(At least not in Vancouver from what I can tell.)
When I was in Toronto over Easter, I promised my friends LV that I would bring them a splendid Riesling NPY introduced me to: Dr. Loosen Riesling. It’s so light and sweet. But I couldn’t find it anywhere (i.e., I called LCBO and Wine Rack, both of which were close by, and neither had it). So I drove over to the Wine Rack in Loblaws to pick whatever inspired me.
Inspiration was easy to find when the first thing I saw was a colourful red display for wines from the Inniskillin East West series! I can’t remember if the display indicated that the wines were available ahead of the coming Canada Day or would not be available after July.
Inniskillin has a winery in Osoyoos, BC that we visited back in ’07. We even went for a proper wine tour and tried their famous ice wines. Inniskillin also has a winery in the Niagara region in Ontario, which I have not yet had the opportunity to visit. The East West series brings the flavours from the different winemaking regions into a single wine, two reds and a white.
Since I was in the market for a white wine, the 2009 Riesling-Gewurztraminer looked very appealing. I chilled it while running more errands and we enjoyed it at LV’s ahead of heading out to Devil’s Martini. It was very sweet and smooth, compared to the Girls’ Night Out chardonnay we had afterwards, and I would have bought a couple more bottles if I had known I couldn’t find it outside of Toronto/Ontario… and if I wasn’t going back to Vancouver with just a carry-on suitcase (cursed liquid restriction).
It was also the most appropriate wine for me and for the occasion. Afterall, East West is exactly my parents’ restaurant’s name. And I was on a fun-filled trip to visit the easterly city of Toronto and LV, from the westerly city of Vancouver!