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Writing on Canadian Wine by the MWC team Kurtis Kolt (BC), Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson (MB) Jake Skakun (ON), Michelle Bouffard (QB) and various national guest contributors.

My Wine Canada

Wine Club Feature: Diamond Estates Winery

Diamond Estates Winery is an umbrella company for many different brands including Lakeview Cellars & EastDell Estates. Contracts with 25 different growers allows them to produce lines of wine where each brand has a unique focus. Located on the highly regarded Niagara escarpment, the sites benefit from the lake's influence. Lakeview Cellars was originally founded by Eddy Gurinska and his wife Lorraine in 1991 and then purchased by Diamond Estates Winery in 2005.

Winemakers Scott McGregor and Tom Green craft wine in one of the largest wineries in Ontario. Sustainability is part of Diamond Estates' philosophy. Steps such as using solar panels and insulated tanks have been taken to save energy, and water usage is also carefully controlled.

This month, Diamond Estates Winery is proud to be the featured winery for our lucky wine club members. Check out which wines you'll receive this month and subscribe by April 13! Continue reading →

Published on April 11, 2017 by Michelle Bouffard
Top Distillery Picks! Park Distillery

If you don’t start with the best ingredients, you’re almost certain never to make the best product. For wineries that means grapes; for spirits such as vodka, rye or gin that means water and grains.

So it’s not surprising that a distillery set up near Banff’s Rocky Mountains would thrive, creating an impressive range of small-batch vodka, gin and rye in a variety of styles. Park Distillery makes their spirits from glacier water sourced in Banff National Park, organic grain grown at high altitudes by family-run farms and carefully sourced materials for flavouring — mostly local and organic as well.

Whether you’re looking for pure, classic flavour from your vodka or are keen on trying one of Park’s infused vodkas, now’s the time to do it — this week you can get free shipping when you order $120 or more of their product here at My Wine Canada.

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Published on April 11, 2017 by Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson
Top Wine Picks! Lang Vineyards

Here in Vancouver, we’ve had a record-breaking winter full of torrential rains and more snow than our West Coast capacity can handle. Finally, it’s spring - and as the sun beams a bit brighter and the cherry blossoms bloom, we look to refreshing, lively wines to echo the season.

I was clicking away here on My Wine Canada, and thinking how a selection from British Columbia’s Lang Vineyards, this week’s feature winery offering free shipping when you order six or more bottles, would suit the season so fine.

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Published on April 4, 2017 by Kurtis Kolt
Top Wine Picks! Trail Estate Winery

Prince Edward County is getting attention and wowing the press, and for good reason. The region is full of dynamic producers crafting wines with a standard that represents Canada well. Trail Estate Winery is among them.

A newcomer to the scene, the winery is already boosting an impressive line-up of small batch craft wines. The owners, Anton and Hildegard Sproll, bought the estate in 2011 after dedicating their life to their German bakery for 30 years. Hard work is certainly not foreign to them, so perhaps this is why they are achieving such success in a short amount time, as their first vintage was in 2013. Being well surrounded has also been key. Continue reading →

Published on March 30, 2017 by Michelle Bouffard
Top Wine Picks! Casa Dea Estates Winery

Casa Dea Estates Winery has been growing vines in Prince Edward County since 2000. Domenic Di Pietrantonio's 65 acres of vineyards in the County's famed clay limestone soil are two kilometers from the shore of Lake Ontario and its moderating effects. The winery and tasting room reflect the region's history in Loyalist-era architecture, and have become a popular wedding destination.

Winemaker Paul Battilana's focus is on a collection of grapes that do very well in Prince Edward County: Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gamay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. Along with still wines, they are also making sparkling wines and appassimento-style wine, including Eva, made with dried Chardonnay grapes.

This week Casa Dea is offering free shipping on any 6 or more bottles. Let's put together a Tasting Pack from their current offerings:

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Published on March 20, 2017 by Jake Skakun
Wine Club Feature: 50th Parallel Estate

A sense of place is crucial to any successful wine/winery, and it’s clear 50^th Parallel Estate has embraced this notion in spades.

Proprietors Curtis Krouzel and Sheri-Lee Turner-Krouzel have been in the Okanagan Valley for over a decade, first planting 10 acres of vines by hand in 2009 on what would become their Lake Country-region winery. Their now-61-acre property is located north of Kelowna near Lake Okanagan, where winemakers Grant Stanley and Matt Fortuna make wines from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling and Gewürztraminer — all grapes that thrive in Lake Country’s relatively cooler climate.

The winery’s rise has been impressive; their inaugural 2011 vintage saw them produce just 700 cases of wine, while last year they pumped out an impressive 14,000 cases. This month, 50th Parallel Estate is proud to be the featured winery for our lucky wine club members. Check out which wines you'll receive this month and subscribe by Wednesday, Mar. 15!

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Published on March 14, 2017 by Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson
Free Shipping from Black Prince Winery

For a number of years, Niagara has been considered the leading region for wine production in Ontario, but Prince Edward County is getting some buzz. Picturesque with a real feel of community and cooperation between producers, the area has everything to charm wine lovers. Black Prince Winery is one of the oldest wineries in the region. Established in 2000 by John Sambrook and Geoff Webb, the winery is located on a beautiful 50 acre estate with 10 acres dedicated to vineyards. Drinking and eating locally are important to the owners, perhaps this is why they were the first winery to use local county oak barrels to age their wine. In addition to making their wines, they also help start up wineries by providing them a winemaking facility to make their wines. This week My Wine Canada is featuring Black Prince Winery by offering free shipping on six or more bottles (feel free to mix and match).

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Published on March 14, 2017 by Michelle Bouffard
Top Wine Picks: Moon Curser Vineyards

Down in the desert country of Osoyoos, at the very southern end of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, the mercury has been hovering around the zero-degree mark for a while now, but that shouldn’t last much longer. Soon enough, buds will burst on the area’s grapevines, and as vineyards bloom under the sun, those temperatures will climb into the thirties and forties. It’s as we get into vintage when the region’s desert classification becomes a lot more obvious. Not only is it ‘hot enough for ya’ more often than not, but while toddling around the area’s landscape, cacti and rattlesnakes aren’t exactly uncommon sights.

It is here where the Okanagan Valley excels at ripening the grapes for rich red and white wines, while sandy soils with pockets of clay, limestone and granite add distinct minerality and the cool nights allow natural acidity to be preserved.

These conditions make it possible for quite the variety of, er, varieties to be grown, and when it comes to Osoyoos wineries, this writer can’t think of anyone taking advantage of this scenario as much Beata and Chris Tolley, the owners of Moon Curser Vineyards.

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Published on March 7, 2017 by Kurtis Kolt