Wine News
Brokenwood Vintage Report
May 15, 2012
End of Vintage 2012 - May 2012
Exactly two months on since the previous report and with the arrival of Nick Bulleid and his Pinot Noir, I think we can safely say that the last fruit is in, 91 days after we started on Hunter Valley Semillon.
The 40th Brokenwood vintage, the 30th vintage of Iain Riggs at the helm, the 20th for Vineyard Manger Keith Barry and the 1st for Simon Steele, has been one full of interest and challenges.
The last two months has seen every berry of our Hunter red picked, probably the only Hunter winery to do so. Simon and Stuart and the winery team have delivered an excellent range of wines from Hunter Valley Semillon and Shiraz to the full complement out of Beechworth (the Chardonnay and Pinot are particularly exciting), rich robust reds from McLaren Vale and cool climate Sauvignon Blanc from the Forest Edge Vineyard at Orange. However the rain and disease pressure did get the better of the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay at Forest Edge.
Interesting to see that the Southern Oscillation Index returned to negative or El Nino territory in mid April 2012, bringing up exactly two years of La Nina conditions. Hunter Valley winemakers can work with the odd break in the weather to turn out top wines but a rain free vintage would be welcomed I’m sure.
Of course El Nino could also mean days on end of 40C plus weather, so to keep one step ahead a 100sqm blast chilling cold room is being built, along with a complete upgrade and relocation of the refrigeration system.
The winery waste water is now being recycled for growing jumbo grass and then harvested for vineyard mulch.
Wines going to bottle in the next few weeks include three Single Vineyard 2012 Semillon’s, one of which will be released at 6 years as the ILR Reserve as well as a very fresh and vibrant 2012 Hunter Semillon. The other early bottling will be the 2012 Beechworth Pinot Gris.
With all the 2012 grapes in the winery, work swaps over to getting the 2011 reds out of oak and the most important of all being the 2011 Graveyard Vineyard Shiraz.
Mention should be made of the great vintage crew in 2012. Our ‘Brains’ Brokenwood Prize winner from Adelaide Uni, Lauren Hansen, tackled her first vintage with gusto and Lauren will be a great asset to the wine industry in years to come.
Iain Riggs
Managing Director/Chief WinemakerNew additions to Trialto Team
May 9, 2012
Trialto is excited to make these announcements as our team continues to grow.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Lawrence Wong, CGA to the newly created position of Corporate Controller. Along with Mr. Wong’s accounting degree, he also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University. Mr. Wong has spent 3+ years with Mark Anthony Group, most recently as Finance Manager overseeing the accounting for the import/domestic beer portfolio with revenues over $50 million. Previous to that, he was Corporate Controller for Pacific Western Brewing for a year and was Corporate Accountant for Travel Underwriters where he spent four years. He comes to Trialto with solid accounting skills, a good background in our industry, great communication skills, a passion for continuous improvement and excellent references. Mr. Wong will report to Rick Toller, President and CEO.
We are proud to announce that Etienne Bezard will be our new Marketing Coordinator in Québec as of Monday May 7th 2012. Etienne has been with Trialto since November 24th 2011 when he was hired as Inside Sales representative. Etienne has graduated from l’École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier, in France, as Ingénieur Agronome, Option management des entreprises agroalimentaires, in 2004. He started his career as sales representative/brands manager at Part des Anges in Paris, in 2005, where he was instrumental in the launch of Hpnotiq liqueur and Leblon cachaça. He then worked at Eurowinegate where he was Export representative and at Distillerie Merlet & Fils, in 2009, where he was Marketing Consultant. Etienne is, of course, interested in oenology, gastronomy as well as photography and modern art.
It’s a pleasure to announce that Catherine Albert has joined the Trialto Wine Group and is now our new Inside Sales representative in Québec. She has officially started in her new job yesterday, Monday May 7th 2012. Following numerous ski trips to the Rockies and the French Alps where she also worked in restaurants, Catherine came back to Montreal with the intention of becoming a restaurateur. She studied Hotel Management at Lasalle College while working in a high end Montreal establishment. Catherine then studied sommelerie and decided that wine would now guide her professional career. She is passionate about by the power and the motivation of restaurant owners in Montréal and all other great cities she’s visiting. She loves to share a good meal, good wines and good stories with a bunch of friends.We are delighted to announce the hiring of Jamie Zipay who is going to look after the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario region. Jamie comes to us direct from the restaurant community where he has worked for the last 4 years. A team leader at the local Milestones restaurant in Ottawa allowed Jamie to educate the servers on the wines where his skills from passing WSET intermediate course shone through. Passionate about wines he has traveled extensively through some of the best wine regions in the world. Jamie also enjoys eating out as often as possible. Please join us in welcoming Jamie into the Trialto family.
Chile’s Colchagua Valley and Aurelio Montes
April 24, 2012
Learn why Aurelio Montes fell in love with Chile's Colchagua Valley: “Worldly Tastes From a Quiet Corner of Chile”, article by Jay McInerney of the Wall Street Journal.
Please click here for the online article.
Visit our online catalogue to find Montes Wines in your province: BC AB MB SKDog Point Vineyards
April 24, 2012
Dog Point, one of Marlborough's oldest private vineyards, is located on the Southern side of Marlborough's Wairau Valley at the confluence of the smaller Brancott and Omaka Valleys.Grant Burge 2012 Barossa Vintage Report
March 15, 2012
Grant Burge, Proprietor / Chief Winemaker
“2012 may turn out to be the best vintage yet”, Grant Burge
Vintage 2012 was slightly earlier than usual, commencing two weeks ahead of schedule. The growing season has been excellent with a cool summer and slightly above average rainfall. This was followed by almost perfect picking conditions for the white wines, producing fine, delicate and subtle flavours with beautiful aromas.
