Nadia Fournier

Nadia is a principal critic for WineAlign’s Quebec website, Chacun son vin.  She developed a passion for wine on a long journey in Europe, where she worked the grape harvest in Burgundy (France), in the Valais (Switzerland) and in Piemonte (Italy). In 2007, she partnered with Michel Phaneuf, and began co-writing Le Guide du Vin. Nadia is now in charge of the best-selling wine guide in Quebec. She is also a contributor to the magazine L’Actualité, to Michel Phaneuf’s web site (www.michelphaneufvin.com), and she can be seen every Thursday with Marc-André Coallier on MaTV on “Libre-Service”. Le Guide du Vin 2010 has been awarded the best wine guide of the world at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.

Read our interview with Nadia below…

1. How many years have you been working with wine?
Wow! I didn’t realize…almost 9 years now!

2. What was your first wine related job, article, or assignment?
Stapling documents for a Cotes du Rhône press release. I did it so well that they offered me a promotion!

3. Is there a grape or style of wine you are personally attached to?
Any grape or style of wine that doesn’t loose its character trying to be a crowd pleaser.

4. What was your first Canadian “aha” wine moment?
I don’t know if it was my very first wine but one of my first wine memories was of a wine from Quebec made by the late Victor Dietrich (Vignoble Dietrich-Jooss). Cuvée Stéphanie 1995, a Late Harvest.

5. Which grape(s) do you feel is/are Canada’s best bets in terms of producing top quality wine?
• Chardonnay and cabernet franc for Niagara
• Pinot gris, malbec and touriga nacional for BC

6. What would you like consumers to know about Canadian wine?
I would like people from abroad to understand that Canada is not only about icewine.

7. How many years have you judged Canadian wine?
This is only my second year.

8. What do you enjoy most about judging at The Nationals?
It is a great opportunity to taste wines from all over Canada. Wines which we unfortunately don’t have easy access to in Quebec.

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