Last year the capable, Leah Bickford, approached me to let me know she was ready to up the ante and start sourcing wine for the store. We both knew our Italian wine selection needed to be refreshed, so we agreed that she would be in charge of sourcing wines from Italy.

It had been almost ten years since I last traveled to Italy to source wines. There were numerous reasons why I gave up the ghost, but after listening to Leah talk about her journey through Italy’s wine regions and the delicious wines she tasted, there was no way she was going to tackle Italy alone again! Besides the countries wine offerings are far too vast for one person alone, right?

So off we went with Jon Ellison in tow. We started our adventure at Vinitaly, and I was quickly reminded why I had passed the torch to my younger, more resilient team! So for all of you that wish to visit Vinitaly, here are a few tips to remember.

1. Don’t forget to pack your cattle prong
This would surely assist to move along the throngs of people that gather in doorways and aisles, to talk, text, and walk at a snail’s pace, literally stopping people in their tracks. Surely there can’t be any harm in a gentle electric prodding to get them going…

2. Bring a water gun
This trusty tool will save your life! Just a couple of sprays to put out the continuous cloud of cigarette smoke wafting in from the never ending social gatherings outside the door. However, I will admit that it has marginally improved from the days when smoking was permitted inside the tasting room.

3. Dedicate two days solely to professionals
There are simply too many goof balls hanging out with their buddies who own wineries, taking up space. If you are serious about sourcing new wines, confirm a strategic plan before entering the building. I might also add that this is another situation where the cattle prong will come in handy!

4. Don’t expect everything to run smoothly
Although all shuttle buses display line up numbers in their windows, drivers were never provided with directions on where they were supposed to stop. Even the locals found this confusing!

 
Enough said!

One of the most important reasons I stopped attending Vinitaly was the lack of respect for their indigenous varietals. In the past there were a lot winemakers fascinated with blending in chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon just to appease international palates. Sangiovese was laced with merlot or cabernet sauvignon. White wines were barrel fermented, barrel aged, and underwent full malolactic fermentations. To translate what this means, there was so much ketchup on the burger that you could not taste the meat. It also seemed as though they had forgotten about the other indigenous varieties like Pecorino, Fallanghina, Greco, Grechetto and Verdechio.

I am glad to report that their acid trip is over. I tasted many fresh, clean, well made wines, which I found very exciting. I highly recommend trying cool climate cabernets from the north of Italy, they are sure to amaze you. White varietals from the same area will leave you wondering why you are tasting these for the first time.

All in all our experience at Vinitaly was a success, so we decided to celebrate  at one of the great wine bars in Verona, Bottega Vini. This wine bar is a veritable hub of activity, and is filled with the who’s who in the wine business.  Getting a table during Vinitaly is impossible! See for yourself…

 
A typical night in Verona during Vin Italy at Bottega Vini

 ISOLE E OLENA

Before we left Italy we had to make one more stop at Isole e Olena, one of the best places in Tuscany. My opinion may be a wee bit biased, as I have known Paolo, Marta, and their two children, Luca & Stefano for over 20 years. It was approaching 15 years since I last visited his winery, which has changed dramatically. Paolo’s dream and visions of making Isole one of Tuscany’s greatest estates is now only a few short steps away.

One of Paolo’s latest projects is setting aside a special allotment of Ceparello each year, much like the Bordelaise do, for a future release. In a few years he will release vertical six packs of Ceparello, and you can be assured that I will be fighting my way to be first in line.

Another project of Paolo’s is ensuring the authenticity of the wine. With the abundance of counterfeit wine on the market today, he believes there needs to be an extra step taken to ensure the provenance of his wines, and will see to it that this happens.

If you ever get the chance to visit Tuscany, take a drive to Isole e Olena, you will not be disappointed.  Visitors are welcome, but it is best to call ahead to make an appointment.

 
Paolo in his new cellar

So my friends I leave you with this, if you are interested in receiving some information about these wines drop us a line at 604-684-0445, or send us an email info@marquis-wines.com. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletters to ensure you know about our latest releases.

The store expansion & remodel is humming along, there of course have been a few glitches along the way but that is to be expected and thankfully nothing major.

