drink

Mission HilL: Intervin winery of the year

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:36:06 -0700

Mission Hill Family Estate took 20 medals at the 2011 InterVin International Wine awards, winning with both top tier luxury wines and everyday value labels, and chosen as Winery of the Year among 300 entrants.
Try their elegant 2009 Pinot Noir with the holiday turkey - lots of bright raspberry and cherry aromas, with an earthy, spicy character and a touch of smoky oak.

SUPER SOJU

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:10:53 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

The Hwayo soju distillery is an anomaly in Korea – a small local firm turning out a high-end, artisan rice liquor.
Soju is Korea’s answer to grappa or vodka, a simple white spirit that’s quaffed with friends, most often for the intoxicating effects and with little concern for the after effects (which apparently can be particularly brutal if you over indulge). Soju has that reputation, the Asian alcohol that’s pounded in shots like tequila or dropped boiler-maker-style into a glass of beer and downed with the familiar toast, “Gunbae!”
Because, in Korea, everyone drinks soju – its part of everyday socializing with friends in sojubangs or hop bars, cramped little joints where soju and snacks or anju are consumed after work and long into the night.
When I ask where I might find a trendy, modern soju bar in Seoul – something akin to a western wine bar – to sample the finest soju, or taste the best brands side-by-side, most Koreans look askance.
“You like soju?” is the usual response, often with a raised eyebrow or the behind-the-hand giggle of a Korean girl.
It’s still uncommon, but like Hwayo, a handful of other Korean sujo producers are determined to raise the profile of this simple spirit, and I’m here to find out what makes everyday intoxicant into a premium product, with a premium price.
The roots of soju reach back to the 13th century, when Mongol invaders brought the technology of distilling to Koreans who soon converted their milky rice wine – makgoli – into the fiery spirit. Rice was the ingredient of choice for centuries, until the 1960s, when rice shortages caused the Korean government to ban the use of rice for soju. That ban stuck until 1999 so, for most of the past 50 years, soju has been made with other fermentable starches, mostly from sweet potatoes and tapioca, sweetened with sugar and other flavourings.
That’s the kind of soju – a cheap, industrial-made drink – which most Koreans are accustomed to consuming. And consume it they do. While most North Americans know little about soju, the best-selling Jinro is literally the world’s largest spirits brand, globally outselling giants like Bacardi and Johnny Walker. A typical 375-ml bottle of the clear, slightly sweet spirit has about 20% alcohol and sells for about $2 (CDN) in Korea.
But that’s not what they’re making at Hwayo – their premium soju is made the traditional way, with just three ingredients, rice, water and live koji cultures. And it sells for 10 times the price of the industrial street quaffers.
I’ve arrived at the Hwayo facilities, a series of small grey steel buildings on the outskirts of Seoul, with a local interpreter for a tour with Manager Sae-Hee Moon. He leads me past stacked sacks of Korean Japonica rice, up onto a steel catwalk where the grains are steamed and mixed with live koji or aspergillus – the molds that ferment soy sauce and miso – and brewed into a spritzy rice wine. This basic rice “beer” – like the sweet barley wort of whisky – is either bottled as makgoli or sent to their small pot still to be distilled into soju.
While most soju is distilled in a continuous or multiple distillation process, and goes right into bottles, this premium soju is single distilled at low temperatures, under reduced pressure, to preserve natural aromas and flavours, then aged. We head to another building where 300 large, hand-make clay vessels or ongi – the kind used here in Korea for aging everything from kimchi to soy sauce – stand in rows. The clear alcohol ages in the dark, while classical music plays.
“The acoustic vibrations stimulate the alcohol molecules,” Moon explains, “sometimes traditional Korean music, sometimes Western music to globalize.”
They’re also experimenting with barrel aging, and another cellar holds dozens of oak barrels where soju is taking on cask aromas and colours, similar to other barrel-aged spirits. The distillate is diluted to create three distinct products for bottling – 40, 25 and 17 per cent alcohol is typical for soju.
Hwayo Soju is just one arm of the KwangJuYo Group, a Korean company led by Tae-Kwon Cho. Cho inherited his father’s fine Korean pottery company and has since expanded his business, with hopes to elevate Korean food and drink in the eyes of the world.

