled elevator to explore the Power Station’s historic tunnel, leading to an all-new observation deck at the base of the Falls.
Niagara Icewine Festival Discovery Pass holders can explore the heart of wine country on an unforgettable self-guided journey weekends throughout the month, from Jan. 12-28. Passes include either three or six unique tasting experiences from a list of over 30 wineries along Wine Country Ontario’s Wine Route for exclusive VQA icewine and food pairings.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake Icewine Festival will once again transform historic Queen Street into the iconic Icewine Village on the weekends of Jan. 20-21 and 27-28. Festivalgoers will enjoy a collection of icewines from 18 of the Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake, paired with icewine-inspired nosh from local restaurants. The lavish Sparkle & Ice Celebration will return to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Courthouse on Jan. 26, featuring the fan favourite Icewine cocktail competition. As is tradition, the evening will culminate with a fireworks display and icewine toast. New this year, the festival is bringing the icewine experience to shoppers at the Outlet Collection mall Jan. 13-14. The ice bar will showcase icewines from 16 wineries, plus a signature VQA icewine cocktail, alongside live music, and cosy fire pits.
“Ontario’s icewine harvest is a magical time, and what better way to celebrate than by visiting Wine Country Ontario during Niagara’s Icewine Festival this January,” said Magdalena Kaiser, director of public relations for the Wine Marketing Association of Ontario. “These signature celebrations offer locals and visitors alike the opportunity to rediscover the beauty of winter in wine country, all while enjoying internationally acclaimed VQA icewine in new and unique ways.”
Full details on all Icewine Festival events, including participating wineries, how to purchase tickets and travel arrangements can be found here.
A beauty from Last House Vineyard
As Wines in Niagara winds down the wine reviews for 2023 and gets ready to publish its annual Most Thrilling Niagara Wines of the Year list on Boxing Day, we are squeezing in one last wine review — a wine that is shockingly good.
Andre Gagne’s Last House Vineyard project is small by any standard, but what he has done with Prince Edward County grapes from his vineyard in a short amount of time is, frankly, extraordinary. It was a joy to recently taste his newest creation, the Last House Hillier Blanc Block 130 Reserve 2021.
It is already garnering high praise from the likes of Stephen Temkin, founder with Deborah Paskus of the Temkin-Paskus project that shocked the wine world with their first Chardonnay in 1991. He recently posted his notes on this wine on his IG account.
“Last night’s dinner was accompanied by this exuberant and flavourful reserve Chardonnay from Last House Vineyard,” he wrote. “It is usually my tendency when tasting local wines, particularly good ones such as this, to identify their stylistic equivalent from other parts of the world, as if an identifiable match somehow endows them with greater legitimacy. But as I focused my attention on this wine over the course of two hours, I couldn’t really put my finger quite exactly on anything. It takes me back 35 years or so when I was first examining the soils of Prince Edward County, and saw the stony, clay loam soils of Hillier as a potentially interesting place to make Chardonnay. Today, thanks to the hard work of certain winemakers, I’ve been convinced my suspicions were correct. And I think it’s time to consider recognizing this portion of the County as a distinct appellation, particularly as it pertains to Chardonnay. In other words, VQA Hillier.”
Temkin is right, of course, but it will take a lot of pressure and lobbying to convince VQA that sub-appellations in Prince Edward County will be established any time soon due to the small number of acres of grapes under vine. We are left to learn for ourselves the nuances from region to region, which quite frankly, are deserving of upgraded status. This Chardonnay is a perfect example of a site-specific, vineyard-specific, and appellation-specific wine. Here’s what I liked:
Last House Hillier Blanc Block 130 Reserve 2021 ($48, under 20 cases made, 94 points) — The fruit for this wine was hand harvested from the estate’s 2018 planting of Chardonnay registered as “Block 130.” It was picked from the warmest section of the vineyard and extra hang time was allowed until the clusters turned a golden colour. The wine was wild fermented, partially in barrel (60%) with the balance in steel. There was no fining or filtering. Such a beautiful and expressive nose of lemon peel, fresh pear, florals, pure salinity and wet stones, apricot, and apple with just a whiff of elegant spice. It’s so pure, evocative, and dense on the palate with complex layers of flinty/stony notes, ripe orchard fruits, lemon tart, bergamot, nectarine, elegant spices and a vibrant, tingling finish that lingers for minutes. Sensational County Chardonnay. The wine can purchased here and also at Archives Wine and Spirits Merchants in St. Catharines.
Note: With info provided by the Stampede Cellar Showdown, and the Wine Marketing Association of Ontario
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