🍑 The Peach Wine Revolution:

Meet Nina Kopanski, who shares the fascinating journey of transforming surplus peaches into delightful fruit wines. The original sweet peach wine might have been to everyone’s taste, but it was Nina’s cutting creativity (literally, with ice or soda water!) that transformed public perception.

🥂 Port Wine Tasting:

Andrea dives into the rich, smoky notes of Cornerstone Estate Winery’s port wine alongside Ryan and Neil, some of the winery’s enthusiastic visitors. With drizzling “legs” hinting at high sugar and alcohol content, this port wine is a must-try dessert delight!

🥤 Canned Convenience:

Celebrate the liberating movement towards canned wine with Cornerstone Estate Winery’s award-winning fizzy peach wine and newly launched strawberry rhubarb spritz. Perfect for social gatherings, these drinks redefine portability without compromising on flavor or quality.

🧀 Perfect Pairings:

Discover the classic and creative pairings for your wines. From Stilton with a sumptuous port to salty snacks with the tangy strawberry rhubarb spritz, the options to tickle your palate are endless!

Andrea Morris [00:00:00]:
Hello, friends. I’m Andrea Morris, and welcome to the first ever podcast episode of Spill the Wine. As you might imagine, Spill the Wine is a podcast about wine, and it’s a fun journey that we should be having with wine tastings, disguised to debunk some of the myths about wine, because there are so very many. Like, you have to know something about wine in order to enjoy it, while wine has to be expensive in order to be good. We’re debunking all of this in this podcast. So we are going to start our journey off on spill the wine with Cornerstone Estate Winery, which is one of my, I have to say, one of my favorite little spots in the Niagara region, and it’s also one of the few places that produces fruit wine. We are here with the lovely Nina, and she is going to be our host for the afternoon or for the first now next hour rather. Hello, Nina.

Andrea Morris [00:00:48]:
Hello. Good to see

Nina Kopanski [00:00:50]:
you again. Good to see

Andrea Morris [00:00:50]:
you as well. So tell me a little bit about Cornerstone Estate Winery. How did

Nina Kopanski [00:00:53]:
you guys get started? We’re actually in our 2nd generation. My parents started the winery. We purchased the farm back in 1999. And, at the time, about half of the farm was empty. So my parents were asking neighbors and locals, like, what what’s what’s the hot crop? What’s the thing to plant in the turn of the century in Niagara? And everybody said the same thing. Everybody said wine grapes. Wineries were just starting to expand sort of out of Niagara on the lake and and establishing vineyards out here to source those wineries. So everybody said, plight grapes.

Nina Kopanski [00:01:31]:
People are gonna need them. Wineries are gonna pop up, and you’ll be in business. So that’s what we did. For a few years, we were simply grape growers that supplied other wineries. And in 2002, we decided to rather, in 2002, we had our first real crop. And we sold most of those grapes. We kept a few for ourselves and we made a little wine for ourselves. And for the next couple of years, we decided to continue doing that until 2005 when we decided to, go full throttle and do it ourselves and open our own winery.

Andrea Morris [00:02:06]:
Did you hire a winemaker or did you make your own wine yourselves?

Nina Kopanski [00:02:10]:
A bit of both over the years. We’ve always had either an assistant winemaker, a winemaking consultant, a full blown winemaker, someone, a professional around. But my parents also know how to make wine. They, you know, they both grew up on farms, in communist Poland. So people used to what they had. And, my dad actually studied agricultural engineering back in Poland, which is essentially a degree of farming. So they’re quite well versed in agriculture, particularly specializing in fruit. So.

Nina Kopanski [00:02:49]:
Hence the fruit wines that we’ll be trading. Yeah. Hence the fruit wines. So on a day to day basis, I would say it’s usually me and dad doing a lot of the, the hands on work in terms of wine making, but we do have, an winemaking consultant at the moment that is just making sure everything’s done by the book, making sure everything’s the way it’s supposed to be. So it’s very collaborative.

Andrea Morris [00:03:13]:
Everybody does everything. In a small winery, that seems to be the way things go.

Nina Kopanski [00:03:18]:
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I never really leave, but well, again It’s not so terrible when you like your job.

Andrea Morris [00:03:24]:
Well, and there’s a little bit of you and all the wine. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So we’re gonna do a tasting today so that I can tell the listeners what your wines are like and kind of like a virtual wine tasting. So while you’re listening, friends, you’re not gonna be able to taste it, but you’re gonna want to. Let’s grab a couple glasses. Let’s do it, and let’s start some tasting.

Andrea Morris [00:03:46]:
And may I just add that, we will have photos on the show notes of all the wines that we’re tasting today.

Nina Kopanski [00:03:52]:
So what are we starting with, Nina? We’re gonna start with one of my favorite wines. A nice crisp riesling. Woah. This, my friends, is bad moon riesling from 2020. Love the nae. Brings a little creenings clear water into it. Yeah. Alright.

Andrea Morris [00:04:13]:
It is a lovely color. Kind of

Nina Kopanski [00:04:17]:
a light a light yellow. Yeah. Pretty pale. Pretty pale. This one was a really interesting production for us actually. Typically in our productions, we simply use our own grapes. We grow about 11 acres of grapes. But in 2020, first of all, 2020 was weird.

Nina Kopanski [00:04:40]:
COVID year. We were all we all remember it was a strange year. It was particularly interesting for us in 2020 because as my parents own the winery and they live on the property, technically, all of this is registered under their home address. Oh. So we could kind of work from home. We’re in a way, and we were able to do a lot of things that a lot of wonderies couldn’t do. And we, you know, we complained at the time. You know, how many times did I hear my friends saying, oh, I’m so bored.

Nina Kopanski [00:05:12]:
I’ve watched Tiger King twice. And meanwhile, I’m here 7 days a week doing things in the vineyard that I’ve never even done just to keep things moving along. Wow. But back to this, bad moon riesling, we ended up making this riesling not only from our own vineyards, but also from 2 of our neighbors. Independent growers, a lot of them had some issues in 2020. Wineries that were under lockdown and didn’t have someone on the property, didn’t have someone who could quote work from home Right. Ended up stuck with their grapes. And, let me know that the grapes don’t care if they’re gonna grow regardless, and they’re only gonna last so long.

Nina Kopanski [00:05:57]:
So we took all of them. Whatever anyone came calling with, we took it on.

Andrea Morris [00:06:07]:
And this is the result.

Nina Kopanski [00:06:08]:
Like Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is, if the you know, if the tables were turned, you want your neighbor to do the same for you. Right? And that’s kinda how we started. When we were great girls, there were times when we were stuck with grapes as well, and you hope that someone would help you out. So

Andrea Morris [00:06:22]:
Yeah. It’s one of the nice things about the Niagara region. It seems that everybody really has each other’s back.

Nina Kopanski [00:06:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s, you know, for having a good year, we’re all having a good year. Yeah. If we’re having a 2020, then, you know, we’re all in it together. So let’s taste it and then

Andrea Morris [00:06:39]:
let’s taste it. Cheers. Cheers. Our first wine tasting.

Nina Kopanski [00:06:47]:
So the funny thing about this riesling, I get to write the labels and put all the content together. And I realized all 3 vineyards ended up harvested the exact same day, which was Halloween 2020. Oh, yes. Yes. Halloween in 2020 was not only a full moon that night, but it was a blue moon. So really spooky vibes, you know, plus it’s COVID Halloween, so none of the kids are trick or treating. Yeah. It’s just a really cool coincidence that all the grapes, even from different vineyards, were harvested that night.