His 30-year-old daughter Lucia, a trained chef and Slow Food advocate, says her father has created high-end Korean restaurants to showcase the beautiful Korean tableware and vessels created at the family pottery in Icheon. Among the clean modern plates and precisely incised floral patterns, there are tall-necked Jungbyung bottles and tiny Bangwool cups that ring like little bells for serving soju. Cho has also reproduced an ancient Korean liquor cup or GyeYoungBae – a mysterious cup perched over a pot, that can never be totally filled, to prevent over indulging.
Lucia offers a citrusy soju cocktail and we sip Hwayo straight while enjoying a contemporary Korean meal – cold soy milk soup with spaghetti squash “noodles,” burdock root Japchae with grilled eel, and tender abalone with braised short ribs.

She acknowledges that it’s all new to Koreans – even in Seoul there are only a handful of contemporary Korean restaurants - and for many Koreans, “premium soju” is still an oxymoron.
But with brands like Hwayo, that upscale soju tasting bar can’t be far off.

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

fine rum renaissance

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:15:46 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

Bajans like to lay claim to a rather auspicious title in the booze business – that their beloved Mount Gay is the oldest rum distillery in the world.
So its no surprise that the golden elixir flows like water around here and that a Barbados “rum safari” is a popular pastime. As we bump along the back roads in an open jeep, stopping at little rural “rum shops” to toss back another “snap” with the locals, I’m starting to see why they like to say life is sweet here.

Winding up across the top of St. Lucy Parish on a narrow dirt road, we are literally lost in a sea of sugar cane, the plants so thick and tall that even our savvy driver has difficulty deciding whether the next turn should be left or right. In fact it’s sugar – the kind that comes from those fields of spiky cane and morphs into big brown crystals and eventually the famed Mount Gay rums – that has long defined the rhythm of life on this Caribbean island. From the spring cane harvest to the colorful calypso street parties of the summer Crop Over festival, Barbados was built on sugar and rum.
And Mount Gay is their brand. Sure, there are others – the new artisan rums from historic St. Nicholas Abbey, the famed Plantation Extra Old and the Cockspur Rum that goes into the posh rum punch alongside the island’s best flying fish sandwiches at Cutters - but from the screaming red and yellow storefronts on almost every corner, its clear that Mount Gay is the local favourite.
Rum may be one of the world’s oldest spirits but it’s having a bit of a renaissance these days. Whether it’s the hip cocktail culture or the growing popularity of Latin-American food, a minty rum mojito or dacquiri is the new life of the party. And like any classic spirit, rum has a story to tell.
Rum is distilled from sugar cane – today often from pure cane juice but originally from the molasses that were the left over after the cane was refined into sugar. Ironically, it was plantation slaves who first discovered the value-added alcohol that could be fermented from this local by-produce, rum being a drink first popularized in the Caribbean and eventually becoming colonial New England’s biggest industry.
Along with the growing demand for sugar, this 17th-century “rum boom” led to greater demand for Caribbean labour, and so the exchange of slaves, molasses and rum grew into a very profitable business between African, Caribbean and British North American traders.
Loaded with hogsheads of molasses and rum, trading ships also carried Caribbean salt north, as ballast, and returned with salted cod, the mainstay of the plantation slave’s meager diet. These links between Nova Scotia and Barbados are still part of our Maritime heritage, and explain why Bajans still enjoy salt cod fritters and Caribbean rum is a mainstay in Nova Scotia.
At Rum Runners in Halifax, they make Caribbean-style rum cakes, soaked in the spirit, celebrating the U.S. Prohibition years between 1920 and 1933 when smuggling rum was a lucrative business for local fishermen and liquor was carried to secret speakeasies in false-bottom boats. In Lunenburg, shipbuilders made specialized vessels for rum running, low-profile boats that escaped detection, and crews from the area manned this “Banana Fleet.”
It’s estimated that 300,000 cases of illegal liquor left Canada every month at the height of the rum running business, making millions for mobsters like Al Capone and turning Canada into the largest spirits producer in the world. Today, the artisan rum being produced at Ironworks micro-distillery starts with Caribbean molasses, delivered by the Crosby Molasses Co., which began bringing barrels to Canada since 1879.
But rum was made long before that. Mentions of Barbados “rumbullion” and “kill devil” are found in Connecticut court documents dating to 1634 and it was soon after that when planters settled the land that would eventually become the Mount Gay plantation. The oldest written evidence of a distillery on this site is 1703, though it’s likely rum was made here much earlier.
Dark, light or white, rum is made wherever sugar cane grows and today Jamaica, Barbados, Puerto Rico and Cuba are among the largest producers of rum. But Bajans like to say their rum is different, thanks to their top quality sugar cane, coral-filtered water, and tradition of using copper pot stills.
It’s all detailed in the whitewashed Mount Gay Museum, where a guide explains that their double-distilled rum is aged in reclaimed Kentucky bourbon barrels and we stop to taste through the range of products.

