The Friday Files: News & Notes from Canada’s Wine Scene

Friday! Wine news!

My Wine Canada partner Haywire Winery just announced their Switchback Vineyard is now certified organic. Check it out.

Over at the Ottawa Citizen, Rod Phillips talks ageability in wine – what has long-term potential, what doesn’t, and how to age a wine.

At the Georgia Straight, MWC’s own Kurtis Kolt talks about the Okanagan Valley’s early harvest this year.

In fact the weather’s been so intense in the Okanagan Valley, that the wildfires continue to threaten homes and vineyards. More here.

In case you missed it, Bill Zacharkiw talked Quebec wine over at the Montreal Gazette.

Speaking of Quebec wines, superstar sommelier Véronique Rivest tackles ‘em at La Presse – the good, the bad and the ugly. If you can read French, click here.

Hey, if you like beer and are going to be around Niagara-on-the-Lake this weekend, check out the Niagara Craft Beer Festival. I know I would.

And speaking of Niagara, Carolyn Evans Hammond paid the Niagara Escarpment a little visit for the Toronto Star. Delicious results by clicking here.

WineAlign’s 2015 World Wine Awards of Canada get underway next week in Toronto and once again, me and MWC scribe Michelle Bouffard are judgin’. We’re going to find the best wines the world has to offer that are available in this country. More info here.

One more little bit of self-promo; in Monday’s blog post I mentioned I was the “wine curator” at Winnipeg’s inaugural Interstellar Rodeo music festival. It was amazing. Check out my wine and music pairings here. Want to learn/see more? CTV stopped by.

Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson is the wine columnist and literary editor for the Winnipeg Free Press. He’s on Twitter and Instagram at @bensigurdson.