Food pairing for 2008 Road 13 Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne

A few weeks ago I bought a bottle of Road 13 (http://www.road13vineyards.com/index.php) Viognier, Roussane and Marsanne just to have on hand in case the need for a white wine presented itself. Just such an occasion presented itself on Christmas Eve as I was preparing that evening's dinner. I needed some white wine for my lentils that were to be served under maple syrup and balsamic vinegar glazed crispy pork belly with soft poached egg alongside a salad of assorted endives with a sweet-lemon tarragon dressing.

I opened the wine and not only did it seem more than adequate for my needs, it was abundantly clear that it would be a wonderful wine to drink with the meal too. It was bigger than I had anticipated. It had the fruit I expected, but it was also full and rounded, surprisingly so (at least to me) for a wine that has seen no oak whatsoever. It had the body to stand up to the lentils and pork belly, the acid to cut the fat in the pork belly and egg, and the fruit to work well with the salad. The pairing worked so well we left aside the bottle we had chosen for the evening (a fantastic Oregon Pinot) for another night. Chance (and Road 13 wine) treated us well that night.

Road 13 Honest John's 2007 Red

This wine was an accidental opening. I had prepared some mussels with an italian-style wine and tomato sauce, frites with a lemon aioli, and a light salad for a late night (baby-free) meal. Alas, the wine I purchased to accompany the meal was bad, so we headed to the cellar to see what we could find. We decided on the Road 13 Honest John's 2007 (http://www.road13vineyards.com/index.php), a wine Chris purchased about a month ago, and which we were curious to taste.

A merlot blend, it immediately reminded me of Pétales d'Osoyoos from Osoyoos Larose; it had the same characteristic fruit and roundness of merlots from the area. However, as it opened up with more time and air, it became fuller, and unfortunately, a little rougher. It appears to have seen more oak, or more heavily toasted oak, than the Pétales d'Osoyoos. However, the oaking left the wine a little unbalanced; it began with lovely fruit, leading to toasted caramel, and finishing too quickly. We are in disagreement as to whether the lack of finish is real (Chris) or is due to the slightly overpowering toastiness that precedes it (me). Whatever the cause, this is not a wine to be lingered over. To be fair, however, this wine costs $10-$14 less than the Pétales d'Osoyoos, and we consider it to be a good value BC red at its price point.

Note: This was not a great pairing for the mussels, but we hadn't expected it to be. It would likely be quite nice with a grilled hanger steak or quality beef or buffalo burger.

2005 Laughing Stock Portfolio

We opened this last night to go with some fabulous aged rib-eye steaks that Chris grilled. They were simply seasoned with salt and pepper, and served with a vinegarette potato salad and fresh corn on the cob. Wonderful pairing. The wine was nicely structured and well balanced with soft tannins, good acidity, and what I call light fruit. We drink a lot of California Cabs and Meritages which have a tendency toward big, massive fruit. Not so the Portfolio. Although there were definite flavors of cherry and current, we were not overcome by the fruit. And as strange as this may sound to some, it was clear that this was something made from grapes. I rarely get any sense of grape in wine, and when I do, it tends to be a sweet, almost artificial grapeness. That was not the sensation I had drinking this wine. Rather, it was more of a ghost of grape, a subtle reminder of origins, rather than an actual flavor. (Clearly something hard for me to describe.) The wine had a surprising amount of sediment given that it was a 2005, so I would definitely recommend decanting.

http://www.laughingstock.ca/

Wine and Asparagus - Joie 2007 Dedication Pinot Blanc

This past weekend after a day trip to Whistler with some out-of-town guests, I was charged with making dinner. The only constraints: it had to be quick to prepare as we arrived home rather late, and it had to include asparagus, as one of our guests had gifted me with several bunches of it.

I decided on penne with a cream sauce with asparagus, proscuitto, onion, garlic, and parmesan, served with garlic bread and a simple green salad, a quick and simple dinner. The wine selection proved more difficult. Asparagus is notoriously difficult to pair with wine. However, ‘difficult’ does not mean ‘impossible’; it simply means that some thought is required in making a wine selection. Chris’ choice for the evening was a 2007 Dedication Pinot Blanc from Joie (http://www.joie.ca/index.htm). It was a perfect choice – classic fruit on the nose, but not sweet, some minerality to complement the asparagus, and enough acid to handle the cream in the sauce. Happily, we bought a few bottles of this when it was released a few months back (the website says that they’re sold out). I suggest that if you find some in your local store, you buy it then and there, because you may not see it again.



