Drink
Niagara wines and... Conehead Vodka?
By Alan McGinty
Dan Aykroyd just blew through town to announce his investment of $1 million in Niagara Cellars, but the Hollywood heavyweight promises to do more than just sit back and wait for his RRSP statements. Aykroyd plans to play an active role in promoting the company�s wines and spirits as well as developing new drinks.
Niagara Cellars is a relatively new mini-conglomerate that has grown to include four wineries: Thomas & Vaughan, East Dell Estates, Lakeview Estates and Birchwood Estates. The company also owns Diamond Estates, which distributes a range of imported premium wines and spirits, including the upscale (and creative) tequilas of Mexico's Patron. How about a tequila-coffee liqueur? Or tequila-orange? Patron also makes premium blended and oak-aged tequilas. Unfortunately the Patron line is shockingly expensive: the two labels currently available at the LCBO are $99 and $124. Nevertheless, the high-octane alcohol and bling-style pricing has made Patron a cult hit among rappers in the US, Aykroyd said. So if you want to show off with your shooters, Patron may be the way to go.
Aykroyd will be visiting the Niagara wineries next spring. "I went to Francis Ford Coppola's winery in Napa and loved it," he said. "I look forward to bringing the family to Niagara." At East Dell Estates, there's an annual springtime event called the Sugarbush Blues, so there may well be a real Blues Brother there in this year.
Aykroyd plans to list Niagara wines at his ten House of Blues restaurants in the US, and will also push them in Europe and Asia when branches open there. There are House of Blues concerts and events in Toronto already, but they're a different kettle of fish. The restaurants feature live music and "Southern-inspired" cuisine like 'Voodoo Shrimp' and 'Creole Jambalaya.' A new outlet is planned for Toronto in 2006 and, while the modifier "inspired" is enough to make a foodie's blood run cold with frightening visions of the Hard Rock Cafe or TGI Friday's, the live music sounds like it could make for a raucous night out with the gang. I guess you can keep your culinary sights low, scoff the generic food and knock back the margaritas, at least occasionally.
Aykroyd said that "maybe" there'll be a wine named after him: "I like the reds. They've got some great cabs," but more likely he'll have a say in product that's more rock & roll: "We're also looking to develop a beer and a vodka, which will have my twist on it, maybe a conehead bottle, I don't know." Readers of, ahem, a certain age will remember his 70s Saturday Night Live skit, The Coneheads, about an alien family with cone-shaped heads who claimed to be from France.
"At my age, it's time to enjoy life," Aykroyd said about working in Hollywood. "I've had a thirty-year run in the movies that was phenomenal. My film work is currently in suspension, but I love acting and will consider future projects." Meanwhile, Aykroyd will be working his new role: Ontario Wine Ambassador to the World.
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