Framing of the second floor

The interesting part will be of course tearing up our existing offices, shutting the water off, that means no toilet for a few days, removing the exciting ceiling, installing our new cooler, cash desk, lighting dry walling the ceiling and rewiring the old part of the store – holy crap that is a lot of work with of course not closing, should be interesting

Wine room on the left, hallway in the centre and staff lunch room on the right.

 We are all excited about the fine wine room, it is a  14 x15 x 11 temperature controlled room, which will house some of the best wines in the store. This closes the cirlce from shipping our wine in temperature controlled containers, yes even the good valued wines, to now being able to display it in the appropriate environment.  Thats all for now.

Well, twenty-five years of dreaming and three years of planning are now being executed. We have badly outgrown our existing location and are doubling the size of the store.

The big question has been what are we precisely doing, well I can’t let the cat completely out of the bag but here goes.

New Section of Marquis Wine Cellars

Keeping budget limits in mind, good thing my daughter is not running the show, I have taken some of the best ideas I have seen plus a bunch of my own and harmonized them into what will hopefully be a pleasant, enjoyable shopping experience.

Wine is one of the few business models, which sells $10 wine along side $100 wine.  Take a clothing for example, one does not usually buy designer jeans at Marks Work Warehouse nor does one buy work boots at Saks Fifth Avenue.

We also recognized a long  time ago Marquis has always been a great place to buy wine but the ‘shopping experience’ could be a lot better. In a nutshell this is what we will be doing.

• New cash desk with three tills
• New Flooring
• New energy efficient LED lighting
• One kick ass big cooler
• High-end temperature controlled wine room
• New ceiling
• Dedicated order assembly area for Marquis Wine Club
• Second floor for offices and meeting rooms
• A novel way to display and present wine

The boys have already started demolishing

What was once my office

New retail - does not look like much now

There is nothing better Oregon Pinot Noire, really Pinot in genreal, and BBQ west coast salmon, but dont take my word for it. The housewine ladies, Michaela Morris & Michele Bouffard are organizing what is sure to be one of the best Oregon Pinot events to be held in Vanocouver.

On Thursday September 6th at the Stanley Park Pavillon you will have the opportnity to taste 24 different growers wines, wait, this is not just limited to Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris & Pinot Blanc will also be poured along with a casual salmon BBQ. Sounds too good to be true, not really here is where you can buy tickets $99 per person.

Stanley Park Pavillon

Of course we will be pouring Crowly & Ken Wright Cellars. Funds raised will be donated to the BC Hospitality Foudation

On

I guess it shows either how old I am, or how long I have been in the wine business, both go hand in hand. I am amazed at the stunning growth of the Washington State wine industry.

Woodinville was nothing but pastures, a seedy bar, warehouses and that was about it. One visited Chateau Ste Michele, the late David Lake MW at Columbia winery ,jeez he made some killer wines, Quilceda Creek and  Facelli and that was about it. Andrew Will came along as did Delille then explosion of wineries in the mid nineties and early 2000’s, there was one point in time when a new winery was opening once a week, there are now there are over 700.

One of the interesting catalysts was the Washington State government allowing wineries to have two retail licenses, one for on site wine sales and one for offsite sales. This permitted them to open tasting rooms closer to their customer base, many chose to be located close to the Seattle market and Woodinville was it.  This allowed locals and British Columbian’s from driving four to six hours to experience wine country. Today I believe there are some 60 plus wineries in the area plus a plethora of restaurants and accommodation options.

The region has been nicely developed, with the use of European roundabouts, traffic has a nice flow to it, and smart design of buildings giving the area a rural feel.

This economic boom is not just isolated to Woodinville, the town of Walla Walla has changed immensely. Historic buildings that were once boarded up have been restored and new business opened, tasting rooms line the streets and an amazing number of excellent restaurants add to the ambiance.

