Divine Wines newsletter
December 2011

Topics

Now that I only do a news letter every two or three months it can result in a little more to read, so hopefully this will help you find the highlights that will interest you. I will continue to do quick News Flashes if something major occurs that could be of interest to you.

Topics this month are A New Employee, Epicure Food Products, Limited Edition Wines, Major Cellar Craft Changes, Monthly Wine Kit Specials, and Holiday Store Hours, plus a bunch of stuff that might interest those of you with a strange outlook on the world. You know who you are.

New Employee

We have been blessed with a new employee, Dawn Tilley. For those of you that have been dealing at Vedder Crossing Plaza for a number of years, you likely already know her and are use to her weird sense of humor. What can you expect from someone from the Rock, which makes her a half hour off from the rest of the country. She has worked in the mall for about 15 years; first at Tim's and the last 11 years as manager of the Subway. Dawn makes it fun for us to come to work everyday. You will enjoy her too.

Spooky

It is really strange how some things just start to take on a life of their own and lead you to one crazy moment. As I mentioned above, we hired Dawn after a long search for the perfect employee. Well, she had one little flaw; she likes snow and her request to Mother Nature resulted in Chilliwack's first snow fall of the season.

Because of all the snow we couldn't golf on that Sunday, so Nancy said lets go to Fort Langley and check out some shops for antiques. We wandered down a back alley and on a lark went into a store selling cranberry products. They had the type of furniture we wanted to buy. The only problem was it wasn't for sale, but the clerk suggested we try an antique store just off Highway 10 on the way to Langley. Another problem was that the store was closed when we got there. We needed something to do, and since we were on 216 Ave we thought we might as well drive down to Domaine de Chamberton winery and have lunch at the Bistro. We just sat down for lunch and customers of ours came in and sat down at the next table. Strange how that happens, but that wasn't the weird part.

After that we headed home and decide to watch a movie we had taped over a month ago, but never watched, called Past Obsessions. It is about a woman who escapes from an abusive marriage by faking her death. She moves to another town, and starts to fall for a guy who owns a winery. He invites her over to his winery for dinner. She walks through the door and off past her right side is the table that Nancy and I had lunch at 4 hours earlier. When the guy held up a bottle of wine for her to look at, the label said Domaine de Chamberton

Now that is really weird and spooky.

Wine Tasting

We held a wine tasting in October so that customers could learn about the new Restricted Quantities wines that RJ Spagnols is bringing out in the New Year. No, it was not the actual wines made from the kits as this is illegal. Instead it was comparable to commercial wines. After getting feedback from those in attendance, people seem to have had a great time and we will do it again in the future.

We want to give a special thanks to Smits & Co.w for providing their cheese for the tasting event. I would highly recommend you stop off at their store on Lickman Rd, just north of Kieth Wilson. They are open Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Limited Edition Wines

Those limited edition wines that I just mentioned will start coming in this month. The feedback we are getting on last year's selection has been very positive. The best feedback on them though is from Nancy who just sits quietly at the table during dinner, with a contented smile on her face.

Also coming up later this month is the first Limited Edition wine for 2012 from Cellar Craft. In the past, limited edition wines from this company have won lots and lots of medals.

Remember, you should pre order your wines to make sure we have them in stock. You don't pay for them until they come in. There will be one a month until April, which means lots of selections to choose from in two distinct price ranges. Check them out in the [LINK:38] section of our web site.

Restaurant Wines

If you are not familiar with wines one of the hardest things to do is order wine in a restaurant. You need to find just the right wine to go with the food and knowing that, fear sets in and you go with what you know.

It has happened to us in the past and we would just ask the waiter what would go with the food. That works if the server knows the wines. One time we were lucky when we did this and it helped us learn a lot about food and wine pairing. It was a seafood pasta dish in tomato sauce. Well when it comes to seafood, most people would go with white wine. The waiter suggested a Merlot, because the wine's acidity would offset the acidity of the sauce. It worked.

Another thing you can do is ask if you can have a sample. If it is a wine sold by the glass and the bottle, some restaurants will do that for you.

Buying the bottle is the better way to purchase the wine, but if you are unsure about the wine and you can't have a taste before hand, ask if you can buy a glass and if you like it you can purchase the whole bottle. Again they will likely do that for you if it is a wine they also sell by the glass.

To me though the best way is to start learning about wines by going on wine tastings so that you can learn about the different types. It will give you the confidence to start ordering off the wine list after looking at the menu and deciding on your meal.

This recently paid off for us big time at a local restaurant, where none of the waiters appeared to have much wine knowledge. The special of the evening was a roasted lamb dish that was basted in a Chianti mint sauce. There were three types of red wine that you could order by the glass; Chianti, Shiraz and a 2007 Marema Toscanna that the waiters knew nothing about. There was only one bottle left and they weren't getting any more because nobody was ordering it. Instead the customers were ordering what they knew which were the Chianti or the Shiraz, and either of them would be adequate for the meal. At $30 a bottle, who could blame the customers.

I asked to see the bottle of Marema Toscanna and Nancy and I read the label and found it was a blend of Sangiovese, which is the main wine of Chianti, plus there was Syrah in it, which is also known as Shiraz. This was basically a blend of the other two wines that everyone was ordering.

