Limo service with a difference

My friend Lloyd Lamoureux has launched a new car service.
Lloyd is a great guy and a real professional in a business where there a lots of fly-by-nights and frankly some scary, unreliable drivers.
I highly recommend SilkRoad Car Service and encourage you to consider Lloyd for your GTA area driving needs.

Niagara Wine Country Weekend II

So, where were we?
Think I'd just left off with a promise to share a restaurant find with you albeit reluctantly.
On the recommendation of a friend who is completely tuned in to the Niagara wine and food scene, we were directed to REST - Stone Road Grille. Located on Stone Road just a stone's throw from downtown NOTL there's a grubby little mall. In that grubby little mall there is a little restaurant that is a giant in terms of hospitality, service, ambience and food. They also have a very impressive and intriguing wine list completely dedicated to VQA. In fact the Wine Council of Ontario awarded REST the 2008 Gold Award of Excellence for Best VQA wine list. The proprietors, Heidi and Perry Johnson have created the closest duplicate of a Sonoma experience I've ever enjoyed in anyplace other than...well...Sonoma! I encourage you to visit the site www.stoneroadgrille.com for the full story (quite amusing history) and moreso, when you're next in Wine Country make sure you plan a lunch or dinner at REST. Just do it when I'm not in town. Hate to lose a seat.
It was at REST that we made a discovery. On the wine list I noticed under the Sauvignon Blanc/Fume Blanc heading a listing "Foreign Affair 2007 Amarone Style $52." Intrigued at the idea of an Amarone style white I asked Mr. Johnson about this and he offered a generous taste. Loved it. Ordered it. Drank it and next day placed a visit to the winery on our itinerary.
The Foreign Affair Winery (www.foreignaffairwine.com) is located at Vineland Station. Kind of a challenge to find it but nothing a good navigator can't overcome. Anyway, first stop Sunday morning and met the proprietor who shared an interesting and inspiring story of how he and his wife came to produce wines in this style in the challenging and unlikely Niagara location. I encourage you to visit and chat. I think the wines are terrific not just 'cause I'm a big Amarone fan but because Foreign Affair took on a tough challenge and have succeeded. Apparently, four of their wines will appear in Vintages this fall and that's quite an achievement.
So that's the end of the Wine Country weekend post. Can't recommend this destination more highly and promise that you'll not be disappointed by the welcome you receive.

Ah, the consistency of mediocrity

Not entirely sure why I keep giving these guys more exposure when I find their advertising so heinous. It's kind of like the way one can't resist slowing down to view a horrid crash on the highway. Anyway, here's another in the dramatically horrid beef-as-topographical-feature series from the Beef Checkoff (Chekov?) and http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/. And it's not like I get thousands or hundreds or tens of hits on this blog so guess it's just fun for me to take a pot-roast shot with no risk of enabling the spread of this beefy virus.

Genuinely awful series though.

A weekend in Niagara Wine Country

So, what do to do for Katie's recent birthday?

I've had the pleasure of spending quite a bit of time in Niagara Wine Country since last December but still felt there was much more to explore. So off we headed to the Oban Inn for a weekend of winery touring, spa treatments and relaxation.

Our visit coincided with the the Wine and Herb Festival which features touring 21 wineries in Niagara-on-the-Lake where each visit featured a different herb-themed food pairing matched to one of the wineries VQA wines.

Nope. Didn't make it to all 21 but I think we did a respectable job by visiting 13 - one of which wasn't on the tour at all (more on that shortly.)

It was a really interesting experience to see how each of the wineries, from giants to mom & pop operations presented themselves and their products. Without exception the passion for the product came through loud and clear at the small wineries and indeed at one of the bigger operations as well. Chateau des Charmes, of all the 'big' shops clearly embraces the locavore spirit of Niagara and their pairing of the sprightly and refreshing Aligote (only winery in Canada to produce this excellent summer white) with a lemon basil infused cracker from Anna Olson topped with Anna's Aligote jelly. Bias alert - yes, Chateau des Charmes (www.chateaudescharmes.com) is a client but even still our experience was great.

