“Wine is food. Canadian wine should be enjoyed by all Canadians.”
What could be more perfect? The marriage of two Canadian-grown products: wine and lobster
Sandra Oldfield is a winemaker, a mom, and the boss at Tinhorn Creek Winery. She also happens to be one of the more eloquent voices in the BC wine industry, using Twitter as her pulpit to promote this still young part of our agricultural economy.
Last week as a lot of the news about Bill C-311 filibuster (the so-called 'free my grapes' legislation) was breaking, Sandra was a guest at the Atlantic Canada Wine Symposium. For those of us here in BC, the idea of wine being made in the Maritimes is probably as foreign a concept as wine being made in British Columbia is to someone from Italy or Spain. Nonetheless, a wine industry is getting a foothold in Nova Scotia, and Oldfield in a blog post says it brings back memories of what BC used to be like:
It reminds me of the Okanagan Valley 20 years ago when I arrived from California. 15 wineries. So much enthusiasm, hope and promise. The wines are crisp, cool, refreshing, and low alcohol (the “hot” thing now). The friendliest bunch of producers you’d ever like to meet.
Of course, when in the Maritimes you partake of lobster, and Sandra's experience of bringing lobsters and Nova Scotia wines back home to BC becomes an allegory for a Canadian legislative conundrum.
What could be more perfect? The marriage of two Canadian-grown products, one grown in our seas and one grown on our land, that travel in one day across this huge country of ours and end up on my table in Oliver, BC. That’s true patriotism in my book. Not flag waving but supporting in a real way what we do here.
Oldfield compares what it was like to bring these two Canadian food products home over interprovincial boundaries. The lobsters got to ride in style in a carry-on container. The wines, however, had to be "smuggled" inside luggage that was buried inside luggage below deck. She never knew if those bottles would make it home given the rough ride suitcases sometimes get.
She sums up with a simple request:
Wine is food. Canadian wine should be enjoyed by all Canadians who choose to partake. I want my daughter to be proud of what her mother does when she grows up. I don’t want her to think of me as a bootlegger. I want her to crack open a bottle of estate grown Canadian wine and enjoy.
With a home-grown lobster if she chooses.
We'll know by Wednesday evening whether Bill C-311 is passed by Canada's Parliament.
– post by Mike