Today Master Blender Allen Smith is offering a tutorial in rum tasting.
“Mark you, I said tasting, not drinking,” says Smith as he lifts a special tasting glass a few inches below his nose, closes his eyes and sniffs.
Mount Gay’s rum has been winning gold medals in spirits competitions around the world and his golden Extra Old really is a benchmark for rum aficionados. Like many fine spirits it’s aging that adds the layers of flavour to rum.
At Mount Gay, the nuances of vanilla, coffee, chocolate, caramel, leather, sweet almond and smoke come from the barrels, with the best rums blended from those that have been aged for 10, 20 and 30 years.

Like well-aged whisky, Cognac or even tequila, aged rums are made for sipping while white – or silver – rums work best in most cocktails. Dark navy rums are heavy, distilled from molasses rather than cane juice, and should be reserved for a rum and Coke, a winter hot toddy or dousing the holiday fruit cake. Here in Barbados, there’s nothing better than the local rum punch – “one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak” – served on a sunny patio overlooking the turquoise sea.
Bajans are a religious lot but the tradition of heading down to the local rum shop is just as important as donning your best hat for church on Sunday.
“We have 1,000 churches on the island and there are 1,600 rum shops – 1,200 registered,” says our “rum safari” guide.
For a small country, only 34 km long and 23 km wide, it’s hard to believe there are that many corners to set up a bar where you can “touch one,” as the locals say.
At Braddy’s, one of the popular local haunts, Chesterfield Browne, Mount Gay’s master mixologist and brand ambassador, offers a shot of amber Mount Gay Eclipse.
“That’s how we do it in Barbados,” says Browne, downing the drink quickly. “You buy a drink and your friends will buy you back one.” Sweet.

©Cinda Chavich 2011
www.tastereport.com

INCREDIBLE INNISKILLIN SPARKLING VIDAL ICEWINE

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 13:01:34 -0700

This just in, in the “Match Made in Heaven” department.
Girlfriend Susan brought a lovely lemon pudding cake for dessert last night - you know that kind that separates into a fluffy lemony souffle on top, with a creamy lemon curd sauce on the bottom - and we pulled a bottle of 2006 Inniskillin Sparkling Vidal icewine from the fridge.
While adding bubbles to icewine may sound a bit gimmicky, ‘twas a revelation to be true. The soft bubbles in the golden Vidal added a layer of zest to the already racy acidity, that made it literally dance on your tongue. It was an outstanding partner to the sweet lemony dessert - a complimentary combination, echoing flavours yet augmenting both. The icewine’s subtle spritz and candied lemon and lime notes turned a simple but delicious dessert into a wow moment.
This is a very rare, limited release but worth grabbing if you see it on the shelf (about $75-$100 for a 375 ml bottle). Chill and serve with a light, lemon curd dessert, or to start a meal in style with foie gras.
Inniskillin is one of Canada’s top icewine makers, creating this VQA dessert wine using Vidal grapes from the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. But by using a second fermentation in a sealed tank - what’s called the “Charmat Method” - they create a natural carbonation, adding a whole new level of delight to this incredibly intense, yet balanced wine. In case you don’t know, icewine is only made when the temperature drops below -8C - the grapes picked and pressed when frozen solid. The water in the grape is thus effectively removed, resulting in very small amounts of concentrated juice for fermentation, and a wine with incredible sweetness and acidity. Yes, we have winter in Canada - but icewine is one of the big bonuses. This Sparkling Inniskillin Icewine won a gold medal at VinItaly last year - no surprises there.
Any FYI, Inniskillin has launched a new Vidal Icewine Commemorative Edition, with proceeds to support Canada’s Olympic athletes at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Raise a glass for the team.