Nina Kopanski [00:07:23]:
So we couldn’t resist the CCR pun.

Andrea Morris [00:07:26]:
Yeah. Exactly.

Nina Kopanski [00:07:26]:
And bad moon riesling was born.

Andrea Morris [00:07:29]:
And great t shirts. And the wine has a nice citrusy overtone to it, I find.

Nina Kopanski [00:07:34]:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s very lemon, green apple.

Andrea Morris [00:07:38]:
If you were going to serve this wine with something, what would you serve it with? Like a fish or a light pasta?

Nina Kopanski [00:07:43]:
My favorite is honey garlic wings.

Andrea Morris [00:07:46]:
Oh. Oh, okay. Now we’re talking.

Nina Kopanski [00:07:48]:
Yes. Yes. Actually, let me tell you what it says on the label here. Okay. Should I just read the whole thing for you?

Andrea Morris [00:07:57]:
If you would like, go right ahead.

Nina Kopanski [00:07:58]:
Let’s do it. Hand harvested by the glow of the October blue moon before crushing and gently pressing. Fermented in stainless steel tanks and bottled under a blood moon. Forgot to mention that part. Pale straw color with aromas of grapefruit and green apple, medium acidity on the palate with zesty lemongrass notes, and a hint of sweetness at 7 grams per liter residual sugar. Pair with honey garlic wings, Cajun shrimp, or anything as bittersweet as 2020 was. That’s great. There’s a bad moon on the reeds.

Nina Kopanski [00:08:31]:
Nice.

Nina Kopanski [00:08:32]:
Nice. It’s a fun one.

Andrea Morris [00:08:34]:
You know? You should send a bottle to John Forgate.

Nina Kopanski [00:08:37]:
I should. That’s not a bad idea.

Andrea Morris [00:08:38]:
Yeah. Get him to, like, you know, write do a little jingle for you. We’ll get them to listen. Yeah. That that’s our name. No. Really lovely, very light, really refreshing for summer. That’s what I’m saying.

Nina Kopanski [00:08:50]:
Yeah. Absolutely. It’s like adult lemonade on a hot day, you know? Oh, love that sounds good. Today. Yeah. You just wanna sit outside and have something that’s, you know, refreshing and crisp and thirst quenching and a little bit acidic, but not bone dry.

Andrea Morris [00:09:04]:
Just And also not overly sweet either. It’s just like just a really nice thirst quencher. Mhmm. And you could easily go through a bottle with this.

Nina Kopanski [00:09:12]:
Oh, yeah. But we won’t because we’re gonna move

Andrea Morris [00:09:14]:
on to our next wine. That’s right.

Nina Kopanski [00:09:21]:
Which is Oh. Our next one is a rose.

Andrea Morris [00:09:24]:
Which is also perfect for a hot summer day. Yes. I might say.

Nina Kopanski [00:09:31]:
So, friends, are we ready for some blush hour? Oh. This is actually, technically, blush hour 2, if

Andrea Morris [00:09:42]:
you will. Blush hour, the sequel.

Nina Kopanski [00:09:44]:
Yeah. It’s the second version of this rose. As I mentioned, we started making wine back in 2002, but it wasn’t until 2020 that we made our first rose. January of 2020 before things got messy, we collaborated with a few other wineries and we decided to do our own passport, like pass. And it, You know, the one where you pay, you know, in advance and then you get to go to all these wineries and taste

Andrea Morris [00:10:15]:
A bunch of different wines. Yeah. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:10:17]:
Yeah. For one for one small price. Yes. Yeah. So we did these, these this passport thing, and it was only $19. And each passport was good for 2 people to go to 6 wineries and taste 3 wines each. I believe the math adds up to 36 tastings. That is

Andrea Morris [00:10:36]:
a bargain at twice the price, my friend. Exactly.

Nina Kopanski [00:10:40]:
Yeah. So we sold a lot of these tickets. I think it went through WAGJAG and, they were a hit. And you could use these passports up until the end of December, so you have the whole year to use them.

Andrea Morris [00:10:55]:
That’s incredible because usually it’s just one weekend for them. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:10:58]:
Yeah. But because it’s a bunch of small wineries, we thought let’s give people, you know, a lot of allowance. Some people may not be from here. I don’t wanna make them go to 6 wineries in a day.

Andrea Morris [00:11:11]:
And then get trashed and get in an accident on the way home.

Nina Kopanski [00:11:13]:
Yeah. Yeah. So don’t drink and

Andrea Morris [00:11:17]:
drive, listeners. Don’t drink and drive. Yes. Always have a designated driver. But yeah. So this flush hour became a product of that.

Nina Kopanski [00:11:27]:
Yeah. So we kept heat. So once we locked down in March of 2020, of course, we couldn’t do any tastings or anything of that sort. But when we reopened for outdoor tastings in June, it was like people had never seen grass. We have never seen so many people here as we did that summer. We had cars parked up all the way to our neighbor’s fence. Wow. I was calling anyone I knew in Beamsville who had the weekend off.

Nina Kopanski [00:11:52]:
Friends from high school. I was like, listen. I’ll pay you $20 an hour. Just come in and help me pour wine because it was absolute chaos. Because people wanted to use these passports. Right? They bought them in January. We opened up in June. They didn’t know you know, nobody knew what was going on.

Andrea Morris [00:12:09]:
Right.

Nina Kopanski [00:12:10]:
I had I was sending my coworkers to my parents’ house to go drag their patio furniture over here to just put people somewhere. It was chaos. But at the same time, it was it was good because it was nice to see that people were still wanting to support local and come out and, you know, help us pay our bills, I suppose. Right. Yeah. Recover from COVID. Yeah. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:12:33]:
So all summer, I kept hearing the same thing. And because people couldn’t even come indoors yet. And before I even get anyone a menu, I kept hearing the same phrase all summer long. For my three samples, I wanna try a white, a red, and a rose. And I mean, we have port, we have fruit wines, we have ice wine, late harvest sparkling, but we didn’t have rose. So that fall, I thought, let’s let’s just do it. Let’s do a rose. It can’t be that difficult.

Nina Kopanski [00:13:11]:
I mean, we can make white wine. We can make red wine. We can make fruit wine and all kinds of wines. Let’s do a rose. People not only want rose, they’re begging for it. They they anticipate rose. They just assume we have rose. Not even that, like, do you have it? No.

Nina Kopanski [00:13:28]:
Like, I want it. So in 2020, we took a portion of our Gamaine, our Cabernet Franc, and did about a 5050 blend. It came out beautiful. It was very raspberry cranberry notes. It was on the dry side, but it was this beautiful coral color. And it was such a hit that we did it again in 2021, which is what we’re tasting now. The 20 finally getting to the point of the story. Uh-huh.

Nina Kopanski [00:13:55]:
The 2021 blush hour. So, yes, the thing with wines is it’s hard to make the same wine twice, almost impossible when working in small batches.

Andrea Morris [00:14:04]:
Well, because there’s so much that affects the wine, like the terrain, the weather, there’s so many different varieties of things that could happen to change the wine. So it’s interesting that you said that because it’s very true. Yeah. Even though we This actually smells like a little bit of raspberry, I think.

Nina Kopanski [00:14:19]:
I get a lot of, like, raspberry strawberry. Yeah. Very fruity smelling. Yes. And then on the palate, I get more watermelon. It’s very, like, summer fruit.