‘Recipe’: I cut the asparagus up into two inch pieces and blanched it. I sautéed chopped onion until soft, added sliced proscuitto and chopped garlic, then after another 1-2 minutes of sautéing, the asparagus, and salt and pepper. Then a little chicken stock and some half and half went into the pan until warm. Off the heat, the sauce was finished off with a generous handful of parmesan, and some fresh lemon juice. The salad was spares: some romaine, green onion, and red pepper. It was simply dressed with good quality olive oil mixed with fresh chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and then finished with a drizzle of Venturi-Schulze balsamic vinegar (http://www.venturischulze.com/Vinegar/index.php?page_id=vinegar).

Black Widow Winery Single Vineyard Pinot Gris, 2007

Sorry for the absence of posts recently; I haven't forgotten the blog, I just haven't been up to BC for a few months. But summer's getting closer, and with it more regular visits. In the meantime, here's some thoughts on a BC wine that we opened this evening.

This evening I made a quick and simple chicken dijon stew with pearl onions, baby carrots, and snap peas, served over long grain rice. The richness of the sauce cried out for something crisp and mineraly. Chris looked in the cellar and pulled out something from a winery I discovered on our trip to the bench two summers ago - Black Widow Winery (http://www.blackwidowwinery.com/index.html). The Single Vineyard Pinot Gris (2007) he chose was the perfect accompaniment. A blend of barrel and steel fermentation means the wine has nicely balanced acidity that was wonderful alongside the stew. It cut through the richness of the butter and allowed the natural sweetness of the carrots and pearl onions to shine through. Needless to say, we were very happy with the wine choice of the evening.

Poplar Grove 2007 Pinot Gris and Comox Brie

Last night was another fun dinner at home with friends featuring some BC cheese and wine I thought I’d share. We started off with some Comox Brie (www.naturalpastures.com/awards), pepper pate, and some of the spiced pickled Fraser Valley blueberries I made in the summer (bcfoodandwineadventures.blogspot.com/2008/07/fraser-valley-berries.html). I’ll just come clean and admit I love Comox Brie. I don’t know if it’s because I lived in Comox as a teenager, or because I love good brie. Probably a little bit of both. It’s creamy and rich and was just lovely with the Poplar Grove 2007 Pinot Gris (www.poplargrove.ca) we served to start.

At the table we began with French de puys lentils finished with white wine, shallots, orange, and tarragon and topped with a salad of baby spinach and proscuitto tossed with a tarragon, orange, and white balsamic vinaigrette. This dish was what the Pinot Gris was intended for, and the pairing worked really well. The wine is clean and crisp and yet with what I can only describe as round fullness and body, without the tropic fruit one often gets on the bench. The food and wine were a perfect balance.

We moved on to herb encrusted roast BC beef tenderloin with a beef stock, red wine and shallot reduction, served alongside italian roasted vegetables and roasted garlic mashed Yukon gold potatoes. The meat was purchased from The Butcher on West 10th (www.thebutcher.ca), a local store I can’t say enough about; their quality and service are exceptional. Chris selected a Poliziano 1999 Asinone (Montepulciano) to serve with the main course, which was absolutely delicious, and worked very well with the meal.

Desert was a simple chestnut panna cotta with a chocolate ganache sauce, whipped cream, raspberries, and mint, and a moscato d’asti.

Hopefully this sets your mouth to watering, and your mind to thinking about all the wonderful meals you can make with BC foods and wines.

La Quercia Restaurant

One of the problems with great neighborhood restaurants is that they become destination restaurants and it becomes harder and harder for the locals to get in. I fear that this will happen quite quickly to La Quercia (laquercia.ca), an excellent new addition to our Vancouver neighborhood. Attracting people from elsewhere is a good thing, as it can give the restaurant a better chance of surviving, but it also makes it much harder to wander in for an impromptu meal.

La Quercia has only been open for a few weeks, but already it is packed. We decided at about 6 pm on a Saturday evening that we should try it. Chris urged me to call ahead and I am very glad I did. They told me the earliest they could get us in for a table was 9:45! The bar was available earlier if we liked, and I jumped on that option, reserving it for 8:45. As it turned out, they did have a table for us when we arrived after all, but lesson learned.

We were seated very quickly, but the few moments we stood in the entrance were their own sensory experience. Standing there the first thing that caught our attention was the scent of seafood, then it was pesto, then it was the rich smell of braised meat. Each wave of scent wafting in one by one. It left our mouths watering, and bode well for the meal ahead.