©Cinda Chavich 2010
www.tastereport.com

SPIRITS: 100% BLUE AGAVE TEQUILA

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:21:47 -0600

JE T’ADORE, JIMADOR: Getting to the heart of true tequila

By CINDA CHAVICH
In the world of international spirits, it’s pretty rare to find a major brand that can truly claim that it’s raw materials are harvested by hand.
But in the agave-studded hills surrounding the town of Tequila, Mexico, you’ll still find burly men - the jimadors - in the fields before dawn, cutting the sweet cores from these spiky plants, the raw material of 100% blue agave tequila.
My spring travels to the sunny agave fields outside of Guadalajara taught me to always look for those words - 100% blue agave - on a bottle of tequila before I buy.This is the only guarantee that what’s in the bottle is the real thing, made by roasting the starchy agave hearts to release their exquisitely sweet syrup for fermentation.
It’s the landscape here around Guadalajara that makes it perfect for growing the best agave. In the dry rolling foothills of the Sierra Madre they say it’s perpetual spring, and the temperature is perfectly temperate every day.
While cheaper tequila, called mixto, can be made using a minimum of 51% blue agave juice, and other sugars, and Mezcal can be made elsewhere, from other kinds of agave, we’re in search of the real thing.

By definition, tequila is made in the Jalisco region of Mexico, from the fermented juices of the tequilina weber blue agave, a large spiny relative of the aloe vera plant, which can grow five feet tall and is only harvested when mature – that is, 10-12 years old.
That harvesting is done entirely by hand, which is unheard of in the highly automated world of food and drink, and another thing that makes tequila so cool.
We arrive in the agave fields by 9 a.m., but already the jimadors have chopped their way through dozens of plants and the rows are littered with thick green leaves, leftovers for cattle feed, and giant white pinas, the sweet and precious heart of the plant that looks like a huge white pineapple.
The morning air rings with the thwacking sound of razor-sharp coas, sharp flat shovels the jimadors wield like javelins, shaving away the thick arms of the agave to reveal the massive cores, some reaching 50 kg. The work is difficult – the men wear denim to guard against the agave’s thorns and a thick leather guard to protect their ankles from the blades.

Once the pinas are collected in massive farm trucks, they’re transported to the distillery - in this case the beautiful and historic Casa Herradura.
While the brand has recently been bought by American liquor giant Brown-Forman (owner of Jack Daniels and Finlandia), Casa Herradura is the only hacienda in Mexico still making tequila and the place has its charms. Workers still live in colourful stone houses within the hacienda walls and the family that has owned the land for centuries still uses the sprawling home and gardens, where massive old trees shade the courtyards and well-groomed stallions stand in the stables.
There is a tequila train from Guadalajara that stops here, and after touring the facility we sit in a shady park, where lunch is served and mariachi’s stroll among the tables.
The historic cellars here, dating to 1870, are impressive with their vaulted stone ceilings and copper pot stills. But even the modern tequila-making process preserves the romance. We watch workers pile hundreds of pinas into huge clay ovens, then unload them by hand after they’ve cooked for 24 hours. The sweet, sticky flesh is fibrous and we pull pieces through our teeth to release the pulp, tasting of honey and herbs.
The pure agave juice released from the pulpy mass of cooked agave is fermented here with wild yeasts and distilled in a long row of small stainless steel pot stills. The pure tequila is then aged in wooden tanks or small oak barrels – 11 months for reposado, 25 for the anejo and more than for years for the top Seleccion Supremo, that tastes like a fine cognac when swirled in a big snifter.
It all gets a bit confusing because every tequila maker has their own aging formula, but by law, reposados must “rest” in wood for a least 2 months before bottling, while anejos must be aged for a least 1 year. Tequila aged at least 3 years in oak barrels can be labeled extra anejo – the rarest and finest premium tequilas. But even mixtos can be reposados and anejos, and wood aging can come from wood chips.
I fell in love with 100% blue agave tequila, Mexico’s answer to single malt scotch, and discovered that when well-made, even a simple white or blanco tequila has wonderful freshness and clean agave aromas.
If you’ve sworn off tequila thanks to a wicked hangover (or two), you might want to try a premium brand of 100% agave. Not all pure tequilas are high quality, but the best makers discard the tops and tails of the distillation process, where impurities lie. Mixtos, on the other hand, can legally contain caramel coloring, glycerine and sugar-based syrups, a recipe for a headache.
Of course, you’ll be sipping, not slamming shots of, your oak-aged reposado or anejo blue agave tequila, which should help with the hangover, too.