Andrea Morris [00:14:30]:
It’s sweeter than the 2020. A little bit. Yeah. Sweeter, but it’s got a little bit of that watermelon on it. You’re right. In the on the back of my palate. Yep. It’s really lovely.

Andrea Morris [00:14:39]:
This is another great hot weather. Yeah. Chill this, sit outside, read a book, have a barbecue. Absolutely. Fantastic. Listener, you will love this. It’s really, really great.

Nina Kopanski [00:14:52]:
Now I’m blushing for blush hour. It does come with a treat because Oh. Our tasting notes are written in the form of a poem. Yes. How great is that? How convenient. So, listeners, if you wanna hear it, I’m gonna read it for you anyway. Right. This is blush hour 2.

Nina Kopanski [00:15:13]:
It’s served chilled. It’s quite pink. It’s so easy to drink. It’s our new favorite crushable wine. Pair it with some light cheese or some seafood. Yes, please. Either way, it’s sure to shine. On the palate, you’ll find strawberry intertwined with grapefruit and watermelon too.

Nina Kopanski [00:15:30]:
With Cab Franc and Gamay, a hot summer day, you’ll be reaching for blush hour too.

Andrea Morris [00:15:37]:
Woo hoo. I would agree with that poem a 100%.

Nina Kopanski [00:15:42]:
My, grandmother writes a lot of poetry, so I I channeled her and decided to do that for all of our roses. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:15:49]:
Write them as poems. That’s right. Make it a collector series of poetry. Yeah. There’ll be a little blue a a blush hour book in the future. Yes. Yes. Poetry.

Andrea Morris [00:15:56]:
It’s really lovely in it.

Nina Kopanski [00:15:57]:
And, listen, there, it’s a very hot

Andrea Morris [00:15:59]:
day here today as we record this. So this is absolutely fantastic and refreshing.

Nina Kopanski [00:16:07]:
We can call it prosay. Like, rose?

Andrea Morris [00:16:13]:
I love that idea.

Nina Kopanski [00:16:14]:
We’re onto something. Yay. Are we ready for our next one? We are ready. We’re gonna open up some red. Oh and a white? We’ve done a rose. Now it’s time for red.

Andrea Morris [00:16:33]:
As people would request at a wine tasting. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:16:36]:
We’re gonna try a variety that is super common in Niagara, but not as much for the rest of the world. We’re gonna try some Cabernet Franc.

Andrea Morris [00:16:45]:
It is a big it is a big wine in this region. And it’s a lovely color, listener. Kinda looks like a plum. It’s that color purple of a plum. Yes. And smells a little plummy as well.

Nina Kopanski [00:17:05]:
Yeah. This one’s really interesting.

Andrea Morris [00:17:07]:
It’s really good. It’s a very complex nose to it. So and for those of you new to the wine world, nose means the smell and that’s not really being snobby. But now you can use that when you go to the wine tasting. The bouquet, the The bierry, the nose. Now you can sound like fufu.

Nina Kopanski [00:17:22]:
Yeah. So I’m sure you’re aware of Cabernet Franc, but I Those who may not be aware of Cabernet Franc. I’m sure everyone’s aware of Cabernet Sauv is the world’s most grown grape in the most regions in the world, by acreage, by leaders. It’s the red grape everybody knows. But Cabernet Sauvignon is a hybrid. Maybe not a hybrid, but it’s not a

Andrea Morris [00:17:57]:
the bastard child of Cabernet.

Nina Kopanski [00:18:01]:
Kind of, kind of. Cabernet Franc is the original Cabernet. In fact, if you follow the, if you just simply look at the word Cabernet Sauvignon, you can figure out who the mother is. It’s Sauvignon Blanc. Uh-huh. Yeah. Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc. You get Cabernet Sauvignon.

Nina Kopanski [00:18:22]:
They wanted to make this super grape, and they did. I mean, Cabernet Sauvignon is a hit everywhere you plant it, but it does it it can struggle in some cooler climates. There are pockets of Niagara brick grows fantastic, there’s also pockets where it just, it’s a little

Andrea Morris [00:18:43]:
too cold for it. And this there, we are on what’s called the bench region. So we’re a little higher elevation here than in say Niagara on the lake, correct?

Nina Kopanski [00:18:56]:
Where we are actually is kind of, I would say, on par with some parts. We are on the cusp of the bench and Lake Coma Lake Shore. True. Okay. Yeah. So we’re yeah. We’re about the foot of the bench, you could say.

Andrea Morris [00:19:14]:
Yes. But you’re technically on the land that used to be the lake.

Nina Kopanski [00:19:19]:
That’s right. This is all underwater. So the, the soil is full of minerals that you wouldn’t find on the top of the east garment, for example.

Andrea Morris [00:19:30]:
Right. Because there’s because with the lake bed, you would have, like, layers of sand and shale and all kinds of different things that make it more complex, which also affects the

Nina Kopanski [00:19:41]:
taste of the wine. That’s right. Yeah. On the wine.

Andrea Morris [00:19:43]:
Which I think is why this one does well in this region.

Nina Kopanski [00:19:46]:
Yes. Cabernet Franc does really well in Niagara. While Cab Sauv really requires a a long, hot, dry season, Cabernet Franc, like, hot, cold, wet, dry, Cab Franc is pretty much gonna be okay year after year. That’s why it’s so commonly planted. It’s a very reliable grape in this area. The thing with capfronk though is as a warning, it can be a little bit shy. It can be it can take a while for it to come out of its shell because we’re in a cooler climate, and because of just the inherent characteristics of Cabernet Franc, it can be a little higher in acidity and lower in sugar and a little more tannins in it. So when it’s young, it’s a little bit rougher on the edges.

Nina Kopanski [00:20:32]:
But if you if you give it some time, Cabernet Franc can be stunning. We’re actually drinking a 2016 Cabernet Franc Oh. Which is why you’re getting so much of that fruitiness. Yes.

Andrea Morris [00:20:42]:
I was gonna say it’s got a nice full body to it as opposed to when you open a new bottle of Cabernet Franc and it’s very it seems to be almost thin.

Nina Kopanski [00:20:50]:
Yeah. And it can be a little

Andrea Morris [00:20:53]:
rough. Yes. Listen to that, what’s mean we would sell her the wine, which means hard to do if you really like wine, put it away for a couple of years, which is again difficult for some people. It’s very difficult for myself at times.

Nina Kopanski [00:21:08]:
At Cornerstone, we do the selling for you.

Andrea Morris [00:21:11]:
Oh, lovely. So you buy it, put it away, and then you don’t even know that you have it until a couple years later.

Nina Kopanski [00:21:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m always hiding things away and This has some nice peppery

Andrea Morris [00:21:22]:
nose. I can smell some pepper on it when

Nina Kopanski [00:21:24]:
I kinda like spell it. Dude strawberry and black pepper. And yeah, there’s there’s a lot going on with this one.

Andrea Morris [00:21:30]:
Our producer our producer, Lucas, is nodding his head agreeing. Yes. It fits good.

Nina Kopanski [00:21:37]:
Yeah. No. I love this one.

Andrea Morris [00:21:39]:
And also, there’s very slight pepper on the back of my tongue, but it’s also got a nice richness to it. Yeah. And, I just would like a steak right now.

