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Alexandru BRAN

Master: Traducere si terminologie juridica, an II

Canada warms up
by Jancis Robinson
There were more impressive whites than reds but thanks to climate change reds
are no longer pale apologies for wine
Im well used to wine being delivered by casually dressed couriers, but one morning
last November two substantial men in suits arrived on my doorstep. They looked like
Mormon missionaries, and they assured me that they too had some wine for me.
Some turned out to be seven large cases containing 50 bottles of Canadian wine,
delivered by officials from the Canadian High Commission, no less. Because Im
updating a book and needed to revisit my knowledge of Canadian wine, I had
reached out, as common parlance now has it, to Janet Dorozynski whose
government job in Canada is to advance the cause of Canadian alcoholic drinks. If
you were hosted by a Canadian official at Davos this year, your hooch will have been
chosen by Janet. Her task for me was to choose wines she thought would demonstrate
the progress Canadian vintners have been making recently.
Like any government official, she could not show geographical favouritism, so the
bottles included not only dozens from each of the two major wine-producing
provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, but also what she reckoned were the best
ferments of Quebec and Nova Scotia. (Actually, I suspect that the very best ferments
of Quebec may not be based on grapes at all but on apples if Leduc-Piedimontes
sweet Ice Cider is anything to go by.) The French-speaking province is clearly a bit
too cold for most European vines but of the three Quebecois examples delivered I was
quite impressed by an expensively oaked, mature dry 2008 white from Domaine Les
Brome based on the hybrid grape Vidal.
As for the four examples from Nova Scotia, or Nouvelle-cosse, I could see strong
parallels with English wine (cool Atlantic-influenced climate, high acid). The
Gaspereau, Warners Vineyard 2011 dry Riesling, had more Riesling character than I
have ever tasted in my native land while Benjamin Bridges traditional method fizz
was crisp and sufficiently well made.
The majority of my favourite wines (see below) had come all the way from British
Columbia in western Canada and I found them particularly well (and sometimes
wittily) packaged. Having not visited wine country in BC and Ontario for some years,
I can report that the wines made in both provinces have improved considerably.
Overall there were more impressive whites than reds but presumably thanks to
climate change reds are no longer pale apologies for wine, even in Ontario where
summers tend to be cooler than in British Columbia. (BCs wine country is semidesert and the reds can be strapping. The only problem is the short growing season
and some pretty severe winters.) My three favourite reds, all from BCs spectacular
Okanagan Valley, were wittily named and very different. Church & State somehow
managed to produce a luscious Coyote Bowl 2009 Syrah that tastes stunningly,
recognisably of the north Rhnes grape but is not overly marked by the American
oak in which it was apparently matured. Laughing Stock Vineyards Portfolio
Bordeaux blend, another product of the 2009 summer, is perhaps less unusual in how
it tastes, but comes in a cunningly etched bottle. And Joie PTG 2010 was perhaps the
single most original wine of the entire shipment, a blend of Gamay and Pinot Noir
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Alexandru BRAN
Master: Traducere si terminologie juridica, an II

that emulates Burgundys Passetoutgrains blend, which has been coming out of the
shadows recently, not least because of rising temperatures.
Global warming has been impacting on Canadas most famous wine style. Earlier this
month, after some nail-biting, BC vintners did manage to pick some Icewine, frozen
grapes that are pressed to produce sweet wine. But the total volume produced
continues to fall as temperatures rise. For many years expensive and often tiny bottles
of Icewine were Canadian producers pride and joy something they could reliably
produce every year and which have proved extremely lucrative in Asian markets in
particular. If temperatures continue to rise, however, Icewine may become more of an
occasional bonus as in Germany. I must say that I was not especially impressed by
the three Icewines included in my consignment, although again the French hybrid
Vidal seemed at home in eastern Canada and the 2010 Vidal Icewine from specialist
Peller of Niagara was perfectly respectable even if not especially rich or complex.
I was seriously impressed, however, by several dry Rieslings, not least those of
Tantalus in BC, and by a relatively early Chardonnay offering from the admired
Canadian winemaker Thomas Bachelder who now, ambitiously, makes a Chardonnay
in each of Ontario, Oregon and what he perhaps ought to call OBurgundy to make up
a neat set of initials. (It would surely be more convenient for him to choose a southern
hemisphere region whose harvest is at a different time of year. Otago perhaps.)
There was a respectable Ontario fizz, and things generally look set fair for Canadas
most ambitious wine producers except that they still have to sell mainly in the
liquor stores that generate so much cash for provincial monopolies such as Ontarios
LCBO. Here Canadas best wines, designated VQA, are in competition with very
much cheaper products that, despite a considerable hullabaloo in 2009, are still
labelled confusingly. What would you understand by an International Canadian
Blend? This is the term that has succeeded Cellared in Canada for liquids made up
of grape juice, grape concentrate and wine imported from wherever can supply most
cheaply together with a bit of the most basic Canadian wine, typically made from
the hybrids not allowed in VQA wines.
Apparently in the trade they are known as ICBs. Id suggest this might stand for in
cold blood. The wine regulators and the Canadian brand owners who bottle these
products may not be committing murder but they seem to me to be deceiving the
wine-buying public into thinking that all these concoctions are made from the
fermented juice of freshly picked grapes the definition of wine that is commonly
accepted outside Canada.
(Source: The Financial Times, 25 January 2013)