©Cinda Chavich 2009
www.tastereport.com

WINERY RESTAURANTS: DESTINATIONS ON THE CULINARY TOURISM TRAIL

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 00:44:35 -0600

FINE DINING IN WINE COUNTRY

By CINDA CHAVICH

Each time I see a bottle of Vineland Estates wine on the shelf in my local wine store, I’m instantly transported to southern Ontario, an historic stone farmhouse and a big century-old barn.
I remember the wine but I also see the chef with a basket of fresh bread and tomatoes from his garden, and a little guest house surrounded by vines that roll down towards the distant shores of Lake Ontario. Once you’ve sampled a glass in a winery tasting room, and enjoyed the perfect wine and food pairing, each time you open a bottle thereafter, you’re back there among the vines - the terroir, the temperature, the aromas, all indelibly etched into your mind’s eye.
No winemaker could ask for a better marketing strategy.
While every new winery doesn’t open a winery restaurant, it is a natural progression for many. “We were first in Niagara to get a winery restaurant license in 1990,” says Allan Schmidt, president of Vineland Estates. “We decided to go into fine dining in 1992 and it has evolved into much more.”
What started as “a little patio with pate and smoked salmon and breads,” has become an award-winning destination restaurant.
“We were pushed by consumers to include fine dining at the winery,” says Schmidt. “It’s really helped to establish our brand and draw new customers. Fifty per cent of our customers come to our restaurant now because we are a winery, and vice versa.”
It’s hard to quantify just how much revenue a winery restaurant brings to the business – most owners admit they see their food service operations as an extension of their public relations and advertising programs. But there’s no doubt that a wine tasting, combined with a great dinner and perhaps even a comfortable place to sleep, takes a winery from an agricultural business to a culinary vacation destination.
And more and more wineries across Canada are discovering that makes good business sense.
“The reality is that people who love wine tend to love food,” says Mark Torrance, the manager at Peller Estates in Niagara, where an ambitious and elegant winery restaurant opened in 2001 and now draws up to 30,000 customers every year.
“If you look around in Niagara or Okanagan or Napa, the places with food programs tend to be full,” he says. “If you want to bring wine lovers, a good restaurant is the absolute price of entry.”
Today’s winery restaurants are as sophisticated as any in the cities. In fact, winery restaurants, whether ambitious rooms like these or just simple cafes, are the stopping points that can turn a collection of wineries into a wine route.
“What they’re doing is they’re coming to wine country and eating as well as they can as part of a two or three day stay,” says Schmidt. “We are now involved in agrotourism.”
Whether it’s lunch at the cosy Thistles Café at Glenterra Vineyards or Merridale Cider in B.C.’s Cowichan Valley, or a multi-course dining experience with a star chef like Michael Allemeier at Mission Hill in Kelowna, the restaurant is a place for visitors to slow down and smell the cabernet sauvignon.
“A winery restaurant gives a winery visitor a need to pause,” says Torrance. “It lets people slow right down and consider their surroundings. It creates a speed bump, which I think is a very healthy thing.”
There’s no doubt the surroundings are a big part of a winery dining experience – a view across tidy rows of vines cascading down to a distant lake makes for a magical meal. Whether it’s the panoramic view of Okanagan Lake from Quails’ Gate Winery or the sunny deck at Gray Monk’s Grapevine Restaurant, these are rooms with a view.
But fine, regional cuisine also draws visitors into wine regions to dine.
In fact, Canada’s wine country restaurant chefs were some of the first to develop what we now know as “Canadian cuisine” - seasonal, ingredient-driven, regional food. Early winery chefs like Michael and Anna Olson at Cave Springs’ On the Twenty, and Mark Picone at Vineland Estates, “put Niagara cuisine at the forefront,” says Schmidt, simply using ingredients at hand.
