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Welcome to the website of the Atlantic Canada Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers - CAPS - Atlantic.
NEWS
New - Initial Results of Restaurant Corkage Policy Survey can be found here.
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Nova Scotia - Sensory Evaluation/Wine Professionalism - Classes are being planned for a location in the Valley and one in Cape Breton this year. Contact Larry Graham larrygraham@eastlink.ca or 902-466-4447 for more details.
Our next Annual General Meeting will be held in Halifax. Following the business meeting, a wine tasting with guest speaker will take place. Watch for more details here, soon!
Sommelier I - Old World Being Offered in Saint John NB
Craig Pinhey and Terry Murphy are offering this CAPS module. Information on the course is here. You can contact them directly, to indicate an interest.
Craig Pinhey, Sommelier
cell 506 647 8466
email brufrog@gmail.com
Terry Murphy, Sommelier
cell 506 333 0968
email murphyt@bellaliant.net
L’Acadie Vineyards has a Good Year at the Canadian Wine Awards
L’Acadie Vineyards, a new winery which first released its wines in 2008, won an unprecedented four medals at the 2009 Canadian Wine Awards, the most medals a Nova
Scotia winery has ever won at this high profile competition and the only Nova Scotia winery to win this year.
Bruce Ewert, Owner Winemaker of L’Acadie Vineyards commented, “It is especially gratifying and exciting that both our Traditional Method sparkling wines won medals. It is the first time they have awarded sparkling wines from Nova Scotia and it puts us on the
map. We have ideal growing conditions for this style and the rest of Canada is noticing.”
L’Acadie Vineyards won medals for all of their sparkling wines submitted in this prestigious category - bronze medals for Traditional Method Sparkling Brut and Traditional Method Sparkling Rosé. Traditional method sparkling wines are crafted the same as wines from Champagne, France with a secondary ferment in its bottle giving the wine fine persistent bubbles and aged for years for celebrated yeast flavours and is a new style for Nova Scotia compared to the many artificially carbonated wines on the market.
“Our Brut pairs incredibly with our famous rich maritime seafood, oysters, lobster, scallops, smoked salmon and mussels or as a celebration on its own”
Also awarded were bronze medals for L’Acadie Star, an aromatic still white wine, and Eclipse, a full bodied red wine made with dried grapes. “We are winning awards in many categories, showing the depth of our commitment to quality. Our years of grape drying
research have been yielding some great results.”
www.lacadievineyards.ca.
First Annual Atlantic Canadian Wine Awards Announced
A cooperative effort between the Winery Association of Nova Scotia and CAPS. The list of winners can be found here.
The CAPS press release content, including the list of category winners is here.
The latest two new wineries in Nova Scotia are open, with official celebrations taking place late June and early July. Annapolis Highland Vineyards and Muir Murray Estate Winery are already winning awards with their products (see above links).
Annapolis Highland Vineyards was recently featured in the Halifax Chronicle Herald, here.
The next Wine Professionalism/Sensory Evaluation Course to be offered in Halifax will be in February 2010. Details are available in the Education/Courses section.
CAPS/CCOVI agree on Sommelier Standard
CAPS is pleased to announce that the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) at Brock University has agreed to provide its support and endorsement of the CAPS Sommelier certificate program. The endorsement was confirmed recently by Isabelle Leschaeve, PhD, Director of CCOVI. She notes that "Sommellerie is an important component in the grape and wine value chain; they are the primary resource people for consumers that seek advice on 'the best wines to select'. Maintaining a high standard in sommelier education will ensure the training of highly qualified personnel needed by both the hospitality and Canadian grape & wine industries. Supporting such an endeavour fits within the CCOVI mandate to contribute to the advancement of the Canadian grape and wine industry through education, research and industry excellence."
They are also providing support by hosting, at CCOVI, a number of the modules delivered to those students currently enrolled in the program through Niagara College.
Two CAPS-Atlantic grads Gina Haverstock, and Alison Moyes have gone on to study Oenology at CCOVI.
Here's a fun cheese/beverage pairing site: Wisconsin Cheese Cupid
CAPS Atlantic Monthly Tastings
The next Halifax based tasting is on February 16, with the following one scheduled for March 16, 2010.
The current CAPS-Atlantic Board can be found here (password required).
There is a Gallery (under the "FUN" tab) with some photos from inside Gaspereau with winemaker/sommelier Gina Haverstock working on the 2007 vintage, called "Gina at Work".
The latest CAPS Atlantic news items can be found here.
Are you a member now? How to Pay Your Annual Dues
Check out the expanded Links section on the site - we are trying to link to every restaurant and business where our members work - this will provide you with an easy way to get to places with good wine lists. So if you are not there, please let us know!
The News/Calendar Page will help you plan your beverage tasting.
Words that are Blue can be clicked on to either contact the person, if it is a name, or link to a website.
The ads are all clickable links to the advertisers' web sites. We thank them for their support.
You can CONTACT us by email if you have any questions or have info to post on the site.