Ep. 161 Monty Waldin interviews Barbara Philip MW (BC Liquor Stores) | Italian Wine Personalities

Italian wine podcast. Chinching with Italian wine people. Hello. This is the Italian wine podcast. My name is Monte Walden. My guest today is Barbara Philip. Barbara is a master of wine and category manager for BC liquor stores. Can you just translate that? What on earth does that mean? I can. In fact, I work for government and we love our and we love our acronyms. So BC liquor stores is the government owned retail chain in the province of British Columbia Canada. Okay. So go and give us a bit more detail. How does that work then? Well, it works. It's kind of funny in BC because we're government owned as I said, and we have about two hundred stores, but actually I compete with six hundred independent stores in the same province. Right. So you I mean, what advantages do you have being government owned and what disadvantages do you have being government owned? I love that question, and I heard ever get asked it. So thank you very much. The advantage is our main philosophy is to offer a wide selection of wines from all over the world for our customers. So that's number one, and we have the buying power to do it, and we have the distribution system, and it's great to have two stores because they're all over the province and they span many different demographics. I would say a downside is that it's government. So we have certain restrictions, certain, certain freedoms that the private sector enjoys where we don't it such as? Oh, such as I may choose to delist a very obscure wine. And, the next day I would have a letter from the from the minister on my desk saying, look, could you, could you review this wine and see if we can get it back on the shelf. Right. So there's pressure from the top. Yes. Is that because he likes that wine particularly? It'll be because a constituent has written and said, what? I went into the store yesterday and it wasn't there. So constituency means someone that lives in the village. Down. Yep. Exactly. And they so that's kind of, you know, that is direct rule, isn't it almost? Like, if you shout loud enough in your village and get the local liquor store to contact the government and the government contacts the the minion that is in charge of dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the form, that wine goes back on the shelf. That's it. And and I guess, you know, I'm sort of complaining about it here, but when you look at it from the from the point of view of the consumer, it's that's not such a bad thing maybe. Yeah. And also, I mean, they'll probably fire you any of that you know, you could have total freedom to to to to to to another career. So, when, I mean, did you grow up with wine? Well, I mean, you're obviously becoming an MW means that you must either have or both, academic ability and passion, which is, most important for you, the passion or the out that you're a bit of a brainy person. Oh, I love. I'm I don't know. I'm passionate about pH. I'm passionate about pH. I'm passionate about pH. Don't ever go on a dating app. Ever, you know, it what do I like? You know, like, it would say food, long walks, that kind of stuff going to the movies pH. I know. I don't think there's any there's no worries about me going on a dating app anytime soon, but I love the I'm I'm I'm passionate about about the details and the stories and the science and the business as well as of course enjoying enjoying the wine with with my friends and colleagues and then a good plate of food. Do you know one of my standing questions is is picking the page in the way? Because the page basically means the acid strength the wine, and that's really important in terms of how wine stores and ages. One of my questions is always about rootstocks because rootstocks, that's the interface between the land and the sky, which is at the vine. If you don't, who's on the wrong rootstock, you're really gonna struggle to make a good wine. Is real. This is like the Geek podcast now, isn't it? It's like all our listeners are just tuned now. I'm like, on root socks and pH. What are we talking about? So at home, when you have friends coming around, what is the worst thing that they could say about a wine that you on the table. What is the best thing that they could say? Okay. Let's start with the best because that's what I'm always hoping for. The best thing they could say is this is refreshing and hits the spot. We all wanna be refreshed by it. I think the worst thing they could say is, yeah, I used to like this producer, but, I've moved on, something like that. So what are the current trends now, in Canada, in general, not just your, government monopoly. So, but in, in general, what are what are people drinking, what's hot? People are drinking, why they're drinking more and more of a diverse selection. So sometimes it's hard to pin it down, but definitely European wines are are very strong, France, and Italy, and it's the classics. You know, every once in a while, somebody will will go outside of the closets to try something new and I love that and we always have it ready for them. But it's really people, it's like they're rediscovering something like Chianti Clasico. It's a very, very interesting. Sparkling