Transcript 0:00 All right. Well, welcome to the first episode of the Fireside Podcast presented by the Muskoka Almanac. Of course, uh, today we're, we're talking about wine, wine tasting, everything wine-related. 0:11 But first I'll just give you a bit of an overview about what we're all about 'cause it's that first episode. So, the Fireside Podcast, um, is all about Muskoka, Muskoka cottaging. 0:20 So, everything from local businesses, brands, you know, cottagers with interesting perspectives, that's what we're all about. 0:26 One of those people with interesting perspectives, uh, we're joined by, today by Ian from Bottles & Barrels, who's gonna be talking a little bit about wine, his connection to Muskoka, and really some cool stuff in between. 0:36 So, thank you so much for joining, Ian. You're kind of like the, uh, the first person in the pool here, so, uh, thanks for hopping on the first episode. Yeah [laughs]. I really appreciate it. 0:43 Um, but yeah, I'd love to learn a little bit about your connection to Muskoka and all that kind of great stuff. Yeah. Thanks for having me. It's exciting to be on. 0:50 Uh, yeah, in terms of, uh, connection to Muskoka, it's been a place that I've been spending my summers my whole life, more or less. 0:57 I, I kinda moved up to the area full time right during the start of COVID, 2020, but, uh, my grandparents had a cottage here. My parents now have a cottage here. 1:05 I have my own house in it, in, in Huntsville, so just, uh, you know, the north end of Muskoka, so to speak. But, uh, it's always been a place that's near and dear to me, and, uh, you know, love making it my home. 1:14 Yeah, for sure. No, it's, there's such a unique, distinct feeling when you cross into the district of Muskoka. You're immediately greeted by the Canadian Shield. It's very... 1:23 Y- you're there, and there's, there's a, there's a feeling that happens when you arrive that's hard to capture unless you go. Um, but that's awesome. No, thanks for, thanks for letting us know. 1:31 So, you work in the wine importing industry. Now, that sounds like a really cool industry to be a part of. Uh, how did you get into that? [laughs] Yeah, no, great question. Definitely, definitely lots of fun. 1:42 Pros and cons to working in it, but it's, uh... I love it. It's something that I really enjoy. 1:46 I've always, I've always been fascinated by, I guess, like, the art of wine, uh, you know, the, the history of it, where it comes from, the people that make it, the, the stories that go into these massive castles that are now wi- wineries and estates, mostly in the Old World, you know, Italy, France, uh, other parts of Europe. 2:03 It was also just a COVID hobby that turned into an actual, you know, business, so to speak. It, uh, my, my, one of my really good friends, his uncle, named Steven Cohen, he has an amazing portfolio. 2:11 He's also a wine importer in Ontario called Group Soleil. 2:15 He focuses on higher-end champagnes, and when, uh, I met him back in 2020, I was just super fascinated by his career, and he basically explained it that he'd go to France a couple times, you know, per, per calendar year, try a bunch of champagne, buy what he likes, bring it home, sell it to his friends, and, and that was his business, and he'd been doing it for... 2:33 Well, he founded his business in 1996, so just, uh, just about 30 years now. And, uh, when I learned about that, I mean, I'd never heard of wine importing as a career. 2:41 I always make that joke, like, it wasn't something that was at my high school job fair. 2:45 Um, but when I did know that it existed, it just really was something that kind of pulled me in right away, and so I did some wine education training, specifically the WSET, Wine & Spirit Education Trust course that George Brown offers and a number of other institutions offer, and that kind of kickstarted it. 3:01 And, uh, yeah, that was just about five and a half years ago now. So, it's been, been a, been a fun few years and lots of growth that we've already achieved and lots of growth ahead, hopefully. Oh, for sure. 3:10 And l- business trips to the South of France and all these great places doesn't sound terribly [laughs] either. No, that's awesome. Uh, y- you're, you're right [laughs]. No, that's great. 3:19 And I guess when it comes down to the, the brands that you represent, like, talking about your portfolio a bit and the different products you carry, I know we did an essentials in the newsletter last year, which there were some really cool picks in there with different products. 3:32 How many brands do you represent, and where do they originate from? Yeah, great question. So we, we focused, at least to start, primarily in Italy. Ontario has always had an affinity with Italian wines. 3:42 A lot of it has to do with the, you know, ancestry of a lot of, uh, the immigration over the last several decades. That has led to, uh, a significant amount of Italian-Canadian population. 3:51 Um, and so that's where we started. Uh, we, in total, work with about 27 brands, I would say. 3:56 That, that number does fluctuate a little bit, so I might not be accurate right off the top of the head, but in and around that many vineyards. Some of them are, are, you know, just exclusively wine producers. 4:05 Some also do spirits. Um, so there's a, a bit of a variety there. But, uh, right now we work with brands in France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and South Africa, um, but the bulk of that being, being from Italy. 4:18 Oh, that's great. That's awesome. 4:20 So I guess when it comes down to somebody's a new customer, uh, and they say, "Hey, we're looking for something new, something that I haven't tried before," uh, what kind of questions are you asking them to really, like, kind of dial in on their portfolio or their, their taste and really what they're after? 4:34 Yeah. Uh, y- a lot of it just comes down to what they already like. You know, for people that have some sort of wine passion, usually they'll know, do they like red or white? Do they like bold or dry? 4:45 Do they like sweet or, you know, simple? Um- Yeah... and just from there, obviously, there's different lan- paths you can go. 4:53 Um, but for a lot of people, they're, they're interested in just that new, unique experience, which for, for us and the portfolio we represent, none of what we carry is in the LCBO except for one product of our- Hmm... 5:04 over 100 different bottles. So for a lot of people, that's new and exciting and interesting to be able to try something that isn't, uh, you know, mass-produced and widely available. 