Summer has been ticking right along, and here at Uncorked Tours we've been working on a couple of major projects that have taken a lot of time.
Starting in September, the focus of this blog will be shifting slightly to include stories of some of the staycations and day trips that abound in NB. In between tour dates, I've been making an effort to be a "tourist at home" and have visited the Fundy Trail, Campobello Island, the Festival of Flavour, Chocolatefest and the Winegarden Winefest. These were all fun, inexpensive and awesome activities that I had never done before, stay tuned for photos over the coming months. The second big project has already been a source of some press. Uncorked Tours has taken over the operation of Barbour's General Store in Uptown Saint John. We have created a Saint John Tour Desk, for visitors and locals to learn about things to do in Saint John and purchase tours offered by six different operators in the city. There is also some great local retail including Ganong candy, Barbour's teas, Big Tide merchandise, fabulous graphic Saint John T-shirts and other goodies. We have added "The Exchange", a self-serve coffee and tea bar in the back of The Store, serving Java Moose coffee and King Cole tea. I hope you'll join us for the Grand Re-opening on Saturday, August 22nd. The doors open at 9am. Cheers, Gilliane
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We have great wine starting to come from our wineries here in NB, and today I want to focus my attention on rosé.
Rosé wines are made one of two ways. In traditional rosé winemaking, red wine grapes are harvested and crushed and allowed to ferment with their skins on for a little bit of time. The skin is what gives the wine its colour. The grapes are pressed once the colour is deep enough, and then left to continue fermenting and ageing. The second method for producing rosé involves taking a red wine and a white wine, in most cases already fermented, and blending the two wines together with a larger proportion of white to red, creating that beautiful pink colour that just screams "summer sipper". In addition to variations in vinification (winemaking), rosé wines also vary greatly in their sugar content, going from very dry to almost syrupy sweet. Here in NB, we have an additional variety of rosé wines, fruit-based. Strawberry, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Raspberry, Cranberry - these all produce beautiful rosé wines of varying intensity. Rosé, thanks to it's versatility and balance of acid, tannins, and usually fruit-forward flavours, is a wonderful pairing for the great Canadian BBQ! The classic strawberry nose of most rosés lend themselves nicely to pairing with a bit of smoke and char. For spicier dishes, choose a sweeter wine, and for lighter vegetable and fish dishes, consider going with something drier so it doesn't overpower your meal. Here are some great choices (many of which are available at the Superstores in ANBL's wine pilot program): Mott's Landing - Wild Rosé Mott's Landing - Cranpagne Gillis of Belleisle - Honey Rosé (a little bit sweeter) Magnetic Hill Winery - Mystique Belliveau Orchard - Sour cherry Winegarden Estate - Raspberry This will be the second year that I offer winery tours in the Moncton region. I am so lucky to have the fabulous partners I've found in the Moncton wineries so I wanted to share a little bit of information about them with you! Magnetic Hill Winery is located right in the City of Moncton in a beautifully renovated farmhouse that now serves as their home, business, and charming B&B with two guest rooms. From the winery, you can look down over the hill and see for miles. It's a beautiful spot to have a picnic (with wine of course) and watch the sun set from their comfortable patio. Jeff and Janet Everett started their family business with a fruit u-pick. It wasn't long before they realized that instead of selling the fruit, they could process the fruit into a value-added product and Magnetic Hill Winery was born. The winery specializes in fruit wines, but they do have a Marquette wine that has recently been released. We visit Magnetic Hill Winery every Thursday-Saturday on the Westmorland Wine tour. Winegarden Estate is NB's oldest winery and has been producing wine from Baie Vert, NB since 1991. The Rosswog family founded the business when they emigrated from Germany, and originally conceived it as a distillery. Winegarden still produces a huge selection of fine spirits, but the bulk of their production and sales is in wine. In addition to estate-grown wines, Winegarden also imports juice to create their own Rieslings, Cabernets and other styles of wine. This winery thrives on experimentation and is continually trying to improve on their winemaking and distilling practices. They also know how to throw a party and will be hosting the 16th annual Winegarden wine fair on Sunday, August 9th. Belliveau Orchard is well know for the apples they produce at Grand Pré. Located just outside Memramcook, they have one of the largest orchards in the province and a farm market on site selling produce from other producers nearby. Belliveau Orchard is a great spot to take the family on a summer or fall day, with lots of activities to entertain the kids, and delicious wines to please the parents. Belliveau Orchard produces three wines available at ANBL stores across the province as well as "Scow", a hard cider named after the flat-bottomed, hard-working boats that used to traverse the Petitcodiac River. Belliveau Orchard easily fuses the traditional with state-of-the-art at their operation. Their pear wine (Poire) is definitely one of my favs! Waterside Winery is a brand new partner for us this year. With the addition of the Fundy Wine and Art tour on Wednesdays and Sundays, we now have the opportunity to visit this great fruit winery located in Waterside, very near Alma (Fundy Park). Linda and Ed have been making fruit wines for many years, and one of my favourites is their rhubarb sparkling wine sold in 355mL bottles. I'm so excited to show this place off. It is a small winery with great character located right on the water. Waterside Winery is a great addition to the tours this summer and a long-time partner in the winemaking industry. Moncton Winery Tour Schedule:
The past couple weeks have been busy. You may have noticed that this website just receive a huge refresh for the season, partnerships with hotels around the province are in the works to give you the best tour and accommodations rates possible, and we've been training new guides. Not just anyone can lead a tour with Uncorked Tours. Our guides need to be fun and personable, but on top of that, they need to know a lot about wine, beer, spirits, cider, Saint John and NB history, things to do in the city, and of course, where to find the best [insert your favourite Maritime food here]. Our guides need to be comfortable with all of our partners and all of the tour stops. They need to have extra stories at the ready in case they're ahead of schedule, or more often, they need to know to move the tour along when they're falling behind schedule. Our guides make the whole trip worth it and it's a huge responsibility! It is with great pleasure and excitement that I introduce you to the guides you can expect to see in Saint John this summer. Please join me in welcoming the Saint John team! Mike Marino - Mike joined us last year and is a real pleasure to have around. His real passion is helping people achieve their goals, and he loves showing guests around the city.
