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http://www.timminspress.com/Article....aspx?e=1341270

Posted By KEITH LACEY, THE DAILY PRESS

Almost every celebration needs a good bottle of wine.

As the City of Timmins gears up for four years of centennial celebrations, beginning in 2009, a team of well-known residents gathered Wednesday night at the Shania Twain Centre to help select five varieties of souvenir wines. The wines will be sold as part of 100th-anniversary community celebrations across Timmins.

City clerk Jack Watson, municipal information coordinator Guy Lamarche, school principal Lee-Ann Wearing, Xstrata Copper employee George Rodda, Dr. John Chisholm, Timmins Museum curator Karen Bachmann, city employee Mary- Ann Miller, business owner Gabe Provost and Marcel Gauthier, who is retired, spent a couple of hours tasting various brands of Ontario wine.

Each wine was marked by each taster, without discussing their scores, based on criteria such as sight, smell, taste and overall quality.

Once the scores were accumulated, the goal was to select one white and one red wine in the $10-$15 range, another white and red in the $15-$20 range and one ice wine for the centennial celebrations.

In 2009, the city will be celebrating the production of the major mines (Hollinger, McIntyre and the Dome). The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the Township of Tisdale (South Porcupine, Schumacher), and the Township of Whitney (Porcupine, Pottsville, Golden City), while 2011 commemorates the great Porcupine Fire and 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the City of Timmins.

During these four years, other historical anniversaries will be celebrated throughout the community.

In keeping with tradition, the event sub-committee will launch specially labeled wines.

Mayor Tom Laughren, cochairman of the 100th Community Anniversary Committee, said 89 Ontario wineries were evaluated. Eight were short-listed and invited to submit a proposal to the committee. Six Ontario wineries expressed an interest in the special project.

"The souvenir wines will feature a private label commemorating the city's four 100th-anniversary celebrations," Laughren said. "The wines will be available for sale in the Timmins and South Porcupine LCBO stores as well as being positioned as the exclusive wine at all anniversary sanctioned events at the local LCBO point of sale locations as well as being promoted through the 100th Community Anniversary web-sites at www.timmins100.comand www.timmins100.ca."

Once the winners are selected, the committee will work with the wineries to promote the brands as part of the anniversary celebrations, Lamarche said.

Quality of produce and price point were also determining factors in which wines were short listed, he said.

The city will hold a press conference early in the new year to announce the winning wines and marketing strategy as centennial anniversary celebrations kick off, he said.