Kudos to Calvin’s son Matt!
So what happens when two Canadian-wine-loving guys get chatting on Twitter, lamenting the fact that #CanadianWineDay (#CdnWineDay) is only one day? Why, they end up challenging each other to go for a year without drinking (*see the rules) anything but Canadian Wine! And that’s just what happened to Calvin Hanselmann and myself last week. We started putting the details in place over the last several days and we realized that this might be worth opening up to others who want to try the Challenge, so we thought we should document the details. In the discussion we also figured we should have some prizes for anyone who can complete the Challenge, so Calvin and I have put a couple of things together and we’ll find some more during the year I am sure.
The “Rules”
- NEW! Registration has been extended through the month of September. We’ll keep some prizes just for those who registered before the 1st of September, but we’ll use the month of September to encourage more Canadians to join the Challenge!
- It is all about drinking great Canadian wine, but it is also about having fun along the way!
- The duration of the Challenge is 12 calendar months, starting Sept 1, 2013
- You may only purchase or open Canadian Wine for the duration of the Challenge. This allows for a few exceptions like international wine events that may be attended, dinner parties where the host unwittingly opens something non-Canadian, wine-related courses you may be taking where other wines may be opened, and events like i4c2014 or The Riesling Experience where it would be terrible to miss the international wines on offer. With feedback, we decided to allow for international travel exemption as well, as we know how hard it is to get Canadian wine within Canada, let alone the rest of the world!
- You must drink wine from at least three (3) provinces during the 12 month period, and at least 12 different wines during that time.
- Any Canadian wine counts – VQA, non-VQA, fruit wines, anything that involves fermenting fruit from this great country of ours.
- To join in the fun, declare your intention in the comments section of this post, or email thegreatcanadianwinechallenge@gmail.com.
- Commit to a weekly update, via Twitter (#TGCWC hashtag), a blog post, or an email to the organizers (thegreatcanadianwinechallenge@gmail.com) and we will track updates from participants in our weekly update.
- If you are on Twitter, follow @TGCWC, @TheEvilDoctorD, @UncorkOntario, and use the #TGCWC hashtag of course!
- As this is not a contest, prizes will be awarded through some random mechanism yet to be determined (at the end of the challenge).
- Buy some wine from your favourite wineries across Canada and get popping those corks!
Let us know if we have forgotten anything…and in case you wondered – yes, there will be T-shirts!
And if you are a winery or wine-related business and would like to donate some prizes to be awarded at the end, email us at thegreatcanadianwinechallenge@gmail.com or contact us through Twitter. We’ll be sure to praise you all over the interwebs and in a special blog post.
Happy Canadian Wine Year!
Calvin & Shawn
Definitely up for the challenge!
HA!! I declare myself the winner now!
Who dares to challenge me?? 🙂
The gauntlet has been thrown!
What an awesome idea!
I think that if you play it right, the added benefit is the exposure of small Canadian wineries to the general public.
I know you two are great advocates and that this contest/bet/dare is going to be a lot of fun.
The biggest surprise will be that there are so many Canadian wines available that you could have a different one each day.
Best of luck!
Rick Bates …. I see your challenge and raise you a bottle from your meticulously kept cellar.
TOTALLY down with that.
“You must drink wine from at least three (3) provinces during the 12 month period, and at least 12 different wines during that time.” Surely I’m permitted to drink more than one wine per month, right???
@Melissa: Glad to have you on board!
@Rick: Well, there may be prizes for most provinces “tasted”…
@Louis: I really don’t think I could drink that much wine…although it would be fun to try!
@Krys: Ooh. Stakes are high already!
@Bethany: Of course not – I would never limit myself to 1 bottle per month! That would be a REAL challenge! 🙂
I am so in, this is a great idea! I will go one step further and get my out of province wines directly from the wineries 😉
Count me in! Find me on Twitter @gisameliot. It’s going to be a deliciously rewarding year of wine for everyone involved!
I want to join the Great Canadian Wine Challenge. I commit to following all of The Rules. Lewt the patriotic imbibing begin.
Why wait until Sept 1? I have had a Great Canadian summer enjoying wines & craft beers from coast to coast. I have no plans to stop! 🙂 Happy to be part of the team…err I mean challenge.
Great Mark – glad to have you on board!
Hey Chantal – glad to have you join this crazy group! Look forward to your updates!
Welcome aboard Steven!
I’m actually using the next week to clean out my international wines that might not last another year! Seeing as most of my cellar is ON, it shouldn’t take me more than 1 night! 😉
This is great and hope that you will both blog about your tasting adventures. Let me know if I can help with your journey!
I am SO in ….I look forward to the challenge. Let’s see if I can get my fellow sippers to join.
It’s on Rick Bates!!!!!! I’m IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Paul – thanks for the offer Paul!
@Kelly – welcome to the wacky world of Canadian Wine for a year!
@Jennifer – I knew you would jump in eventually! Thanks for joining!
Wait! What? Who? Jennifer? Please, everyone give/show/provide your Twitter handle so we know who you are! (It helps us old people!)
PS:I accept your challenge!! 🙂
I’m in eh!
@Rick: Jennifer is @fashionfood
@Andrew: Nice to have you join…you’ve got the ON wine thing figured out…now just need to add 2 of NS/QC/BC/PEI/NB/…etc! 🙂
Well of course you know that @whitbywino is going to give this a go. It doesn’t appear that there is much international wine in my cellar that needs to be consumed within the next twelve months. Game on!!
I’ll definitely be watching this take shape and sending out info to my wine followers on twitter! Great initiative for Canadian wines …
This is normal for me so to easy. I will work on a prize to donate
Game on indeed Paul!
Thanks Joe! The more the merrier!
Thanks Scott!
Count me in!!
Hi there,
My husband and I intent to participate.
His details: Phil Bender pebender@icloud.com
Thanks for organizing! Great initiative.
Alex
We are allowed to pull Canadian wines out of the cellar too?
I’m in!
I’m in…
OK. I like the rules. I’m in!
I’m up for a challenge as delicious as this! & I’m @sokovino
Such a great idea!challenge accepted 🙂
I’m in!
@curdsandcliches
I would like to attend
I must accept this Challenge
The rules are good.
Canadian wines are so good.
As I mainly drink Canadian, this should be easy
@DrinkBC – Excellent – welcome aboard the challenge. If you could follow up with an email or DM please let us know how you will be updating us! Thanks!
Welcome aboard Bob! Glad you could join us – your site is the definitive guide to wineries in Canada for folks in the challenge who are looking for wines from other provinces!
Hi Phillippe – are you going to participate? Great if you are!
Welcome to the Challenge, George!
Welcome Annie!
Excellent – thanks Mark and welcome to the challenge!
Of course Bill – cellared Canadian wines always count! Welcome aboard!
Thanks Alexandra and Phil!
Thanks Kerri – you are counted!
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This is my kind of challenge! Count me in.
I am SO in on this one! Let the challenge begin