“The produce we get is local and plentiful, undamaged and at the ripeness you wish,” says Vineland’s current Chef Jan-Willem Stulp “For the restaurant, that contributes greatly to a very simple flavour profile and the bottom line.”
That might mean Poplar Grove Tiger blue and Carmelis Picollo goat cheese on an artisan cheese plate in the Okanagan, or a roasted wild boar chop with pumpkin gnocchi in Niagara. At Le Caveau restaurant at Nova Scotia’s Grand Pré Winery, chef Jason Lynch pairs the local L’Acadie Blanc wine with Maritime ingredients like lobster and scallops.
Michael Allemeier, executive chef at B.C.’s Mission Hill Family Estate, coined the phrase “cuisine de terroir” to describe the food at the winery’s Terrace Restaurant. It’s light seasonal fare, he says, a menu that changes during the restaurant’s six-month summer season to reflect produce in the kitchen garden and from nearby farms.
“I believe the Okanagan has it’s own terroir for wine and food – the location gives the whites that sagey, pear, apple character and that’s what we have in the food, too,” says Allemeier. “It starts with the wines, but the area is so agriculturally rich, our food always reflects the seasons.”
At Niagara’s Hillebrand, chef Frank Dodd offers a 100-Mile tasting menu featuring local fruits, Avalon Farm duck, Monforte cheese, Spring Back venison and seasonal vegetables. Vineland’s Stulp often shops even closer to home.
“Here it’s not a 100 km diet,” says Stulp. “I recently did a seven-course menu – featuring quail and venison and vegetables – all from within a five-km radius.”
Every chef has his or her unique style of using local ingredients, but the bottom line is creating wine-friendly food. Chefs strive to create the best pairings, whether they’re matching the famed Pinot Noir at Quail’s Gate or showcasing the lovely whites from wineries like Cave Springs and Gray Monk.
“The only common denominator is that the food we create revolves around the wine,” says Peller Estates’ chef Jason Parsons.
Adds Allemeier: “We build all of our food around the wine – the acids, the sweetness, the ripeness and intensity. I don’t think that’s limiting, I think it gives me parameters and guidelines, and it gives me clarity on how I’m doing.”
And winery kitchens have other upsides.
“I cannot think of anywhere else I could go to have the freedom to do what we do here,” says Parsons. “We churn our own butter, make our own bread, cure our own bacon and bresola.”
“And the amount of wine I get to use is insane – up to 50 cases of wine a month,” he adds, admitting once cracking open three cases of ice wine to cook a suckling pig.
Winery chefs say they enjoy the laid back lifestyle in wine country. And while some chefs have left high profile restaurant jobs in the city to run winery restaurants – think chef Bernie Casavant of Burrowing Owl – don’t imagine a winery job is a chance to slow down or “retire” from the business of cooking.
Many winery restaurants are only open from May through September so it can be challenging to maintain a strong core staff for both the kitchen and dining room. It’s also trickier to lure customers in the off-season so some wineries have developed innovative culinary programs, from wine weekends to cooking schools.
Stulp hosts an “Ironic Chef” competition each year at Vineland Estates, this year pitting winery chefs against Michael and Anna Olson. At Peller, there are events like the popular weekend Sparkling Brunch, or the Terroir Trek, strolling the vineyards while slurping Sauvignon Blanc and fresh oysters.
“We try to add a little bit every year – because people want to have experiences,” says Parsons.
Allemeier teaches cooking classes in Mission Hill’s state-of-the-art teaching kitchen and has recently created the country’s first “varietal-based” garden with fruits and herbs that reflect the flavours of particular grapes.
“It takes a special person to be a winery chef – you have to be a team player, and be able to multi-task,” says Allemeier, who will turn his winery chef duties over to Matt Batey when he returns to Calgary to teach culinary students this fall.
The bottom line? Food and wine are inseparable.
“Our focus is still making wine, but food is a big part of it,” says Schmidt. “I can’t think of any great wine in the world that doesn’t have a great cuisine with it.”

