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Vancouver Wine Lovers Act Now

peppyre

By peppyre
in Western Canada: Dining

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peppyre

peppyre

Posted
Posted

I had some very good advice from my mom the other evening, "If you want to buy any wine, buy it now!"

Her company has had several containers of wine from South Africa, France, etc., that have been sitting on the docks since the container drivers strike began. It seems that all the wine hitting the market once this dispute is over will be "cooked" from the heat we've having and it's best to avoid that. I'm sure companies will be ordering more stock from the wineries, but that can take months for a shipment to actually arrive and get through customs, plus the cost of it all etc.

Stock up now!

Keith Talent

Keith Talent

Posted
Posted

I'd be interested to know how much wine coming into BC moved in temp controlled containers. I've always (naively) beleived it was all. Over the winter it would require heat. Nothing freezes faster than a container on the back of a train going through Manitoba in February.

peppyre

peppyre

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

From what I understand, most of the stuff that they are bringing in is coming directly off the ships and I'm not sure what kind of temperature control they have.

Keith Talent

Keith Talent

Posted
Posted

Goods from Europe are generally imported through Montreal then put on a train here, to the best of my knowledge there are no container ships in our ports from Europe. The port strike is backing up rail container from Europe however.

nondual1

nondual1

Posted
Posted
I had some very good advice from my mom the other evening, "If you want to buy any wine, buy it now!"

Stock up now!

Just as this year's shipment of Bordeaux is starting to make its way here?? How disastrous! :shock:

And if anyone thinks the retailers are going to dump the spoiled inventory and put on the shelves only those bottles shipped post-strike (whenever that might be!), think again! I don't think I want to pay money for any imported wines for six months to a year -- until the spoiled wines are flushed out of the system completely.

Time to buy and drink locally, my friends! A toast to the thriving BC wine industry! :smile:

BCinBC

BCinBC

Posted
Posted

I understand that some of the wine containers are temp controlled, but not nearly all of them. On a day like today if you listen closely, you can almost hear the corks popping.

Keith my experience is the same, although at this point container trains are being rerouted to Toronto, Calgary or Edmonton and trucked here long-haul to avoid the Vancouver ports completely. Similarly, container ships from Asia are being rerouted to Seattle and trucked up.

So to Jeff and everyone else, even though you don't think this strike is having any effect on your life, it's not true. Increased costs in shipping (and short term supply not being able to meet demand) mean prices for imported goods will all go up over the next little while.

The other side of it is that local produce may be a bit cheaper as farmers / producers cannot get goods out of Vancouver (bad for them).

My trip report: South of France, September 2005

-----

I'm okay, you're okay!

chef jeff

chef jeff

Posted
Posted

I didn't meen that comment to sound so caloused. Just a joke. I realize we are all being affected.

I agree, again, that maybe this will push BC consumers to purchase locally produced wines and produce, as opposed to thousands of miles away.

I won't get into the politics of this strike, and whether it is a good thing or not, but there is a bit of a silver lining.

Keith Talent

Keith Talent

Posted
Posted

There's no silver lining. Period. It's bad for everyone, the truckers, the local farmers that have lost the ability to export, the employees that are being laid off because their companies can get neither raw materials nor a market for their goods, anyone involved in export or import is hurting.

BCinBC

BCinBC

Posted
Posted (edited)

Sorry Jeff, I didn't mean to single you out - and I didn't read in your post that you were callous about the subject either. Perhaps I should have used a smilie? :smile:

Yes it would be nice if one of the end results is that we (the general public) end up supporting local produce. But aside from someone "discovering" a BC wine or other labeled product, most of us (the general public) will go back to buying whatever is cheapest at the grocery store, once normal life resumes. Or am I too cynical?

ETA: Rereading your post, Jeff, it's kind of funny now - because Aurora by design is somewhat insulated from the strike. The 100-mile concept and all.

ETA 2: Revasser - I actually did read on CBC I think that entire containers of Yellowtail were dying on the docks! Funny again, in a very twisted sort of way. You know, not ha-ha but kind of ha-ha. Okay I'm going to stop editing this post because it's total mush now.

Edited by BCinBC (log)

My trip report: South of France, September 2005

-----

I'm okay, you're okay!

Keith Talent

Keith Talent

Posted
Posted

We have two options, we can give you a full point deduction for missing a joke, or conversely dock me for writing a joke so lame that people actually don't recognize it as such. I'll leave it to the judges.

nondual1

nondual1

Posted
Posted (edited)

Along with the above-linked story, CBC also runs stories that Telus and CBC itself (!), in separate labour disputes, are also facing strikes.

Which got me thinking:

Containers of wines (and other produce) are sitting on the dock facing spoilage.

School kids are on summer vacation.

Men and women are walking off their jobs.

The sun is making up for missed performances last month.

... why don't we just all gather at the port, open up the containers and have one Olympic-sized tail-gate party?? :raz:

I'll bring my Weber and a corkscrew, if someone will loan me his or her lawn-chair...!

Edited by nondual1 (log)
nwyles

nwyles

Posted
Posted (edited)
Wow, the strike at the port seemed so distant, so irrelavent to my life.  Until now!

I should have just kept on reading before I came up with a sarcastic remark.

Never mind.

Edited by nwyles (log)

Neil Wyles

Hamilton Street Grill

www.hamiltonstreetgrill.com

chef jeff

chef jeff

Posted
Posted

Isn't this how Madiera was first "discoverd"? Wine being shipped oversees on long sailboat journeys got baked in the sun and turned into something beautiful.

Maybe yellowtail will turn into something beautiful after baking for weeks in the sun.

probably not.

Mooshmouse

Mooshmouse

Posted
Posted
Isn't this how Madiera was first "discoverd"?  Wine being shipped oversees on long sailboat journeys got baked in the sun and turned into something beautiful.

Maybe yellowtail will turn into something beautiful after baking for weeks in the sun.

probably not.

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Thank you for that outrageously huge laugh!

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

peppyre

peppyre

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

So, after another conversation with my mother this morning, there is more to add to this situation. All of their champagne for the Christmas season is sitting on the docks and has been since this began. All of the stock for Christmas is either on the water right now or about to be shipped and at this time, nothing is being shipped to Vancouver. If it's on the water, they can divert it to Seattle, but nothing is leaving the wineries until this is over. From what I can gather, the Christmas season is going to pretty light.

I ran into another situation last night with this dispute. I needed ginger to make a Thai salad. I went to 3 different stores and when I asked my local guys why they were out, I was told that it was all sitting on the docks. It comes from China and it's not going anywhere. Best advice, if you need ginger, buy lots, let it sprout and plant it. There will be a shortage in the coming months!

peppyre

peppyre

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

As far as I know, it all unloads at the same place and then gets moved to the LDB warehouse. It really doesn't matter where it unloads, it's all sitting outside, in the sun, not moving.

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