Let’s Go, Pinot!

By Karen Wright, Savvy Sommelier

Pinot Noir is an absolute classic red to pair with a Thanksgiving feast and a go-to for many of the Savvy sommeliers at this time of year.  Thanks to its refreshing nature, medium light body, and low tannins along with that classic pop of red berry flavours, you’ll find Pinot Noir to be the perfect foil for a rich Thanksgiving meal.

While its roots are firmly planted in its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, this variety is considered grape royalty by winemakers around the world and it has found success in many cool to moderately cool climate growing areas such as Oregon’s Willamette Valley, New Zealand’s Central Otago and right here in Ontario.  The Niagara Escarpment, Prince Edward County and Carp Ridge in the Ottawa Valley all have the limestone-rich soils and the cooler climate this fresh beauty prefers.

In the glass, the colour of Pinot Noir ranges from bright cherry juice to dark ruby. The warmer the climate, the bolder the colour, and the flavours will shift from cranberry, sour cherry and wild strawberry over to raspberry, dark cherry and clove spice.  In France and Ontario, expect red fruit to shine along with some wonderful earthy notes of mushroom and dried leaves plus elegant minerality… perfect for Thanksgiving dinner!

Savvy Wicked Wine subscribers recently received  the 2019 Small Lots Pinot Noir made by Pinot Noir superstar, Rosehall Run, to celebrate their 20^th Anniversary this year.  Most of the wine was aged in two-year-old oak barrels, but some was aged in special stainless steel barrels fitted with cherry wood.  Your glass will fill with scents of cherry, mushroom, beets and violets – and on the palate, cherry and cranberry burst forward, complemented by silky tannins and the perfect level of acidity.

The Savvy Team is wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Sommelier Pro Tip:
Chill Pinot Noir for 15-20 mins before serving.

Summer is wine tour season –

nothing beats a perfect summer day, rolling from vineyard to vineyard, tasting your way through each winemaker’s offerings, discovering new favourites and maybe getting a peek at where the behind-the-scenes magic happens. While the winemakers are all looking forward to welcoming everyone back when pandemic restrictions lift, they have been teaming up with our Savvy Sommeliers to get their favourite Ontario wines to you. These are the hard-to-get bottles not available at the LCBO – vintages that would often have been reserved for restaurants but are now available for home delivery.

While nothing can replace the experience of travelling through Ontario’s wine country,  our Savvy Care Packages have been curated to help you bring home a taste of each of Ontario’s wine regions this summer. Starting with a full ‘Surprise’ tour of Ontario, we’ll then bring you assortments featuring the EPIC wine region, Prince Edward County, and Niagara.

Ontario Wines Summer Line-up

• JUNE – All things Rosé! We’ll be featuring Surprise Care Packages with bottles of Rosé as well as Care Packages with Whites & Red Wines for ‘The Full Tour’

• JULY – Savvy Roadtrip to EPIC wine region 6-Pack (Essex Pelee Island Coast)

• AUG – Savvy Roadtrip to The County 6-Pack (Prince Edward County that is) 

• SEPT – Savvy Roadtrip to Niagara-on-the-Lake 6-Pack

• OCT – Savvy Roadtrip to Niagara’s Bench 6-Pack

Each Roadtrip 6-Pack includes an exclusive pass to a virtual tasting to meet the featured wine & cider makers from each region.

By Shirley Roy, Savvy Sommelier

It’s incorrect to call Orange wine ‘the new kid on the block’, since this natural winemaking process dates back thousands of years. There are no oranges involved, either. It’s 100% grapes. Orange wine is named for the ‘orange’ colour it develops during the winemaking process and this style of wine seems to be popping up everywhere.

Orange wine is made from white grape varieties. In Ontario, it’s often Chardonnay or Vidal grapes that are used. Typically, when making a white wine, the grapes are crushed and the resulting juice is separated immediately from the grape skins. Not so when making Orange wine. The juice and the grape skins stay together for many days–sometimes months. And the longer the contact occurs, the darker the orange colour! Letting the grape juice and grape skins sit together is also the usual method used to make red wines, so a common explanation for Orange wines is ‘a white wine made in the same process as a red wine’. As is the case with all natural wines, Orange wine relies on wild yeast that’s in the air for fermentation, meaning the resulting flavours are less predictable. No additives are used in the winemaking process and it’s not filtered before bottling, so it’s often cloudy.

