WHINE # 48
Welcome to new Whine reader Larry Harbour of Dallas
Texas.
WINE KNOWLEDGE:
One of the great truisms of exploring wines is
that no matter how much you read, taste and learn, you will quickly be humbled
by someone else who knows so much more.
Perhaps that’s not true for someone like Robert Parker, but it is certainly
true for me.
On the other hand, one can be
just as surprised at just how many people have very little experience with the
joy of drinking wine. A few weeks ago I
was asked to be an after lunch speaker.
My topic was “Mistakes one makes when drinking red wine.” My audience of about 20 was attentive and I
hoped I might even have been erudite.
Then, the Chair asked if there were any questions for the speaker. I got three:
(1) Are there different kinds of grapes; (2) Is the wine sold at the
Antigonish Farmers’ Market really, really good? (actually it’s really, really
bad); and (3) Is port the same as wine?
WINE EXPORT TRENDS:
Many wine producing countries
are very protectionist in terms of their domestic markets. Thus, if you are visiting Spain or Chile, for
example, you will only find domestic wine in restaurants and wine shops. Wine importing countries such as Canada are
also protectionist, but to a much lesser extent. Because of this one can get a better sense
of trends in wine taste or preferences by looking at data on wine imports,
rather than looking at data on wine production.
From what countries do we buy wine, and is there a change from
historical patterns?
Next to dividing wines into
Reds and Whites, the most useful distinction is between Old World Wines and New
World Wines. At a recent wine tasting my
guests attempted to determine whether the wines that they tasted were New or
Old World, what varietal was in their glasses, and the country of origin. Although lots of mistakes were made in
identifying the country and the varietal, almost everyone was able to correctly
distinguish the New Worlds from the Old Worlds.
As an aside, the New Worlds were significantly preferred by almost
everyone, despite the fact that on average they were less expensive.
Although Old Worlds wines
still dominate the export market, there have been some major changes in the past
15 years. For example, from 1999 to 2005
exports of New World wines increased from 16% to 29% of world totals while Old
World wines dropped from 79% to 69%. It
is hard to get more recent data but perhaps it is safe to say that the trend
toward New World wines has continued since 2005, but at a considerably slower
pace. The other major shift to notice is
that France is no longer number one in exports; in fact not only has Italy
replaced France as the top exporter of wine world-wide, Spain has edged into
second place. The decline in preference
for French wine would have been even greater had the Chinese not dramatically
increased their purchases of high-end wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy.
WHAT WINES DO CANADIANS IMPORT? Getting
accurate information on imports into Canada is not as easy as googling the
question. However, I did find some
information in the annual reports of Liquor Control Boards of three of our 10
provinces. In Nova Scotia our most
popular wine is in fact Canadian (30 per cent of NSLC sales). In terms of imports our favorite wine comes
from Australia (16.9 %). 12.1 per cent
of the wines we drink are from Italy.
Next comes the United States (11.5 %).
From these figures it is clear that we are ahead of the pack in shifting
to New World wines. What really
surprised me, however, is that in Nova Scotia we drink more Nova Scotian wine
(7.6%) than we drink French wine (5.5%).
Finally we drink the same amount (5.5%) of Argentinian wine as we drink
French wine. The single most popular
Nova Scotian wine is Benjamin Bridge’s Nova 7, a medium priced ($ 24.99)
sparkler that I personally find a little too sweet. However, I am happy to see a local producer
having financial success.
In Ontario the top seller is
again Canadian wine; no surprise, given the large wine industry on the Niagara
Peninsula. Ontarians favorite import is
Italian, followed by Australian, and then by wine from the United States. It appears, however, that Ontarians like Old
World wines with Italy being the favorite and French wine coming in 4th
in terms of imports. Closely following
imports of French wine are wines from Chile and Argentina, and then South
Africa.
The only other province from
which I could get reliable data is Manitoba.
Manitoba is interesting, nonetheless, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Manitoba is not a producer of wine
(grape vines don’t do well at 40 below) so I was quite surprised to learn that
even in Manitoba Canadian wines are the most popular. In terms of imports first place goes to the
U.S., which is followed by Australia and then Chile. Clearly New Worlds are heavily favored over
Old Worlds. Fourth and fifth places go
to Italy and Argentina and then a real shocker, for sixth place German wines
beat out French wines. Does cold weather
increase one’s need for sugar?
OPIMIAN CELLAR OFFERING 222: This offering
is somewhat unique because it includes wines from Brazil. I have never had a Brazilian wine so I
certainly can’t make a recommendation.
However, I am going to order a case of sparkling and will let you know
at some point what I think.
Otherwise I have two
recommendations for less expensive wines.
Since it is offered for less than $ 20. I think # 7436 Cotes du Rhone is
worth picking up a case. Even cheaper
are two of the Chilean Paulita wines (#7446 and 7447.) I have found these to be of very great value when drunk with food. Finally, let me make a negative
recommendation. Avoid # 7425 the
Passetoutgrains. I can’t tell this wine
from coloured water, and not much colour at that.
