Ah spring! So many special occasions. Hosting a celebratory brunch? Add a little sparkle with the classic Santa Margherita Bellini.
¼ oz. Peach Schnapps
2 oz. white peach puree
Santa Margherita Prosecco
Add the Peach Schnapps and white peach puree to the bottom of a champagne flute. Fill the flute with Santa Margherita Prosecco.

Santa Margherita wines are available across Canada yet each province varies in selection and availability. Our Pinot Grigio is usually pretty easy to find but some of our other wines may or may not be available where you live. Occasionally, we release special wines or bottle sizes for a limited time only. Then of course there’s the matter of stock. It’s disappointing to visit your usual store and discover they’ve run out of the wine you want. Wouldn’t it be great to know where to find the wine you’re looking before you leave home? Well, if you have a mobile phone, you can.

There are several mobile phone wine apps that can help you find your wine. Here are links to a few popular ones.

Natalie MacLean Wine Picks & Pairings
VinGo 
BC Liquor Stores
LCBO On The Go
SAQ 

Have a wine app that works for you? Let us know in the comments.

Response to our Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life donation campaign this year was outstanding. We are pleased to report that purchases of our products during the campaign period enabled us to give $68,000 to help Canadians living with HIV/AIDS. That’s $8,000 more than last year. Our Walk team raised close to $8,500 more. Another $6,800 was contributed to the Farha Foundation ÇA MARCHE in Quebec.

In each of the 5 years we have sponsored the AIDS Walk, one of our primary objectives has been to spread the word concerning the need to help Canadians living with HIV/AIDS. The support we received through social media amplified our efforts considerably. There can be no doubt that the actions of our community to share the message had great impact.

In addition to our donation campaign, Team Santa Margherita has participated in the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life for the past 4 years and raised even more money to support Canadians living with HIV/AIDS. We’re back for 2011. Many of you want to do more to contribute to this crucial fundraising event. You can by supporting our AIDS Walk team here. Your generosity will make a difference in someone’s life.

Can we do more to spread the word about the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life and improve the lives of Canadians living with HIV/AIDS? Yes!

In addition to the 50¢/bottle of Pinot Grigio we’re currently donating, we’ll also donate 50¢ for each “like” of our Facebook page until September 25, 2011 for up to 4,000 fans. Tell your friends.

Aug. 13 – Last day Nova Scotia and Ontario.
Aug. 14 – Last day Manitoba.
Aug. 14 – Starts in Saskatchewan.
Aug. 26 – Starts in Alberta.
Sept. 1 – Starts in British Columbia

Please share and support.

Right now, during our Walk Us Through This campaign, when you choose Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, you choose more than a bottle of wine. You choose to support a cause that many have forgotten. You choose to support a cause lost in a rainbow of coloured ribbons. You choose to support up to 68,000 Canadians living with HIV/AIDS.

50¢ from each sale of our Pinot Grigio is being donated to the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life. Proceeds help provide housing, food, medication, counselling and other support to Canadians living with HIV/AIDS, while providing prevention and education to at-risk groups. That’s the impact of your choice. Choose to help.

Here are the dates by province:
Alta: Aug. 26 to Sept. 22
BC: Sept. 1 to 26
Man: July 18 to Aug. 14
NS: July 17 to Aug. 13
Ont: July 17 to Aug. 13
Sask: Aug. 14 to Sept. 10

In Quebec, 50¢ from each sale of our Pinot Grigio will be donated to the Farha Foundation’s ÇA MARCHE from July 17 to Aug. 13

You can help us help more. Spread the word.

In 2010 we received the Corporate Leadership Award from the Canadian Aids Society. It is an honour we are extremely proud of.

With leadership comes responsibility. You don’t stop leading. We received this recognition for our efforts to improve the lives of Canadians living with HIV/AIDS. This work is not complete. This disease still haunts us. In 2011 we return to lead with even greater vigour. We hope you will support us once again.

Santa Margherita is the recipient of this year’s International Vinitaly Award 2011 for its excellence in world wine production and in furthering the “culture” of wine internationally.

The International Vinitaly Award, established in 1996, is one of the oenology’s most prestigious honours and is awarded each year at Italy’s largest exhibition at Vinitaly, Verona’s annual wine trade fair, which is considered to be one the world’s premier wine exhibition.

In presenting the award, President Ettore Riello and Director General Giovanni Mantovani, both of whom are with VeronaFiere (the Verona Fair), cited Santa Margherita as instrumental in forging Italy’s reputation as one of the finest wine producing countries in the world.

“In the long history of Italian wine, there is one company that has always been able to predict epic commercial changes well in advance,” they said in a joint statement.

From the time when it was founded in 1935 by Count Gaetano Marzotto in what was, at the time, an unpopular region: Eastern Veneto, Santa Margherita has continuously been at the forefront in redefining the world of wine, they said, pointing to the company’s amazing successes, which include:

• Identifying a growing region, Alto Adige, which would go on to become a key player in the world of white wine.
• Making innovations in the traditional Prosecco grape processing techniques by being among the first to use the sparkling wine production process to build the basis for its current international success.
• Interpreting the expectations of a constantly evolving market by inventing a new approach to promoting a grape and a territory: Pinot Grigio.

“This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pinot Grigio, which is synonymous with Italian white wine world-wide,” they said. “This company really leapt into the future with its management style – and its management decisions – and, today, it is on the frontlines with strong investments leading it to a sustainable and eco-friendly growth.”

The award cites Santa Margherita for its above-average profits from vineyards throughout Italy that produce 15 million bottles of wine annually, 60 percent of which are exported.

“This important award recognizes nearly 80 years of wine history, started by my grandfather, Gaetano, who wanted to create an innovative agricultural centre that broke with the traditional ideas of the time and represented modernity and development,” said Gaetano Marzotto, President and shareholder of the Santa Margherita Wine Group. “This vision can still be seen in the 50th anniversary of our Pinot Grigio, which has become the varietal that represents Italian whites worldwide, thanks to that continued pioneering spirit that started it all.”

Santa Margherita Wine Group C.E.O. Ettore Nicoletto said: “We are reaping the rewards of many years of hard work. The 2011 International Vinitaly Award encourages us to find other areas for improvement after the Group grew in all markets in 2010 and in the 85 countries where it operates with continuing success, with revenues of more than €86 million (up 7.3 percent compared to 2009).