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

Gord Stimmell of the Toronto Star tries wines from three “state-of-the-art” Ontario wineries, and they all happen to be My Wine Canada partners. Stimmell sampled Creekside Estate Winery’s Laura’s Red, the Flat Rock Cellars Rusty Shed Chardonnay, and the Tawse Sketches Riesling, and had nice things to say about all of ‘em.

Sticking with the Star, the paper reports that while alcohol laws are slowly changing in Ontario, wine won’t be available on grocery store shelves in 2015, and that 2016 will be a more likely timeline for the change.

Speaking of wine in grocery stores, it looks like there are still some grey areas in B.C.’s liquor-law changes, as one already-built wine store inside a downtown Vancouver grocery store stands empty.

Interested in learning more about the present and future of VQA wines in Ontario? Check out the VQA Ontario 2015 Annual Report for the status of the 2014 vintage, stats, and more.

Over at the Edmonton Journal, Gurvinder Bhatia previews opportunities to sip some nice wines at Taste of Edmonton.

Down the road at the Calgary Herald, Darren Oleksyn offers some suggestions for fresh summer sippers.

Wine Spectator has released its 2015 Restaurant Wine List Awards. Search here for your favourite restaurant (or search by province, country, cuisine, etc.).

MWC cohort Michelle Bouffard and I were at WineAlign’s 2015 National Wine Awards of Canada (which, if you read blogs in this space, I’m sure you’re well aware). Anyway, I wrote about the competition and my experiences in the Winnipeg Free Press.