Featured User: Shawn Thompson

Shawn Thompson is a book nerd, foodie, home cook and perpetually curious. He is a Strategy Director at an advertising agency in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a passion for design, architecture, family and wine. Delectable: What sparked your passion for wine? Shawn Thompson: About twenty-five years ago, when Penticton’s Naramata Bench was just becoming a notable Canadian wine region, I spent a summer there learning all about the grapes and the wine making process. I became fascinated with both the art and science of making wine. I discovered good wine comes from skill and precision but to become spectacular, the process requires passion and creativity. This helped me understand that to truly appreciate wine, one must take into account not only the nose or the palate, but also the terroir and the stories behind the wine. D: What wine region are you wild about right now? ST: I have a couple of regions I’m really in love with right now. I visited Willamette Valley in Oregon last year and fell in love with the Chehalem Mountains region where wineries such as Domaine Drouhin, Archery Summit and Trisaetum are producing spectacular Pinot Noirs , one of my true favourites. I’m also really in love with Canada’s Okanagan and Niagara Peninsula regions and all the Cabernet Franc action we’re getting up here. I think Cab Franc might actually grow best in the land of the maple leaf! D: What is the most unusual wine you’ve ever tried? ST: I recently tried an unfiltered “rouge” Pinot Gris from Fossil and Fawn that was super weird but also super delicious. They treated it like any other red with full skin contact fermentation and it produced a very fruity, low acid, highly gluggable juice with notes of Hawaiian Punch, orange peel and cinnamon. I’ve never had anything quite like it. D: What is your golden rule for wine? ST: I try to really understand and visit a wine region. Then I buy and collect wines that reflect my preferences and palate, not some critic's scorecard. (Although I’ve been known to be influenced by some of my favourite sommeliers opinions now and then!) D: Say you’re not allowed to have wine, what is your second option? ST: When not collecting and drinking wine, I’m collecting and drinking gin . Like wine, gin requires a lot of craftsmanship and comes in so many different styles and herbal concoctions. And don't get me started on my love for a dry gin martini, shaken, not stirred. D: Choose a movie, book, quote, or song and pair it with a wine ST: I actually love wine movies, I’ve seen Sideways at least a dozen times, and one of my favs is A Good Year with Russel Crowe. When I watch that film, I like to pair it with a nice red from one of the appellations in Provence, maybe something like a Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence with a Cabernet Sauvignon-Syrah blend, really capturing that distinctive freshness and structure of the region. D: If you were a wine, what wine would you be? ST: I’d most definitely be a Cabernet Franc - I’m down to earth, not overly pretentious, a little peppery, authentically bold and truly earnest.

Featured User: Shawn Thompson

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