Alexandru BRAN
Master: Traducere si terminologie juridica, an II

The text starts off with a minor cultural stereotype. The wine expert thought
the two substantian men in suits were Mormon missionaries, being used to wine
delivered by casually dressed curriers.
However, a model of needs, posed by psychologist Abraham Maslow back in
the 1950s, has had a long-term impact on our ways of identifying and linking needs to
identity as well as the way others in particular advertisers have targeted those
needs. According to Maslow, needs motivate. This is also the case in the text. The
need to demonstrate the progress Canadian vintners have been making recently
drives government official Janet Dorozynski to reach-out to a wine expert. She also
demonstrates freedom from danger, making sure that shes not showing geographical
favoritism (the bottles included not only dozens from each of the two major wineproducing provinces, Ontario and British Columbia, but also what she reckoned were
the best ferments of Quebec and Nova Scotia).
For most of us, desperate hunger of thirst is likely to subvert all other needs.
But once we have eaten and drunk our fill, they cease to be a source of motivation. In
this case, the motivation is the need to further advertise and demonstrate the progress
of Canadian wine. They were secure, yet strived to achieve. This gives them selfsatisfaction, but it also wins them esteem, arising out of the way others perceive them,
and treat them or their culture. Typically, Canadas most known wine style is Icewine
(frozen grapes that are pressed to produce sweet wine), but it was affected by global
warming. The total volume produced continued to fall as the temperatures rose. This
didnt affect their morale, on the contrary, it helped motivate them to develop their
other wine styles. And, as shown in the text, their efforts were rewarded (reds are no
longer pale apologies for wine).
Positive feedback is appreciated and often relied on. Loss of feedback
reward, praise, acknowledgement may mean loss of motivation. This could affect
your personal confidence, making it drop dramatically or seep away. In order to
prevent this from happening, the Canadian official, made sure that she hand-picked 50
bottles of Canadas most promising, high-quality wine to be reviewed by the expert.
(...what she reckoned were the best ferments of Quebec and Nova Scotia.)
Responses like I was seriously impressed, I was quite impressed and I
found them particularly well (and sometimes wittily) packaged help reinforce their
self-esteem and elevate their personal confidence. It was needed in order to be assured
of their wine quality.
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Alexandru BRAN
Master: Traducere si terminologie juridica, an II

The importance of personal freedom is given special emphasis by Maslow. In


Motivation and Personality he writes of freedom to speak, freedom to do what one
wishes so long as no harm is done to others, freedom to express oneself, freedom to
investigate and seek for information, freedom to defend oneself (1954). He is of the
opinion that Secrecy, censorship, dishonesty, blocking of communication threatens
all the basic needs. Having placed a human value on freedom, people at their self
actualizing best will struggle to defend and further this and other higher order needs
such as fairness and justice.
Yet people are not always at their best. Maslow observes that in times of
insecurity, social, cultural, political or economical, a process of regression is likely to
take place, of retreating from higher order aspirations to attitudes and behaviour
dominated by self-preservation. Propagandists have long understood how insecurity
and fear in the population can be manipulated, to the point where fairness and justice
are no longer recognizable.
In my personal experience there are two primary reasons why we seek
recognition:
1. Our drive to have positive impact. Its important and natural for us to
know whether we are truly making a difference
2. Redemption. We try to redeem ourselves for having failed to get the
affection, validation or the recognition that we needed when we were younger by
having a positive impact on the world. It turns into the kind of attention-seeking that
irritates others and it becomes a bottomless pit for us we cant ever get enough
recognition to fill the hole in us.
The need for recognition, as one of our more sophisticated needs, is one of the
most difficult to achieve. It is the only one of which we are wholly dependent upon
others to respond appropriately. In other words, recognition, by definition, must come
from others.

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