WOODINVILLE AREA EATS

The Barking Frog – Woodinville

BIS – Bellevue

Café Juanita – never had a bad meal there, in Kirkland

WOODINVILLE WINERIES

Almost too many to list

Januik

Novelity Hill

Chateau Ste. Michele

Delille

Brin Carter

Amavi/Pepper Bridge

WALLA WALLA EATS

The list is by no means exhaustive, these are places I have personally eaten at enjoyed

Whitehouse Crawford

The Brassiere

Bacon & Eggs for breakfast, yes that is the name of the restaurant, really good, no, great breakfast

Walla Walla Bread Company

Saffron

T Maccarones

Olive

South Fork Grill

WALLA WALLA WINERIES TO VISIT

Knew you would ask, in no particular order, this will keep you busy

Leonetti – by appt only, impossible to get in if you are not on their list

Cayouse – call Christophe and tell him I sent you

Pepper Bridge

Amavi

Figgins family Estate – this is Chris’ winery,  Garys Figgins son, appointment only

Spring Valley Vineyard

Mark Ryan

Buty

Renniger

Rotie Cellars

Seven Hills

Woodward Canyon

L’Ecole 41

Abeja

K Vintners

Balboa

FLY IN A P-51 MUSTANG, B-17, B-24 LIBERATOR, B-17

This is going on my bucket list. If you ever wanted to experience the thrill of flying in one of the aforementioned planes check this web site out  Fly in a World War II plane

The last few months of 2012 have seen some much need changes in our antiquated wine & liquor policies; Bill C-311 allowing inter provincial shipping of wine, theatres being allowed to serve wine and caterers allowed to deliver wine, beer & liquor to events. After what seems like a lifetime wait the BC Liberals finally allowed BYOB in British Columbia.

Below is a list restaurant that has sent me their BYOB policies.  I will be updating this as often as information is sent to me.

A few etiquette rules on BYOB

• Don’t bring a wine that is on the restaurant list
• Make the bottle special, I know all wine is special but a twelve-buck wine just does not cut it.
• Please make sure the server is given a sample, if they are wine geeks, as many are, it helps them to be better at their job & overall knowledge.
• Tip as though you ordered a bottle of wine
• Avoid bringing cellared in Canada wine
• We will DELIVER for FREE wine to your favourite restaurant
• Call before hand to make sure the restaurant has a corkage fee & if there is a limit on the number of bottles
• Check out this link for more info too http://www.bccorkagefees.blogspot.ca/

Fable Kitchen 1944 West 4th Avenue $20

Fish Cafe 2053 West 41st Avenue $20

The French Table 23rd & Main $20.00 a bottle

Crave at 23rd & Main $25.00 a bottle

Chambar   $25.00 for .750ml bottle commercially produced unopened bottle

Topanga Cafe on west 4th $9.00 a bottle

Veras Burger Shack $2.00 a bottle

West $38 a bottle

Browns in Kits $15 a bottle

Cactus Club English Bay – not permitted

East of Main Cafe $20 a bottle 223 E. Georgia between Main and Gore. Now open for lunch and dinner

Sne Nova 57th 7 Arbutus $25 corkage fee

Tapenade Bistro Corkage fee $25 must be from a commercial winery and unopened limit 2 bottles per  reservation, cannot be on their current wine list

Au Petit Chavignol,843 East Hastings StreetCorkage Fee: $20

Blue Water Restaurant,1095 Hamilton StreetCorkage Fee: $35

Cafeteria,2702   Main StreetCorkage Fee: Unknown

Chambar,562   Beatty StreetCorkage Fee: $25

CinCin Ristorante,1154   Robson StreetCorkage Fee: $35

El Caminos,3250   Main Street

East of Main Cafe, 223 E.GeorgiaCorkage Fee: $20 corkage fee

Fable Kitchen1944   West 4th Avenue$20 corkage fee

Fish Cafe2053   West 41st Avenue$20 corkage fee

Fray on Fraser,3980   Fraser Street$5 corkage fee

Gramercy Grill, 2685 Arbutus Street Corkage fee: $20

Hapa Izakaya $20 corkage fee (All locations)

Habit,2610   Main Street

Joe Fortes,777   Thurlow Street

L’Abattoir,217   Carrall StreetCorkage Fee: $25 corkage fee

La Bucca,4025   Macdonald StreetCorkage Fee: Unknown

Le Parisien,751   Denman StreetCorkage Fee: $20

Martini’s Pizza 151 West Broadway Twitter: @martinispizza Corkage Fee: $12

Max’s Burgers, 521 West Broadway Corkage Fee: $10 corkage fee (No corkage fee on Tuesdays)