Nina Kopanski [00:21:47]:
Yeah. And it’s I think this has several years left in it too. I don’t feel like it’s it’s not at its prime. It’s certainly not past its prime. It’s it’s drinking beautifully now. And honestly, a year, maybe a year and a half ago, it tasted completely different. It’s that I find that a

Andrea Morris [00:22:05]:
lot when you you can go back and look at a wine and go, but I have the same the same bottle I had tried to do a year later and it tastes completely different. Is it true that if you have a screw top, the wine doesn’t age in the bow in the in the bottle?

Nina Kopanski [00:22:22]:
That is kind of up for debate. That’s kind of the debate that’s that’s going on with cork versus screw cap. Because so much of it depends on the wine itself. And it’s hard to generalize when wine can be so varied to begin with. From from our philosophy is if a wine is ready to drink right now, we just put a screw tip on it because it’s ready to go. And I think psychologically, if you have 2 bottles of wine in your fridge and one has a cork and one has a screw cap, you’re probably gonna open the screw cap 1 first. Depends on how lazy you were that night. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:23:03]:
It’s like, I don’t wanna go for my cork screw. And it’s funny. It feels like less of a commitment. Yeah. You know, it feels more casual. With a corks, it almost feels like, okay, this is a moment, you know, am I pairing this with the right food? Have I let this age long enough? You almost hesitate with the corks. And that’s

Andrea Morris [00:23:19]:
what we’re talking about with this like whole perception of wine. It’s like, oh my God, I can’t drink wine because I don’t know anything. But you can, you just figure out along the way. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:23:28]:
So I actually get to make that decision. I get to decide whether it’s cork or screw cap. And, so generally, if, you know, something like the Rose and Riesling that we tried, those wines are great to drink right now. So screwcap. But something like this 2016 Cabernet Franc that we bottled 6 years ago, it first of all, this wine is also only coarsely filtered. It’s got a lot of sediment in it, and we knew it needed some time. 2016 was one of the, like, great years in Niagara. And although this wine had a lot of potential and we knew that going in, it you know, I wouldn’t have wanted to drink it 6 years ago, Unless I decanted it, you know, for a little bit.

Nina Kopanski [00:24:18]:
But Is

Andrea Morris [00:24:18]:
it difficult to sell a wine to people when you’re like, you can’t really drink it now?

Nina Kopanski [00:24:23]:
It yeah. It is. And that’s why we don’t like, we haven’t even released some of our 2020 reds. They’re not, you know, I don’t think they’re quite there yet. We’re not really in a hurry. And I’m I think that’s what makes, the bench and this, you know, this part of Niagara a little bit different because things are a little bit slower here. We don’t feel as much pressure to pump wines out faster. If you were to go to some of the bigger wineries in Niagara Lake or even some of the bigger ones here, you might not find anything older than, you know, 2019 or 2020, but, and I don’t know.

Nina Kopanski [00:25:02]:
I I feel like it’s just a different approach perhaps. Maybe they’re just selling more wine than I am, so they’re going through it faster. It might be. But, yeah, I’d love to see how wines

Andrea Morris [00:25:13]:
can change. You know? That’s what I love about wine is that you could you could taste the wine this year that you really like and taste the same wine next year and it tastes completely different. It’s just so much fun to explore. Yeah. Yeah. And I bet you wish you had a glass of wine now,

Nina Kopanski [00:25:30]:
don’t you listener? In fact, speaking of Cabernet Franc and speaking of older This

Andrea Morris [00:25:36]:
is really lovely though. I’m gonna tell you a secret

Nina Kopanski [00:25:39]:
and my wine club members might hate me for it, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. Some of the big years that we’ve seen in Niagara, particularly for reds, were 2020, 2016, and 2012, seemingly every 4 years the past while. 20 twelves are pretty hard to come by. I mean, it’s been 12 years. But 19 year old Nina decided to put away our 2012 cab Franc and hold on to it and pay for warehousing fees for 12 years. Well So this Christmas, we are rereleasing our 2012 CabFrog. Woah. And you know what? I opened a bottle last week after, I don’t know, 6 months, maybe 8 months, maybe even close to a year.

Nina Kopanski [00:26:28]:
It tastes like it was bottled yesterday. It still needs time. Wow. I served it to some, wine club members, and they thought it was

Andrea Morris [00:26:40]:
a new release. That’s crazy.

Nina Kopanski [00:26:42]:
Which it kind of is because I’m

Andrea Morris [00:26:43]:
It is. Because it’s for 2012. Yeah. But, yeah. Well, you would think that after that much time, the grapes would have the the wine would have evolved and it would have become, like, denser or, like, the flavors would have evolved more.

Nina Kopanski [00:26:55]:
The acidity is yellow there. The the tannins are there. The color is a little bit of a giveaway because the color is starting to get little less purple, a little more into that brickish orangey red. But taste wise, you’d have no idea its swine was 12 years old. We might wanna stop

Andrea Morris [00:27:12]:
for a second and just explain what tannins are. Just in case someone’s listening and isn’t really much of a wine drinker and they’re we’re we’re use we’re referring to tannins a lot. Let’s just, like, kind of say what that is. Tannins come from

Nina Kopanski [00:27:24]:
the grape skins, seeds, and stems. Tannins are not an enzyme, but something of the sort. I forget a technical term for it, but Like the penicillin of wine or something? Well, what what tannins do is they break down proteins. Oh. So that’s what they’re doing in your mouth, on your gums, and on the inside of your cheeks and on your tongue. They’re trying to break down proteins. That’s what that gritty sandpaper feel comes from. But it’s also the reason that red wine with tannins has been paired with red meat since the beginning of time.

Nina Kopanski [00:27:59]:
Because as you, you know, like a steak, it’s heavy for you to break down. Right. But a red wine with a lot of tannins will literally help you break down and digest that

Andrea Morris [00:28:10]:
as you eat it. And it’s interesting because some people have a real reaction to tannins, but we all have different palates. Yes. So what I like, you might not like, and Lucas might not like. And it’s like, there’s no you never have to apologize for your taste in wine.

Nina Kopanski [00:28:26]:
That’s right. Because Right. We all have

Andrea Morris [00:28:28]:
different taste buds. We all different and your taste change over the years, I find.

Nina Kopanski [00:28:32]:
Yeah. I do find that people almost see it as a goal to, you know, drink dry okie wines eventually and get out of sweet wines. But some people just like sweet wines forever. My mom is a baker by trade. She’s co owner of

Andrea Morris [00:28:47]:
a winery, and all she likes is sweet wines. And you my brother loves sweet wines. That’s all he drinks.

Nina Kopanski [00:28:54]:
Yeah. And people like what they like.

Andrea Morris [00:28:56]:
They like what they like, and it’s you don’t have to apologize for it.

Nina Kopanski [00:28:59]:
Yeah. So Absolutely. I grew up on, you know, cool climate cab fron. I don’t I’m gonna get some hate for this. I don’t care for California reds. I they they lack complexity to me because I’m used to a red having more acidity and more tannin and less body perhaps. So when I drink these, you know, big California reds, they they’re like they taste like grape juice to me. It’s weird.

Nina Kopanski [00:29:29]:
That’s interesting. Yeah. Yeah. But it’s all a matter of what you like and what you’re accustomed to. Exactly. Yeah. So what’s up next, Nina? Next, we’re gonna do the first line I ever made.

Andrea Morris [00:29:41]:
Wow. Yes. This is a fun one. Going into the refrigerator

Nina Kopanski [00:29:50]:
for a day. A can of wine. We’re

Andrea Morris [00:29:57]:
classing it up, ladies and gentlemen.

