Niagara Vintage Wine Review ISSUE NO. O8 • JULY 2017
THE WINE SMART MAGAZINE
Canada 150 Edition Spotlight on Rancourt Winery • Behind The Scenes Cottage Must- Haves • Best Value Wines • Cottage Photo Contest
Chris, Gabriela, and the staff at Niagara Vintage Wine Tours wish all of you a
Happy, safe and fun-filled
Canada Day 150!
e f e i f i L L e g e a g t a t t o t C Co ! t ! s t e s t e n t o n o C C o t o o t ho P Ph Niagara Vintage Wine Tours is giving you the chance to win a Full Day Tour for Two! Send us an email at tours@niagaravintagewinetours.com showing us how you have fun at your cottage, and you'll be entered to win a Full Day Tour for Two with Niagara Vintage Wine Tours! The draw for the winner will be held on Monday, September 7th (Labour Day). Some Restrictions Apply: Gift Certificate Terms of Use: Advance booking is required. Please reserve your tour at least two weeks in advance of your desired date. Gift certificate must be presented to guide on the day of your tour. No refunds, not redeemable for cash. All bookings are subject to availability. On occasion we reserve the right to change restaurant and winery venues or wine region. Gift certificate includes all tasting fees, restaurant gratuities and taxes. Does not include beverages at the restaurant or gratuity for your guide.. ALL CONFIRMED RESERVATIONS ARE FINAL-NO CANCELATIONS, NO EXCEPTIONS. Cannot be combined with any other promotions. Seat minimums may apply. Not redeemable on Saturdays from May 15th to November 1st. Open year round.
VIGNOBLE RANCOURT WINERY An interview with winery Manager, Sue Enrich
What do you consider to be Niagara Wine
What changes have you noticed in the Niagara
Country's greatest strength?
Wine Industry?
The biggest strength is that there is more to do now
One thing that stands out is that more Canadians
than just wine. There is something for everybody to
are appreciating the wine we make in our own
do. With all the great restaurants, local attractions,
back yard. We have been winning International
theatre, breweries, shopping, sporting activities
awards and receiving World Wide recognition for
now there is now more to do than ever before.
decades now so it is nice to see our own domestic demand grow. More and more Ontario restaurants
What is really enjoyable to see is when someone
are adding VQA to their winelist as they are seeing
comes to the region to enjoy something other than
an increased demand from their consumer.
wine and then have them fall in love with a certain wine turning them into a wine drinker.
“Being smaller the experience you receive at the winery is also special. We strive on personal attention and providing an experience. " Sue Enrich, Manager of Rancourt Winery
What makes Rancourt Winery Unique?
Do you prefer a specific varietal? If so, what makes it stand out to you?
We are a Boutique Winery focused on small batch production of high quality wines. We do
We only have 6 rows of Malbec but it is my
not mass produce our wines which is why you
favourite varietal. We can only produce wine
won’t see us in the LCBO.
with it during exceptional vintage years which makes it more valuable to us.
We sell all our wines at the winery or online. It is nice to see all our vintages sell out when we can
We grow a special clone known as “The King of
keep things small. Being smaller the experience
Malbecs” – the grape is more plump and juicy
you receive at the winery is also special. We strive
than your regular clones which really makes the
on personal attention and providing an
wine very fruit forward.
experience. This is challenging sometimes as our Tasting Bar for walk-ins is small and is on a first
We call it our Liquid Watermelon Jolly Rancher.
come, first serve basis but more people are
We hope to have our next release out this Fall.
coming to us through a preferred tour partner or booking a private experience which really makes
Winners of the 2016 InterVin Awards:
your winery visit stand out.
Silver: 2012 Cabernet Franc Bronze: 2012 Meritage
Niagara Vintage Wine Review Not every celebration requires you to break the bank for good quality. Here are some tasty wines at great prices. They're "must-haves" when celebrating this July 1st weekend.Â
VIENI ESTATES: CANADA 150 Ruby red, fresh and fruity: currants, raspberries, black cherries, and black tea; savoury, soft, easy to drink with a dry and fruity aftertaste. $16.95 (Great Value!)
