Wine and Glasses - a unique wine pairing event

To celebrate our third birthday we decided to throw a unique party, where we explored wines paired to our glasses collections.  Sommelier Shelley Joyce did a great selecting different wines to compliment the different collections that we have at Ocean, here's the journey we went on.

To start the evening, the first wine was from local vineyard Petite Riviere (http://www.petiterivierevineyards.ca/).  BonBon is a sparkling fruit wine with NY Muscat blended with apple and cranberry wine.  This is a fun, light, bubbly wine and paired perfectly with Kirk & Kirk's Kaleidoscope collection.

 

For our second wine, we headed over to Europe and enjoyed a German Riesling, paired with ic! berlin.  Moselland Ars Vitis has a crisp, clean taste, precise in its structure with almost mineral or industrial flavour notes to it.  What a great match for the stainless sheet metal that is ic! berlin.

 

Heading slightly further south, we next enjoyed our first red of the evening and the first offering from France - Montmija Le Bistro Rouge.  This blend of Merlot, Carignan and Syrah parallels beautifully with TD Tom Davies.  With TD Tom Davies we can blend different colours and shapes together to make unique made to measure eyewear.

We continued to travel south through Europe on our winery tour, this time heading to Spain.  This was actually going to be our last wine of the evening, and was our second red.  Shelley had wanted to choose something particular to pair well with the natural material eyewear that Rolf Spectacles creates, so she choose a biodynamic wine from Priorat, Maquinon.  Garnacha grapes create a beautiful wine which is aged in oak barrels and has a distinctive intense cherry colour, almost violet in fact.  Considering the time, dedication and precision that goes in to every pair of Rolf Spectacles, this wine is a wonderful pairing.

 

The evening was well rounded off with a beautiful vintage Cognac Château de Montifaud VSOP.  This fruity cognac which is naturally coloured through aging alone, comes from the Petite Champagne growing region.  Luxurious, fashionable, classical, glamorous, cognac pairs beautifully with Oliver Goldsmith Sunglasses.  Just like the cognac, Oliver Goldsmith Sunglasses are iconic with a heritage which is second to none, worn by celebrities from the 60's onward OG is the stylish choice of the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Princess Grace de Monaco, Michael Caine, Peter Sellers to name but a few.

What a great fun evening and a fabulous way to celebrate this milestone in Ocean's journey.  We are very grateful to Shelley for taking us on this journey and for picking a wonderful collection of wines to enjoy alongside our unique eyewear collections.  If you'd like to get in touch with Shelley she can be reached on Twitter @wileywordsmyth.

Some more pictures from the evening:

Shelley Joyce - our fabulous Sommelier 

What a year, 2015! (Part 2)

2015 was a year filled with just so much awesomeness that we had to split the review in to two parts, madness I hear you cry, but that's just how it is!

July

So for some if you've read the first part of the review (and it would be rude to get to this stage and to

not have done so!), you're probably thinking, "Wait a minute, they've missed out something kind of important ... Alicia!".  You're right, Licensed Optician Alicia Austin joined the merry crew of Ocean Optometry in May.

Alicia came to us with years of experience as an optician, however, the range of unique, handmade products that we have was new to her.  Really loving the challenge, Alicia has been very quick to learn the intricacies of all of the ranges and the special details which make them unique.  It seemed like no time at all, for example, before Alicia was creating tailor made eyewear with the TD Tom Davies range.  It's an incredible experience to receive a pair of glasses which have been made to measure specifically to fit you, crafted with the unique colour palette that you desire; as an eyegeek, there is nothing quite like helping someone through that process and seeing the end creation of all your work being worn by someone!

Come in, say Hi! to Alicia, check out her level of eye-geekiness and see if she can stand up to the challenge!  At the same time she can't help sort out some fabulous eywear for you.

September

This was an incredible month for us, which really set Ocean Optometry apart on the world stage.  We knew that Kirk & Kirk were launching a new collection in the Fall of 2015 and these launches coincide with the eyewear exhibitions at Paris, Vegas or Hong Kong (Spring is Milan or New York).  Just how excited were we, then, to have Jason & Karen Kirk with us as the first optical business in the world to see and show the collection!  Very!

Kaleidoscope is a unique collection of handmade frames, colourful and like they have the appearance of almost being made of glass.  These frames are made from a unique Italian acrylic which makes them lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Jason & Karen Kirk - Designers / Owners of Kirk & Kirk

To be the first location to show off these beautiful creations three weeks before the industry first got to view them was an incredible honour.  Jason & Karen were here to answer questions and chat with people about their amazing eyewear, including the Vivarium and Solarium collections and the new Kaleidoscope range.  They were definitely a hit with Halifax as we had orders for new frames even before the were being hand made in France!

Come and check out the collection for yourself.

November

Just when you think things are going to be plain sailing, another idea pops up and you're off on adventure again!  After all of the excitement of having Kirk & Kirk with us, we'd enjoyed being part of the City Harvest and Nocturne events again and our thoughts were turning to the coming Winter and Festive Season.  

One thing that we always enjoy throughout the year is the space that our window provides for some fun displays, don't forget to check them out if you're walking along Blowers Street!  Here's our pretty winter scene to finish off the year!

Many thanks to everyone who made 2015 such a fabulous year!