Nina Kopanski [00:30:01]:
This is so as I mentioned, we grow about 11 acres of grapes, but we also grow 5 acres of peaches. And we have since the beginning. Pea and the thing with peaches, there’s always peaches that are overripe, peaches that fall off the tree, split pit, you know, they’re whatever the case may be. They’re not pretty enough to go to the farmer’s market. So we always joke, if we can’t eat it, we’re gonna drink it. So we started making fruit wines. In fact, fruit wines are some of the first wines that we ever made. Our first peach wine was back in 2003 because we had the peach tree.

Nina Kopanski [00:30:42]:
So why not? Right. And the peach wine that we made in the past was quite different. I know your brother is a fan of it as many others are, but it was it’s incredibly sweet. It was entirely made of peaches. It was, like, syrupy sweet and, like, 12% alcohol. And I would always tell people, like, cut it with some ice or some soda water. Can we pause for a moment and I actually know her.

Andrea Morris [00:31:10]:
Well, I know who’s at

Nina Kopanski [00:31:11]:
the door

Andrea Morris [00:31:12]:
too. It’s Sarah from London Born Winery. Hello. Isn’t this fun, listener? Because, like, we were just talking earlier with Nina about how the Niagara region, everyone supports each other. And so Sarah is from a winery called London Born, and she popped in. So she’s gonna join us as we taste the fizzy peach.

Nina Kopanski [00:31:31]:
But And I think we’re gonna throw in a bonus. Oh.

Andrea Morris [00:31:34]:
Oh. Because we have a special guest.

Nina Kopanski [00:31:36]:
Birthday wasn’t too long ago. So That’s true. We’re gonna try a new Sprite.

Andrea Morris [00:31:40]:
But first, we’re gonna do the fizzy peach because we haven’t talked we haven’t talked about the taste of the fizzy peach. That’s right.

Nina Kopanski [00:31:46]:
But we also, like, you

Andrea Morris [00:31:47]:
know, we were talking earlier about fruit wines. And, what is, like why are people so down on fruit wines? I think that

Nina Kopanski [00:31:57]:
there was a trend for a while that fruit wines were somehow worse or less. Or, like, subpar. If you liked fruit wines,

Andrea Morris [00:32:05]:
you didn’t know anything about wine?

Nina Kopanski [00:32:06]:
Yeah. Yeah. I do think that that was a, a mentality for a long time. But I do think it started to turn around. I think people are starting to realize that if it grows here, why are we not using it? Right. Right? You might as well. Especially when you think of how much how much produce, how much fruit gets wasted because it’s not pretty, as we mentioned with the peaches. Right? Right.

Nina Kopanski [00:32:28]:
How much effort it takes to grow something, and then it comes out looking, you know, subpar, it shouldn’t just be thrown away. It should be used for something. So you You can only eat so much jam. So I suppose fruit white is the way

Andrea Morris [00:32:43]:
to go. Well, I I think that’s great. And this smells like peaches, which is a good start. Now the fizzy peach is obviously not just peaches cut with something. Right?

Nina Kopanski [00:32:53]:
Yes. Yes. As we were mentioning before Sarah came in, we had done peach one in the past that was incredibly sweet. And I would tell people, you know, cut it with some ice, some soda water, make it into a slushie. My brother drinks it straight. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:33:08]:
He’s got a sweet tooth and he just, like Oh, yeah. Sits in the backyard and drinks stuff.

Nina Kopanski [00:33:12]:
And he was on the target market for that. But for a lot of people, it was pretty sweet. But one of the things I would tell people is is have it with, like, Prosecco or, like, some sparkling wine, basically a peach Bellini. And then I was like, why don’t I

Andrea Morris [00:33:26]:
do it for you? Right.

Nina Kopanski [00:33:28]:
Cut out the middle? Yeah. Exactly. Inequate. Can. What? You can take it on a picnic. That’s right. There’s you wanna drink wine but not bring a bottle. Right? You don’t have to worry about a corkscrew.

Nina Kopanski [00:33:40]:
You don’t even need to bring a cup. You can drink straight from the can. It’s like convenience Yeah. And delightful. I know it’s unconventional

Andrea Morris [00:33:48]:
and maybe a little, no. It’s not it’s groundbreaking.

Nina Kopanski [00:33:53]:
That’s a better way to put it. Groundbreaking. You have

Andrea Morris [00:33:56]:
to just twist your thinking. It’s not unconventional. It’s groundbreaking. It’s like, look, I can bring some peach fizzy to a picnic or dye something. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:34:04]:
And the the crazy thing is because you’re doing peach wine with white wine, the alcohol is still pretty up there. It’s 11 it’s 11% out of the can. I believe it’s, like, 11 and a half maybe. But it’s

Andrea Morris [00:34:17]:
a full blown wine in a can. It’s a little sweet for my taste, but you know what? I would cut it with this boar sparkling.

Nina Kopanski [00:34:25]:
Yeah. And then Or have you serve it over lots

Andrea Morris [00:34:27]:
of ice? Exactly. And then it would be but, you know, I find, like, when the when the weather is as hot as it is right now Yeah. It just seems like something that’s sweet makes you feel cooler. Yeah. Yep. That’s what I think. You know, what gives up if I was gonna open up a big hearty bottle of red wine. I’d probably feel hotter.

Andrea Morris [00:34:47]:
Yeah. I wouldn’t want a glass

Nina Kopanski [00:34:50]:
of red sitting outside today. No. Definitely not. No. The the fruity but the the fizzy does its job. And and it’s like a popular, like, summertime cocktail, wasn’t it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. My, my parents weren’t crazy about the idea.

Nina Kopanski [00:35:05]:
I actually ended up doing, not only doing the production myself, but pay for it myself. I booked the canning the week after my wedding and spent all that envelope money on fizzy peach, hoping it would be a success. And luckily, it was. It has gone on to not only be our best selling wine the past 2 years, but we sent it to the all Canadian wine championships and it won double gold in Canada, which is Amazing.

Andrea Morris [00:35:34]:
Yay. That’s fantastic.

Nina Kopanski [00:35:37]:
Which was a shock because I am not a winemaker. But, I don’t know. I feel like we should be using what we have and we should be getting creative with it. Of course, there are rules in winemaking, but

Andrea Morris [00:35:51]:
Not at all. Dude, the rule I know that, like, some of the rules apply to bottled wine. Does it just does the same aesthetic apply to canned wine? I don’t think so.

Nina Kopanski [00:35:59]:
I think canned wine has completely opened up a Pandora’s box of what is possible in winemaking. Yeah. I I think that if you’re putting wine in a can, there’s no rules anymore.

Nina Kopanski [00:36:13]:
I also like how, canned wine is way more acceptable now. It used to be

Andrea Morris [00:36:19]:
A real snobby about that. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:36:21]:
So many people would be like, oh, wine in a can? No. Thank you. And it’s Where are you from? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So you guys use some wine in a can too. Right? We have a couple

Nina Kopanski [00:36:30]:
of wines in a can. Yeah. We do a house white and a house red in

Nina Kopanski [00:36:33]:
a can. And same thing with the ones they have here. But Yeah. They’re just they’re perfect for exactly what you think they are perfect. Yeah. For a picnic,

Andrea Morris [00:36:43]:
if you’re going to the beach, it’s perfect because you don’t have to you’re not you’re not sharing a bottle. You’re not worrying about, like, anything breaking. It’s just it’s convenient.