We started with Prosecco; we’re both fans of starting things off with something bubbly and it gave us something to sip on while perusing the menus. You might think with so few items it would be a simple thing to decide. Not so. Does one go traditional and start with antipasti (appetizer), move to primi (pasta), and then on to secondi (main course) or not? We decided that this would be much too much food for us and so opted for only two courses each. But then you still have to decide whether to have antipasti or pasta as a starter, and pasta or meat as a main. Then, just as we had decided, the server came and told us the specials, throwing a wrench into things. In the end we decided on two plates each and a bottle of Pinot Nero.

Chris started with the Tagliatelle Bolognese and I with a special, Pork Belly with Apples. We often use Bolognese as a criterion by which to evaluate Italian restaurants, a test which La Quercia passed with flying colours. (A comment by the host shows that we are not alone in this: when he brought us bread (mini ciabattas) and oil, he commented that many people use that dish to judge the restaurant.) It really was excellent. The fresh pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was wonderfully rich and bold, full of the deep flavors which only hours of simmering will impart. The pork belly was nicely crispy, and the accompaniments had the right amount of acid to balance the fat without being overtly noticeable.

For our main courses, we had the Canederli Stuffed Cornish Game Hen (Chris) and Spaghetti Genovese (Carla). According to my après-dinner research, canaderli are traditional bread dumplings or gnocchi from the north of Italy, flavored with herbs, meats, mushrooms or cheese. Here, instead of formed dumplings, the mixture was stuffed into bird’s cavity. Chris’s sense was that it consisted of ricotta, mushrooms, and very small traces of either prosciutto or pancetta (although speck is another possibility). It was accompanied by burst tomatoes, lightly sautéed very thinly sliced zucchini, and a blend of chard stem pieces and fennel. The chard stem was so sweet, and the lightness of the vegetable preparation was a nice contrast to the richness of the game hen. Chris started saying he was full half-way through the portion, and he repeated himself several times whilst finishing the plate. The Genovese was one of the specials that evening. I think I had somehow fooled myself into thinking that the beans would magically make it light. Spaghetti al denti, tossed in a fresh pesto just bursting with the essence of summer flavors, packed with garden fresh green beans, and chunks of potato. Fresh, yes, light no. I wanted a little more pepper, and opted for peperoncini, which brought another dimension to the dish.

Unaware of the portion sizes when we ordered, we also ordered a side of burst cherry tomatoes and rapini. The rapini was blanched and then grilled, bringing out the bitterness. The tomatoes were little globes of perfect end-of-summer sweetness. Both were nice foils to the richness of the game hen and pasta. With respect to portion sizes, they are very generous, and next time I will definitely order the small (primi) portion of any pasta dish, main dish or not.

The Pinot Nero proved to be more robust than we had anticipated. It was not a huge tannic wine, but neither was it a more typical light fruity nero, rather, it was squarely a medium bodied red, substantial enough for our dishes, but not something I’d order with fish for instance.

We had no room left for desert, and so I cannot comment on their offerings in that department. Chris did finish with an espresso, however, and judged it to be excellent. Too often in North America espresso is drawn too long, resulting in a bitter shot. Theirs was a nice small shot, rich and almost chocolaty with a perfect covering of crema, rivaling real Italian espresso. Chris heartily approved.

One thing you should be aware of is the size of the place. It is small, and the tables are very close together, so if you end up sitting near people will horrible table manners (as did we) it can take something away from your experience. But in general, the closeness makes it friendly and cozy. (And it also means there’s at least one more table than there would otherwise be, bettering your chance of getting in.)

I have no doubt that La Quercia will draw diners from other parts of the city, meaning that unfortunately, we will have to share.

4 thumbs!!!

Two Chefs and a Table

Two Chefs and A Table (www.twochefsandatable.com), one of Vancouver’s newest restaurants, is very aptly named: the room is dominated by a large communal table in the middle, and on a recent visit, for most of the evening we saw only two people in the open kitchen. Here, the focus is squarely on the food, a welcome change from many restaurants in town seemingly more concerned with the latest trends in interior design and food techniques than in flavor.

It is located in an up-and-coming (i.e., questionable) neighborhood, and doesn’t stand out much from the outside. But inside is another story. It is a simple but inviting space with beautiful dark wood floors, wooden walls painted white, and simple chandeliers. We entered and were immediately greeted by a very friendly host, who as it turned out, was also the lone server. She gave us our choice of tables, and we selected the one in the corner at the window. We were warned about the possible ‘entertainment’ outside, but it turned out to be a quiet evening. Menus and waters arrived very quickly.

