The Walla Walla Valley U.S.A. “It’s a place so nice you say it twice!” This AVA (American Viticultural Area) straddles the border between northern Oregon and southeastern Washington. It is located at the foothills of the Blue Mountains in the Columbia basin. In terms of climate it is classified as “continental” due to the distance from the ocean and the wide …
Offering Updates – August 8, 2011
The wines from Spain have all completed their journey from Rioja into the various liquor boards. The final steps for the wines are to clear customs, be received and processed by the liquor boards, and then finally released. Members in British Columbia and Alberta should expect to start receiving wines as early as next week, and Ontario members approximately a …
Online Wine Tasting
Please join us for our online wine tasting at hemisphereswineguild.ca/periodical. Marcus will be posting new information every day on our most recent offering from Rioja Spain from Monday September 12 – Thursday September 15. Come and join the discussion to add a full or half case of wine to you cellar. Make a comment or ask a question to be …
Offering Updates – June 28, 2011
Hope everyone is gearing up for a great Canada Day long weekend! Our wines from Spain are all on the water and en-route to Canadian soil. The wines coming to Ontario and those going to Western Canada take very different routes from Spain. For the wines coming to Ontario, they depart from Barcelona and head straight across the Atlantic until …
Marcus’s June Wine Tip
Was it a good vintage? Vintage variation is generally less in warm new world wine regions such as California, South Australia, Argentina, Chile and South Africa. When buying wine from “Classic” regions such as Bordeaux, Burgundy or Champagne then it sometimes pays to know what years to avoid. Generally the price goes up in better years and down in poor years. …
Offering Updates – June 14, 2011
Here is the first of our bi-weekly postings on upcoming Hemispheres Shipments where we will provide insight on the logistics of the offerings and updates on the timing of the offerings. We will start with the Summer Wine Offering from Rioja, Spain. Marcus visited this storied region and selected 7 unique and premium bottles for our members. The initial steps …
April Wine Tip
When buying wine in the liquor store, always make sure the wine is into the neck of the bottle and is not lower than other bottles on the shelf in an upright position. A low ullage could mean oxidation, leaky cork or poor storage.
Favorite Food & Wine Pairing
There is nothing better on a hot summer day than fresh oysters (my favorite Canadian oysters are malpeque from PEI) with a pinch of sea salt and squeeze of lemon paired with a great champagne or sparkling wine.
Summer Offering Preview
I just got back from a fantastic trip to Rioja, Spain and can’t wait for everyone to try the incredible wines we discovered! I focused most of my attention on the Rioja Alta/Rioja Alavesa sub regions as they proved to be the most concentrated wines. Rioja is located in the north west of Spain and is it’s most important wine …
Summer Offering – Sneak Peak
Spanish reds have been the talk of Europe over the last few months. Personally, I have been enjoying many great Tempranillo and Garnacha based wines over the course of our long winter. I have also had numerous member requests about a potential Spanish offering, so I can’t escape it…we are off to Rioja! Rioja is located in the north of …