Niagara Vintage Wine Review - March 2017

ISSUE NO. O4 • MARCH 2017

Niagara Vintage Wine Review THE WINE SMART MAGAZINE

St. Patrick's Day 10

FOOD, BEER & WINE EDITION Beer Review • Focus on Silversmith Brewery

Grapes and Hops • Wine Smart Guide Spotlight

founder's note March is a very exciting time of year, it is the first step forward from a long winter and it gives way to initial plans for long-awaited summer vacation time.

Spring is that little carrot of summer bliss that gets us over the hump and shoulder of winter, and puts a little hop in our step.

To help ourselves forget the winter blues, we inject a little green into our lives, and I am not just talking about the grass beginning to grow. March is host to St Patrick’s Day; a day of pub crawls, painting the town green, and making it look like spring is on its way.

The best St Patrick’s day I can recall was during my first year living in Whister, BC. This was at a time when Whistler was still an old ski town (pre-Olympics).

Exactly 20 years ago, being only 23 years old at the time and just getting started studying wine and spirits, I had a great reason to explore the amazing amount of small micro-brewery beers that were becoming extremely popular in the region. Specifically brews from Granville Island and the west coast of Vancouver, the birth place of micro-breweries. Every other establishment lining these streets was a restaurant or bar, so it’s needless to say that Whistler was the perfect pub crawl location. You could walk the entire village in less than 20 minutes! Oh, to be young again!

Cheers to all of you on March 17th!

Happy St Patty’s Day! And of course, Go Leafs Go!

Nowadays my St. Patrick’s Day celebration of choice is a tour with a knowledgeable and personable guide who drives me out to all the great establishments, worry free.

This brings me to our "Foodie Tour": The "EPIC" Food, Beer & Wine Experience. Four years ago, we were the first in the region to put this idea into motion. This well-rounded day out is an exploration of the new, popular breweries popping up in Niagara on the Lake and the surrounding area. We accompany these brews with award winning wines at our favorite wineries, and with gourmet food courses prepared for four of the five venues. With this tour, our guests experience delectable dishes to compliment the brewed beverages of the day. It’s a traveling four course meal!

Thinking back, the west coast pub crawl was a great experience in my 20’s, but this more mature option is a perfect pairing for me in my 40’s. It truly gives me a taste of everything I love about food, beer, and wine.

On March 18th, the Toronto Maple Leafs will wear their original jerseys of the team they grew from: The Toronto St Pats. It will be at this time, while watching Hockey Night in Canada with my favourite team dressed in green and white, that I will enjoy some great Canadian beer and wine, paired with my favorite past time, while the rest of the world is painting the world green in their own ways.

Enjoy!

Cin Cin

Christopher Fuccillo Founder Niagara Vintage Wine Tours INC THE WINE SMART PEOPLE!

NVWR SPOTLIGHT

CHRISTOPHER JURAS NIAGARA VINTAGE WINE SMART GUIDE & INTERPRETER

Throughout high school and later graduating from Brock University, I’d always been a science wonk. Apply this penchant for biology, chemistry and earth sciences to growing up on a tender fruit and grape operation, and I was well on my way through horticulture, viticulture, and dining culture. I sculpted my personal development to become an avid “oenophile!”

I’ve lived 90 % of my life in Niagara. I was born in Grimsby, Ontario and now reside in the Beamsville Bench area with my wife of 38 years.

I spent many years operating businesses in roduction and wholesaling produce, spent time as a chemical sales representative, and spent 15 years owning & operating a food franchise. I also began travelling, and then earned a private pilot’s license. After all of this, I decided it was time to ‘rewire again,’ not retire!

I have a natural public presence, swagger, and teaching ability that I felt would be best integrated into ‘professional guiding.’

After a spell of research, I came across Chris and Gabriella Fuccillo, who had been developing their own unique version of a wine tour company, inspired by Californian Wine Tourism,

As austere as this sounds, I became a wine lover in the early 1970’s - vividly absorbing the televised BBC spy series “The Avengers,” where super sleuth John Steed could be seen sharing a glass of ‘elegant’ Claret (read bordeaux) with his high spirited and vivacious Emma Peel. Such ‘classiness’ in wine and dining!

That set the tone for ‘this’ gent. Suave, debonair … maybe not, but I had spunk.

Chris Fuccillo wanted to create a Niagara experience in ‘Wine & Dining’ that far exceeded anything offered anywhere else in the world. That grabbed me; hook, line and sinker. We could take guests from ‘dirt to bottle’ like no other. Add to the mix - guides from a variety of agricultural and hospitality backgrounds, and you have: Niagara Vintage Wine Tours. I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing project. Cheers!