The menu is built around local seasonal ingredients, with the chefs concentrating on only a few dishes each day. The result of this is a rather minimal menu. There are only a few starters and mains to chose from, but everything is very reasonably priced, with the starters around $10 and the mains under $20. There is also a five-course chef’s table, which on the evening we were there was priced at $44. The wine list is similarly brief, as well as reasonably priced. They do have a few extra off-list wines available, including champagne, but that evening we ordered off the regular list.

Thinking about our early courses, we each started with a glass of white wine. I had a Pinot Gris from Lang and Chris ordered a Gewürztraminer from See Ya Later (both BC). The Gewurtz was redolent of tropical fruit, and lovely to drink, while the Pinto Gris was much cleaner, acidic and with a slight minerality. An amuse arrived shortly after the wine: gnocchi topped with their crème fraiche and house cured salmon. The gnocchi was a little large and not dense enough (I never thought I’d say that about gnocchi), to the point where they barely hung together. But the crème fraiche was refreshing, and the salmon was fabulous, with very intense salmon flavor.

The first course was a fresh salad of shaved asparagus and fresh goat cheese. Overall, it was a very successful dish, although Chris found the asparagus to be a little bitter, and I agree that it might have benefited from a quick blanching. The Pinot Gris was a great match for the salad, nicely cutting through the fat in the cheese and standing up to the asparagus, but as you might anticipate, the Gewurtz was less complementary. (Asparagus is notoriously tricky to pair.)

The next course was a vegetable risotto. The rice was cooked to a perfect toothsome texture. It was not Arborio rice. It might have been carnaroli (based on the look and the texture). It was a little drier and not as creamy as the risottos I am used to, but it had a nice overall flavor.

The third course was duck rillettes served with rounds of dry French bread (hard to describe, purposely dry, but not toasted), carmelized onions, and a tart berry compote. We both love rillettes (how can you not?), and thoroughly enjoyed these.

The red wine we were by now drinking, the Sand Hill Merlot, went well with the rillettes, although we selected it mostly for our mains. Chris ordered the duck breast and I had a tenderloin. My steak was cooked exactly as I ordered it. The vegetables on the side were crisp and the sauces served with both meats were excellent, aromatic and highly flavorful. Unfortunately, the duck was a little overcooked, not completely well done and dry, but overcooked nonetheless. It was also served in a beautiful but impractical dish that made it impossible to cut anything without the dish tipping. But we had no complaints about its flavor. (I must admit that I am guilty of culinary heresy. I like my duck cooked more than is the standard, but in most places am reluctant to ask for it cooked as I like it. If I had known the duck would be cooked as much as it was, I would have ordered that instead.)

Desert consisted of little French toasts made with French bread with lightly caramelized peach slices, jasmine plum ice cream and a little bit of the same berry compote served with the rillettes. I am not usually a French toast fan as I find it too eggy, but I liked theirs. I loved the ice cream; the flavors were so subtle and delicate. In fact, I liked every component of the dish, and that was the problem. It was a plate full of components served on top of each other. The flavors didn’t clash or conflict, but neither did they necessarily compliment. It was good but not great.

Overall the meal was a success. It’s clear that the dishes are not things that the chefs have been putting out day after day after day, and so have perfected. Instead, they are the inspired creations of the day. What they lack in polish however, they make up for in spirit. And the prices here are unbeatable, at least for now. We made reservations but didn’t need them. But I expect that may change soon. In the main, service was great, it was friendly and prompt, our water glasses were filled continuously, and we felt very welcomed. It was a little less efficient when a large table arrived near the end of our meal occupying the server (no check on the main course), but given the size and newness of the place, it made sense to only have a single server overseeing the room. My main complaint was actually a large bouquet of flowers in the windowsill near our table. It offered a nice touch of color to the place, but the perfume was overpowering to those sitting close to it, not a good thing when eating good food and drinking good wine.

There were a lots of hits and a few misses. In the end, we are very enthusiastic about Two Chefs and a Table. We will definitely go back. Note: they didn't have any vegetarian main options on the menu, but I suspect that the chefs would be more than happy to put something together just for you if that's what you wanted.

3 very happy thumbs!

Desert Hills 2005 Syrah

In our continued exploration of the food and wines of BC, we recently ventured out of our comfort zone and tried a wine that wasn’t from the Naramata Bench – the 2005 Syrah Select from Desert Hills (www.deserthills.ca/index.php) in Oliver, BC.