A TASTE OF WINE COUNTRY:

Here’s some of the innovative cuisine on the menu at Canada’s top wine country restaurants:

Lakeland Farm smoked duck breast, beet latke, blood orange, firss and French bean salad $15
Pairing: Cave Spring Estate Riesling
Chef Kevin Maniaci at Cave Springs Inn on the Twenty, Jordan

Second Wind Farm elk loin, Gomes Farm cauliflower, neep and tattie gratin, maple squash, saskatoon berry $40
Pairing: 2004 Hillebrand Showcase Merlot
Chef Frank Dodd at Hillebrand Winery Restaurant, Niagara

Crispy skin duck confit with Hunter Farms sour cherry Bigarade $18
Chef Alain Levesque at Terroir La Cachette restaurant at Strewn Winery, Niagara

Wild salmon fillet wrapped in potato crust with dill aioli $26
Pairing: Gray Monk Estate Pinot Gris
Chef Willi Franz at The Grapevine Restaurant, Gray Monk Estate Winery, Okanagan Centre

Roasted free range loin of Sloping Hill Farm Berkshire pork, savoy cabbage, Canados jus, apple braised Enderby wild boar belly $30
Pairing: Quails’ Gate 2006 Pinot Noir
Chef Roger Sleiman at Quails’ Gate Winery, Kelowna

Jack’s Sooke ruby trout, garden herb puree, Walla Walla onion and chorizo tart $24
Pairing: Mission Hill Reserve Riesling
Chef Matt Batey at Mission Hill Family Estate, Kelowna

Ontario lamb sirloin with confit baby zucchini, Woolwich goat cheese, spearmint aioli $36
Pairing: Andrew Peller Signature Series Cabernet Franc
Chef Jason Parsons at Peller Estates, Niagara

Seared Scallops on sautéed spinach with hoisin butter sauce $24
Glenterra Estate Grown Pinot Gris
Thistles Café at Glenterra Vineyards, Cowichan Valley

(This feature story appeared in Food Service & Hospitality Magazine)

copyright Cinda Chavich, 2009

Tinhorn Creek Oldfield’s Collection 2Bench White

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 22:45:16 -0600

Cocktail Nation: Canada’s drink experts dish

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:26:41 -0700

COCKTAIL NATION

By CINDA CHAVICH
Special to the Globe and Mail

A guy walks into a bar and orders a Monkey Gland.
Not a joke – just another gin-based cocktail in the Savoy Cocktail Book, an exhaustive collection of tipples recorded by legendary London barman Harry Craddock in 1930. And while Craddock’s Monkey Gland, Mary Pickford or absinthe-based Nineteen-twenty Pick-Me-Up might not be on the menu at your local lounge, both creative contemporary cocktails and those from earlier eras are making a comeback.
“The cocktail has come full circle and we’re in the midst of the second golden age of cocktails,” says Tony Abou-Ganim, an American “master mixologist” who has created cocktails for such notable establishments as Babbo in New York and the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas.
“We’ve skipped a generation of good cocktail drinkers but they’re now learning to appreciate a real Martini or Gibson again, and there are hundreds of lesser known lost and forgotten classics to discover.”
What’s shaking up today’s modern mixologists are global trends, says Abou-Ganim, especially in the U.S. where mixed drinks were born and popularized in the decadent Roaring Twenties. It was Prohibition that sent the cocktail underground and into “American” bars across the pond, like the Savoy’s bar of the same name and Harry’s NY Bar in Paris.
But the cocktail culture survived and is enjoying a resurgence today, influenced by both the culinary trend of fresh, seasonal ingredients, and international flavours, especially Latin traditions.
On the heels of the Cuban Mojito craze, comes the Caipirinha, a strong, lime-flavoured drink, reminiscent of a classic rum daiquiri, but made with Brazilian cachaca (ka-SHA-sa), a spirit distilled from sugar cane juice. The frothy Pisco sour is also popular, a cocktail that includes egg whites, lime juice, sugar and pisco, a brandy with roots in Peru.
Cocktails made with antioxidant-rich acai berry juice – or the new acai berry spirit, Veev – are even being labeled “healthy.” And some bars are advertising themselves as “sustainable,” working with environmental business consultants like Green & Tonic, and shaking up freshly-squeezed local juices with Square One Organic Vodka,.
A survey of top bar tenders across Canada found a couple of other trends, based both on the style of bar and the region of the country. While balance is key – the perfect marriage of strong spirit with sweet and bitter components – today’s cocktails are “longer” than traditional drinks, often shaken with lots of crushed ice and fresh fruit juices or muddled (mashed) with whole fruit and herbs. Infused vodkas, premium gins and sweet liqueurs like Tuaca or Chambord are being combined with flavorings from agave nectar and ginger to elderflower, pineapple basil and rhubarb. Even strong bitters, like the Italian herbal-based digestif Fernet-Branca, are finding their way into today’s mixed drinks.
“Molecular mixologists” like West coast whiz Jamie Boudreau are adding foams, flames, gels, tinctures and other creative touches to their award-winning cocktails. Savoury mixtures like sake with pickled ginger, or Boudreau’s bacon-infused bourbon and chocolate cocktail, take drinkers into uncharted new territory.
But behind many bars, bar tenders say they are still pouring pink Cosmopolitans and other sweet, fruity cocktails. The winners of the recent Findlandia Vodka Cup regional contests in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal gave us their opinions about the hottest cocktails in their respective cities, along with their winning recipes for holiday drinks.
“Like the food at the restaurant, we focus on fresh, quality ingredients,” says Jeff Schaus, the Calgary bar tender who swept all three drink categories in a national shake-off last month and will represent Canada at the 11th annual Finlandia Vodka Cup Finals in Finland in February.
“Our top sellers are still martinis, geared toward women – like the ‘Sexy’, with coconut rum, melon liqueur, blue curacao, pineapple and white slush,” admits Schaus. “It’s sweet, but it sells.”