NOVO Pizzeria,2118   Burrard StreetCorkage Fee: Unknown

Pied a Terre,3369   Cambie StreetCorkage Fee: $25

Pink E Thai,1152   Alberni StreetCorkage Fee: $12

Q4 Ristorante 2563 West Broadway Twitter: @q4restaurant Corkage fee: $30

Salade de Fruits,1551   W 7th AveCorkage Fee: $14

Siena 1485 West 12th Avenue$20 corkage fee

Thai House1116   Robson Streetand 1766 W. 7th ave Corkage Fee: $12 corkage fee

The Boathouse at Kits Beach,1305 Arbutus StreetCorkage Fee: $20

The Cascade Room,2616   Main Street

The Union,219 Union Street

Urban Thai 1119 Hamilton Street Corkage Fee: $12 corkage fee

Verace Pizzeria, 189 Keefer Corkage fee: $10 corkage fee (No corkage fee on Wine Wednesdays)

Via Tevere Pizzeria,1190 Victoria DriveCorkage Fee: $20

Vera’s Burger (Multiple locations) Corkage fee: $2

West Restaurant, 2881 Granville Street Corkage Fee: $38 corkage fee

White Spot (multiple locations) Corkage Fee: $10

BURNABY

Cotto Enoteca in North Burnaby will be offering corkage on unopened, commercially produced wines, that we do not sell. 6011 Hastings Street Twitter: @cottoenoteca $20/btl.

EBO Restaurant   4331 Dominion Street Twitter: @eborestaurant Corkage Fee: $20

Romana’s Pizza 4660 Hastings Street Twitter: @romanapizza Corkage Fee: Unknown

WEST VANOCUVER

Dundarave Fish Market,2423 Marine DriveCorkage Fee: $40

 NORTH VANCOUVER

Thai House, 116 W. Esplanade Corkage Fee: $12 corkage fee

 RICHMOND

Chop Steakhouse and Bar 10251 St. Edwards Drive Twitter: @chop_richmond

Corkage Fee: free until September 20.

Tapenade Bistro 3711 Bayview Street Twitter: @tapenadebistro Corkage Fee: $25

Notes: limit 2 bottles per  reservation, cannot be on their current wine list.

Thai House 129-4940 No. 3 Rd Corkage Fee: $12

LANGLEY

The Keg Langley, 9020 202 Street (also all other Keg locations) Corkage Fee: $20

WHISTLER

Araxi,4222   Village SquareCorkage Fee: $35

Alta Bistro,104-4319   Main StreetCorkage Fee: $50 corkage fee

Bearfoot Bistro, 4121 Village Green Corkage Fee: $65

LANGLEY

The Keg Langley 9020 202 Street (also all other Keg locations)  Corkage Fee: $20

ABBOTSFORD

Restaurant 62   2001 McCallum RdTwitter: @restaurant62 Corkage fee: $25

It has been four years since I spent time exploring London, this time as an adult sans kids. As much as I love Paris and Barcelona, take both cities and put them on steroids, that is London.

My wife and I were only in London for a week but it was an action packed one. Here are some tips, tricks and things we enjoyed

Get yourself and Oyster Card, this is what Londerers call a pre-paid tube card, it just speeds up the process of getting on and off the tube. If you plan early enough you can buy them online and they will mail them to you.

We decided not to stay in a hotel, a friend told us about an apartment rental company Ivy Lettings , a driver picked us up at the airport, an extra cost, but well worth it, and Kate from Ivy Lettings met us at the apartmnet, a civilized way to travel.

Churchill’s War room, underneath Whitehall, worth the 16£, kind of cool to see these guys had the world in their hands with no computers or technical gadgets.

Officers sleeping quarters

Borogh market is one of the coolest markets I have seen full of life, pubs and funky food stores, one of my favourites being Neals Yard, a store that is all about cheese, unpasteiurized too.

Neals Yard - a cheese lovers paradise

A wall of cheese

A hive of activity at Borogh Market

Marks & Spencer Grab & Go section for food is nothing less than brilliant, one can eat well for lunch or breakfast of a few pounds, seriously, Google their locations and highlight them on your map, any money saved and you can buy me a coffee.

Going to the theatre, dont pay full price. Go to TKTS in Leicester square, get your tickets the day of and save 50%, we saw the Sunshine Boys and The Jersey Boys, the latter of which is stellar, go see it.

Terroir is and incredibly busy wine bar  with an excellent selection of Loire Valley wines, we enjoyed a brilliant Romantorian from the Loire Valley, the sommelier knows his wine list.