From the Chateau it was off to Coyote's Run where the Pinot Gris/Pinot Blanc was matched with a chive temptation. (www.coyotesrunwinery.com) Lot's of charm to this small operation and some lovely wines as well. Cattail Creek Estate Winery (www.cattailcreek.ca) treated us to their 2007 Off-Dry Riesling and somehow managed to make it work with their herb treat focused on cilantro (I don't much care for cilantro but they used just a fine wee touch to accent the shrimp). At Maleta Estate Winery (www.maletawinery.com) I enjoyed the 2007 VIEW Pinot Noir and while I know they were matched up with savoury I can't remember the appetizer. Their approach to branding their wines was kind of cool though with their porch sippers and thirst quenchers gathered up under the Grape Brain brand and the higher end products, including their Cuvee winner Brut, flying the View brand. Nice approach and a bit of a surprise from such a little place. Well worth a visit.

On the downside was one of the corporate giants of Niagara (yes, giant being a relative term...we're not talking WalMart here). Hillebrand (www.hillebrand.com) was heaving. While it sure seems to attract a lot of tourist traffic it was highly disappointing in that no one seemed to know where the wine and herb station was nor that the Festival was on. We finally discovered a lonely college student stuck off in a corner serving up the 2007 Artist Series "Limited Edition" Gewurztraminer with some parsley concoction. Well, guess Hillebrand can take the award for longest wine name on the tour and least interest shown in those of us on the Festival tour.

To be fair, they did do a slightly better job that Joseph's Estate Wines (www.josephsestatewines.com) where the purported offering of 2006 Chenin Blanc and a French sorrel treat was no where to be found. Guess being landed with sorrel proved to great a chore.

Jackson Triggs Niagara Estate Winery (www.jacksontriggswinery.com) takes first place in the herb pairing contest from my perspective. Again, with Anna Olson as the chef, they served a delightful basil biscotti along with their very flavourful 2006 Proprietors' Grad Reserve White Meritage. This is really lovely spot to visit and the people there create the impression of smallness even though they too are one of the biggies.

Right next door at Stratus (www.stratuswines.com) we got a surprisingly warm welcome in what is a very modern and somewhat sterile atmosphere. They absolutely though nailed the tough bergamot pairing by creating a bergamot infused creme brullee paired with their lucious 2007 Riesling Icewine. This turned out to be quite a nice stop on the tour and frankly exceeded our expectations just based on architecture alone.

More to follow in next edition where I'll reluctantly reveal the name and location of one of the very best restaurant experiences I've ever enjoyed.

Anyone who works in an agency client relationship needs to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

I'm so relieved I've never had a client pull these stunts!!!

Entrepreneurial challenges

So there's one thing about operating a home-based business that poses a bit of a challenge. Distraction.

However, my son Gabriel, while certainly capable of distracting me, he brings great perspective to my working day.

Now, so long as I can keep him motivated to help with the landscaping and weed control we're in good shape.

This winter I fully expect to be relieved of the burden of shovelling snow.

That's a challenge I'm happy to forgo.

What recession?

Maybe we're just isolated from world-wide trends here in Old Oakville but I don't think so. In our region there is a tremendously high concentration of entrepreneurs. In fact Halton region may have more independently run businesses than anywhere else in Canada.
Heard on the news this morning that there was an increase in job creation last month of 39,000. Yes, the majority were self-employed positions but regardless kind of encouraging on the one hand to realize that people are taking matters into their own hands and foresaking the victim mentality that can arise from depending upon large behemoths to provide for you.
On that point, my friend and colleague Grace Attard is about to launch a great new service here in Oakville. I won't spill all the beans but suffice to say she has a terrific idea about how to enable and empower entrepreneurial breakthroughs. She will create a spot where entrepreneurs can gather to benefit from senior-level, multi-discipline advice; make use of meeting space other than the traditional coffee shop or beige hotel meeting room; and, most importantly get the personal and business coaching required for many of us to truly bring our ideas to beneficial fruition.
Anyway, stay tuned for more about this and be watching for the CBC program, Enter the Coliseum (I'll let you know when it is expected to air) to learn more about Grace and other entrepreneurs who are taking the 'recession' into their own hands and saying, "I'm in control of my own destiny!"