Calgary Wine Life: Meet Tim Hendrickson @ Wine Ink

31 08 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

Whether it’s wine or cheese, Tim has you covered.

The first time I met Tim Hendrickson, he was selling me cheese.  In between stints as co-owner of some of Calgary’s most interesting and eclectic wine shops, Hendrickson was the resident cheese guru at Blush Lane Organic Market in Aspen Woods, and every time I saw him it turned into an educational experience about cow vs. sheep vs. goat milk, aging and ripening techniques, the nuances and subtle differences between the products of different countries.  The man straight up knows his cheese, and his knowledge and enthusiasm about his wares led me to try things I never would have picked out for myself.  This earnest desire to serve the customer and teach them new ways to appreciate their favourite indulgences translates seamlessly to his current venture at Wine Ink, where he gets to engage with people about his foremost passion. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Calgary Wine Life

Calgary Wine Life: The YYC Corkage Primer

25 07 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

Time to BYOW, YYC. OK?

Corkage has been a hot topic in Canada recently, thanks to last week’s announcement from the British Columbia government (finally) allowing diners to bring their own bottles of wine into participating BC restaurants.  Here in Alberta, restaurants already have the ability to establish Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW) policies, and many have done so, generally charging a set per-bottle fee (called the corkage fee) in exchange for letting their guests arrive with their vino of choice.  Although this option is widely available in Calgary, it seems like it’s only rarely exercised, as most people either don’t know about the possibility of corkage or would prefer to trust in the carefully-selected wines that a restaurant puts on its own list.  While I usually fall into the latter category, there are certain times — when I have a certain bottle that I’ve been dying to open, when I’ve had a less-than-stellar past wine experience somewhere, or when I want to bring a Wine For An Occasion to celebrate something special — where corkage comes in really handy.  If you’re not sure about how the corkage process works, what the etiquette is around bringing your own bottle, and which places in Calgary offer BYOW service (and for how much), all your answers await below. Read the rest of this entry »


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Calgary Wine Life: Meet Jesse Willis @ Vine Arts

29 06 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

Calgary, Jesse. Jesse, Calgary.

I walked into the Vine Arts retail space for the first time a couple of weeks ago and, like I do in most wine stores, I looked for the Germany section.  There wasn’t one.  No Riesling section either. Rather than sorting its vinous wares by country or by grape, the more or less universal ways of arranging a wine shop, Vine Arts had catalogued and displayed all its wines by adjective, grouping whites under headings like “Off-Dry & Aromatic” or “Light & Fresh” and reds under headings like “Bold & Structured”, “Spicy Earthy Funky” or, my favourite, “Smooth & Sexy”.  That simple but radical design choice is why I believe Jesse Willis when he tells me he’s trying to do things differently. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Calgary Wine Life

Calgary Wine Life: Meet Brian Greenslade @ The Ferocious Grape

30 03 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

Brian Greenslade isn’t much for titles.  Though he has full command over the ordering and inventory direction of the Ferocious Grape, a prestigious position for which others may have taken the label “Wine Director” or “Sommelier”, FG’s website simply anoints him as their resident “Wine Lover”.  Brian’s business card is even more nondescript; below his name, where most people broadcast their employment station, it simply reads “[Insert Title Here]”.  If I had to name one thing that separates the Ferocious Grape from the rest of the pack of Calgary wine boutiques, it would be this kind of laid-back, utterly pretension-free attitude, an approach that remembers that wine is just a drink to be shared among friends, not one that should make you feel like you have to keep an eye on your credentials.

My experience with Ferocious Grape goes back almost to its opening in 2008.  I used to live in the Beltline, a few blocks from FG’s storefront at 8th Street and 10th Avenue SW, so they ended up becoming my friendly neighbourhood wine shop.  I was just starting to get interested in wine at that point, yearning to know more but still totally uncomfortable at the thought of venturing alone into a wine store and being peppered with questions to which I had no answers by some wine-snob-in-training.  Upon noticing this brand new shop a stone’s throw away from my place, however, I couldn’t help but stop in, and I was amazed to walk into a funky, relaxed, pressure-free atmosphere where there was always a full glass waiting for me and never any intimidation factor associated with the products being sold. Read the rest of this entry »


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Calgary Wine Life: Jim Barry “The Armagh” Tasting @ Bin 905

27 02 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

In all its glory.

