The Peak Weekend Reader

Good morning. My parents like wine, but they’re not exactly connoisseurs. My mother has been drinking the same “chicken wine” Chardonnay for decades (you know the one). And yet, when the topic of Ontario wine comes up, they tend to roll their eyes. I can’t exactly blame them: the options used to be pretty bad. You went to the Wine Rack because it was the only thing open on a stat holiday, not because the selection was anything noteworthy. 

British Columbia, on the other hand, had a head start, winning some major wine awards in the early 2000s. “You could say at one time the average bottle of BC wine was better quality than the average bottle of Ontario wine, but that's simply not true anymore,” said one of my sources.

In the spirit of changing perceptions, I convinced my parents to open a Charmat Rosé from Rosewood in Niagara, my favourite winery. The deep-pink wine is nuanced, almost savoury, and it was enough to illustrate that Ontario wine is no longer terrible. In fact, it’s excellent. That turnaround is the topic of today’s story.

When I finished my interviews, the transcripts totalled over 80 pages of conversations with winemakers, sommeliers, importers, and regulators. It’s been a long time since I spoke to a group of people as passionate and knowledgeable (but not pretentious about it!) as wine folks. I learned a lot and gained even more respect for Ontario’s winemakers — especially when you consider what they’re up against: insanely high costs, a changing climate, confused customers, and backwards regulation. I hope you enjoy today’s read as much as I enjoyed working on it.

Liz

☕ Hot drinks could cause cancer. A new study found that consuming “very hot” drinks rather than merely “warm” ones increased the risk of getting a type of esophageal cancer threefold. How hot is “very hot,” you might ask? Well, that’s not entirely clear, as the descriptor was a subjective one selected by the study’s participants, but other studies have found an association between consuming drinks hotter than 70C and increased rates of esophageal cancer.

🤖 Lawmakers are pushing for a ban on superintelligent AI. Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation to ban the development of “superintelligent AI,” defined as “AI systems that surpass human intelligence or have the capacity to overthrow human governments.” In the U.K., more than 70 MPs from across parties signed a letter urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to enact a similar ban.

👴 A Costa Rican man says he’s the world’s oldest person. Jose Flores is seeking official recognition that he is, at 119, the world’s oldest person. Flores lives in Sardinal, Costa Rica, one of the world’s five so-called Blue Zones, where people tend to live longer. If his birthdate of July 11, 1907 is confirmed by international authorities, he would supplant England’s Ethel Caterham, aged 117, as the oldest living human.

🎥 Justin Trudeau is starting a production company. Along with his long-serving chief of staff Katie Telford, Trudeau will helm the new shop called “Hope & Hard Work,” a slogan used by the ex-PM’s 2015 election campaign. The move echoes Barack Obama’s post-presidential founding of the production company Higher Ground.

Since the collapse of the Nazi regime in 1945, there has been a presumed agreement in Germany between the citizenry and mainstream political parties that never again should a far-right party come to power, either at the state or national level. This more-than-80-year streak is on the verge of ending after the radical Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party secured a shockingly decisive election victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. After netting 43.8% of the vote, the AfD now has the most parliamentary seats in the region. And though it fell just short of securing the absolute majority needed to form a government, it appears that there’s a better chance it will be able to scrounge up enough support to rule than opposition parties will be able to cobble together a cohesive coalition to stop its insurgency. So, how did Germany get here?

Saxony-Anhalt was particularly primed for a radical rightward shift. It is among the country’s poorest states and is located in the former East Germany, where many citizens feel like they are still treated as second-class citizens compared to Westerners. However, the angst felt by voters in the state is reflective of wider national opinion of Germany’s governing coalition, led by the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with support from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). There is a sense of malaise in the country as economic growth refuses to turn a corner, manufacturing is hollowed out, and tensions over migrants rise. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has seen his approval ratings dip to all-time lows, and some now view the AfD victory as something of a reckoning for his poor leadership.

Some observers also believe that if the longstanding “firewall” against the far-right can be extinguished in Germany, it could be extinguished anywhere. The AfD’s victory could signal a broader change of fortunes for right-wing nationalist parties in Europe — parties that have captured many headlines over the past few years, though not necessarily electoral victories. 

There’s Spain’s Vox party, which has gained popularity in the wake of the Ceuta migrant crisis; Italy’s National Future party, which is trying to outflank the already pretty-far-right ruling government; the Sweden Democrats, which could enter government for the first time this weekend; and, of course, Reform UK, which has a laundry list of issues and scandals but is still polling strongly. Of the parties of this ilk, France’s National Rally (RN) has perhaps the best chance of taking office in national elections next year. Ironically, the AfD is a little extreme for even the NR’s tastes, with the latter breaking its alliance with the former after powerful AfD party member Maximilian Krah said that not all Nazi SS members were criminals.

At the very least, the Saxony-Anhalt results portend a sea change in Germany, which will hold a federal election on March 25, 2029 at the absolute latest. According to Politico’s aggregate Poll of Polls, the AfD currently holds a seven-point lead over the CDU. While another alliance with the SPD or the Greens would be enough to once again keep the AfD from governing, it must be asked: how long can this strategy last? For years, parties that have virtually nothing in common have tried to work together to stave off an AfD insurgency. This has made for illogical coalitions hamstrung by their own internal divisions. Unless things change, the centre won’t be able to hold.

📡 What else is on our radar:

Ontario spent decades making wine that no one wanted to drink. Not anymore. The province’s winemakers are finally pouring stuff that’s as good as anything from the Northern Rhone and the Okanagan. Don’t believe us? Read our deep dive into Ontario’s wine turnaround, the challenges these passionate winemakers face, and why a good bottle costs what it does.

Also below the fold today…