I was in London fore three wine fairs, RAW wine, the REAL Wine Fair and the bigey the London Wine Fair.

The RAW wine fair is al about natural, organic and biodynamic wines. To be fair we arrived on the only day I could attend and by the time we he checked into our apartment and settled in I could only spend two hours at the fair.

The time I did taste was well spent and I did find a few good wines. There is this trend for more ‘natural’ wines, just because a wine is natural does not make it good, it has to be a good wine first then work on the everything else, to put in perspective how many times have you seen someone take great piece of fish and botch it up while they were cooking it.  Check out Isabel Legeron and her web site

The REAL wine fair and the London Wine Fair was where I found some real gems. Cant’ let the cat out of the bag but needless to say keep your eye on Twitter or sign up for our Marquis Wine Cellars newsletters here or our new Marquis Wine Club as some of the wines will be wine club only.

Ciao

John

A good frined of mine, who is a long time wine collector, recently wrote this article. With his permission he has allowed me to post it on our blog.

I occasionally enjoy a glass of wine, mostly wine sourced from Burgundy, with the infrequent tipple of wine from the Rhone Valley, and on rare occasion some claret from an area of France called Bordeaux.

I buy wine occasionally, mostly on release from local and sometimes North American importers. I also buy wine directly from the great Domaines of France..which then winds its way to our cellar . I have been known to purchase a bottle or two from auction houses, including Butterfield’s, Sotheby’s, The Chicago Wine Company, Zachy’s, Acker-Merrill, Hart Davis, Wine Gavel…and a few others….

Fortunately, I have never sought the wines that some of our esteemed treasure hunting, cult wine seeking friends have gone after. In the last 30 years there has surfaced a new entity in the wine world, from here on known as the “Wine Fraudster.” Most professional wine writers do not want to linger on this topic, as it is their role to promote the sales of wines, rather than discourage those who are attempting to backfill their cellars with older wine….usually from either friends…. or from a local or distant retailer … or auction house ( some may consider these as the foes ).

The time has come to draw this topic out into the open. As recent as last week there has finally been some preliminary justice with the recent arrest of a huge perpetrator of wine fraud. Rudy Kurniawan was arrested last week in Los Angeles, and to understand the basis for arrest will no doubt make a great movie of the week. For those of you with time on their hands, please read the entire formal complaint at: http://winediarist.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Kurniawan-Rudy-Complaint1.pdf

United States Federal prosecutors gave further details on the basis of their arrest here:   KurniawanBailAppeal.pdf Following that there were photos taken of some of the paraphernalia, found in Rudy Kurniawan’s residence, used in his wine fraud scheme including labels, capsules, etc…

So,

What does this all mean to a wine lover, especially those young wine lovers who are not old enough nor have the means to have enjoyed some of these great wines. In short, if you are buying any red or white burgundy from the wine Domaine, or an authorized importer… you are certainly safe to do so. If you are buying older wine from a retailer anywhere in the world be cautious.    If you are purchasing wine from an auction, anywhere in the world…be extremely cautious!

In the realm of burgundy, there are certain Blue Chip wines that no doubt have been a target for the wine fraudsters. Essentially any burg that sells for big bucks is fair game for these weasels, and thus the most commonly counterfeited burgs are : DRC, Leroy, Roumier, Mugnier, Coche- Dury, Ponsot, Rousseau and Jayer. So if you are planning to purchase any of these older wines from a retailer or

auction house, you better employ due diligence, in terms of wine provenance, to confirm the authenticity of the wine prior to bidding or purchase. If you are planning to purchase big buck wine you must absolutely be able to inspect and handle the wine prior to purchase, or ideally have a taste of wine from the same case at a pre auction tasting. If you cannot easily confirm the authenticity of the wine that you are considering to bid on…or to buy outright… then you are crazy to even consider it. YOU WILL get burned !!!

This is merely ONE case of wine fraud that indeed may lead to prosecution. I imagine that there are thousands of Rudy Kurniawans out there…consider that when you can throw a few labels and capsules on a few bottles of wine and make at least a 2000 % profit in a down turning economy…pretty great margin… if you can pull it off. Is it time to give up your day job and start pumping out counterfeit wine….maybe…..