5:13 Um, and there's a lot of really cool producers out there that just simply cannot produce enough quantity to fill the shelf in an LCBO, uh, you know, storefront, uh, 'cause they're only making maybe a few thousand bottles per year, of which we'll maybe get 10% of that. 5:28 Hmm. So really, only a few hundred are coming to the province, and, uh, obviously that would just be one LCBO store, so it's not worth it for them to stock, uh, you know, province-wide. That's so cool. 5:37 Yeah, no, it's, the whole supply chain side of it is really interesting. Um, that's neat. 5:42 So when it comes down to, like, the areas that you service, obviously Muskoka being one, Toronto being another, uh, is it, like, are you able to ship your products, or how does that all work? Yeah. 5:50 We, we can ship anywhere in Ontario. I mean, primarily me living in Huntsville and our business b- Pretty much operating out of Toronto, those are the areas we service. We do also do- Mm-hmm... 5:58 a fair amount in Collingwood, uh, as well, or Collingwood area. But I mean, we have people that have bought wine from us in Ottawa and all the way up to Sudbury, and we can make the logistics work. Yeah. 6:07 Um, but it's just really about getting exposure and obviously, you know, people usually have to attend one of our events, or they usually wanna try before they buy. 6:16 So that looks like people meeting us face to face for the most part, so it's not like they're... We don't have a huge e-commerce presence or anything like that. 6:23 It's just mostly relationship based, and from there, if you let us know where it needs to go, we'll, we'll try to get it there. Oh, that's perfect. Yeah, no, and for a product like this, that's exactly what you want. 6:30 You wanna understand what your customer's looking for, and out of those 20 odd, uh, suppliers you're working with, um, which ones would be- meet their needs best. So, um, you try a lot of different wine. 6:41 You've, you know, over the years. Do you have like a... I guess it's Valentine's Day weekend, which is, which is something that's coming up. There's gonna be people looking for a nice bottle. 6:50 Um, when it comes down to something that you've tried recently that you said, "Wow, this is something that's phenomenal. I wish more people knew about it," is there anything you'd recommend? For sure. 6:59 I mean, for Valentine's Day you might be having a big steak dinner, so usually that would be paired well with a big, bolder red wine. Mm-hmm. 7:05 Um, I mean, in terms of my favorites, I- I usually do gravitate towards Italian wine. It's just what I know most about and where I've learned, you know, h- had the most experience. Yeah. 7:14 Uh, so for me, that would look probably like a Brunello di Montalcino, a wine that I love, or maybe an Amarone, a very big, bold wine to pair with that big fancy meal you may be having. 7:23 But in general, I mean, there's, there's great wine for all the different occasions. A white wine, red wine, rosé, even orange wine's a cool, a cool subsect that's growing in popularity. 7:33 Um, and it's really just about the time, the place, who you're having it with and, and- Yeah... what you enjoy that, that makes the perfect bottle. For sure, yeah. 7:40 Um, and I guess when you look at like 2026 as a roadmap or as a whole, what gets you really excited about 2026, maybe events in Muskoka, products that you're looking forward to onboarding, or stuff that, you know, you're, you're excited to just showcase and, and to, uh, to tell people about? 7:55 Yeah, we just got back from Wine Paris, which is a huge expo, uh, obviously in Paris, that features mostly French wines, although there's a lot of international varieties- Mm-hmm... there, there as well. 8:04 So really excited about bringing on some new Burgundy wines, Bourgogne wines. 8:09 Um, it's obviously, for those that are into the high-end collectors space, it's probably the most sought after wine region in the world for that, uh, type of buyer, and it's really exciting to be bringing on some producers. 8:20 None I can officially name yet. Obviously those- Yeah... nothing's been super finalized since that day [laughs] when we were there, but- Yeah. [laughs]... hoping that's the case in time for summer. 8:28 Uh, one of the events I'm, I'm definitely looking forward to is Muskoka Fashion Week, so it'll be the second annual, uh, Muskoka Fashion Week, which helps represent a lot of the, uh, retailers in the area in Port Carling, Bala, Huntsville, Bracebridge, et cetera, uh, and putting on a bit of a fashion show for their brands, raising some money for charity. 8:45 We're involved as a wine partner or beverage partner for, for the event. 8:48 I believe it's July 14th to the 21st this year, off the top of my head, so it's in mid-July, and, uh, definitely a really fun, cool event that bops its way around from, you know, Tano Rosso to Port Carling to Bala and some other, some other venues and places like that. 9:03 Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, no, that'll be, uh... Well, I'm looking forward to hearing, uh, the new and exciting news, um, in terms of your, uh, new connections for 2026, but that's phenomenal. 9:12 Um, so I guess when it comes down to it, folks who are listening to the podcast are saying, "Wow, I really wanna get into touch with Ian, uh, learn what, you know, he's all about, find more information about his products and what he carries." 9:22 How would people get in touch with you? Yeah, we have a website, bottlesandbarrels.ca. Uh, you can find all of our info there. Uh, we actually also work with a charity, I should mention. 9:30 [laughs] So there's some info about the charity that we support directly. Every bottle sold, a portion of the proceeds goes to that charity. Um, so that's a, a cool piece about us. 9:38 Uh, so there's info about that on the website, but you can also find me on Instagram, ezwineanddine is my handle there. Uh, but pretty accessible. If you, uh, see me around town, just give me a wave and come say hi. 9:49 Perfect. All right, well, thanks for hopping on the podcast, Ian. I really appreciate it, and, uh, have yourself a great weekend. Thank you very much. Great to be on. Congrats on the new show. Thanks.
