Q: What is "Meritage" and what is it made from?

A: Meritage is the term created to describe United States wines made from blending traditional Bordeaux grape varieties.

Most American wine is identified by the variety of grape that makes up 75% or more of the wine. Prior to 1988, any wine that did not have the required content was simply labeled red or white table wine. Many winemakers felt that this was too restrictive as their efforts to emulate the great wines of Bordeaux (most of which are blends) could only be called red or white and thus suffered a loss of prestige in the marketplace.

Finally, in 1988, these winemakers formed an association to promote their blended wines. The term "Meritage" was chosen from more than 6,000 entries and the Meritage Association was born. For a wine to be called Meritage, it must adhere to these criteria:

- (for red Meritage) made from two or more of the following grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petite Verdot, St Macaire, Gros Verdot and Carmenere;
- (for white Meritage) made from two or more of the following varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Sauvignon Vert.
- no single variety may make up more than 90% of the blend.
(source: www.meritagewine.org)

It should also be noted that Meritage is defined and protected under the VQA standards of British Columbia and Ontario. This is done under a letter of agreement from the Meritage Association and the definition is identical.

Q: What is gin? How would you describe the taste?

A: The most popular form of gin is London Dry, a neutral grain spirits flavoured with botanicals. It is made in the following fashion:
- Neutral spirits (usually from a grain or molasses base) are distilled to 96% alcohol by volume (ABV).
- The spirit is then diluted to 45% ABV and natural ingredients (botanicals) are added and allowed to steep.
- The resulting solution is re-distilled to 80-85% ABV, locking in the flavours of the botanicals. Many producers will repeat this distillation more than once.
- Distilled water is added to reduce the ABV to 40% and the gin is ready for bottling.

The flavour of gin varies from producer to producer depending on the recipe of botanicals used (usually a closely guarded secret). The dominant flavour is juniper but it may be augmented by coriander, angelica, orris root, licorice, cinnamon, lemon peel, orange peel and others. Bombay Sapphire (SKU#316844 $25.45) for example, has ten different botanicals contributing to its very popular flavour.