Introducing Schätzel Riesling

Introducing Schätzel Riesling

Early on in my wine career, I was briefly employed by a regrettably commercial wine agency who was in the process of purging their portfolio of interesting wine. Commissioned with the task of liquidating a few lingering cases of 2005 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Auslese, I naturally took advantage of the situation to pull the cork on a bottle. This precipitated a veritable revelation; the wine didn't just solidify my love for German wine, it turned me into a lifelong Riesling lunatic. Thus, one of my pivotal Riesling epiphanies was catalyzed by a bottle from the Rheinhessen's Rheinfront, or Roter Hang (Red Slope).

The Old School Barber

The Old School Barber

I sat down in the barber chair and Joe draped the gown around me. He’s an elderly but hale Italian man who’s been lowering ears at Elveden House Barber Shop since the early 1960s. Usually very talkative, Joe was uncharacteristically laconic on this particular occasion so I took the opportunity to ask a question that had been on my mind for several years:

“Say, Joe? How'd you end up in Calgary?”

It was as simple as that, and I didn't really say another word for the next hour as Joe's story unfolded. (My haircuts usually take less than 30 minutes, but Joe often stopped to gesticulate, ponder a date or silently reminisce).

Canine Wisdom

Canine Wisdom

My wife and I said farewell to our elderly dog, Nika, last week. She was at least 16 years old, and I had the pleasure of spending the last 12 years with her. Her passing inspired me to dig up the following, which I wrote earlier this year and now wish to share with you:

Nika rests while I write this. As she gruntingly exhales and stirs into deeper realms of comfort, I marvel at the simplicity of her methods to improve lives, and the dissonance between the innate, instinctive wellspring of joy that she inspires versus the debilitating “wisdom” that our society has proliferated for centuries.

No! No Nouveau!

No! No Nouveau!

Hey, Hey- don’t get me wrong... I have an immense fondness, nay, outright love for Beaujolais! I am a freakin’ John the B level evangelist for this region’s wine! But I have a very strong belief that the only way Beaujolais Nouveau tastes good is on a long, drunken stroll through the streets, bistros and bouchons of Lyon on a chilly November night.

Metrovino Loves Sherry

Metrovino Loves Sherry

“Sherry is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing wines to ever grace my palate. It is simultaneously meditative and transcendental, possessing intrinsic flavour complexities and managing to fantastically pair with virtually anything that you’re eating. Sherry is your best friend and your lover; just when you think you understand all of its nuances, it reveals a new facet of itself that you didn't know existed... you thereupon fall even deeper in love, continually captivated and curious…”

Earth's Satisfied Exhalation

Earth's Satisfied Exhalation

Autumn is earth's satisfied exhalation. It's a season of strong character but it’s also precarious, often threatening an early segue into the tyranny of winter. If spring is spontaneous, autumn is pensive. If summer is frivolous, autumn is sentimental. If winter is dormant, autumn is a wise acquiescence of finality. In autumn, passions crackle like leaves underfoot, and when they take shape on still mornings, they hold form with stubborn, overwhelming clarity.

A Summer of Lovely Moments

A Summer of Lovely Moments

Though we usually drink Rhein wine at the outdoor Shakespeare performance, we hydrated with a Riesling from Württemberg this year. The evening was sweltering, the play was cute and the Riesling was cold and good with our picnic dinner.

Upon leaving the park, I discovered the rear tire on my bicycle to be dead flat. I encouraged my wife to ride on without me but she refused, and so we began the walk, pushing our bikes alongside us. There were hordes of people out enjoying the evening, one of rare beauty in a summer of lovely moments but few splendorous days.

Once Upon a Pinot Noir…

Once Upon a Pinot Noir…

Bloody Pinot Noir! Elusive, tricky Pinot Noir!

This crafty little grape has become even more elusive these days as the French temple of Pinot Noir, Burgundy, has become SO expensive! But this little trickster of a grape variety can’t elude us as easily as that! Metrovino has mined areas such as the Auvergne and the Languedoc for new sources of affordable French PN, but our elusive quarry has also been found hiding in the most unexpected area of northeastern France - Alsace! And this will not be the last French Pinot surprise we have for you either!

The Fastest Corkscrew in the West

The Fastest Corkscrew in the West

Frank had ridden through the night. The moon was lucent, the terrain rocky and an antagonising posse of some of the hardest lawmen in the West were after him. Upon their chests shone the stars of the law; on Frank's a death's head adorned by grape clusters and crossed with venencias, emblematic of the League of Outlaw Sommeliers. Frank, better known as the Cornas Kid, was the fastest corkscrew in the West.

 
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