Anna Stackhouse - Anna joins the team this year for our weekend tours. She loves children and truly enjoys being with people. Anna is the life of the party wherever she goes and you'll love having her show you around. Anna will be offering walking and winery tours. Monique Losier - Monique recently retired from over 30 years in the healthcare field. She loves wine, almost as much as she loves being outdoors canoeing, kayaking or hiking with friends. Monique will be offering walking tours and winery tours in both official languages this summer. Adam Kimball - Adam is Uncorked Tours' Chief Party Officer (for real, he even has cards). You'll find him at special events making sure everyone is having a great time and their glass is full. He's the Beer Guy to my Wine Gal. You'll see him leading many of our beer tours this summer. Natalie Durand - Natalie returns to Uncorked Tours this year ready to teach you all about NB wine! She runs most of the tours in Moncton, but finds herself pulled to Saint John for private tastings and special events. We also have two new guides in Fredericton. They are beginning training this Thursday and we will be welcoming them officially to the team next month. Cheers, Gilliane The third year for Uncorked Tours is going to be full of change and an increased offering of wine and beer tours across the province. Beginning May 16th, daily winery tours will be offered in Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton, the full schedule can be found here.
We are so excited to be offering tours in Fredericton this summer. There are three tour to choose from: a winery tour, a brewery tour, and a downtown wine and beer walking tour. Walking tours are offered daily at 1:30pm in Saint John beginning May 30th, and in Fredericton they are available Wednesday to Saturday beginning June 3rd. In Moncton, the Westmorland winery tour is staying on the schedule, along with a brand new Fundy wine and art tour. In St Andrews, you can now reserve a private blueberry wine tours including a visit to Minister’s Island, tide allowing. We are also offering a number of specialty tours this year including the Acadian Coast, a Jost wine adventure, overnight trips to the Annapolis Valley, and PEI wine and beer tours. Don't forget about the Uncorked River Cruises. This year there are three dates to choose from: July 25th Cocktail Cruise featuring NB spirits, August 29th Beer Cruise featuring NB craft beer, and Sept 26th wine cruise featuring NB wine and the beautiful fall foliage of the Saint John River. Every year my family visits a the Sugarbush for maple breakfast. It really is the first sign of Spring to me, giving maple syrup a special place in my heart. In recent years, we've visited Dumfries Maples, operated by the Scott family. It's a fabulous experience for those who haven't been. This year, we decided to change it up and visit King's Landing. The King's Landing breakfast and experience was great. Breakfast is a fundraiser for the local Ground Search and Rescue volunteer organization and they were very generous with the maple syrup. After breakfast, we took a horse-drawn wagon ride to the King's Head Inn. We happily drank a pint of Picaroons beer while listening and singing along to traditional music played in the pub. King's Landing had several working displays and a sugaring demonstration complete with taffy on the snow. The maple sap only runs when nights are below freezing and daytime temperatures reach a balmy 5+ degrees (40F). The sap used to be collected in buckets, but many operations now use gravity fed lines to carry the sap to the cook house. It takes 40 liters of sap to produce 1 liter of maple syrup. The sap is boiled and the water evaporates until the perfect temperature and sugar level is reached. The King's Landing maple breakfast is over, but many sugar bushes will be open during April. With our cold winter finally moving on, the sap has begun to run. This 3-4 week season is intense and produces all the maple syrup available for the entire year. The sap stops flowing every year once the tree begins to bud, so let's hope for warm days and sub-zero nights to continue for a little while longer. Cheers, Gilliane Consider adding an NB rosé, fruit or maple wine to your Easter dinner festivities and surprise your guests with something new. These wines are as colourful as a basket of Easter eggs and offer a range of flavours for you to try.