So what does Orange wine taste like? Think of these wines as ‘artisanal’. Many have a funkier taste due to the use of wild yeast. The grape skin contact often results in a bit of the drying tannins you find in red wines, so there can be a black tea-like characteristic. Many will have bright acidity that accentuates the fruit & floral notes and some will also have herbal notes in the aromas. Almost all Orange wines are dry wines, which often makes them a great wine to pair with lighter fare like a seafood or chicken salad–or one of my personal favourites, a smoked salmon brunch.

Did you know Ontario growers produce over 15 different varieties of apples across the province?

A lot of that fruit goes towards making some award-winning craft ciders in a wide spectrum of interesting flavours. Savvy In-Cider Picks is the only monthly club curating delicious assortments of Ontario craft ciders and getting them into the hands (and fridges!) of cider fans.

Every month, we showcase one cidery with a surprise pack of their signature flavours in varying sizes of bottles & cans. This variety pack will introduce you to all new innovative tastes that craft cider makers create by infusing other fruits, spices & even hops.

We always make sure that the ciders we feature are not available at the LCBO or in grocery stores making being a subscriber the perfect way to discover new cideries across the province–especially when road trips aren’t happening very often these days. Order a subscription as a gift for the craft cider lover in your world, and we’ll guarantee that there’ll be lots of ‘cheers’ this winter.

All the Savvy In-Cider Picks Club details can be found on our website at www.SavvyCider.ca

These will be the ‘apple of your eye’ for In-Cider Picks subscribers this winter…

February 2021–Farmgate Cider (Ottawa Valley)

March 2021 – Old Tun (Niagara)

Let’s face it. The last few months have been a strange & stressful time for everyone.

We’ve all had those moments when we needed an extra hand and were thankful for it. For those people who have been ‘essential’ in your world since day one of the pandemic, and of course, those friends & family members you haven’t been able to see for months, we’ve created a Truly Terrific Thank YOU Gift.

Just like the people you’re ordering the gift for, each Thank You package is one-of-a-kind. Each parcel includes all of the REALLY good stuff–a bottle of Ontario wine, a chunk of Canadian artisan cheese & a gourmet goodie plus 2 Savvy wine glasses. Of course, we’ll write a personalized thank you message in a card for you too. Guarantees to brighten anyone’s day& make them feel really appreciated when the gift arrives at their doorstep or office. All of this for just $47 (plus $3 delivery with a smile in Ottawa) We can deliver beyond Ottawa too.

Consider ordering one for your neighbor who loaned you a bag of milk, your kids’ teachers & coaches, your accountant who got your taxes done on time, your trusty mechanic, any healthcare worker you relied on… even the person who went above &beyond! This thoughtful parcel can also be sent to your employees as a way to keep team morale high while everyone is working from their spare bedroom. We all know that saying Thank You goes a long way. Count on us to make it easy to give a REALLY good gift to those who have helped you.

Since starting Savvy Company 16 years ago – we were known as The Savvy Grapes back then – the Canadian wine industry has exploded.  I have wine maps on the walls of my office proudly marking 5 wineries in Prince Edward County & about 40 in Niagara. Nova Scotia wines were ‘experimental’ and the first British Columbia wine region tour guide was a thin booklet of less than 30 pages…never mind wineries in and around Ottawa – they weren’t even imagined.   

Look at us now!

Approaching 800 wineries nationally with over 170 Ontario alone, the rapidly growing wine industry offers a significant contribution to our economy. I was inspired to begin my business while reading an article highlighting Donald Ziraldo, the co-founder of Inniskillin Winery & one of the pioneers of the Canadian wine industry. He was quoted as saying “What we need is more Canadians drinking Canadian wines.” I am proud that this has been the guiding principle of my business since day one.  And since then we have expanded to include Canadian craft ciders & artisan cheese too. We proudly and continuously wave the Canadian flag.

One advantage of the pandemic has been that people like you are discovering the importance of buying local and being impressed with the quality of the bevvies & goodies we have been delivering to your front door. Since the beginning of the lockdown, I have been uncorking bottles of Canadian wines that were in my stash dating back to my first wine tours in BC, NS, Ontario, Quebec…even PEI. Some bottles were 20+ years old.  These wines have impressed me with their longevity and quality.  Thank you for trusting  us to guide you on your discovery of Canadian wines, craft ciders and artisan cheeses. Ordering gifts, stocking up for the holidays or subscribing to our of-the-month clubs is truly the ultimate way to support local. We all benefit in countless ways. 

All of us in the Savvy Team are eager to send you the hidden gems that we discover.  Why not introduce your friends and family to Canadian wines this holiday season with a gift from us? Leave it to us to deliver the REALLY good stuff! 

Enjoy your holidays & here’s to all that is in store in 2021!  

– Debbie