Ever tasted Muskox Prosciutto paired with Pinot?

BC Wilds & Wine Blind Tasting - Vancouver
Friday, March 26

Come out and taste the best of BC's exotic ingredients tamed and paired with an exclusive BC wine & libations boutique selection. These wines are only available at restaurants, usually, if at all.

Experience Chef Robin's creations with Wild Mushrooms, Sea Asparagus, Muskox & the mythical Chocolate Beast to name a few.

It's Lark's 5th year anniversary, so come check out the finest of fine clothing. Sip and Shop the latest fashions.


Tickets - $46
Email info@swallowtail.ca for tickets or pick them up at Lark Clothing Store - 2315 Main St, 604-879-5275

Cash to Charity - Proceeds go to Mount Pleasant Elementary School through Growing Chefs, local chefs promoting a love of urban agriculture in our children.



Our lovely Sponsors:
Le Vieux Pin Winery
Sea Cider
Hills Foods Ltd.
Skookum Harvest Wild Foods
Daniel Le Chocolat Belge
Van Westen Vineyards
Clos du Soleil Winery
Twisted Tree Vineyards

Silent Auction will be held of local offerings from Trips to Dinner out.

Ode to Love and Spitting

I volunteered for the International Wine Festival in Vancouver last week. Pinot(s) was the varietal theme and British Columbia was the regional focus. Truly amazing and soooo glamorous. After refilling ice for the tables, we got to empty spit buckets into a large trough of human fluid mixed with wine. Then we went into the alley and dumped it into the drain, ewwwwwwwwww. Disposing of noxious human waste was not exactly what I had in mind, but I did learn proper spitting technique. There are varying styles; lean in, cover your mouth delicately and pitou very politely or get your face right in the bucket and let 'er rip. Very useful when you are tasting 100 wines in a night, I kid you not. I know it seems like a waste of great wine, but if you want to be conscious enough to learn anything or remember which wines were actually good (not just good because you were so tanked you could have been drinking deer blood and it would be 'just a little gamey'), it's essential. So, later on Friday evening, I set out to enjoy the festival. I wasn't sure how much I really liked pinot noir. I've had my share of Williamette Valley and Burgundy of varying quality levels, but even from those great regions, I just wasn't sold. One, the variety tends to be expensive because the grape is so labour intensive to produce. Two, it's all over the map flavour-wise, I'm never sure what I'm going to get and three, I'm sick of hearing Sideways (the film) references about it being the darling of the wine world. This is where the spitting came in. I spat all night, don't cry for me, I found true love because of it. I focused the first half of the night on BC wines to buy for my business and the second half I opened myself up to pinot noir. And through opening up, my love affair has begun. A lot of amazing producers from the main regions world wide known for great pinot noir production; Burgundy(France), New Zealand(Marlborough), Williamette Valley(Oregon), Chile, Australia, BC and more. I tried them all from the more austere, earthy French to the bouncy, fruit forward New World styles. From $17-$150, price was no object in my mad search to find ma amore. In the course of my hunt, I got a few splash backs as I was spitting and sometimes, cheeks ballooning with wine, you just can't bustle past the crowd to get to a bucket in time. I was able to discern a few gems out of the bunch and find my one magestic beacon of bottley love. When you are drinking pinot noir, you have to give it center stage, this was my earlier mistake, it tends to get lost in heavy food and lack of focus, drink it first in the night.

Here are my gems:

Burrowing Owl, BC 2007, $30.
Gloria Ferrer, Carneros (Cali), 2005, $39 (can't buy here).
Rodney Stong, Russian River Estate (Cali), 2007, $28 (can't buy here).
Domaine de Vougeraie, France, Gevrey-Chambertain "Les Evocelles", 2006, $60.
Oyster Bay, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2007, $25.

The last one wasn't at the festival. It won our hearts in a pinot noir tasting that I attended with my wine club, and it's really affordable for a pinot. Nice acidity, medium body and characters of caramel, cassis, light spice vanilla, white pepper, red current and a light herbaceous quality to boot.

Now on to my shining star; Born in 2007, my love's name is Erath, he sounds like some fictional god, but he's far more subtle and complex, in a good way. He is from Williamette Valley, Oregon and smells of caramel and strawberries. His kisses are tart with hints of raspberry, vanilla and some other character that I just can't put my finger on, we'll call it a mystery. And, he is living in Vancouver, for $33 you can try him too:)

One big note: Vintage is very important with pinot noir, it grows best in cooler climates which means that each year temperatures will shift for better or for worse and you will get grapes that ripen and taste different. If you find one year you like, the next one may be good but not the same as your favourite. If you love a particular year, buy a few bottles and drink them on special occasions.