MARYNISSEN: 2015 PINOT GRIS 24 hrs skin contact before pressing. This elegant wine offers delicate floral aromas and tropical fruit. Light and clean with a bright finish. $17.00
Big black cherry aromas and a hint of smoke greet you first in the glass with intense dried fruit on the palate. This wine is full with a bold texture that softens as it lingers on the long finish. Excellent with food. Pairs well with a mushroom and truffle risotto or a grilled rib-eye steak. $19.95Â
SUE ANN STAFF: 2012 ICEWINE VIDAL
This decadent Vidal Icewine is filled with minerality, candied lemon peel, mandarin orange, mango, quince and luscious white peach paired with vibrant acidity and alluring sweetness. A lengthy delectable finish persists. Enjoy! $19.25
Gold Medals - 2015 Ontario Wine Awards & 2015 Royal Wine Competition- Best Dessert Wine
THE NIAGARA VINTAGE WINE REVIEW
BETWEEN THE LINES: RED BARN PINOT NOIR
Celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday with these Great Picks! Thornbury Pale Ale Silversmith Dam Buster Ale ( Niagara on the Lake ) Skinny Dippin Oatmeal Stout ( Saw Dust Brewing Company, Gravenhusrt Muskoka ) Mosquito Season Farmhouse Ale ( Haliburton Highlands Brewing Company ) Thornbury Pilsner ( Thornbury Village Brewery ) One of the Best Beers in the World: Thornbury Village 'Pickup Truck Pilsner' wins title of World's Top Pilsner!
White Wines at Sunset Muscat ( Peller Winery ) Niagara on The Lake Nobel White ( Rancourt Winery ) Niagara on The Lake Pinot Gris ( Marynissen ) Niagara on The Lake Pinot Grigio ( Fielding Winery ) Beamsville Bench Reserve Reiling ( Kacaba Winery ) Vineland
BBQ & Campfire Reds Gamay ( Malivoire ) Twenty Valley Jordan Pinot Noir ( Ridgepoint Winery) Beamsville Bench **Bella Terra Cabernet Sauvignon ( Pondview Winery ) Niagara on The Lake *Exclamation Cabernet Franc ( Pillitteri Winery ( Niagara on The Lake ) *** Vieni Appassimento 2012 ( Niagara Escarpment Twenty Valley )
WEIVER ENIW EGATNIV ARAGAIN EHT
Beer On The Dock
THE ULTIMATE PRIVATE EXPERIENCE Niagara Vintage Wine Tours is a family run business founded by leading wine industry professionals who have actually worked, trained and managed at our local wineries as well as top rated restaurants and resorts abroad. With 20 plus years in the wine industry we will provide you and your guests with an educational and interactive Niagara wine country tour equal to or exceeding any other wine region in the world. Â We believe in doing things the right way without cutting corners on an experience of a lifetime. Built by professionals for professionals. WWW.NIAGARAVINTAGEWINETOURS.COM TOURS@NIAGARAVINTAGEWINETOURS.COM CALL: 1 866 628 5428
CUSTOMIZE YOUR EXPERIENCE: - Vineyard Seminars
- Brewery and Distillery Tours
- Tank/Barrel Tastings
- 10 Below Room at Peller Estates
- Fine Dining meals
- By Reservation Only experiences
- Cheese Pairings
- Blind Tasting in Black Crystal Glasses
- NEW Virtual Reality Icewine Experience
Niagara Vintage Wine Tours Behind the Scenes By Rebecca Hare, Guest Services
You have been looking forward to this day for weeks… some time to unwind and relax. You made your reservation and are nearly ready as you prepare to head down and wait with anticipation for your guide to greet you by name in your hotel lobby. Then the doubt sets in… did I book the right date? Did I tell them where my hotel was? Do I have the right pickup time? Maybe I should call and just make sure they have my number right just in case…. It is about here where I enter the scene. “Thank you for calling Niagara Vintage Wine Tours how can I help you today?” With a few clicks on the keyboard and a couple reassuring words I can reconfirm your reservation and ease your mind. It really is that easy and our guide will meet you right at your hotel within the provided time frame so you can your day in Niagara Wine Country! We do everything we can to ensure a seamless and painless booking process for our guests. However, back in the office, our small team works tirelessly to make things look and seem so simple. Once you’ve contacted us, whether by phone or online, someone begins coordinating all of the details. There are some obvious elements such as administration, event planning, and vehicle maintenance that are always being taken care of. But there are also things that we do that most wouldn’t even think of like marketing, site inspections, building partnerships, and staff management.
Together with my colleagues we are able to provide memorable top rated wine tours on a daily basis year-round. Our office administration team members are the front lines for planning. We answer the phones, monitor emails and voicemails and respond as promptly as possible; usually within 2 business days even during the busiest of times. We field a range of questions and requests from guests who have never experienced a wine tour before, novices with limited experience, wine connoisseurs including wine-makers or grape growers from different wine regions in the world, and repeat guests who return annually and even bi-annually looking for another unique visit. Both online and by phone we provide professional and courteous service making recommendations, accommodating requests and preparing quotes for daily or custom wine tours. We share the responsibilities of planning corporate events, leisure groups, engagements and our daily group tours.