NOMADIC

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r e e B Niagara Vintage Wine Review The Niagara Vintage Wine Review rates wines using a Diamond Standard of Excellence. This is partially in tribute to our logo design. All featured wines have been selected to showcase the variety of offerings found in Niagara Wine Country. Click the links to purchase these wines to enjoy at home, or join us on tour to sample these selections and many more!

SILVERSMITH: HILL 145 GOLDEN ALE Named to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Capture of Hill 145 by Canadian forces in WWII, Silversmith’s ‘Hill 145’ Golden Ale is a fresh take on a classic style. Highlighted with tropical aromatics, this ale has hints of malt and spice. It's dry finish sets it apart from the crowd and makes it a more accessible ale.

Find it on tap at a local bar, or head on over to Silversmith to get a growler for St. Patty's Day!

OAST HOUSE BREWERY: BARNRAISER COUNTRY ALE This citrus-forward take on an American pale ale will set your senses "hopping" with its notes of grapefruit, tangerine and peach. It's caramel colour reflects its sweet malt taste and balanced palate.

With its clean finish, this ale definitely "Raises the Bar(n)". $3.25 per can at the LCBO

NIAGARA COLLEGE: BREW MASTER IPA One must study to become a Brew Master, and here in Niagara, students are lucky enough to have the opportunity to enrol at the Niagara College Teaching Brewery!

This floral pale ale is a labour of love and lots of studying! The addition of English malt creates notes similar to sponge toffee and bread, but its dry finish keeps the flavour on the palate so you can truly savour it.

Available for sale at the on-campus retail store

RANCOURT WINERY: 2013 NOBLE BLANC With notes of tropical and citrus, this fruit-heavy white is a crisp addition to your St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

This wine is easy-drinking and light on the palate. Perfect for an evening in with friends, or as a pairing for fancier fare. $13.00

HARE WINERY CO.: CROWN LAND RED (CABERNET FRANC) Named with historical significance in mind, the Crown Land series at Hare Winery Co. is their latest triumph.

The series' cabernet franc spends 15 months in oak, and demonstrates notes of black cherry, vanilla, and spice.

Pair with your favourite dish (fancy or not!) and experience its soft tannins and lasting finish. $25.95

THE NIAGARA VINTAGE WINE REVIEW

Wines for St. Patrick's Day

beer & wine

By Jordan Cowe, CWE Niagara VIntage Wine Smart Guide

Common wisdom and barstool philosophy would suggest that wine and beer have nothing in common aside from alcohol. This is an idea that spreads through all elements of life; as most people are either beer drinkers or wine drinkers, and they assume that identity. But what if you discovered that beer and wine were actually more similar than you thought?

Knowing that they're similar would open up a wide range of possibilities, easily doubling choices of beverages. When our guests start a wine tour it’s not unusual to hear “I’m a beer drinker, but my friend/significant other wanted to go on a wine tour” and by the end of the day this guest realizes that they enjoy wine as much as they enjoy a pint of beer. The reason for this you ask? Beer and wine are really much more similar than you might suspect.

The appearance of boutique wineries and craft breweries has opened people up to a world of possibilities outside of mass market wine and beer.

These are products that have a vast range of flavours, aromas and styles never seen in the world of mass produced alcohol. Taste enough of a range of styles and you will now find beers that taste like wine and wines that taste like beer, and why is this?

It’s very simple: beer and wine can both be sour, bitter or sweet; they can both be rich and heavy or light and refreshing. They can be earthy and toasty, or they can be fruity and fragrant. They can be exactly what the winemaker or brewmaster decides they should be.

A brewmaster choosing their base ingredients is much like a winemaker choosing their grape varieties. Some ingredients produce very little flavor, others create fruity aromas and some will come out dark and heavy. Then they choose their yeast.

This yeast, known as Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, is typically the same for both wine and beer. The yeast is what turns the sugars into alcohol and creates many of the aromas that you will smell in the end product.

Brewers tend to use different strains of yeast that don’t always create the same type of fruitiness as those used by winemakers. Also, just as winemakers can choose to use skin contact to make the wine more tannic, a brewmaster can choose to use more hops to make a beer hoppier; creating bitter and drying feelings on your tongue.

Once fermentation is over it’s time to age or condition the beer or wine. In wine this can soften tannins, or make acidity softer. It can also be used to add oak characteristics. In beer this process can be used to form acids to create wine-like sour beers, and more frequently oak ageing is even considered with craft beers.

