A Sommelier’s Thanksgiving
In September and October, we are busy cooking, savouring, freezing and making preserves with the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables from our gardens and our local farmers. This autumnal abundance also extends to wine beer and spirits. Today’s diversity, quantity and quality of available alcoholic beverages is unprecedented in our history. The magic of our technology, an ever-growing body of knowledge, and understanding of how to create good wine, beer, and spirits is such that we are drinking better than ever before – better than past kings and queens of yesteryears and yester centuries. Gone are the immature grapes vinified into acidic, tart wines, good enough for a few months before they spoil and become undrinkable. Today, even the most basic wines are finished into crystal clear elixir, deliciously vinified at the optimum maturity to make balanced and elegant libations. The same can be said for beers, spirits, and meads.
Furthermore, whereas only a few privileged regions were producing wine, such as Bordeaux or Burgundy, grapes now seem to grow everywhere. New hybrids that thrive in areas considered inhospitable to classic grape varietals are introduced almost yearly. For example, the Louise Swenson hybrid developed in Wisconsin, USA in the late 1980’s can sustain an impressive -40C while typically a classic grape, say the Cabernet Sauvignon, is in trouble at -5C. While our Foothills are still too risky to produce wine, we do world-class beer, spirits, and meads. The list below is a case in point. Most of our local producers’ products are available in select liquor stores and their tasting rooms which are worth visiting.
My Thanksgiving is a celebration of all that is good in the world of wine, beer, and spirits, especially those labels produced in the shadow of the our Canadian Rockies, our piece of paradise. I invite you to consider our local gems and support of our passionate brewers, distillers, and mead producers who work hard to please our palates. Come hell or high water, they go all out to craft the best they can. We ought to discover what they do and savour the fruit of their labour.
In Gratitude
Chinook Arch Meadery
386079, 16 Street West Okotoks
403-995-0830 www.chinookhoney.com
Spirit Hills flower Winery
240183 – 2380 Drive West Millarville
www.spirithillswinery.com
Hard Knox Brewery
445, 1 Avenue North-Est Black Diamond
403-613-0679
Half Hitch Brewing Company
10 Griffin Industrial Point #1 Cochrane
403-988-4214
www.halfhitchbrewing.ca
Fahr Brewing Company
123 Kennedy Drive South-East, Turner Valley
403-800-6098
www.fahr.ca
Bragg Creek Distillers
27 Burnside Drive, Bragg Creek
587-997-9391
www.braggcreekdistillers.ca
Eau Claire Distillery
113 Sunset Blvd South-West, Turner Valley
403-933-5408
www.eauclairdistillery.ca
Whispering Dutchman Distillery
12 Griffin Industrial Point #105, Cochrane
403-830-5663
www.whisperingdutchmandistillery.com
Krank Spirit
315, 1st Street East, Cochrane
587-228-3638
Bonne appétit!
Renée Delorme, Sommelier
www.tastingpleasures.ca
403.200.9961
mail@tastingpleasures.ca
Indulge in the pleasures of private tastings
