Really busy in Vancouver

Not quite like sleepless in Seattle, as no one is on line to text with, but VVV and her crew have kept me really busy in Vancouver. This has exceeded my expectations in terms of the market and response to Miss Molly and our wines in general.

So I mentioned that on Thursday evening we were serving Miss Molly at a function in the evening, “Bottles on the Bay” on the 35^th floor of the Coast Plaza Hotel. The function is in support of a charity that provides assistance to Terminally Ill patients, mainly those with HIV. There are about 20 wineries, each with a separate table.

We are in great demand from the outset. To cap it all, Sam, his wife Ann and their two Weimeraners, Molly and Brit have come in especially for the function. I have to have photo’s taken with Sam and a bottle of the wine which I have signed to Molly with love! I am presented with Miss Molly chocolates that they have had specially made and packaged for the event and an article on our wines and Miss Molly in the BC Law Journal. Sam is a lawyer.

Sam. If you think I am nuts about Weimeraners, think again

Sam and signed Miss Molly bottle

Miss Molly BC

Molly and Brit enjoying the best wine in Canada

Then down to the basement where Molly and Brit are waiting for a formal introduction to me. More photographs. Instant friends, but Molly is as badly behaved as my baby in SA. Both Molly and Brit are “Rescue Dogs”. This means that they were abandoned and in a pound before Sam found them. It amazes me that people can abandon beautiful animals like this.

With Molly and Brit

Our stand is the star of the day and we run out of wine before the evening ends. Our wines speak for themselves and are in great demand. VVV takes me to her favourite Japanese restaurant for a late dinner and Sake. This is a really simple and typical restaurant. Vicky speaks fluent Japanese having lived there for 8 years. I learn something new. The best Sake is served cold and not hot. No wonder I had to sleep in park all those years ago, I drank hot sake. The meal is simple, elegant and delicious as all good Japanese food is.

Vancouver from the Function venue

Friday morning’s paper headline is “ SIMON WHITFIELD TO BEAR OUR FLAG” He is Canada’s top triathlete and has been selected to lead the Canadian team into the Olympic arena. How great that this is the top news of the day. I reflect on the fact that the Canadian team will be over 300 people strong, from a nation of little more than 35 million people. SA has nearly 50 million people and we cannot get a team of much more than 50 people to London.

Politics messed up our sport for 50 years under the Nationalist government and now history is being repeated. One example is SA’s top young rower, a chap named Pete Lambert. On his own accord he made his way to Henley this year and defeated the very best in the world in the single Sculls. He is not going to the Olympics because of the politics in Rowing SA. A sure medal prospect, this is a tragedy.

The day is once again busy. The BC Liquor Board first, where I meet the buyer responsible for SA. We have an excellent meeting and it lasts much longer than scheduled. She confirms what I have known for the past twenty years. SA has done itself no favours in the world wine industry. We have been left behind by New Zealand, Australia, Chile and even Argentina. I mean Argentina could not even beat the Winging Poms in their own backyard! Our failure is in my view due to the very short sighted decisions made in the early days of the New SA by the KWV and WOSA and the lack of a few national champions.

The SA wine press have also to bear some responsibility for this. In Australia, New Zealand and the USA the wine press are full on behind their industry and give them an ongoing punt. In SA, far too many of our wine writers have massive conflicts of interests with their involvement as consultants, show organisers and even in some cases as importers and distributors. This clouds their judgement and impairs their credibility. This is however, another subject, for another day.

Then on to Liberty Liquors, a private store and one of six odd stores owned by the same partners. This is another very nice store and has, as do all the other liquor stores, professional and enthusiastic staff.

Liberty Liquor

The big surprise is the BC Liquor Board flagship store. Vicky’s assistant Monica insists I must see it because they stock Miss Molly. I am a bit frazzled and reluctant. She is persistent. I am blown away. It knocks every store I have seen to date away. This is a government run business! To say this is one of the best liquor stores I have ever seen anywhere does not do it justice. It just shows it can be done. The secret is that they have employed the best people and let them get on with it to make money for the government.

BCLB Superstore

South Africa in Superstore. Not much exposure.

“Miss Molly Hoity Toity” on the shelves. Selling strongly

Actively promoting wine. Impressive

This morning another run. First a mental stretch, I am a bit slow this morning. Then much the same route. Jenny Bean is still there. No luck for the owner. Everything is being primped in the sales areas. Saturday is obviously a busy day. Chinese signs everywhere. They are the ones with the money. During the past few days I have heard many stories of their love of the most expensive red wines available. They are the consumers propping up the rarefied end of the world wine market.

So the story I like the best is as follows. A smart dinner party and everyone is expected to bring a good bottle of red wine. This means French First Growth’s only. So it is Mouton Rothschild, Laffite, Latour, Lynch Barge and maybe stooping to a Penfold Grange. Average price per bottle in the $3000 range. Everyone arrives. They have a huge punch bowl in the middle of the table, Riedel glasses for all. The wines are opened by the waiters. Each attendee ceremoniously pours their bottle of wine into the bowl to make a new blend. A waiter then brings two 5 liter bottles of Coke and adds this to the mixture to ensure it is sweet enough. Everyone is happy! I was under the belief that it was only in the Bosveld that Red Wine and Coke was the order of the day. It seems that it is only the cost of the wine which varies.

I cannot see Nova Spirit. More nubile Miss BC’s being entertained this weekend? I pass the sea plane harbour, running strongly. A Beaver starts up. Remember I described this aircraft in an earlier blog. It has what is known as a radial engine. So this is a piston engine with about twelve cylinders which are arranged in a ring around the center and hence the name radial. These engines always idle roughly and make a low rumbling sound, similar to a female grizzly bear about to have an orgasm!

I know you will want to know how I know this? Remember I have had a very interesting and varied life. As a young BP. Not a Biker Pilot but a Boy Pilot in SAA one was exposed to many things and all sorts of people. So you will have heard of one baggers, two baggers and coyotes. Well there are Grizzly Bears as well. They all look hugable, but they are very, very dangerous!

My time in Vancouver is sadly coming to an end, but I am ready for the big adventure ahead. There is lunch left with Gary Combrink and his wife Bronwyn. This is not my late ex friend Alan’s brother, but an ex South African whom I met on the first night. Both really nice people who have come in especially to have lunch with me.

My final planning for the trip will be completed tonight.

My grand father shopping is completed. Redfish, the top baby clothes store is emptier. Presents for Gregg (aka Moshe) and Stevi are Fedexing their way back to Michigan. My life is changing. Gone are the visits to Apple shops and electronic stores.

It is now baby shops and Lululemon etc.. If you don’t know Lululemon guys, you had better look it up.

I ride to Penticton tomorrow. It looks as if the weather will continue to be good. Thankfully, because new tires and wet weather are not the first prize. I am going to ride into the mountains and then enter the Okanagan valley via Oliver as I have been told this is a stunningly beautiful route.

Dinner is with my new best friends from Walla Walla and their husbands.

Monday will be spent visiting three wineries. I have hired a car, as motorbikes and wine tasting do not mix. Then on Tuesday I head north with eight days to get to Anchorage. One interesting aside, the Liquor Board of the Yukon has heard that I am passing through. Miss Molly is stocked and sold in Whitehorse, the largest town in the Yukon, so on Monday 23 July I am running an in store tasting in Whitehorse! I am sure no South African wine salesman has ever arrived in the Yukon on a motorbike.

I am not sure what the Internet availability will be like for the next week and will use what is available to keep you updated.

Good night and good luck.