I had purchased a selection of meats and cheeses for a late lazy dinner. I knew I wanted to start off with bubbles, and selected the Steller’s Jay Brut from Sumac Ridge (www.sumacridge.com/default.asp), an excellent choice. Crisp, clean, a little fruity yet dry, and…bubbly. (Which was, after all, what I was after). I also wanted a red wine. I was considering the Poplar Grove Merlot (www.poplargrove.ca) because it is one I know we like, but was a little shocked at the price. Although it is quite tasty, at $44.00 it is overpriced. There are many small producer merlots from California that are similar in style and much less expensive (at least for me, as I can purchase them there). Some examples: Moon Mountain Vineyard (www.moonmountainvineyard.com) or T-Vine Cellars (www.tvinecellars.com/). But what, then, to buy? What I needed was a wine that would stand up to the cheeses and locally made salami I had purchased. The clerk at the wine store suggested two BC Syrahs at different price points, both of which were unfamiliar to me. I chose the Desert Hills Syrah Select (2005); he said that the staff at the store think it the best Syrah made in BC.

I can see why. It was big, but not overpowering. There is definite pepper, one of the things I love about syrah. But there is also a lush richness imparted by skillful use of oak. The vanilla was apparent in the nose and the taste. Chris described it as jammy, but I wouldn’t use that term myself, mostly because it calls to mind the big California Zinfandels, and this wine is not like that. But it does taste of rich deep fruit, without being overextracted or too high in alcohol (14%). We really enjoyed this wine, and think it a better value (it retails for about $42) than the Poplar Grove Merlot, at least for now. (The wine market is a market, and prices reflect demand.) Oh, and it did work very well with the salami.

(To be truthful, this is not the first time we’ve had wines from somewhere else in the Okanagan. A little while back we had the pleasure of attending a winemaker’s dinner with Mike Bartier of Golden Mile Cellars, also in Oliver. And of course, the Petales D’Osoyoos which I’ve written about before. But that’s about it.)

Joie Noble Blend (2006) - A Pairing Experiment Part II

An addendum to the Joie Noble Blend (2006) - A Pairing Experiment post. We drank the rest of the Noble Blend last night (by itself). To my surprise, it was not as tropical as we had remembered, explaining some of the flavors from the night before. Still, we definitely tasted more of the fruits when drinking it by itself, especially as it warmed. We had not served it particularly cold the previous evening – so that was not the issue. It may be that we were recalling the 2005, which had a slightly different composition. Alternatively, it may be that the flavors changed over the year, or it may just have been that bottle (storage, etc.). My bet is on the vintage. The 2007 is slightly different again. It seems to me that the Noble Blend blend is becoming more refined and less in-your-face lush fruit with each offering. (I must admit, I loved the in-your-face lushness.)

I do, however, have a pairing suggestion for the 2006, if you’ve still got some around: grilled halibut with a lemon butter caper sauce, topped with a little tomato jam with lemon and coriander, served over an Israeli cous-cous ‘pilaf’ (with shallots, stock, and lemon thyme), and sautéed baby spinach.

Joie Noble Blend (2006) - A Pairing Experiment

I have learned in my years of teaching that understanding why something isn’t true can be very helpful in understanding why what is true is. It helps one find the boundaries or limits. It's also a basic tenet of science (and I'm a scientist). Despite this, you rarely see information on food and wine pairings that don’t work in publications about wine. Today’s posting breaks from this tradition.

Last night for dinner we had herb roasted free-range chicken (fresh thyme, olive oil, lemon, coarse sea salt, and pepper), mashed potatoes (2/3 russet, 1/3 sweet potatoes, milk, butter, and miso paste for some added depth), olive-oil roasted tomatoes, steamed green beans (with parsley and garlic) and steamed whole carrots (with butter and lemon). Chris decided we should have some wine, but at the last minute, so nothing had been purchased to go with the meal. I thought a light red would do well, a beaujolais villages, for instance. But we didn’t have anything that came remotely close to that in our collection. In the end, he pulled out a bottle of Joie Noble Blend (2006) (www.joie.ca/index.htm). We knew it wasn’t an ideal pairing, but it was the best we had at hand, and an interesting experiment.

It wasn’t a horrible pairing, in particular the acid in the wine did well. But the meal brought out aspects of the wine that I hadn’t really ever noticed. I tasted the pinot blanc like never before. It almost tasted like it (the PB) had been very subtly oaked. I know it hadn’t, but that’s the taste that came through for me with this meal. I love this wine for the heady aromatic fruit, but it was quashed by the food. The funny thing is, this wine is great with Thanksgiving dinner, a meal with similar elements. Maybe it was the Italian flavours? (The roasted tomatoes were the most troublesome part of the meal.) I really have no good explanation. Our instincts were right, this was not a great pairing. (But even after the fact it was the best we had available). The good news is, we didn’t drink very much of the wine, so there’s still plenty left for sipping later on the balcony.