wine is hot Rose like every like everywhere else. Dry Rose would in in Canada is a fairly new concept for us and people are buying it. I mean, we can't keep it. And that's that's across all provinces. So when you say dry rose, do you mean someone is bone dry or with a little bit of sweetness? You mean by the tux sheet or on the palette? On the palette. On the palette dry. I'm gonna take cheap three or four grams. Perhaps. Okay. What about, the sort of natural wine phenomenon, organic biodynamic natural. Is that going a bit crazy? It is going crazy. Absolutely. Certainly. That's more of a trend in, in the rest restaurants as I as I believe it should be. Right? I mean, that's a place where as a customer, you can ask, you can try with the sommelier or, you know, with the server right there, and he or she can explain to you. You know what? It might not be like the sancerre you're used to, it might have a little bit of complexities from oxidation or whatever it is, but absolutely people are super interested in natural wine and I whatever that is, but I think that we're seeing in in some of the more established restaurants. We're seeing a natural wine list and a classic wine list kind of coming together. Really? Right. So I I think maybe it's changed the way that people feel about their normal everyday wine. And so people are more they're more conscious about how the wine is made even if they don't necessarily want what has declared itself to be a natural one. That makes sense. You do a lot of talking to the actual wine profession or don't you? What are the common questions you get asked? What are the difficult questions you get asked? Difficult questions about any, you know, about my job or about, I mean, really as much as I love the technical things, and as you know, if you're not studying something fully at that moment, it's so hard to keep up. So I sort of live in fear of, like, questions about, you know, woodstocks. Right? That might be that might be your specialty, but it's like, I'm out of date. Isn't that? And isn't that one of the nightmares of being a master white expect you to know absolutely everything and you obviously it's just impossible. Well, it's absolutely impossible. And, you know, I knew a lot more about root socks when I wrote the exam and I know a lot more about business now. So it just balances out. So what about Canadian wine wine made in Canada? Mhmm. Well, how's that going. Where are the main centers of production and in in a nutshell that the main styles that are being made and how they're received in in in their homeland? So the main regions of production are Ontario and British Columbia. So Ontario is really the Niagara Peninsula and in BC It's the Ocanagin Valley. And they're quite different growing regions. Ontario is a bit cooler overall, a bit longer growing season and much, much more humid, whereas in the Ocanagin, that's in British Columbia where I'm from. It's almost desert. Conditions. And it's pretty intense, pretty intense continental climate with a big difference between what's grown in the north, which would be Zippy riesling, sparkling wine, chardonnay, and pinot noir. And then in the south, oath where, you know, it still might be thirty five degrees at dinner time. The sun doesn't set until ten o'clock at night. Like, this is an intense growing season. Sierra, they're people planting Granache, Kunoise, Maryland in Canada, that's amazing, isn't it? It is amazing. It is amazing. It wasn't me that planted it, but but you know, there's this there's this rampant sense of experimentation, which is so lovely, right? So we have lots of reds. I think they're over eighty eighty different grape varieties that are planted in BC. And Ontario, really when I think of Ontario, I think of riesling as being their their signature of some great pinot noir as well. Game? Game on the increase in both provinces and I love it. There's Bella wines that makes great sparkling wine from from Gami that is so interesting. And Gami, for some reason, the okanagan seems to be able to maintain its freshness, whether it's grown in the north or the south. So it's small plantings now, but people are talking about it and the plantings are increasing. So I'm looking forward to seeing Morgan in, say, five years. Cool. So I'll say thanks to my guest today, Barbara Philip, Master Wine, category manager for BC liquor stores in Canada. Really nice to see you. A pleasure. And, we'd love to come and even Canada sometime and check out the Italian varieties that have been grown. Is that is that becoming a bit popular or not, or is it still experimental? It's still experimental with some interesting results, but still experimental. From Dolceto, anything like that? Oh, there's Nebula but there was one plot of Nebula in the south, but it never went through Verison. Right. Okay. So that was that was a non starter wasn't. That was a non starter. So not some sons you're busy that's not doing badly. Really? Yep. Interesting. You know, I live in Bruno, don't you? Mhmm. Yeah. I guess I wanna say thanks to my guest today, Barbara at MasterWine, category manager for BC liquor stores in Canada. Great to talk to you. That's my tea. Thanks for coming in. My pleasure. 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