Nina Kopanski [00:36:51]:
A one in your pocket, take to the movie theater. We are. Right? Yeah. This is why Nina and I are friends. Yeah. We’re like, where can

Andrea Morris [00:36:59]:
we sneak wine into it? I have a pock I have a bucket list of all places that I’ve snuck wine into. So Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. My friends and I, when we went to see the, Sex in the City movie at a theater, we had, like, several bottles of bubbly with us that we opened during the movie.

Nina Kopanski [00:37:15]:
Love it.

Andrea Morris [00:37:16]:
Quietly. And you should. Well, as you should because that the kind of movie when you’re there with your girlfriends watching a Sex in the City movie that you should be drinking bubbly. Mhmm. Yeah. And no one actually figured out that we were doing it. But now speaking of opening things Yes. Nina is going to open something brand new and exciting for us.

Nina Kopanski [00:37:32]:
Yes. This just came out last week also in a can. Oh. Listen to that sweet sound. Always love that sound. This is our strawberry rhubarb.

Andrea Morris [00:37:44]:
Oh. Would it sweetie on the Yeah. It’s got a really pale pink color. Yeah. It’s almost like the color of, like, a rose or something, but, like, a lighter rose. I wouldn’t say, like, a a pinky rose, more of a maybe not a rose at all.

Nina Kopanski [00:37:59]:
I can see you’re like that. It’s like it looks like a French rose. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:38:03]:
French rose. Yeah. It’s a French rose. Yes. Definitely a Provence rose. Yeah. But it smells like rose.

Nina Kopanski [00:38:10]:
Rose in it. Just strawberry rhubarb.

Andrea Morris [00:38:13]:
I know it’s called stroobarb. Oh my god. That is so cute. Stroobarb. That’s so cute. And it’s a spritz. So this also has the bubbly in it as well? Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:38:22]:
We have this running joke at the winery that every time we do a wine in a can that’s carbonated, we use a different synonym for bubbly. So fizzy, peach, sparkling, tart cherry rose, trubarb spritz. Gotcha. We try not to use the same word twice. So

Andrea Morris [00:38:40]:
Yes. Don’t be repetitive. That’s lovely. Yeah. It’s not as sweet as the as the peach, but it’s just got that really nice summertime kind of Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:38:49]:
Yeah. Good acidity to it, but still that summery sweetness.

Andrea Morris [00:38:53]:
And how’d you come up with this with this idea to do strawberry rhubarb? Lot of rhubarb and strawberry leftover?

Nina Kopanski [00:38:59]:
Yeah. You know, we have access to a lot of strawberries, as I’m sure, you know, your brother loves the strawberry wine too. We’ve done a strawberry wine in the past that was also quite sweet, and we know a lot of growers that grow strawberries. So when there are strawberries that are overripe or Mhmm. Between seasons and they’re small or whatever the case may be, we get them super cheap and make something from them. Rhubarb grows at my house, like, it’s going out of style. I there’s so much of it around my barn. I figured, you know, we have strawberries, we have rhubarb, and we have some Sauvignon Blanc.

Nina Kopanski [00:39:37]:
So why is that?

Andrea Morris [00:39:40]:
Seems like duh. Yeah. It’s a practical solution. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I think it’s I think it might be my favorite of all of your candle eyes.

Nina Kopanski [00:39:51]:
I think so too because it’s right in the middle. Yeah. The peach is quite sweet. Yeah. Tart cherry is is quite tart. But this is just That’s so like, fresh.

Nina Kopanski [00:40:01]:
It’s got some good acidity on the back of the palate that kind of gives a little bit more character, and it’s also, like, one note sweet. Yeah. You get some sweetness in there, obviously, but, yeah, still got a little of that, like, tingly tartness on the inside of my cheeks.

Andrea Morris [00:40:16]:
I know. I’m sure our listeners now are like, I want that right now.

Nina Kopanski [00:40:20]:
Mouse will hurt. Yeah. Well, the watering. We’ll take we

Andrea Morris [00:40:23]:
have to take a photo of that one too because that’s really delightful. Like, this is one that I can see flying off the shelf. Yes. Yes. And it’s so because you think of strawberry rhubarb and pie, but you don’t think you’re actually drinking strawberry rhubarb. Yeah. Right. Like, I don’t think this is the first time I’ve actually had something that had a strawberry rhubarb flavor to it.

Nina Kopanski [00:40:41]:
Other than a pie or a jam or something?

Andrea Morris [00:40:43]:
Yeah. Yeah. So I’m saying, like, you’re used to eating it, but not drinking it. That’s right. So this is like pine Yeah. It’s a pie in a glass

Nina Kopanski [00:40:50]:
A pie in

Andrea Morris [00:40:50]:
a glass.

Nina Kopanski [00:40:51]:
The crust. That. Well, without the crust.

Andrea Morris [00:40:53]:
Without the crust. Yeah. Yeah. But if you were serving it with crackers, which why would you do that? There you go. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:41:01]:
Sub it with a cookie to get the crust the crusty kind of thing. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:41:06]:
Graham Graham crackers. Yes.

Andrea Morris [00:41:08]:
Yes. Oh, you’re on something Oh, that could be. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:41:13]:
Now we’re talking. New taste and experience.

Andrea Morris [00:41:17]:
Yeah. You could do, like, a new flight with, like, tastings of Yeah. Different crackers with with different wines. Yeah. And the

Nina Kopanski [00:41:24]:
Unconventional pairings that work. Although, would it

Andrea Morris [00:41:27]:
be interesting if you tried something that was a little bit, like, instead of sweet, that you had something that was, like, a little saltier with it? Would that alter the taste of this? Interesting.

Nina Kopanski [00:41:38]:
I guess we gotta try. Yeah. Well We’ll have to

Andrea Morris [00:41:41]:
Come back for episode 2, listeners, where we

Nina Kopanski [00:41:45]:
where we continue to We continue to we continue to yeah. So we we eat and drink and we figure out but it’s it’s interesting because when

Andrea Morris [00:41:52]:
you try ice wine and you have a, ice wine, if you’re not familiar, is very, very, very, very sweet. Yes. But if you have it with a Stilton or with a very with a with a very sharp cheese, it cuts down the sweetness of the wine. That’s right.

Nina Kopanski [00:42:08]:
It’s amazing, Perrin. I am not an ice wine person, but, yeah, if I have ice wine around and then you, yeah, do the blue cheese thing, it’s just so such contrastingly different flavor profiles that they just work. So Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:42:23]:
Yeah. It’s fantastic. But it’s interesting how

Andrea Morris [00:42:25]:
something you can eat can a taste can affect the taste of the wine. Yeah. Like, I’ve gone sometimes I’ve made the mistake of popping a mint in my mouth and then going to a winery, and I’m like, why did I do that? Mhmm. Because now everything tastes off to me because I’ve got the mint in my mouth, which is bad. So, yeah. So no helpful note listener. Do not put mints in your mouth or chew gum before you go to a

Nina Kopanski [00:42:46]:
wine tasting because it will that mint and coffee are the 2 worst things for wine tasting, which ironically I feel like we have most commonly. But, yeah, just had bad breath. Yeah. And tired. Just have And you really enjoy the wine. There’s our helpful hint for today. Don’t brush your teeth. Don’t have saffine.