Note: According to their website (see above) you can now get Joie wines outside of BC. So for folks reading this from elsewhere, take heart, you too can try your own Joie pairing experiment.

The Best Laid Plans - or more on Nichol Gewürztraminer

We had plans to go away camping this weekend, however, the rock slide on the Sea-to-Sky put a stop to that. We talked about doing a short overnight backpacking trip instead (I am my father's daughter, after all), but the weather was such that that possibility also fell through. So we’re stuck at home this weekend, working. But this series of events did push us to (finally) replace our DVD player. (The old one stopped working several months ago, and although the list of movies we want to see has grown almost exponentially in recent months, we never seemed to make it to the store.) So last night was movie night in our house, which means popcorn.

What could popcorn possibly have to do with BC food and wine you might be wondering. Well, several months ago in an appearance on the Josh Kornbluth show (www.kqed.org/tv/programs/index.jsp?pgmid=13958), Bay Area wine celeb Leslie Sbrocco (www.lesliesbrocco.com) recommended champagne with popcorn. I didn’t feel like bubbles last night, so that was out. But I figured that some other white wine might just do the trick. I wandered through the wine store for a while, having difficulty deciding. I finally settled on the Nichol Gewurtz (www.nicholvineyard.com/wines.htm).

Crazy as it may sound, it was an excellent choice. The popcorn, made in the microwave using a trick from Alton Brown, was lightly buttered and salted with French grey sea salt. The wine had just the right amount of acid for the butter. At the same time the fruit really came through, making for enjoyable drinking. There really is a wine for every occasion! Throw caution to the wind and try it.

Petales D'Osoyoos

Another successful pairing to report. Last night (at home) we had buffalo flat iron steak marinated in red wine, garlic, topped with bacon, onions, and mushrooms, served with mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, spinach topped with crumbled blue cheese, and a salad of cucumber and fresh fava beans with a cream mint dressing. The wine, Osoyoos Larose Petales D’Osoyoos. Was it the absolute best wine we could have paired with the meal? I don't know. We have several good bottles of French and a lot of BIG California cabs in the cellar, any of which probably would have been fantastic with the meal. The real question is whether or not it was a good meal for the wine, the answer: it was. It had more than enough tannins (and acid) to stand up to the meal very nicely. All without making us focus only on the wine. Instead, we enjoyed how the food and wine interacted, nothing playing a clearly staring role, instead, working in concert with each other to make beautiful music. (Don’t get me wrong, the wine is quite lovely to drink by itself too, as previous posts attest to.)

A plug for fresh fava beans: They are a hassle, requiring shelling and then peeling, but when they are in season, they are totally worth the effort!

I purchased the buffalo at my neighborhood butcher shop, called simply, The Butcher. They have very high quality meat, and great service, all without a trip to the craziness that is Granville Island. Check it out. (www.thebutcher.ca).

I discovered a new cheese store - Les Amis du Fromage

Have I mentioned yet how much I love cheese? It’s my weakness – not chocolate, or cake, or ice cream – it’s cheese. It’s a tough call, but if I had to give up coffee or cheese, I’d have to go with coffee. (There’s always tea after all.) Last week, we tried a really wonderful raw milk cheese from Quebec at Salt (which will at some point get its own well deserved post). When we asked if there might be any place we could buy some for ourselves, the server suggested Granville Island or a cheese shop I’d never heard of, and promptly forgot the name of. (I have a horrible memory for names.) But my memory was jogged while watching an episode of “Living Vancouver” on CBC where they did a segment on entertaining with cheese featuring Allison Spurrell of Les Amis du Fromage (www.buycheese.com). Looks like I’m the only person in Vancouver who’s never been there! So yesterday I hopped on my bike and went in search of the 2^nd Ave. store to rectify this.

I found it. Valhalla for a cheese-lover like me. (OK, so I’m not a warrior gloriously slain in battle, but you get what I mean.) They didn’t have the cheese I was looking for, but I had expected that. (The server at Salt said it was very unlikely we would be able to find it here.) So I bought two others, a cheddar with Isle of Aran whisky, and Bouq ‘Emissaire, a raw goat’s milk cheese from Quebec (which Salt was also serving when we were there last). Chris likes cheddars more than I do, and I like goat cheese more than he does. The obvious solution – one of each. We had some of the cheddar last night. It was surprisingly mild. A little sweet actually. One of the cheddars I’ve most liked in recent memory. Importantly, the cheddar fan liked it too. We haven’t tried the BE yet, but I’ll write that up when we do. I also bought a wild boar terrine with apricots, which we also tried that last night. I would definitely recommend that for your next party. Tasty! I’ll be back.