If you live in Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John, Sussex or Miramichi, you can pick up your wine with your dinner prep at the grocery store. Local wine is also available at markets across the province and some liquor stores. If you're serving turkey, look for cranberry wines. Ham will go great with a rosé or tree fruit wine like apple or pear, and for lamb (my personal favourite) look for dark fruit wines like currant or raspberry. Maple wine is best served as dessert either alone or with some vanilla ice cream. Cheers! ~Gilliane Great things are happening at wineries across the province. As the snow begins to melt, many wineries are using this time to bottle new vintages of your favourite NB wines. The amount of time from harvest to bottle varies based on a number of factors including, wine style, fruit selection, aging, and winemaker's preference, just to name a few.
Fruit wines have the shortest turnaround time, followed by white wines and then reds. Some local wineries age their red wine in barrels before bottling. This can add anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years to the length of time before the wine makes it into a bottle. What can be sure, is that winemakers are always looking for the perfect time to bottle. They regularly sample wine from tanks and barrels to determine that best time. If you're lucky, and arrive at the right time, you may be invited to sample directly from the barrel or tank. After bottling, wines usually require a few weeks to settle down in the bottle, then they're ready for you to drink. While it's true that many wines change and improve with age, the majority of wine being produced now is meant for immediate enjoyment. If you're looking for a wine to lie down for a few years, ask the winery for their suggestion. For those of you lucky enough to live near a winery, spring and early summer is a great time to visit and sample new vintages. Most wineries in NB can also ship wine to your home, and Uncorked Tours offers daily tours this summer to many wineries in Southern NB. Cheers! ~Gilliane A big part of a strong society is helping those in need. Food, wine and beer events have become a popular was to encourage the public to get out for a fun night of dining and drinks while raising money for an organization. There are so many worthy causes that I've been asked to help with or participate in so I wanted to share a few of these. I find that regularly, we fail to promote the wonderful work of these organizations. I need to begin however, by giving a shout out to all the suppliers who participate in these events. They donate their product, their time, and their enthusiasm to these events and it's their support and participation that truly make these events such wonderful successes. Fran Menton has orchestrated two wine tastings in support of the SPCA. The most recent in February raised over $2000 to help cover the shelter's expenses. This is becoming an annual event for wine and animal lovers. The Saint John Wine Fair is one of only two fundraisers for the Canadian Red Cross in NB. All the funds, over $50000 this year, are kept here in the province and used in Emergency Relief efforts for everything from house fires to major flooding. The Fredericton Craft Beer Festival just enjoyed its third year and is a fundraiser for the Canadian Diabetes Association. In its first year it raised over $12000 for the association. There are fundraisers coming up that still have tickets available. The Fredericton Wine Show on March 28th raises funds for the Arthritis Society, and The Saint John Beer Fest on April 11th raises funds for Ducks Unlimited. The Port City Beer Run in Saint John on May 30th raises fund for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The Fundy Food Festival in May raises fund for the Boys and Girls Club. A great event, it features a live Chef auction in addition to delicious food from restaurants. Get out there and raise your glass or your fork to the tastiest fundraisers in NB. For the second year, Gillis of Belleisle Winery is hosting their Winter Wine Fest this coming Saturday, February 28th. This is the last of three weekends celebrating winter, and inviting you to bundle up, visit the winery in its snowy beauty and try some NB wine. The winery is open from 2-8pm with complimentary tastings and winery tours. At 6pm, a barn dinner of delicious home-made lasagne is available by reservation. Call the winery to save your spot as space is limited. Uncorked is offering a tour to the winery including transportation, winery tour and tasting, winter activities and dinner. You can use the contact form to make your reservation. The tour is from 3pm-8pm and pick-ups are available at Uptown hotels and the McEsso in Quispamsis. You're encouraged to bring your snow shoes and skiis to the winery to enjoy the winter trails, or if you're feeling adventurous you can visit the famous ice caves, currently in their full glory. Hope to see you there! More Info:
Winter Wine Fest Saturday, February 28th from 2pm-8pm Gillis of Belleisle Winery 1826 Rte 1214, Springfield, NB www.gillisofbelleisle.com info@gillisofbelleisle.com For Tours: Uncorked Tours $125/person Reserve by noon February 27th |
At Uncorked Tours we're all about sharing the fabulous food, wine, beer & spirits being produced in the Province of New Brunswick.
It is our pleasure to share some of the awesome experiences you can have while living or visiting the province. Archives
September 2022
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