Even better, because of the Chianti sauce, the Sangiovese would go well with it, and the wine had a hint of mint in the flavor, just like the sauce. Plus the Syrah would have a peppery tone to it that would go well with the spices on the lamb.

Since it was the last bottle, they opened it for us and let us have a taste, and at one sip, we ordered the whole bottle. It was a great meal and a memorable red wine.

Sad to say, this lack of wine knowledge is all to common in restaurants and really sets apart the so-so eating establishments from the fabulous. It is the ones that go the extra mile, like the one I talked about in the second paragraph. The waiters are made aware of not only what the specials are for the night, but what are the best wines to drink with that meal. The best of the best restaurants will even have two or three wines to recommend for each meal so that people on a budget can still have a great experience. When you find those really great restaurants, make sure you tell your friends. That way they can stay in business, and you will be able to go there again and again.

After I wrote this, Nancy and I went to Frankies at the Prospera Center. Love the food, love the wine and the service is fabulous. There were two great wines on the list that would likely go with the meal. They brought us a sample of each so that we could make an informed decision. We will be back.

Mexico

Are you getting desperate for sunshine and a feeling of warmth but can't afford to go any further south than Vedder Crossing?

The answer is go to Hugo's Mexican restaurant. It is right on Vedder at the Esso across from the MacDonalds and the A & W. Sounds crazy but this is food that you would get at a taco stand down in good old Mexico. None of the food is packaged and Hugo makes his own salsas. Best of all the food is great without all the calories, fat and heavy salt that you get at a fast food restaurant. Just remember his name is not Hew-go. He is Mexican and so it is pronounced 'ough' like in through and ends with 'go'.

Cellar Craft

The wine kit world just got a little bit smaller. Cellar Craft has been sold to Vineco. We knew something like this was going to happen, but didn't know when. Vineco is one of the big three kit manufactures and has been buying up all the smaller players to increase market share.

The company promises to keep the standards for Cellar Craft products high, and we will keep a close eye on them to make sure they do. One change will be new boxes.

Another change that will have more of an impact is that they have higher freight costs, which could affect prices. To get around that, we will order from them every two or three weeks as that cuts down on costs drastically. We would not have been able to do that if we hadn't made a major shift to the RJ Spagnols kits. We will continue to stock some of the more popular Show Case wines, but it might be a good idea for customers to order Show Case wine kits ahead of time so that you don't run out of your favorite ones.

Cabernet Merlot will be off their Show Case list until next fall. That bad summer really affected the grapes in the Red Mountain area of Washington. I heard that it also was disastrous for some of the grape growers right here in the Fraser Valley.

Blackwood Lane Winery

You may remember in the last news letter that I recommended people go to Blackwood Lane Winery on 8th Ave. in Langley. We have heard back from a number of you that it was well worth the visit. We are talking about some of the best wines you will find that were made in this province. It is worth it to go wine tasting in the Valley, and Blackwood Lane Winery will convince you that there is a difference in quality with higher priced wines.

Epicure

Now that Dawn is working for us full time, Nancy has decided to spend part of her spare time on another adventure in retailing. She is selling Epicure food products. Basically they are all natural flavorings for food without all the extra salt. Nancy usually has samples for tasting in the store on Saturdays. I have told her she can't make the onion dip anymore as I will suffer a major weight gain. I love her chilli chicken, pulled pork and the guacamole dip. Now if Epicure would only come up with an easy way to make lemon meringue pie Nancy would make some and life would be complete. Or I could just suck up to the ladies out at the Airport Restaurant. Probably have better luck with the last choice.

Monthly Specials

We have a large number of kits on special this month. RJ Spagnols has a pallet sale on for their Winery Series kits so we ordered a large variety of them in. You will save $10 on any of those kits that we have in stock, so first in gets the greatest selection. We have a number of these in our own wine cellar and really believe they give you a great full-bodied red. You can check them out in the [LINK:31] section of our web site.

For a list of the other kits on sale go to the [LINK:14] page of our web site.

Store Hours

We are heading into the holiday season, both the Christmas one and our annual vacation time. Dawn will be looking after the store for us, but any of you that have been lucky enough to have dealt with her know that she will do a great job in serving you. The problem is she also needs some time off. This means a combination of a shorter work week and shorter hours. You may want to mark them down on the 2012 Divine Wines Calendar you picked up from us. If you don't have yours yet you can still pick one up at the store.

Closed Dec 24, 25, 26

Open Dec 27, 28, 29 30 from 10 am to 6pm

Closed Dec 31, Jan 1, 2

Open Jan 3, 4, 5, 6 from 10 am to 6pm and Sat Jan 7, 10 am to 5 pm

Closed Sun and Mon Jan 8 and 9

Open Jan 10, 11, 12, 13 from 10 am to 6pm and Sat Jan 14 from 10 to 5 pm

Back to regular hours on Monday Jan 16

A Lighter Note

This time it has nothing to do with wine. Instead I have gone with a Christmas theme from one of my more prolific suppliers of jokes. He is our financial adviser and when the stock market is down, his jokes get more numerous and lots funnier. Laughing is better than crying.

Politicians are like Christmas tree lights: they hang around together, half of them don't work and the rest aren't too bright.

Nancy, Dawn and I hope you all have a great Christmas and a fabulous New Years.

 

We hope you enjoyed our newsletter, please pass this on to any of your friends that you think may be interested.

John & Nancy

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