As you might imagine, we didn’t eat the cheese and terrine alone, they were accompaniments to a bottle of Poplar Grove (www.poplargrove.ca) The Legacy (2004), not because we necessarily thought it would go, but because it was already open. For just sipping, I definitely liked their Merlot better. But The Legacy was definitely food-friendly. It had good acid and tannins. More structure than the Merlot. Could easily have been left to sit for a few more years, and even improved a little with the time. The take home: for drinking, pick up the Merlot, for a dinner wine, go with The Legacy’s a great choice.

Nichol Gewurtz, Poplar Grove Merlot, & Petales D'Osoyoos

As promised, a report on some of the wines we bought on the trip to the bench. As also promised (threatened?), notes on a meal cooked at home.

On Thursday we had an impromptu dinner party with some friends who we often eat with, but who, for various reasons, won’t be able to join in for a while. This was ‘discovered’ at about 3, leaving me little time to plan. Luckily, while driving back from the Okanagan, I had been occupied (some might say obsessed), with planning (an imaginary) BC wine meal incorporating some of the things we had tasted there. So I had some ready ideas to call upon.

I had been looking for a cheese from Poplar Grove to start out with, but my local cheese place didn’t have any in stock and I didn’t have time to run all over the city, so I went with something new, an ash-ripened camembert from Moonstruck Organic Cheese Inc. (www.moonstruckcheese.com). It was quite good. The rind was a little off-putting, but it was nice and creamy, and got us started off well. Although we usually like to start off with something bubbly, I wasn’t sure that we’d make it through that in time for the first course, so we went ahead and opened the Nichol Gewurtz.

It was a bit of a shot in the dark, but from the winemaker's description, it sounded like it would pair well with what I was making: seared miso and sake marinated scallops, served over a puree of local English peas (with chicken stock, shallots, ginger, and mirin), and topped with carrot and daikon dressed with rice and white balsamic vinegars. The Gewurtz was perfect with it. Nichol makes a drier, less lychee-floral Gewurtz than many places in the Okanagan, which is just what the dish needed. The main course was pomegranate chicken, miso glazed potatoes, and broccoli tossed with sesame oil. (It was what we were having for dinner anyway. Maybe if I get ambitious I’ll post the recipe…if I can remember what I did.) We had intended to have it with Lost Canyon Pinot (from California, www.lostcanyonwinery.com/wines.htm), but the bottle we had turned out to be spoiled, so we quickly opened a pinot a friend had recently brought us from Oregon, Duck Pond Cellars (www.duckpondcellars.com) instead. Another successful pairing.

Dessert was some mixed berry pie I had made the day before. Our guests brought a Late-Harvest wine from Paradise Ranch (www.icewines.com/home.html). It was a Chardonnay/Riesling blend. I’m still not sure what I thought of it. It was the least sweet dessert wine I’ve ever had, and so it was good that my pie was a ‘little’ tart.

The evening didn’t end there. We ended up chatting for so long, that we decided another bottle was in order. Wanting to stay as much with the BC theme as possible, we opened a bottle of Pétales d’Osoyoos from Osoyoos Larose to show them one of our new finds. It was as good as we remembered from our dinner at the inn. Later, it was a bottle of 2004 Merlot from Poplar Grove (www.poplargrove.ca) that we picked up on our trip last year. We hadn’t tried it before, so had no idea what it was going to be like. It was really really delicious! (Although they say the stuff will cellar for years, it seems to us that it would have been well past peak in anything more than another year or two.) We will definitely buy more. Funny that I’m ending talking about BC reds, given what I wrote earlier about the whites. However, I still stand by my position that the whites are generally better. In my opinion, it's really about value for money. You can get really wonderful BC whites for relatively little money, but reds, you have to spend more on, and even that’s no guarantee.

Till the next notable wine or meal, which hopefully won’t be long!

Visit to Naramata - Day 2

The next day after packing up the campsite we were off to the other side of the lake. We stopped by the Bench Market (www.thebenchmarket.com/home.php) to grab a quick (and late) breakfast. I love that place! It’s filled with all sorts of great products, and the food they make there is always fresh and tasty. (Note: I find their coffee a little weak, and so drink americanos instead.)