Packaging used to be the easiest way to tell between beer and wine, but more and more craft breweries are now using large 750ml bottles when packaging their products. In contrast, some wineries are even using cans to package their wines (see Origin from Between the Lines, here in Niagara). The lines of familiar beer and wine packaging have been blurred.

You might now be thinking “sure they’re made similarly, but they don’t taste the same or work with the same foods. Wine is for fine dining and beer is for bar food”. You couldn’t be more wrong. For years this has been a truism, passed on from generation to generation fueled by snobbery, but I invite you to take a challenge.

Take your beer of choice for pizza and wings and try it side by side with a good VQA merlot or cabernet franc. Then, grill up a nice steak and try it side by side with a big cabernet and a hearty IPA. You might surprise yourself by just how well these two examples work.

Beer and wine are two sides of the same alcoholic coin. Throughout history, whether in the world of alcohol, dining, hospitality, or culture, beer and wine have always served one major purpose: to bring people together and to celebrate life. So get out there and double your options, surprise yourself and have fun. Life is about adventure, and every can, bottle or glass is a little daily exploration of the people and places that made these delicious drinks. ♦ Issue 27 | 234

Corporate and Group Packages With over 25 years’ experience in the food & wine industry, Niagara Vintage Wine Tours prides itself in providing the Niagara region’s top-rated professional wine country experiences.

Having hosted hundreds of Fortune 500 companies from all over the world, we are able to produce a superior product and service. This is due to the fact that our ownership are former winery Managers and Event coordinators who know what your company desires and needs to create that special event, here in wine country.

We offer daily experiences surrounding food and wine programs, amazing intimate underground barrel cellar or vineyard dinners, and interactive team building events. Our success has been recognized as we celebrate 10 years as the #1 Professional wine country experience in Canada on TripAdvisor.

CONTACT US TO BOOK YOUR GROUP TOUR! WWW.NIAGARAVINTAGEWINETOURS.COM - 1 866 628 5428

The Epic Food, Beer & Wine Tour

BY:FOUNDER,CHRISFUCCILLO When thinking about the Niagara on the Lake of the past, one would think of old English revival dĂŠcor, the Shaw Theatre, fancy hats, Â high tea, and the war of 1812.

While all these are still relevant to the area today, Niagara on the Lake is taking on its own newer persona these days. A persona based on indulgence and experience; a connection between stomach and soul.

Niagara on the Lake is fast becoming the food, beer and wine mecca of Ontario, as made evident by the number of new micro-breweries popping up to complement the ever-growing award winning wine region. This region has the unique ability to create large volumes of first-class wines, while offering superb customer service; transforming itself from a single-industry destination and following the footsteps of the Napa Valley.

".... a connection between stomach and soul."

To complement the tremendous production of beer and wines in this area, culinary establishments are stepping up to the “plate”. The variety of dishes being served at local eateries is astonishing. The region boasts eateries from gastro-pubs to fine dining to food trucks; all of which round out just how far we have come in the world of great food and accessibility. Each establishment is incorporating as much organic and local fare as possible to create a truly "made in Niagara" experience!

Our "EPIC Food, Beer & Wine Tour" was created so that we can showcase a little bit of everything here in our amazing wine region. This tour package offers our guests the most authentic way to taste Niagara. Ultimately a traveling four-course meal, this tour satisfies your craving for food and wine, while also giving your body the rest and relaxation it needs to fully appreciate the experience of tasting and pairing.

It has quickly become our most asked-for experience and one that we are proud to have created for our guests from all over the world!

We hope you come out and enjoy all the amazing things going on in Niagara Wine Country!

Book Now!

Call 1 866 628 5428

NIAGARA’S CRAFT BREWERY SILVERSMITH BREWING COMPANY, IN THE HEART OF WINE COUNTRY

The Beer Hall; a space to seek refuge over delicious brews The Retail Shop; stock up on your favourite brews Brewery Tours; take a look at where the magic happens Delicious Local Fare; a quaint menu for lunch, dinner and everything inbetween

Beer in wine country? You must be crazy.

Events

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THE BLACK LAGER The Flagship

Silversmith’s Other Core Brands   

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 Christopher Juras, Niagara Vintage Wine Smart Guide

Email us at Tours@NiagaraVintageWineTours.com to enter our photo contest!

Your photo could be featured on this page in next month's issue!

Jordan Cowe, CWE, Niagara Vintage Wine Smart Guide Kate Brzozowski, Sales and Marketing Director, Silversmith Brewing Co.

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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