Once we are able to confirm reservations we then move into event planning. We need to coordinate reservations and itineraries for each tour ensuring the best possible experience at each venue. We also map out the day logistically to minimize travel time and make sure we allow for the most time to tour and of course taste! We factor in the locations for any food components as well: from cheese platters, full fine dining lunches or dinners, to completely custom dining events. It is all part of mapping out the day. Then we need to make tasting and tour reservations for multiple guests and groups at any given time, this also means planning around the different events, public tours and bus tours that the wineries see daily. There are ongoing daily updates and while we always plan well in advance, unpredictable circumstances make this an area we closely monitor at all times. This brings me to the next piece that is so important but often overlooked. We provide new, clean and luxury transportation for each and every tour. This requires a lot of behind the scenes coordination! Our guides are great at helping keep our vehicles neat, tidy, clean and fueled at the end and/or start of each tour but it goes so much further. The owner himself can regularly be seen washing the vehicles at least once a week but is also always keeping up on upgrading and replacing the vehicles. The fleet is turned over often to ensure only new vehicles are used in our tours. This means sourcing out new vehicles and closing the deal for purchase, all while ensuring vehicle and tour licensing is in order, fleet insurance is up to date, semi-annual inspections and regular maintenance are done,
(the occasional irregular maintenance too!) to meet the highest safety standards! Providing luxury transportation daily for over 100 guests means a lot of hard work, team work and passion as well as dedication to our service standards. NVWT is a family owned business with a small team including office staff and guides.  We must all work closely together daily to provide each and every tour. I could go on and on about the steps we take each day to provide these top rated tours but honestly it is what we do to ensure each guest has a relaxing time in Niagara.  We take care of all of the planning and organizing so you don't have to. Our duties range from designing our easy to navigate website, visiting the wineries on a regular basis, staying up to date on new products and venues, to scheduling guides and trying to coordinate personalities that will best fit each group of guests. We take pride in each piece to provide an unforgettable wine country experience that will exceed all expectations and take all of the guess work out of your visit. With NVWT you don’t have to question or worry that you have made the right choice. We are honoured to have a place in the memories of so many that have came to Niagara and will take the very best care of you and the time you choose to give us. Whether you are already booked or still planning, if even just a seemingly simple question comes to mind, don't hesitate to give is a call. You will be greeted by one of our friendly experienced team members and we will be happy to help you find the best fit or just ease your mind.
Winefulness 101
Summer Wine Course
Come learn how to unWINEd with BeWineful’s summer wine and meditation course. Come for one event or all five to learn something new about wine and about yourself. The Best aspects of Meditation and Wine all in one!
Winefulness 101 Summer Series June 29th Winefulness 101 Pondview Estate Winery July 6th Winefulness of Taste Palatine Hills Estate Winery July 13th Story of a Grape Hinterbrook Winery July 20th Aromas, Memory, and Meditation Small Talk Vineyards July 27th Winefulness in the Winery Marynissen Estates Winery
Tickets
$45 Per Event $180 Full Series (Save $45) To Save 20% Use Code NVWT Visit winefulsummer.eventbrite.ca to register For more information visit bewineful.com or Facebook.com/bewineful
Plastic Stemless Wine Glasses These unbreakable wonders will have you sipping wine in style no matter where you are! Add them to your picnic basket, throw them in your backpack, or use them on the dock!
Whiskey Stones Keep your whiskey cool without watering it down! Whiskey stones can be re-used, and won't change the taste of your favourite libation! Drink up, my friends!
Cottage Party Must-Haves Slushie Machine Slushies are an easy way to turn your favourite alcoholic beverage into a fun and refreshing treat! Play around with adding frozen juice mixes to your concoctions. The possibilities are endless!
Mixed Drink Dispenser Keep your cool on the patio with a charming drink dispenser! Punch bowls aren't the most practical items when bugs are around, so use a closed drink dispenser to dispense your favourite mixed drinks!
Drink Cooler Warm beer is never pleasant on a hot day. Grab yourself a cooler to keep your drinks nice and cold. They come in so many sizes and styles, you're bound to find one that fits your needs and budget!
NIAGARA VINTAGE WINE REVIEW PUBLISHED BY NIAGARA VINTAGE WINE TOURS INC. CHRIS AND GABRIELA FUCCILLO EDITOR (Creative & Design) — Natalie Worden CONTRIBUTORS: Chris Fuccillo, President & Founder of Niagara Vintage Wine Tours INC Sue Enrich, Manager of Rancourt Winery Rebecca Hare, Guest Services and Group Sales, Niagara Vintage Wine Tours
Niagara Vintage Wine Review is a publication under Niagara Vintage Wine Tours, Inc. No part of this publication may be distributed, reproduced or republished in any way without the sole permission of the publishers. For more information and exclusive content, visit www.niagaravintagewinetours.com. For inquiries, contact Niagara Vintage Wine Tours at: 1 866 628 5428 info@niagaravintagewinetours.com www.niagaravintagewinetours.com
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