Andrea Morris [00:43:05]:
And have a grand old time meeting the next frame flame of your life at a winery. That’s right. No. This is, like, I have to say this this true this true barb spritz. Say that that’s how you know when someone’s really drunk, when they say, Strewbarb, sweet. Strewbarb, sweet. Hello. Hi.

Andrea Morris [00:43:23]:
How are you? You? Good. Good. Good. Should we pause?

Nina Kopanski [00:43:26]:
Yeah. That would keep going. Up to you. Yeah. We’ll keep going.

Andrea Morris [00:43:30]:
Well, people just came into the winery, which is great when you’re at a winery because you want people to buy things. Of course. So yes. And they’re going over to the fruity wine section, which is also really cool.

Nina Kopanski [00:43:40]:
It tastes good. Are both looking for anything particular?

Andrea Morris [00:43:43]:
I just want boosters.

Nina Kopanski [00:43:45]:
Okay. Yep. Do you have a little bit of time? Sure. Like, are you able to come back?

Andrea Morris [00:43:57]:
Well, we’re finishing up a podcast. So Oh, okay. Come on over and taste the port and be a part of the podcast. Know what? This is how we do it on this podcast. You know what? We are not pretentious. Keep inviting people. And we keep inviting people in. So come on over and We’ll just talk back around.

Andrea Morris [00:44:12]:
We’ll just talk back around. I mean, you stay.

Nina Kopanski [00:44:15]:
Okay. We’ll get Sarah on

Andrea Morris [00:44:16]:
our side. Yes. Sarah goes over there.

Nina Kopanski [00:44:17]:
You work here today? Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:44:19]:
All of a sudden. You see, listener, this is fun this is fun times because we’re very amiable to everything. So yes.

Nina Kopanski [00:44:28]:
It’s a whole different perspective of it.

Andrea Morris [00:44:29]:
It is because you know what? This is the fun part about the Niagara region that you never know what’s gonna happen in every and this is also the idea of this podcast is that it’s not about wine being pretentious. It’s about wine being fun. Yes. And are we having a good time? We have special guests come in, and we will, in future podcasts, be visiting Sarah’s Winery, London Born. But we don’t wanna talk about pop by that day. Yeah. You should talk. Definitely pop by that day and be the special guest.

Nina Kopanski [00:44:56]:
Happen to be. What? Because they’re behind the scenes texting me.

Andrea Morris [00:45:00]:
That’d be so much fun. So, yeah, we have another wine to get to. We have one more. Right?

Nina Kopanski [00:45:05]:
We do. This is our finisher, our port style wine. Oh.

Nina Kopanski [00:45:11]:
You guys are in for a treat

Nina Kopanski [00:45:12]:
if you haven’t had it.

Andrea Morris [00:45:13]:
I haven’t, actually. I’ve been here on many occasions, but I’ve never

Nina Kopanski [00:45:15]:
had the port. If you would get so caught up drinking everything else. That’s

Andrea Morris [00:45:19]:
right. Okay. Imagine that.

Nina Kopanski [00:45:21]:
Just don’t get too

Andrea Morris [00:45:22]:
Getting caught up drinking wine. What a silly, silly thing to do. Isn’t that fantastic? Yes. Okay.

Nina Kopanski [00:45:28]:
And if you folks wanna try anything, let us know.

Andrea Morris [00:45:30]:
Do you guys wanna join us

Nina Kopanski [00:45:34]:
while we As long as we’re okay with your voice being new on the podcast.

Andrea Morris [00:45:35]:
Yes. Come on. That’s fun. Come on over. Come on over. Okay. Woah. But now we have some more special guests joining us.

Andrea Morris [00:45:47]:
Just some random people that walked into the winery, and they’re going to be a part of our wine tasting today. What are your names? Yeah. Ryan and Neil. And Neil? Yeah. Nice to meet you. Now we’re gonna we’re we’re finishing up our tasting with some port, which is probably where you would finish, but you’re gonna start now. Okay. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:46:06]:
Wait. You’re gonna you’re you’re in backwards.

Nina Kopanski [00:46:09]:
At the beginning. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:46:10]:
Where are you guys from? This delirates

Nina Kopanski [00:46:12]:
at Cowards. Okay. Cool. Great. So we’re gonna try a splash of port.

Andrea Morris [00:46:23]:
And port for the listener is mostly a dessert one because it’s usually sweet and heavier.

Nina Kopanski [00:46:30]:
Yes. Also served nicely with the Stilton.

Nina Kopanski [00:46:33]:
I was gonna say yeah. Yeah. We were talking about Stilton. Amazing pairing. And Stilton is, like, classic.

Andrea Morris [00:46:39]:
It is. It is. Like, it’s a yeah. The way that when I lived in the UK, it was the classic way to end a meal. Yeah. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:46:44]:
We’re very traditional sometimes. So we’ve got

Nina Kopanski [00:46:47]:
the expert here with us. So

Nina Kopanski [00:46:49]:
I’m wondering though what kind of, what else you could pair it with because I know still seems a little bit of a icky cheese to some people or

Andrea Morris [00:46:57]:
What about a really nice aged cheddar? Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:46:59]:
That’s what I

Nina Kopanski [00:47:00]:
was thinking.

Andrea Morris [00:47:00]:
I think like something that has like that sharp cheddar, that really nicely aged cheddar would really actually, like, cut the sweetness down a bit and Yeah. You know

Nina Kopanski [00:47:07]:
what it actually surprisingly goes with? Apple pie. I can see that. Yeah. Okay. Very well. I like that. And a scoop of vanilla ice cream with pork. That’s interesting.

Nina Kopanski [00:47:18]:
I’ve never heard anyone think about, like

Andrea Morris [00:47:20]:
I also a nice dark, dark chocolate. Mhmm. In like a sea salt dark chocolate.

Nina Kopanski [00:47:26]:
We just have it with cigar. Now how did you guys come up

Andrea Morris [00:47:29]:
with the idea to do a port?

Nina Kopanski [00:47:30]:
It does have smoky notes. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:47:31]:
You know what? Port is one of those things that we have done since the beginning. Really? First winemaker, was a winemaker that knew how to make port. And it was his idea, and it became something we were known for. And now we just can’t stop making it.

Andrea Morris [00:47:50]:
Wow. Okay. Again, the port in the It smells so rich. Yes.

Nina Kopanski [00:47:55]:
That’s the thing about port. It’s got

Andrea Morris [00:47:56]:
It’s a lot of questions. It just smells really rich. It smells really fruity and very flavorful. You definitely, get those tobacco notes as well. Yeah. And it’s eat tobacco. And it’s like, it really sticks on your tongue because it’s so thick. It’s just like Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:48:12]:
To

Andrea Morris [00:48:12]:
give you a heads up, I remember the butter. So That’s like such an interesting flavor to it. Mhmm. A lot of people don’t like ports because they are very sweet. This one isn’t as sweet as a lot of ports I’ve tasted. But it does have, like like Sarah said, like, that almost smoky tobacoey kind of flavor to it that makes me really want cheese right now.

Nina Kopanski [00:48:34]:
Cheese. Haven’t had some

Nina Kopanski [00:48:35]:
good cheese in a while. In

Andrea Morris [00:48:37]:
a while. Why don’t we just I should’ve brought cheese to the wine tasting with me. I should’ve thought ahead.

Nina Kopanski [00:48:42]:
You should bring cheese on every podcast.

Andrea Morris [00:48:44]:
Alright. Well, the next one yeah. When I come to yours, I will definitely bring cheese. Alright. Alright?

Nina Kopanski [00:48:50]:
We had cheese already for you.

