Canadian Wine Round-up or How to Survive a Week With Your Family

Saskatoon, SK with its first snow of the year, Nov. 1, 2017

With the holiday season fast approaching, it's likely time to start planning visits with your family. And what better way to endure the awkward conversations about your love life, thinly veiled snide comments about gift/life choices, and screaming children than with some choice bottles of wine?

ON red in an SK kitchen

In my family, no gathering is complete without copious amounts of, to borrow a term from the television show Community, "no-no juice" a.k.a. alcoholic beverages. I realize this isn't the healthiest way to cope with stress, but we're British and we enjoy a stiff drink with our stiff upper lips.

A few weeks ago I took a trip to Saskatchewan, right in the middle of the frigid Canadian prairies, to visit my family. My aunt and uncle, my grandmother, my cousins and their families all live in Saskatoon now, so I really get bang for my buck heading there on holiday. Bonus: my brother and his wife were also visiting from Toronto, so I got to see them for the first time since they left Vancouver 18 months ago.

I haven't had a lot of Ontario wines in my life—living in such close proximity to the Okanagan, it's rare that I sample wines from other regions of Canada—but my sister-in-law brought one with her, so I had to give it a shot.

I won't lie, I had to look up Pelee Island and its eponymous winery because I had no idea where it was. Turns out, this island is southernmost populated point in Canada and it has a very mild climate and a similar latitude to Rioja, Porto and Provence.  It's a decent Pinot Noir, although not terribly similar to any of those produced in the Okanagan Valley. In the words of my sister-in-law, "it's a Pinot that doesn't taste like Pinot."

Not my finest photo

It's definitely a light-bodies wine (although their website calls it medium-bodied), I wouldn't actively seek it out to drink again, but when you're sleeping on the floor of a 100-year-old house, you'll drink whatever's put in front of you. If you're at the LCBO searching for something with a screw top well under the $20 mark, this wine will do the trick.

The next bottle of wine we cracked open that week (amongst many other beverages) was one I dragged all the way from the Okanagan. My mother decided she wanted to send gifts to her relatives, so I got to pack them in my tiny suitcase, leaving little room for sweaters, boots, or gloves. Luckily, my aunt and sister-in-law are roughly my size and willing to lend me the items I left behind.

Le Vieux Pin Petit Blanc is a delicious white from my current favourite region, the Black Sage Road in Oliver, BC, and you can easily find it at the BCL for $18.99. I know I rarely talk about whites, but I promise I have nothing against them. I just have a palate that prefers reds. This, however, is a fantastic, well-balanced white blend made up primarily of Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Roussanne. It's not particularly oaky or fruity, it's got character, but it's not overwhelming—a perfect weeknight wine to share with your favourite aunt.

My aunt is one of my favourite people with whom to have a glass, and since we're usually forced to do so over the phone, we tend to get carried away when we are actually in the same city. Usually we need a box of Pinot Grigio to get us through our reality TV binge session, with requisite pausing for chats, but we will make room for a nice bottle now and then.

That's my brother behind the wine!

Towards the middle of the week everyone's idiosyncrasies started to irritate and naturally, the adult beverages were needed more than ever. We stopped by the indoor farmer's market—a fun place to visit if you find yourself in Saskatoon, summer or winter, as it runs year round—and they have a booth that sells local cider and fruit wines.

Living Sky Winery is a fruit winery situated in Perdue, Saskatchewan, which has grown to produces several award-winning wines over the past decade. They take their name from the Saskatchewan license plate motto, but their wines are anything but pedestrian. They taste like the essence of the prairies served in a glass. The rhubarb is by far my favourite, with its crisp, tart flavour—a gem any time of year.

They also produce an unusual, but lovely, hopped cherry cider called Bunny Hugger. It's currently only available on tap at their farmer's market stall, so don't forget to pack a refillable growler before you go.

With roughly one month to go until Christmas, you're likely making plans to visit family around now (or maybe you already have), and if those plans mean traveling through BC, Saskatchewan, or Ontario—if you're Canadian, there's a strong chance that they do—you've got a few wines to check out while you're listing to granny try to set you up with her single dentist. You're going to need them!