Nothing improves a good bottle of wine more than a good accompanying back-story, and I ended up at the Jim Barry Armagh tasting at Bin 905 in Mission on Friday night due to one of the best wine tales in my recent memory.  The Armagh Shiraz, one of Australia’s rarest, priciest and highest quality bottles, was named after the hamlet of Armagh adjoining the Clare Valley wine region in South Australia, a small village that was initially established by Irish settlers and named after the county of Armagh in Ireland…which in turn is where my friend Fiona was born.  Upon walking into Bin 905 and seeing a sign advertising an “Armagh” wine tasting, Fiona immediately grabbed a ticket for it and also ordered a bottle, not knowing that it cost around $250 and not caring when she found out.  Not one to turn down a chance to drink ludicrously expensive wine for a less-than-ludicrous price, and not being likely ever to come across a wine named after my homeland (the Jim Barry “Edmonton”?), I jumped at the chance to come along to the event. Read the rest of this entry »


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Calgary Wine Life: Meet Matt Browman @ Highlander Marda Loop

27 01 2012

[Cross-posted at www.calgaryisawesome.com]

I am truly excited to kick into gear what I hope will be a long and, well, awesome collaboration with site-around-town extraordinaire Calgary Is Awesome.  For those regular CIA visitors who don’t know me, I’ve been writing local wine blog popandpour.ca for almost a year now, a site that contains reviews of a number of bottles available in town and other thoughts and musings aimed at demystifying (and glorifying) the incredible world of wine.  One of the things that I’ve wanted to do with Pop & Pour, but that I couldn’t really figure out how to approach, was to highlight the remarkable people and places that illuminate Calgary’s local wine scene, which remains almost criminally underrated.  Well, CIA has given me that chance.  My monthly posts for Calgary Is Awesome will focus on YYC wine shops, events, personalities and other home-based vinous topics of interest that will hopefully showcase the amazing depth of talent and energy that our fair city has directed towards my favourite beverage.  If you want to know how lucky you are to be a Calgarian who likes wine, read on.

Tasting, anyone?

I used to live in Altadore three places and five years ago, and even back then I thought that the area needed a specialty wine store…Liquor Depot wasn’t quite cutting it.  Now that land in my old neighbourhood costs more than my soul and Marda has become THE inner-city-but-not living destination for many Calgarians, this need has only amplified, and in December 2010 it was finally addressed when Highlander Wine & Spirits opened a massive new store in the heart of the Loop (2112 – 33rd Avenue SW).  As soon as you walk in, you can immediately tell that the shop was designed to be a temple of wine.  The large, open-profile modern space is lined with dark-wood-rack after dark-wood-rack of bottles, organized by country and region; there’s a huge tasting table in the back of the store, right beside cupboards full of wine glasses and an Enomatic machine that keeps a dozen or so open sample bottles free of invading air; it’s an oenophile’s dream.  Of course, there’s still plenty of beer and spirits available for sale, but if you were to walk in the front door and take a look around, you would definitely say:  “This is a wine store.”  This focus on fine wine is completely intentional.

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Calgary Wine Life: Bin 905 German Riesling Extravaganza

20 08 2011

Despite declaring on the header of this site that Pop & Pour is an “Independent Calgary Wine Blog”, I’ve been guilty of not really focusing many of my posts on the wine scene in Calgary.  I want this blog to be of general interest and not overly localized, but at the same time one of my initial goals in starting up PnP was to draw attention to hometown events and shops and help fellow Calgarians make the most of the wine-related opportunities offered in the city.  Today gave me a perfect opportunity to advance this latter goal:  this afternoon, Bin 905 (located on 4th St. and 23rd Ave SW) held a German Riesling Extravaganza (their title, not mine, although I fully endorse it), where anyone could drop in and sample 5 different German Rieslings from top producers, ranging fully dry to fully sweet, valued at $30 to $50 a bottle, at no charge.  Sorry, did you say free German Riesling tasting?  I’m there!  And so I was. Read the rest of this entry »


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Wine Review: 2009 Gomba Barbera d’Alba Traifilari

31 05 2011

Long time no PnP!  One consequence of drinking almost 50 wines over 16 hours in 2 days is that it doesn’t necessarily make you want to come home and WRITE about wine.  Two thirds of my Intermediate WSET class is now in the books, with the last day and the exam next Saturday, and after a day off yesterday my palate’s rested up and I’m ready to get back in the saddle.

I will admit that Barbera doesn't often shine in the label category. Marketing minds have to be able to do better than this.

I went with another Barbera d’Alba tonight so soon after the Cogno Barbera I wrote up a couple reviews ago because I spent the first half of that review raving about how awesome Barbera was and then the second half of the review backpedalling because the wine wasn’t all that great, or at least not all that typical of the grape.  In order to make sure not to duplicate my mistake, this time I picked a wine that I’ve had in previous vintages, and one that might be one of the all-time great bottle bargains in the $20-or-less category.  I’ve tracked down the Gomba for the past two years, but this was my first crack at the 2009. Read the rest of this entry »


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