Andrea Morris [00:48:52]:
So Oh, well, okay. There you go. There you go. I don’t have to bring my own then. Right? No. This port is lovely.

Nina Kopanski [00:48:58]:
Yeah. It and so it’s smoky. There’s definitely some, like, super concentrated fruit, that, like, dried raisin kind of thing. But then you do get some concentrated fruit, that, like, dried raisin kind of thing, but then you do get some tanned structure.

Andrea Morris [00:49:07]:
But it’s interesting because when I think of port, I always think of, like, Portugal or, like, you know, because, like, places that are known more for their ports. Mhmm. But it’s interesting because there are very few places in the Niagara region that actually do a port.

Nina Kopanski [00:49:20]:
Yeah. And there’s only a handful. I know that I know we’re not the only ones, but I couldn’t tell you what

Andrea Morris [00:49:28]:
the other ones are. I couldn’t eat it because it’s, like, really it’s so rare in this area to do a port, and I wonder why that is.

Nina Kopanski [00:49:34]:
I got so what did

Andrea Morris [00:49:35]:
you say?

Nina Kopanski [00:49:35]:
I think it’s just I mean, maybe Nina who, you know, produces it would be able to tell more, but it it’s probably just because it’s kind of something

Nina Kopanski [00:49:46]:
that Portugal is known for more.

Andrea Morris [00:49:47]:
And I

Nina Kopanski [00:49:48]:
was like, why why mess with it? It’s like the same reason why we are so well known for ice wine. You know? It’s like, yeah, there’s some other places that do ice wine, but when you think ice wine, you think

Nina Kopanski [00:49:58]:
You think Niagara. Ontario, Niagara.

Nina Kopanski [00:50:00]:
Yeah. So it’s like, well, why why mess with a good thing?

Andrea Morris [00:50:04]:
And it’s it’s interesting because the bench area doesn’t do a lot of ice wines because I don’t think it’s as cold here as it is on the in the agro but

Nina Kopanski [00:50:12]:
I suppose it depends winery to winery. What grape are you using for the pork? This is Cabernet Franc. Oh. That’s what we grow most of. It’s over half our vineyard. So we have a lot of it to work with, and, I feel like it works really well for the port.

Andrea Morris [00:50:26]:
Do you have a different aging process for pork than you for pork than you do for another for, like, a

Nina Kopanski [00:50:31]:
Yes. Cab Franc? Pork is what, our barrels on their last legs are used for. It’s the last thing we do with our barrels is let them sit, with port in them for about 2 and a half to 3 years.

Andrea Morris [00:50:44]:
Wow. But that’s that’s about the same for some wines. Or the wine some wines can can go longer. But

Nina Kopanski [00:50:52]:
But surely yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:50:53]:
Yeah. A

Nina Kopanski [00:50:53]:
little more of that

Nina Kopanski [00:50:54]:
And kind of as you

Nina Kopanski [00:50:56]:
A little more toast.

Nina Kopanski [00:50:57]:
As you age it in the barrel, as it sits in the barrel, it’s going to develop more complexity. It’s gonna develop more of the flavors that we’re smelling and tasting in this core.

Andrea Morris [00:51:08]:
Because you could never do a poured in a steel barrel. It just wouldn’t work.

Nina Kopanski [00:51:13]:
I mean, the the whole process of making port, the the true port from political is a, the whole it’s a very specific and, rigorous process. So the fact that Nina at Cornerstone here does it is pretty cool. It’s pretty awesome. Yeah. It’s very it kinda makes you stand out even more with all your fruit wines and the canned wines.

Andrea Morris [00:51:37]:
Yeah. It’s really interesting as our first as our first winery to visit on this podcast to go to some place that has such a an interesting variety as opposed to what you would get at a standard winery because you’re getting fruit wines, you’re getting port, and you’re getting your traditional wines as well. But you’ve got, like, it’s like, like, you could bring anyone here. It’s like a something for everyone. And Yeah. Like, the people that have that misconception that wine is, like, snobby. Well, I think we’ve kinda just proven that on this first episode that it’s not at all. Wine is about fun.

Andrea Morris [00:52:08]:
It’s about sharing with people. It’s about making friends. And

Nina Kopanski [00:52:11]:
it’s you know, that’s what you do.

Andrea Morris [00:52:13]:
You just have you just have a really great time.

Nina Kopanski [00:52:16]:
We’re good at the making friends part. Yeah.

Andrea Morris [00:52:20]:
Especially when you take the, strew bar with you to the beach, then everyone will be like, hey. Hey, best friend. Do you have an extra can of that that I can hang out with? But but, yeah, I think that this has been, like, really fun.

Nina Kopanski [00:52:34]:
Oh, it’s really is very interesting. I actually haven’t tasted it in probably a couple of years. Wow. I mean, it is a 2014, so we’ve been selling

Andrea Morris [00:52:42]:
this Oh, this is lovely. It’s really aged nicely. Port is

Nina Kopanski [00:52:46]:
one of those things that because it takes so long for us to make it, we’ll do as much as we can at once. Right. So and the production is, you know, close to a year then in barrels for up to 3 years. It’s 4 years before it sees the shelves. So if we’re gonna do port, we’re doing as much of it as

Andrea Morris [00:53:03]:
we can. It’s just really lovely though. I mean, like, I usually don’t really like port that much, but this one I can they like and if you look at the glass afterwards, listener, the legs on it, which is like the remnants of it are just still so thick after that’s almost done.

Nina Kopanski [00:53:18]:
Yes. Which is Tell us about legs.

Nina Kopanski [00:53:21]:
I’ll tell you about legs.

Andrea Morris [00:53:22]:
Tell me about legs, Sarah, before we end this.

Nina Kopanski [00:53:26]:
So the legs can tell you 2 things. The legs, again, are kind of when you swirl your glass and you see kind of all of that

Nina Kopanski [00:53:36]:
and Yeah. Remnants

Nina Kopanski [00:53:38]:
of the the wine kind of dripping down the side of the glass. So when you do that, the, the, sort of how slowly the legs fall can give you an indication of how much alcohol there is in the wine and also the sugar content in the wine. So sometimes because it’s it’s an indicator for both of those things, sometimes it can be a little bit hard to tell what your like, whether it’s an indication of high alcohol or whether it’s an indication of high sugar. With this port, definitely, it’s going to be an indication of a little bit of a higher sugar

Andrea Morris [00:54:21]:
Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:54:22]:
And probably also higher alcohol content, like 18. 18. Yeah.

Nina Kopanski [00:54:27]:
Yeah. Yeah. So No wonder I like it.

Nina Kopanski [00:54:30]:
Yeah. There will always be

Nina Kopanski [00:54:33]:
a higher alcohol content than your yearly wine.

Andrea Morris [00:54:37]:
Great. Thanks for that. Thanks for that, Sarah. That was really informative. Well, listener, I hope you have enjoyed our first wine tasting with spill the wine. And, I just wanna say to you, be sure to visit the show notes for more information on Cornerstone Winery. And don’t forget to like and follow Spill the Wine on all the, platforms for podcast. Also, if you have any topics or any wineries that you’d like us to visit, all you have to do is email us at podcastspillthewine@gmail.com.

Andrea Morris [00:55:09]:
That’s podcastspilthewine@gmail.com, and we will definitely get back to you. So cheers, and we will see

Nina Kopanski [00:55:17]:
you next time. Cheers. Thanks, guys. Cheers.