Great Grapes for Cheap Skates

Last night, I dreamt I was at a long table where 9 bottles of wine were lined up in front of me, and they were all very good and mostly under $15. Wait... it was reality, how wonderful. A large party of 14 wine lovers got together on my patio deck in the lovely evening sun to see if they could ferret out the 2 expensive bottles that I mixed into the cheapos. We were eager soldiers out in the wine wilderness trying desperately to answer the unending question, does price matter.
Here was the line up:

The Whites:
Argentina, Fuzion, Chenin Blanc/Torrontes, 2008 - $9
Australia, Stickleback, Chardonnay/Semillon/Verdelho, 2007 - $15

The Reds:
Portugal\Dao, Meia Encosta, Red Blend, 2006 - 12
USA\Oregon, Erath, Pinot Noir, 2006 - $33
Italy, Flaio, Primitivo\Zinfandel, 2006, $13
USA\Washington, Hogue, Cab\Merlot, 2004, $15
Canada\BC, Osoyoos Larose\Le Grand Vin, Merlot\Cab, 2006, $45
Spain, Pedro Pergolas, Tempranillo\Old Vines, 2005, $11
Italy\Sicily, Montalto, Nero DAvola\Cab, 2007, $12

Out of the 9 bottles presented, BC, Osoyoos Larose won hands down with all 14 of us. Yes, the $45 bottle. This doesn't necessarily mean that price always matters, let me be very clear about that. And the water gets even murkier when you step into the $20 range vs the $50, most definitely. But it's interesting isn't it, if I were to gamble on it and bottle price was no object, then I would buy in the $50 range all the time. However, because this is reality and cash money is the king, I would do some research in the cheap realm and buy the $12 Montalto, Sicilia every time except my birthday.

Here are the wine notes on the top 4:

Osoyoos Larose - We've got a whole lot of vanilla and cedar blending with great ripe cherries and currents. Tannins are green and acidity is high, perfect for aging. This wine is amazing and if you let it sit for 5 years it'll be even better.
Montalto - Blackcurrent, cloves and ash attack your palette and you love it.
Hogue - A big wine, lots of fruit like plums, smokey tobacco, spice and bitter lemon, great with Bbq Chicken.
Fuzion - The is a wonderful value for sipping on the patio in summer, it packs a flavour punch with big apricots, honey, jasmine nose and a good acidity. It threw sparks with our Spanish cheese, Manchego.

There you have it. Let it be noted that all the wines were enjoyed, especially for their price point vs tastiness, except the Flaio, Meio Encosta and the Stickleback which had few supporters. The Pedro Pergolas was noted by two regular consumers of the beverage as being a substandard bottle. Over and Out.

BC vs Washington Merlot Battle

I'm part of a wine club, I know that sounds super snobby. We meet once a month at a member's house to redden our teeth and liven our spirits. Last month's challenge was to find the best of BC and set them against the best of Washington, both areas reputed world wide to have respectable merlots. If you are ever looking for something to serve with a full flavoured merlot, I made a salmon wellington topped with a merlot reduction and they were consumed rapidly. Here was the line up:

Washington
1. The Hogue(2004) - Signature BCLC(41st Ave) - $14
2. Columbia Crest(2005) - Signature BCLC(41st Ave)- $22
3. Holy Cow(2006) - Brewery Creek Liquor Store - $30

BC
1. Therapy Vineyards(2006) - Firefly - $44
2. Nk Mip Vineyards(2006) - Signature BCLC(41st Ave) - $25
3. Cedar Creek(2006) - Signature BCLC(41st Ave) - $25

We tried two excellent Cab/Merlot blends as well;
1. Super Ego, Therapy Vineyards - BC - Firefly - $44
2. The Hogue(2004) - Washington - Signature BCLC(41st Ave) - $14

Every single one of these wines was really yummy. The interesting thing about Washington merlots is that they pack a surprising punch both in flavour profile and body, moving toward cabernet sauvignon territory. If you are ever in Columbia Valley, Yakima(WA), head for a winery called 2 Mountains and you will experience that bold merlot in spades. BC tends towards more finesse and displays the medium body that is typical of cooler climate viticulture. Therapy vineyards continues to make some of the best BC reds around despite their branding which drives me mad. The pricing on their wines is very prohibitive which is unfortunate. Their super ego, Bordeaux blend, is probably one of my favourite BC reds, buy it for a special occasion.

And now you want to know the winner, if I've kept you reading this long. Well, value for dollar went, hands down, to The Hogue with its chocolate, cherry overtones. It is a new world merlot fit to drink all by itself. But for the best food pairing, Cedar Creek wins the fight, cutting nicely through the rich pastry and buttery salmon with its spicy, cherry oak.