Twitter « Build A New Life in Prince Edward County

Contributed by Karin Desveaux-Potters, Gastronomy Cluster, Economic Development Office

Richard Karlo, Karlo Estates (photo credit Steven Elphick)

I get paid to “Tweet”. Really…I do. It’s a big part of our marketing strategy here in the Economic Development Office, particularly in the Gastronomy world ; “foodies” are on Social Media in a big, big way and so I tend to post interesting bits of info on my Twitter feed (follow me at @CreativeKarinD) and watch what others are doing and saying.

On a recent afternoon I was cruising through my Twitter feed and noted that one of my favourite “Tweeps”, sexy super-star sommelier Zoltan Szabo, was tweeting from a port tasting that was being held at the Wine Bar on Church St. I was instantly jealous because he is notorious for mentioning the fancy labels he is tasting- ya ya, I know…he’s “working”. Whatever.

So the cheeky boy tweets something about “nothing better after dinner than port or sex”. That definitely got my attention, so I asked him if he had tasted Karlo Estates Van Alstine Port, to which he replied he hadn’t but he had an idea. I connected him to Sherry and Richard of Karlo Estates here in Prince Edward County who had just started producing a port style wine via Twitter, they responded immediately and took it from there!

To make a long story short, Zoltan had the idea to feature the fortified wine in their “Cutting Edge Wines” at the Gourmet Food and Wine Show in Toronto, an event that features wine on the world stage. Following the event, Zoltan posted: “Van Alstine Port was hit, it certainly has a tremendous crowd-pleasing factor to it, great story behind label”.

Subsequently, orders have come flooding in from attendees at the show, which is not surprising based on winemaker Richard Karlo’s incredible credentials. Richard is one of the Wine Judges of Canada and has won medals in every competition he has ever entered in over 25 years of wine making, earning him the designation of Master Winemaker.

So how is the port? I would describe it as a purple-black leather liquid that coats the glass with velvet “legs”. Spicy black raspberry and cassis aromatics, red licorice and cedar following close behind. Round and full on the mouth, it is a soft and warming wine finishing with flavour to savour.

For the story behind the label, and the history of Port read John Szabo’s article in the Holiday Edition of The County Grapevine.

Top 10 Cutting Edge Wines in the World

1. 2009 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene “Bosco di Gica”, Adami, Veneto, Italy

2. 2007 “Riddled” Sparkling, Flatrock Cellars, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara, ON. Canada

3. 2008 Tsinandali, Tbivino, Kackheti, Georgia

4. 2009 White Monsoon Valley, Thialand

5. 2009 Moschofilero Mantinia, Boutari, Peloponnese, Greece

6. 2008 Reserva White Alentejo, Herdade do Esporao, Alentejo, Portugal

7. 2009 Frappato Rappatu, MaggioVini, Sicily, Italy

8. 2007 Eged-Hegy Kékfrankos, J&J Eger Wine Co., Eger, Hungary

9. 2005 Bierzo Barrica, Pittacum, Léon, Spain

10. 2008 Karlo Estates Van Alstine Port, Prince Edward County, ON. Canada

Tags: Gastronomy, John Szabo, Master Winemaker, port, Prince Edward County, Twitter, Van Alstine Port, Zoltan Szabo
Comments (8) | Posted over a year ago by Karin Desveaux-Potters

Cochon555 and Cool Chardonnay

Contributed by Karin Desveaux-Potters, EDO, Gastronomy Cluster

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY GOES GLOBAL

note: Huff Estates Cuvee Peter Sparkling was also featured but in another room at the same event

Many of you followed my journey this past week to Portland Oregon on Facebook and Twitter as I travelled to Cochon555 with an arsenal of Prince Edward County wine and cheese in tow. Simultaneously, Prince Edward County wines were being tasted on the other side of the pond in England where cool climate chardonnays were being sampled to extremely high praise of critics.

What does this tell us?

From my perspective down in Oregon this past week, I knew with 100% certainty that we’re onto something here in PEC. I had brought with me wines from 5 different PEC wineries and 3 different cheeses from Fifth Town Artisan Cheese.

Feeling a little like the main attraction at a freak show, uber-hip foodies passed by the very subtle table (no fanfare, minimal signage, very basic set up) with mild to lukewarm interest at first, asking vague, polite questions about where we are and what we do.

Keep in mind that this is primarily a trade event (restaurant, wine people and retail folks) and that I was there pouring (among other wines) Pinot Noir in Oregon.

The proof was in the pudding, however and the results spread like wildfire! As soon as people began to taste, I had an unending stream of eager, curious and ultimately very pleased tasters visiting the PEC booth.