A couple of warmer weeks in late January and early February assisted with ripening the red grapes. The yield is down by almost 20%, but the Shiraz grapes are black in colour with fantastic aromatics.
The Merlot appears to be outstanding, one of the best that Grant has encountered since making Merlot.
As of the 14th of March we are half way through harvesting the Cabernet from the Barossa floor area. At this early stage it looks fantastic. The fruit situated in the higher areas is about a month away from being picked.
The small amount of Grenache which has been harvested has excellent savoury characters.
Overall the 2012 vintage is looking outstanding. The quantity is down, but the quality is some of the best ever seen at this point in time.Bodega Catena Zapata now represented by Trialto coast to coast
March 6, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Bodega Catena Zapata, Argentina’s Malbec Pioneer, is now represented by Canada's leading premium wine agency, Trialto Wine Group, from coast to coast.
Vancouver, BC, CANADA – February 20, 2012 - Trialto Wine Group, Canada's leading premium wine import sales and marketing agency, announces an expanded partnership with Argentina’s iconic winery Bodega Catena Zapata. Catena joins the Trialto portfolio in all of the Atlantic Provinces as well as Quebec, and continues with Trialto in Ontario and the Western Provinces.
Laura Catena, Managing Director of Bodega Catena Zapata, said of her decision, "Bodega Catena Zapata and the Trialto Wine Group have been partners in Canada for many years. Our distribution in Canada has grown over the last decade and we have come to the conclusion that a national partner will best allow us to promote our wines and our region to the Canadian people. Trialto's dedication to distributing historical family wineries makes them an ideal partner for Catena in Canada."
Rick Toller, President of Trialto, adds, "Trialto is very fortunate to have so many positive and rewarding relationships with our winery partners from all around the world. However there is a special connection with Catena. The Catena family is focused on excellence and quality and constant improvement. To know that they entrust us with their business all across this country is gratifying. Trialto is committed to ‘Wines of People, Place and Time™’, and to being a truly national company. We feel that the addition of Catena to the Atlantic markets and Quebec signals to our industry peers and partners that Trialto is indeed a leader in all markets across Canada."
About Bodega Catena Zapata:
Bodega Catena Zapata is a hundred year old family-owned company rooted in the principles of: effort, study, innovation, personal responsibility and sustainability. In the 1980s Nicolas Catena embarked on a journey to elevate the wines of his nation to the world stage. Nicolas made a commitment to making and distributing world-class, distinctively Argentine wines that could compete with the best of the world in the premium wine segments. The family and the company, Catena, is dedicated to maintaining its position as the pioneer of Argentine Malbec and South America’s Grand Cru, while continuing to explore new viticulture opportunities within Argentina. In 2009 Decanter Magazine announced Nicolas as their Man of the Year in recognition of his lifetime of achievements. Daughter, Laura Catena, is now President of the winery and, she continues the family tradition of the pursuit of excellence.
About Trialto Wine Group Ltd.
The Trialto philosophy is ‘Wines of People, Place and Time™’: “The wines we represent tell a story about the people that make them, the place they come from and the period in which they are made,” says President, Rick Toller. “This guides our entire business, as the Trialto focus is to source, import, market and sell wines from premium family-owned wineries representing important wine regions around the world. We represent incredible premium wines from around the world and serve the Canadian market by helping liquor boards, retailers and restaurants source, sell and market these wines,” he continues.” We measure our success by the success of our winery partners and the success of our channel customers.”
For more information, contact:
Eric Deguire, Vice President of Sales & Marketing
contact@trialto.com
+1.778. 331.8999
www.trialto.comSouthbrook is Entering the Dragons' Den
March 1, 2012
Bill's Editorial: A note from the owner
When we first started farming, we looked at winter as a time for rest and regeneration. It seems now that with all our new projects, we are busier than ever with extremely exciting things happening every day.
Our biggest and most time consuming new project is Bioflavia. As some of you know, we launched our new anti-oxidant powder last summer, and it has moved along very well. Registered as a Natural Health Product with Health Canada, its 11,000 ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) units per 10 grams put it on par with Goji and other super foods. Made last year from our own pomace (the skins left over after we make red wine), this year we have expanded by purchasing all of the Organic red wine pomace produced in Ontario.
We have been anxiously awaiting word, and we can now confirm that we will appear on the CBC hit show Dragons' Den on March 7th. We still can't tell you what happened, but Marilyn, Robert Egli and I will try to beard the Dragons: tune in at 8pm and cheer for us. For those who miss it, go to http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/episodes.html. We will be episode 18. If you are outside of Canada, we will be posting the episode on our website.
Bioflavia is available either through us at Southbrook.com (1-888-581-1581) or from over 150 stores across Canada.Decanter Magazine Profiles Inglenook
February 7, 2012
February 2012’s issue of Decanter Magazine features the revival of Inglenook by Francis Ford Coppola. Click here for the full article.A Big Cheque for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
January 31, 2012
The cheque presentation for Trialto’s amazing results for the 2011 Run for the Cure (RFTC) took place on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, at the Vancouver office. The team met with Talea Pecora, Run Director, and Carmin Osborne, Fundraising Officer, of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF).
A total of $17,400 was raised by Trialto’s RFTC team and program with the British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB). In BC Liquor Stores in the month of September, $1.50 from the sale of every bottle of Catena Malbec, Catena Cabernet Sauvignon, Alamos Malbec, and Alamos Chardonnay went to the cause.
The next run is September 30, 2012. We can`t wait to present an even bigger cheque for this wonderful cause.A Story about Dog Point Vineyards
January 23, 2012