Tidal Bay

What's in a name? A rosé by any other name would smell as sweet.

I made my way southwest to lovely Parrsboro in the Bay of Fundy via Jost Winery on the sunshine trail. My reasons for stopping: Tidal Bay. Nova Scotia's wine industry is nascent. They've wisely decided to focus on obscure grapes that grow well here. Jost Tidal Bay is made from L'Acadie, Ortega, and NY Muscat grapes.

 But Mercator's even better Tidal Bay is L'Acadie, Seyval, and Petite Milo.

On the way, I'm listening to a CBC program entitled: Alcohol, Tonic or Toxin? This is a terrible name for a wine, btw.

I learned that the Tidal Bay appellation, Nova Scotia's first 8 years ago, can be made with different grapes. Tidal Bay is a brand. So this year 12 wineries are making a Tidal Bay.

Now here's the real kicker: I asked about Tidal Bay at Jost. And the woman standing next to me told me she named it: that the tourism board of Nova Scotia held a contest, and she entered online. They never even told her she won. Eventually they sent a case of wine and some other treats as a thank you.

Nova Scotia is a place that gets marketing. Every place you drive by has a tagline. This is Parrsboro, which is being revitalized as an arts haven. I'm not sure what its tagline is.

The license plates for the province promise Canada's ocean playground.
Pictou was the birthplace of New Scotland
Stellation offers people, spirit, pride. (No comma)
Stewiache proclaims it is halfway between the North pole and the Equator!

Why come to the Bay of Fundy? Because it has the biggest tide changes in the world. This week, 33 feet difference between high tide and low.

I'd planned to go kayaking, but the trip got moved up early in the morning, so I went hiking instead to Wards Falls.

It was a nice level walk along a stream, about 7 KM round trip.

It crisscrosses the brook, which must have meant getting your feet wet until they put in 16 bridges.

Some are a little wobbly. That's half the fun.

The falls themselves were modest, like Canadians.

All that moss left me in a good mood, even if I'd set out without refilling my water and had to pick blackberries.

Afterward I drove out to look at the harbour (sic) which just looked like mud flats.

Went in search of food and heard there was a tea room at the hostel at the lighthouse. So I scampered down the hill.

Sadly it was closed.

But hard to beat this view out to Cape d'Or (Cape of Gold).

3 pm and I was getting desperate. All I had to eat in the car was a bag of plums from the market the first day. I picked up Hello Dolly bars at the gas station. And then stumbled upon the best fried clams I've ever eaten, at the cafe in a trailer by the campground. (Sorry HoJo's of my youth.)

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include a few photos of the exquisitely restored home I'm staying in through AirBnB.

John is a retired professor from Ontario. I'll call this the wallpaper house. All the period detail is lovingly restored. Each room different.

 The teddy bear picnic graces the hall

Italo the cockapoo asleep on his chair.

If you'd like to stay here, I'd be happy to share the contact information. This may be the best heritage home I've ever slept in. One of the reviews said it was like staying in a Jane Austen novel.

Sigh. Why indeed?

Nova Scotia deserves all those taglines and accolades. They don't seem to get a lot of West Coast tourists. They're surprised I've even heard of it. And that's just fine.

Time to get a little rest. Tomorrow: a tour with an archaeologist on the floor of the Bay of the Fundy! Dinosaurs and more.

Pico vinho

Winemaking in the Azores doesn't look like winemaking in California. First of all, on Pico the grapes are grown in corrals of lava rocks. But as we've noticed, the humidity and climate and soil in Azores are very fertile.

 Everyone, it seems, is growing grapes, or tomatoes, or hydrangeas by the side of the road.

The crest of Madalena. I took the ferry across from Horta in the morning, for a layover en route to Sao Jorge. A taxi driver offered to give me a tour of some of the island highlights for 90 euros, then got annoyed when I said I was going to walk around town and sneered at me. (Way to go, taxi dude.)

Madalena is noticeably upscale, with more gates and fences. 

And fierce dogs.

 One of the highlights of visiting the Pico Wine Museum is seeing this enormous dragon tree.

 Smaller dragon tree

 Also this crazy pink pineapple, with many heads.

The old alembiques used to make fig brandy are now in the garden looking like giant Aladdin's lamps.

 Another notable part of wine on Pico: lots of unfamiliar grapes.

They display bottles of all the wines made on Pico, but no tasting.

 Gratuitous hibiscus

 A small shrine to lost fisherman

Obligatory cheese course at lunch, overlooking the sea, served with olives, homemade bread, and herbacious local honey

West toward Horta.

 Small dogs are more efficient. Be careful!

For the most part, Azorean islands don't have splendid beaches. But many of them have sea pools on the edge of the coast.

To the left, you could walk into natural pools formed from the laval rocks. In the distance, one of the ferries that goes between Faial and Pico and Sao Jorge sprang a leak, and now it's being taken apart.

 The distinctive church of Madalena.

 And the sun setting over Faial, as my ferry leaves Pico for Sao Jorge....

ferment

It's hard to miss Destilleria Pisco Mistral: it's opposite the square in a town that's only 4 or 5 blocks. Tour buses are parked in front. The next tour in English wasn't for an hour, so I joined a tour in Spanish. Fortunately I've been to enough wineries and distilleries that I wasn't too lost.

Half of the tour is devoted to a distillery museum. 

These udders from a cow were used to carry water.

Saddle bags for collecting grapes.

This is the old cellar for aging. I was curious how the bottles withstand earthquakes, but Chileans assured me that the country is accustombrada to terremotos and plans accordingly.

We tasted some ripe muscatel grapes off the vine.

 This antique harvester came from the United States.

Modern distillery tanks remind me of bathyspheres. Copper is expensive, so it's only used on the top.

 

Pisco is aged in these tanks. They smelled really good.

Appropriately, we sampled aged pisco in the temperate barrel room.

At the end of the tour, Carmen turned on an instructional film, which to my amusement was narrated in first-person Pisco. 

 After lunch, I stopped by the bar for my free Pisco sour.

There's another Pisco distillery either 2K or 4K from town, reportedly a better one. I asked Christin if there was a collectivo or bus. No, she said, your options are walk, bike, or hitchhike. I was tempted except for the heat. You can see why they say agua es vida ("water is life").

Back at the pool in front of my room, the bartender poured two samples from Nichos distillery. They were like grappa: guaranteed to kill germs for the rest of your life. Maybe I'll stick to wine and cocktails.