” Can you spare a bottle of red wine?” my neighbour asked, ” Just something cheap, I’ll replace it,”

My husband looked dubious, went slowly down to the wine cellar and brought up a bottle of Karlo Estates 2015 Pinot Noir and looked at me.

Ummm ……..NO!

There is a huge difference between the bottle of something red and cheap that you picked up on a sale rack, and a bottle of $36 VQA Prince Edward County Pinot Noir from one of the County’s most interesting wineries.

#### Just checked the Karlo website, the Pinot Noir 2015 sells for $150.00!!!  ####

The trouble with being a wine tourist is that everything in our wine cellar has a story and a memory of the visit to the winery. The view over the vineyards, the time of the year, the chat with the owner or the winemaker, the special event going on that day at the winery or at home that prompted the visit. The tasting of several alternative wines, leading up to the choice of this bottle, regardless of the price, and then taking it home to cellar for another couple of years for the best flavour.

This is a bottle of wine you share with friends, neighbours and family at your table so that you can ensure you get to taste it again. This is not throwaway plonk to be guzzled down by someone who just needs something red in their glass.

From being someone who only knew that wine came in three colours red, pink or white 10 years ago, I realize I have become a Wine Snob.

I don’t even have a great nose for wine. If I can distinguish two tastes, it’s a Red (Rosé or White)  Letter Day!  But I don’t care, someone I know and value made this wine, it has to be drunk on my terms so at least two of the people drinking it can appreciate its artistry and lineage.

How much of a Wine Snob have I become? Well, more than I like to admit.

I always keep sparkling wine in my wine cellar for life’s celebrations. A bottle of l’Acadie Vineyards  2012 Prestige Brut and a bottle of Hinterland Wine  White Cap were opened for my father’s 100^th birthday. I actually did have more for that occasion but as most of the family millennials were chugging beer, I held back the others.

I now have five bottles of sparkling wine in my wine fridge –  L’Acadie Mousseux, Avondale Sky Benediction, Domaine de Grand Pré  Champlain, Blomidon Estate,  Crément, and L’Acadie TM Sparkling Rosé. I’m waiting for a special occasion. These are award-winning Nova Scotia sparklings and impossible to replace without a trip to Eastern Canada.

My son’s wedding this summer could be the right occasion but his partner’s parents don’t drink. If I show up with five bottles of bubbly in our room, what message does that send? I also have a landmark birthday this year, but I’ll be out of the country so can’t access my stash. The occasion has to be as good as the wine – doesn’t it?

I have almost given up taking expensive bottles of Ontario wine to friends’ houses when we’re invited for dinner. Usually, it gets stored away somewhere and replaced by Wallaroo Trail or something equally plebian.

There, I’ve said it “Plebian.” I am really losing it. Total Wine Snob!

It’s time to lower my standards. Sparkling wine to celebrate the vegetable garden being planted or the first lawn mowing of the year, sparkling wine for managing to change the kingsize duvet cover without ending up at the chiropractor. Please add other everyday celebrations you feel worthy of a glass of bubbly in the comments section below.

How about Karlo Estates Pinot Noir with barbecued hot dogs?

Ummmm….NO!!!!!