From there it was on to the inn. They have bikes there that guests can use, which we used last year to go wine tasting. They're a little heavy though, so this year we brought our own. So after checking in, we hopped on our bikes and rode off in search of wine. Last year we were mostly tasting reds and avoiding the whites, reflecting our general preferences in California wines. We learned, too late as it turned out, that the magic is all in the whites on the bench (e.g. Joie!!! can you sense my enthusiasm for them?). This year we did not replicate that mistake. We started off at La Frenz (www.lafrenzwinery.com). We tasted their Semillon, Gewurtz, Alexandria, and liqueur Muscat. I liked the Semillon, but Chris didn’t so much. The Gewurtz was nice and we returned the next day to buy a bottle. (One of the advantages of tasting on bikes is you don’t buy much right away. So you’re less likely to open a bottle bought at the end of a day of tasting a few months later and go ‘what was I thinking?’) The Alexandria was a little too sweet, and the Muscat confused me. It had both floral and crème brulee going on at the same time. In the nose, this was intriguing, in the taste, not so much. I wish they hadn’t been sold out of so many things, because I really do like their whites (their Viognier in particular - clearly I’m not the only one) and we would have bought more.

Next we tried to go to Laughing Stock, but they aren’t open on Mondays. (Despite what I said about reds in the area, we really like their reds, their whites less so.) That’s OK, we already know we like their wine. So we did a little backtracking and went to Hillside Estates. They have a restaurant, and as it was getting closer to 3 than to 2, we figured some food might be a good idea. It was quite good. We had a caprese salad, crispy oysters, and the Okanagan cold plate. The salad was really nice. The tomatoes seemed fresh from the garden, perfectly sweet. (The kind of thing you don’t get in the city so much.) The sauce the oysters were served with was a little confused. I would have gone with either a spicy pepper/sundried tomato sauce or an apple cream sauce, not all in one. Sometimes less is more. But the oysters were so perfectly cooked that I loved the dish anyway. The cold plate had highs and (unnecessary) lows. The cheeses were great, the terrine was very tasty, and went perfectly with the cherries, there was too much tapenade, but it was perfectly fine, and Chris quickly ate all the gravlax, so I assume they were good too. The problem was with the tuna (which isn’t listed as being on the plate). It was very fishy, so much so that we couldn’t eat it. We both thought that they should have just gone with something else local, like some nice smoked trout or something. Why serve things you can get anywhere instead of highlighting the local products (which the rest of the plate did quite well)? Of course, lunch at a winery would be incomplete without wine. Chris had the Gewurtz (with the salad) and the Cab Franc (to go with the wild boar terrine), I had the Riesling (oysters). The two whites were perfect accompaniments, and the Cab Franc was surprisingly tasty. It had a real smokiness from the barrels, but not so much that it was overpowering. After lunch we popped down to the tasting room to try their other offerings. The ones we had at lunch were our definite favorites, and we bought a bottle each of the Riesling and the Cab Franc the next day.

Our last stop of the day was Nichol Vineyard (www.nicholvineyard.com/). One of the great things about going to less-developed wine areas (from a tourist perspective) is that you have a better chance of meeting the winemaker. Ross Hackworth was pouring in the tasting room the day we were there. Talking with the winemaker always gives you much more insight into the wines, something we really enjoyed. He was only pouring the Syrah on Monday, but we bought that as well as the Pinot Gris (which we’d had at a restaurant in Vancouver before) and the Gewurtz on his recommendation. The tasting room was going to be closed when we were heading out the next day, so we were trying to figure out how we were going to get the wines. He offered to drop them off for us at the inn later that evening! You don’t get that kind of service (or wine) in Napa!

Our day was not over yet, we still had dinner at the inn’s dining room. (After a game of scrabble over tea on the balcony outside our room.) When we were there last year dinner was good, but not fabulous. It felt like the chef was trying too hard. (The service and local wine list were excellent.) This year it was all great! We had two different salads as starters with some excellent local wine (I had the viognier from Marichal, can’t remember what Chris had), and then a halibut special and the house made pasta with goat cheese and spinach. Both were excellent. We finished up with a cheese plate (a variety of cheeses from Poplar Grove – the Harvest Moon is my favorite which I buy quite frequently at Pane e Formaggio www.pane-e-formaggio.com/home.html) and found a new BC red we love Pétales d’Osoyoos from Osoyoos Larose. We loved it so much we bought two more glasses to take back to our room, which we drank outside under the stars on the balcony.

I’ll let you know when we drink the wines we bought.