If I was to make a comment such as the Loire is "sitting pretty", it is rife with meaning, starting with the most fundamental observation of the paysage, with its fabulously gentle and genteel rolling hills, river courses and orchards. No monoculture here—fields of grains, sunflowers, asparagus and all manner of vegetables are interspersed with a layer cake of orchards bursting with pears, peaches, plums….
When the word "value” is used in regard to commerce, one can probably assume that its intended definition pertains to a perceived price vs. quality ratio. Considering its price, this bottle of Chinon offers great value, for example. Depressingly, a perusal of the sales statistics of wine in Alberta might cause one to conclude that quality hardly plays a role in the average consumer's definition of value, and that price alone is the decisive factor. However, an alternative definition of value, to quote Merriam-Webster, is “something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable”. I'd like to propose that in the case of wine, these different understandings of the word shouldn't be seen as mutually exclusive.
We're all guessing at life, just trying to do the best that we can. We learn to avoid some things and embrace others; we affect aphorisms and profess certain beliefs; but we're generally going about our business almost at random and it's all just going to turn out how it turns out. Sometimes cooking is like this as well.
I first visited Weingut A.J. Adam in the spring of 2013. Among other revelations, I was completely destroyed by a dry Riesling from a plot of ancient, ungrafted vines in Piesport's Goldtröpfchen vineyard. Returning home, I shared my excitement with a fellow Riesling enthusiast who is my senior by several decades. While the wine was supernal, I bemoaned my lack of optimism to sell Calgary on a dry Riesling from the Mosel—the German region least associated with dry wine at the time—that would cost close to $90 per bottle. I may have lacked confidence, but I’m grateful that my interlocutor had faith in my assessment of the wine.
A few years ago I made a hectic day-trip to Edmonton for business, and happily a small window in the schedule allowed me to visit my grandfather in his care home. After the three-hour drive north, I was dropped there by a colleague under a blindingly clear June sky. I checked in at the front desk and rode the elevator to the third floor, sensing the Reaper lurking around every corner.
We're excited and relieved to share that the Alberta government's ad valorem wine tax has been recalled! In its place will be a slight increase on the “flat” tax that wine has traditionally been subjected to in the province, with positive effects on pricing incrementally working their way through retail shelves and restaurant lists over the weeks and months following April 1, 2026.
