Wine on the air: time for the barbecue

Last week, I got an invitation from Sharman Yarnell, host of Showtime, a Saturday morning show on Montreal station CJAD, to talk about summer wines and, more specifically good wines for the barbecue. Sharman was charming and fun to work with, and I certainly hope to do it again some time. I have to say it’s always nice, when you’re blogging, to reach towards other media. And I’ve always loved doing radio.

I put together a list of accessible wines that could come in handy for the grilling season

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A North American Harvest

Wines & Vines magazine is a very thorough and interesting professional source of information about the wine world, especially about the North American wine industry. That is quite clear when you look at the details of their 2007 harvest report on just about every single wine producing region in the US and Canada. From the November 2006 frosts in British Columbia and Spring 2007 frosts in much of the Central US, to the higher than average mealybug infestations in Sonoma County, or to the growth in the number of wineries in the Clarksburg AVA, it’s all in there.

One thing to note is how many regions were affected by drought, which reduced yields (but generally provided high quality, healthy grapes). Irrigation was often limited because of reduced availability of water – which may not all be bad news, quality-wise. Dry farming estates may simply be more realistic than other producers, in the long run.