Being the only non-Oregon participant at an event that celebrates local heritage breeds of pigs, the chefs who use whole animals on a regular basis and small, family-owned wineries was a badge of honour in itself.

But the overwhelmingly positive reaction from guests as they tasted and asked questions was proof that yes- we ARE the emerging wine and food region that we profess to be. Oh- and by the way…the cheese was also a smash hit and will now be finding its’ way onto Portland’s tables in private homes and restaurants via The Cheese Bar, Portland’s most important source for cheese.

Tags: cheese, cool climate chardonnay, Facebook, Oregon, Pinot Noir, Prince Edward County, Twitter, wine
Comments (1) | Posted over a year ago by Karin Desveaux-Potters

#internationalpigday

In like a lion, out like a…pig? Yes indeed! March 2010 marked the first #internationalpigday that quickly became Pig Month here in Prince Edward County.

Diversity is the Way To Go “It’s terrible. If I didn’t have a little bit of everything, I wouldn’t be able to still survive. At one time, they said we had to be bigger, but now diversity is the safer way to go.”

-County Farmer Blaine Way on the state of the pork industry right now. He is hopeful that initiatives like International Pig Day celebrations next month will help create opportunities to sell his product locally since the bottom has fallen out of the export market.

(QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Picton Gazette, February 26, 2010)

On Monday February 22, 2010 a group of local pig farmers, processors, promoters and media gathered at Buddha Dog on Main Street Picton for the announcement of the first annual International Pig Day in Prince Edward County. Buddha Dog is working with local pig farmer Blaine Way of Milford and Ted Aman of Aman’s Abattoir in Wellington to create their first “Pork Dog”; the dog was sampled at the event and was a smash hit. Also included in Buddha Dog’s Pork Dog feature was Black River cheddar, an apple/onion chutney by local chef Michael Potters and Sage Buns Pastry House Bakery proprietor Peter Grendel.

Local Pork board director Oliver Haan was in attendance, saying that without the support of local food initiatives in conjunction with direct marketing and sales that pig farming would not survive.

Based on media interest from Toronto writers (generated through the Social Media network of the EDO and Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance Executive Director Rebecca LeHeup), a second press conference was scheduled at the Toronto Buddha Dog location three days later.

The Toronto event was also well attended with over 15 members of the press who showed up to sample the dog and hear the story about pork in Prince Edward County. They were directed to video streams of the Picton event that were immediately uploaded to the PEC Youtube channel to see and hear what our producers and processors had to say about Pig Day.

Recognizing opportunity to stimulate economic growth is the primary responsibility of an Economic Development Office (EDO); these opportunities can often manifest in exciting, cutting edge ways. As the world moves toward a new era of Social Media networking, PEC’s EDO Team is making it a top priority to understand and utilize this technological opportunity to destroy barriers of geographic distance and bring the various messages of local business to the desired markets. The Pig Day Media Release and Press Days were a prime example of the power of Social Media tools to get a message to the desired audiences quickly.

Twitter is a Social Media platform where businesses and individual connect and “tweet” communicate with one another using a series of short messages. It was the tool EDO used to gauge interest in celebrating Pig Day upon Dan Taylor’s return from an investment attraction mission where he got the idea from US contacts. The response from the Twitter world was positive and strong, prompting local business owner Andrew Mackenzie of Buddha Dog to connect with Blaine Way to acquire a pig and Ted Aman of Aman’s Abattoir to create Buddha Dog’s first ever Pig Dog. Recognizing this as an opportunity to tell the story of local pork producers using value add products as a way to make pork farming viable, EDO immediately set in motion the Pig Day Media Days. The rest unfolded naturally.

The objective of these efforts is to draw attention to the value add opportunities and encourage stakeholders to work together to dream up opportunities that can transform ag-related products into financially viable business models. The pig dog is one example of an effective value-add use of pork, but countless others remain untapped including salami, various sausages and specialty bacon products.

Having accessed funding dollars through Savour Ontario, the EDO is organizing a pig roast on Tuesday, March 30 as a part of the annual Harvestin’ Farmer-Chef Meet and Greet. The meet and greet is an opportunity for chefs to make direct connections with local farmers and facilitate buying locally grown. Pig farmers will be featured prominently at this event, as will other kinds of farmers; a new addition this year at the meet and greet will be wineries, the County’s newest kind of farm.

Local business owners can learn more about the power of Social Media and how t access it at a series of free, brown-bag lunches called #SMBB hosted every Friday by the EDO in the large boardroom on the second floor of The Edward Building, 280 Main Street, Picton.

Social Media Teamwork Sells Port

Cochon555 and Cool Chardonnay

#internationalpigday

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