Wine Inkorporated

One would think that a boutique wine shop would have to be operated by vino snobs. Au contraire. It’s clear Wine Ink does not fit the elite stereotype. Imposingly tall, longhaired owner Tim Hendrickson gives a rapt customer a detailed, informal history of the Spanish origins of sherry. While she listens, she sips a sample from the Castilla region. Hendrickson’s decidedly un-snooty attitude comes from a genuine passion for wine and all the experiences that go with consuming it.

“There’s lots of product out there that needs to be represented,” he explains. This was his reason for opening the boutique wine shop with partner David Bransby-Williams in 2011. “Box stores and chains aren’t going to be able to do that. Boutiques focus on certain styles of product.” That philosophy and partnership has endured since the mid-1980s when Bransby-Williams gave Hendrickson a job at The Wine Shop, which Bransby-Williams founded and co-owned from 1984 to 2004. The two are considered elder statesmen in the city’s flourishing wine scene, which has been fuelled by a hot Alberta economy. “The wine intelligentsia in Calgary is amazing,’ says Hendrickson. “There are a lot of well-run boutiques. It truly is a wine Mecca.”

“We’re fans of the exotic and the interesting, probably the slightly more challenging wines to sell,” says Hendrickson of what makes his shop unique. “At the end of the day, the product has to be good. When we taste it, we evaluate that. “