Let’ s imagine that all of Winnipeg is a vineyard similar to Burgundy. If you wanted basic Winnipeg wine, you could pick grapes, throw them in a vat and slap a label on it that says“ Winnipeg.” Winnipeg, however, is a big city. There are two large rivers, several different soil types, different topography, and on any given day it can hail in Transcona and be sunny in St. James. As you can imagine, the grapes will vary a lot in this giant Winnipeg vineyard, so let’ s narrow our focus further. Let’ s pick grapes in only the St. Vital region of Winnipeg.
St Vital is still a large area, but most of the vines will live close to the Red River, growing in clay soil in fairly consistent weather. These grapes will taste different than the grapes from West Kildonan, and will be a step up in quality from the more general“ Winnipeg” region, so let’ s label it“ St. Vital Villages.” From St Vital, we can narrow our focus further to one street in the sub-region that, year after year, produces amazing grapes: Nicolet. On that street, the clay is a bit deeper, the water table is lower, and the vines need to dig deep to find nutrients and minerals. After years of study, we know that this street produces the best grapes. We now have St. Vital Premier Cru Nicolet. Further study shows that one block on that street has the best of all conditions. Perfect topography, great soil, perfect sun exposure, and it is about the size of the Banville & Jones wine store. All these conditions create the perfect environment that consistently produces the best Pinot Noir. In Burgundy terms, we would call it Banville & Jones Grand Cru.
EXPLORING BURGUNDY Where does one begin in such a historical wine region? If Chardonnay is your grape, the steely wines of Chablis have plenty to offer you. Moving further south into the Côte d’ Or, both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are grown. The Côte d’ Or is split up into two main divisions: the Côte de Beaune and the Côte de Nuits. The Côte de Beaune is predominantly made up of limestone soils, making it perfect for Chardonnay and for lighterstyle Pinot Noir, whereas the Côte de Nuits has a limestone and clay soil that produces richer and heavier Pinot Noir. In Southern Burgundy, where Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Gamay( the grape of Beaujolais) are grown,
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