Nova Scotia Makes Wine - Who Knew?

Well, it's been over a week and at least two of my loyal readers (out of at LEAST two!) were worried that I'd lost interest in this burgeoning project.

No such luck, O faithful ones, I'm here, just been busy - gathering material, among other things.

So, to go back to the shopping theme, today, a brief commentary on my visit to the NSLC. I presume that stands for Nova Scotia Liquor Commission. (Note, added June 2008. No, it's CORPORATION, not COMMISSION).

I need to explain that term for two different audiences I know are out there. To Ontarians, I only need to say that it's the local equivalent of the LCBO. Only difference is, there's no "Beer Store" equivalent here so it's where ALL the booze comes from except, again as in Ontario, if you go to a specialist wine store or a vinyard - but more of that later.

To the Brits out there who are no more familiar with the LCBO than they are with the NSLC, they are equivalent of "Off Licences" but are run by the provincial government and have, with the previously noted exceptions, a monopoly on the retailing of alcohol. Even restauratnts buy their wine etc. there most of the time. Bars and restaurants are not allowed to sell "take out"; it's the government way or the dryway.

In recent years, during my time in Ontario, the LCBO, under threat of privatization, has transformed from a pretty basic and quite unpleasant place into something which would compare favourably with any privately run "offy" in the UK or elsewhere and is MILES nicer than any american liquor store I've ever been in.

I can't speak for the history of the NSLC but its present seems to stack up pretty well too. I say again that this is a small town of under 1,000 folks with only a few stores of any description. Among them, the NSLC is quite possibly the nicest. It's bright, its staff are friendly (though that's nothing unusual round here), knowledgable and, from my handful of visits, seem to have found the point where attentiveness and helpfulness can peak without straying over the line into intrusiveness.

Last week, we went in for some beer and a bottle of wine to take to a dinner party. We had been invited by a new friend who is also new to the area, from Ontario, and thought that a bottle of something local might be just the ticlket. We had tried a couple of Nova Scotia wines already, having been first surprised to find such a thing AT ALL, and further surprised at the quality. As a wine region, it is, of course, small and fairly new. This newness is evidenced, as it was in Ontario only a few years ago, by a preponderance of fruit or fruit flavoured wines, sweet whites and "novelty" type wines. Among them, though, there are some gems.

How to tell? Well, you stand there, in front of the display that says "NOVA SCOTIA WINES" like it was the most natural thing on earth and stare vaguely at the bottles. This is the sign for the staff to come over and share their experiences with you. Salesmanship around here is often like that - not really salesmanship at all, more a sharing of experiences. I know this is a digression (but it's MY digression, so that's OK) but only yesterday, having lunch in a local restaurant, my wife asked the waitress what the fish cakes were like. She said she remembered "nasty" processed ones from childhood but knew that, made fresh, they are a local delicacy. The waitress made no bones about telling us that this was NOT the place to have your first taste of Nova Scotia fish cakes. THESE are the ones you remember. THESE you should avoid, at least today. Have this, have that, try these, but DON'T have your first maritime fish cakes here.

So with the NSLC staff. They had just had a delivery of a range from a new local winery; first time at the NSLC (which means first time anywhere except at the winery itself) but it had won a gold star, the man said, and they'd got it in just yesterday. He'd only tried one kind but had liked it, told us about it without mentioning the words "bouquet", "presumtuous" or "precocious" even once. An excellent piece of service and, guess what, we bought it.

They make cranberry wine (thumbs up from the ladies though I haven't tried it yet), rhubarb wine (OK, but nothing to blog about) and, and this really threw me, PORT. Yes, Nova Scotian PORT. We tried it and it's pretty darn good. Many years ago, an old Thomas Cook branch manager of my long acquaintance would take his staff to "Balls Brothers", a wine bar in the City Of London when he wanted a "private chat"; a sort of 1970's style performance review, most often. The drink de rigeur was PORT, always from a wooden barrel, recommended by one of the Balls brothers ludicrously expensive (though I wasn't paying!) and described and discussed in excrutiating detail. So, while I would never claim expertise, I have tried more than a few ports (I worked for and with Jim Russell - the manager in question, for 5 years!) and can make some discrimination. Obviously, Nova Scotian port has not been oak cask conditioned for decades (an hour or two maybe) - they haven't been making it long enough - so it's young and light. But here's the thing, two things actually, it tastes good and it's pretty cheap. We're on our second bottle. More power to ya, Nova Scotia wine industry, says I, long may you inovate while you inebriate.

Still on the subject of drinks, while out to dinner with the same friend a couple of weeks ago, I got to try "Propeller Bitter" in a local restaurant. It is one of a range from a micro-brewery in Halifax (called, you guessed it, the Propeller brewery at www.drinkpropeller.ca/beer ) and it was the best beer I've had in North America since the Starfish Oyster Bar in Toronto pulled out its real ale pumps (shame on you Starfish!, after all the thirsty Brits I sent you!). It's kegged, so it's a bit too cold and gassy to be TRULY great, but it's WAY better than anything else around. They have a jam session there on Sundays so I may get to taste the others.

This waeguk has been asked a question (thank you Simon) - more on that next time, and it WON'T be a week.
Thanks for reading.