Last week I traveled to Vancouver with my wife to attend my
sister-in-laws graduation from UBC. What a beautiful part of the country! Vancouver had such a different feeling than Toronto , people seem more relax and I hardly heard any car
horns while staying in Kitsilano (a neighbourhood in Vancouver ). I really enjoyed my time
exploring Vancouver
and getting a feel for the west coast.
While attending my sister-in-laws graduation on the
spectacular UBC campus, I realized two things. 1) UBC knows how to graduate in
style as the PAC gymnasium at the University
of Waterloo
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| Chan Centre UBC |
After the graduation we went out to an amazing dinner at
Bishops (see Vancouver Part 2). After the meal I began to think about which
private wine stores I would visit in the next few days. It would be a brand new
experience!
For those who are not aware, there are two sources in which
you can buy wine in BC. You can either go to their government run store (BC Liquor)
or buy from their many private stores. Sadly,
During my stay in Vancouver ,
I visited three private wine stores and was very impressed with the overall
quality of the wine that they had and the friendly and knowledgeable staff. I really
enjoyed viewing different wines that are not available back home in Ontario . Thanks to the
great selection at Marquis, I decided to purchase a bottle of Domaine Tempier
La Tourtine 2008 which is mainly Mourvedre, from the Bandol region. I’m really
looking forward to opening that in the future! Wait, I’m getting off topic!
Time to get back to talking about private wine stores…
I visited the following private stores in Vancouver :
- Marquis Wine
- Liberty Wine (Granville Island
- Kitsilano Wine
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| Kitsilano Wine (Home of the DRC!) |
I was very impressed, as each store had a great selection of
wines at different price points. I was especially excited to be able to view several
bottles of Domain de la Romanée Conti (DRC) and many First Growths up cloBurgundy at
Marquis and many different labels and regions that are not represented in Ontario . I really
enjoyed seeing the representation of the American Pacific Northwest (Washington
& Oregon )
at these stores. I’ve come to really enjoy wines from that region, but they are
hard to acquire and I feel this is an area that is very limited at the LCBO.
se at
Kitsilano Wine. Sadly these wines were in a glass case, so I was not able to
touch greatness (Many of the DRC were in the $4,000 range!) I also enjoyed
seeing the great selection of
My only complaint about these private stores is their
pricing. More often than not, the prices at these private stores are a lot more
expensive than LCBO prices. I’m not sure why this is the Vancouver
as a whole is pretty pricey (gas is 1.40 a litre!). So maybe that is the reason…
case. The only answer
I could think of is that  |
| Marquis Wine |
I was extremely impressed with the private wine stores in Vancouver . While walking
down the aisle I kept on thinking to myself “this be nice to have in Ontario ”. I would love
to know my local wine store owner by name, to buy from someone who is
passionate & educated, and to not have to deal with a government monopoly
when it comes to wine. That would be amazing! I would love to see private
stores open in Ontario ,
but I am not even sure if it will happen in my lifetime.
Kudos to B.C. and their private wine stores. Keep up the
passion!
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| Liberty Wines Granville Island |
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