This is a once a year event (September 28, 29, 30) where a whole pile of wines are offered for tasting to the public. Here are some questions the NSLC might never answer about it.
1. Whether the wines will actually be sold in stores after the show. This is a lotto. Even if the wine sells out and is lauded by critics, there is a disconnect between success at the show and whether a wine will ever be available at a store near you.
2. Whether enough of a wine will be imported so that you can put it on your wine list if you are a licensee. Last year one wine was on at least four restaurant lists after the show, but the NSLC never bothered to order it. This had the interesting effect of turning those places away from the NSLC to Bishop's Cellar, and was a catalysing event in helping them take $1,000,000 worth of sales away from the NSLC in the downtown trade.
3. Who decided a wine was worth a medal, if it beat anything, or if the medal is just an artificial sales boosting device. One year, it was no more than that. But the lack of judges from outside the NSLC organization does nothing to invest any confidence that these medals are anything more than thank you notes for wineries who send their winemaker to the event. The New Brunswick show, in contrast, had a full day of judging by independent judges, none employed by the NBLC or the show organizers. They included local wine writers, sommeliers, and wine instructors. The quality of the wines getting medals in Nova Scotia is sometimes amusing, and often more related to the price and reputation of a wine, than what is actually in the bottle.
4. Why the event is held when all the Northern Hemisphere wine makers are in harvest time and cannot come.
5. Why the event no longer coincides with the greatly successful wine show "tour" that had Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland all have their shows concurrently, allowing winemakers, owners, and sales staff the chance to hit the region in one trip.
6. Why its venue has moved from the World Trade Centre, in the middle of downtown among the restaurants the NSLC would like to have as clients, to a sterile location down in the Federal Port Authority Lands. The loss of business to, say the Five Fishermen, should be enough to convince them to try more wine from private stores. Granted, the restaurants in that end of town will not mind.
7. Why it costs so much to attend when all the product, and labour to pour it, is free, paid for by suppliers or provided by volunteers. Surely the rent is not that expensive, and the food not that special.
8. Finally, and this is second hand for me, who does the wine and food matching at the winemakers dinner? Let us pray for them, as usually, none of the wines selected is of a style to drink with a meal, most being big goopy Shiraz, oaky vanilla bean caramel Chardonnay, and odd huge Italian blends of overripe grapes. Sooner or later, maybe a wine with some acidity and grip will win something?
See if you can find the answers to those questions. Let me know if you do, eh?
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