A Sparkling Recap of VQA Into the Bubbles

If there’s one thing we love, it’s sparkling wine. We could talk your ear off about the diversity of the category, and not to mention blog about it all day long. If you’ve seen some of our ventures with the Sparkling Winos project – like, our Sparkling Wine Map of Ontario – you’d have noticed that not only are we passionate about bubbly, but we’re totally enamoured with what’s happening in our own backyard. So, it was with immense pleasure, excitement and gratitude that we took on hosting duties for Wine Country Ontario’s VQA Into the Bubbles event on September 26, 2018!

A Weekend in Wine Country: Prince Edward County

We’ve been making our way out to Prince Edward County for almost a decade now, and it has been amazing to watch this corner of our beautiful province grow, with each passing year, into the incredible wine region that it is today. Every time we visit there are new experiences that “crop” up – from new wineries, to new restaurants and funky places to kick your feet up, to quirky shops and galleries – we can safely say that since our first trip back in 2009, Prince Edward County has really come into its own and developed some deep roots in the wine world!

A Closer Look at the Spectacular Sparkling Wines of Ontario, Canada!

That’s right! There’s a lot more to Canada than maple syrup, polar bears and a strapping young Prime Minister! The country is home to a broad range of climates and micro-climates, with many viticultural areas on the same ideal grape growing latitudes as much of France. In our last post (A Look at the Sparkling Wines of Canada… Eh!) we took you across the country, from coast-to-coast, and gave you an overview of the amazing cool-climate sparkling wine crafted in the Great White North. Now we’re going to focus in on each of the 3 main viticultural areas in greater detail, starting with our home province: Ontario! (With British Columbia and Nova Scotia to follow in subsequent posts 😉).

Ice Ice Baby! A Sparkling Re-Cap of the Niagara Icewine Festival & Winter WineFest

You know that 2018 is off to a great start when you kick off the year with one of the most glamorous wine experiences in Ontario – the Niagara Icewine Gala! Part of a broader array of events, the Icewine Gala showcases Canada’s largest wine export: Icewine!

Sparkling Spotlight: Hinterland Wine Company

This is #SparklingSpotlight, where we profile wineries with a focus on fizz! 🍾 These wineries strive for sparkling greatness, and make the world a more effervescent place. Sparkling wine production takes scientific precision, dedication and patience, and we celebrate those bold enough to craft it! So, without further ado, let’s focus our #SparklingSpotlight on… Hinterland Wine Co.!

Heard it Through the Grapevine: with Jonas Newman

We first met Jonas Newman (Founder and Winemaker at Hinterland Wine Company) very briefly back in 2011, during our first visit out to the winery when we were just baby Sparkling Winos. Hinterland is located in Prince Edward County, and is the County’s first winery dedicated exclusively to sparkling wine production. Hinterland’s focus is on the farm. Their philosophy is that wine is made in the vineyard, and that authenticity is far more important than following trends.

Our Top 20 Sparkling Moments of 2017!

What can we say? 2017 was such a ✨sparkling✨ year, where we took our #SparklingShenanigans across the country (…and the globe)! From Toronto to Niagara to the seaside of Nova Scotia in Canada to Las Vegas, Chicago and sunny Florida in the US of A, we’ve been blessed with some amazing moments, met some incredible people, and had plenty of fantastic sparkling wine along the way. We are the Sparkling Winos, after all! 😉 So, without further ado, here are our Top 20 sparkling moments which helped make our year such a bubbly and memorable one! 🍾

Rosehall Run 2011 Stardust Brut Cuvée – Review

This is “POP or FLOP”, where we taste test sparkling wines so you don’t have to! (Tough job, we know! 😉) This week we’re sipping the soon-to-be-released 2011 Stardust Brut Cuvée from our friends Rosehall Run in Prince Edward County! A méthode traditionnelle blend of estate grown Pinot Noir & Chardonnay inspired by David Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust! So, is this County sparkler a bottle of bubbles you should POP? 💁 Or is it a FLOP? 🙅 Let’s see…

Heard it Through the Grapevine: with Maggie Belcastro

We had the pleasure of meeting Maggie Belcastro (Winemaker at The Grange of Prince Edward Vineyards & Estate Winery) earlier this year, though we’ve been fans of The Grange and their unique wines since our first visit back in 2011! The Grange is one of the largest wineries located in the Prince Edward County appellation of Ontario, with 60 acres of vineyards producing premium wines made from 100% estate grown fruit. Their winemaking approach involves minimal intervention, which in turn produces very terroir-driven and distinctly “County” wines. And the coolest part? Maggie shares winemaking duties with her mom Caroline Granger. Now that’s girl power!

Celebrate Canada’s 150th with Bubbles from Coast-to-Coast, Eh!

On July 1, 2017 Canada will celebrate it’s sesquicentennial (150th) birthday! As Canadians gear up for the big day, we Sparkling Winos thought… why not celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday with Canadian bubbles from a Mari usque ad Mare? (That’s “from sea to sea” in Latin – our country’s motto)!