COCKTAILS COAST TO COAST

Brian Grant
Voya at The Loden, Vancouver

Vancouver mixologist Brian Grant, 33, says that city has long been on the cutting edge of cocktails, demanding ingredients like freshly-squeezed fruit juices, fresh herbs and purees, muddled together with eclectic spirits, from Chartreuse and sake, to locally-distilled gin and absinthe. At The Loden, the city’s newest boutique hotel, the bar has a chic retro feel, and a list of classic cocktails.

Signature Cocktail: Old Dog, New Tricks (twist on Salty Dog with vodka, champagne, pink grapefruit and black raspberry liqueur, pink sea salt)
Hot Vancouver cocktail: Sazerac
Favourite classic cocktail: The Sidecar
Favourite flavoring: Peychaud bitters
Favourite spirit: Giffard Pamplemousse Rose
New Year’s Eve cocktail: Jack Rose (calvados, lemon juice and homemade grenadine)

Jeff Schaus
Metropolitan Grill, Calgary

Jeff Schaus, 39, oversees the bars at Seven and two Metropolitan Grills in Calgary, a popular martini bar and steakhouse, attracting a young business crowd for dining and a late night club scene. Schaus says he likes to “get the kitchen involved” in his cocktail recipes, using fresh fruit purees and herbs to create refreshing drinks.

Signature Cocktail: Limestone Lemonade (see recipe)
Hot Calgary cocktail: Mohito
Favourite classic cocktail: Stinger
Favourite flavoring: rosemary
Favourite spirit: Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka
New Year’s Eve cocktail: Cosmopolitan (vodka, Cointreau and fresh lime with cranberry juice)

Adrian Stein
Mistura, Toronto

Adrian Stein, 30, the bar chef at this upscale Italian restaurant uses chef Massimo Capra as a taster for his creative takes on classic cocktails, from the Mistura Martini with Grey Goose L’Orange vodka and passion fruit, to his new savoury cucumber and radish juice cocktail with pear vodka and ginger syrup.

Signature Cocktail: Purple Basil Grapefruit Mohito (see recipe)
Hot Toronto cocktail: Manhattan (with high end bourbon or rye)
Favourite classic cocktail: Negroni
Favourite flavoring: vegetable juices
Favourite spirit: infused vodkas
New Year’s Eve cocktail: Proscecco with Alize (passion fruit liqueur) and pomegranate seeds

Jason Brus
Radio Lounge, Montreal

Jason Brus, 30, slings drinks at one of Montreal’s hot dance clubs and says it’s all about pushing out basic rum and cokes or vodka oranges – “I’m the fast food bar tender.” In clubs like this, where 1,000 young customers juggle for space on the dance floor, they buy vodka by the bottle – and pay up to $700 to put a three-litre bottle of premium Belvedere on ice at the table. The girls who come to the bar like sweet drinks, he says.

Signature Cocktail: Jason’s Sweet (1/2 apricot brandy, ½ Amaretto with orange and cranberry juices)
Hot Montreal cocktail: XO Cognac
Favourite classic cocktail: Stinger (white crème de menthe with cognac)
Favourite flavoring: fruit juices
Favourite spirit: Bombay Sapphire Gin
New Year’s Eve cocktail: Jason’s Sames Punch (see recipe)

RECIPES:

Jeff Schaus’ Limestone Lemonade

1 oz. Finlandia Lime Vodka
1 oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. water
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Shake with crushed ice and strain into a tall, narrow cocktail glass. Garnish with rosemary sprig and lime wheel.

Brian Grant’s Mango “J” Collins

2 oz. Finlandia Mango Vodka
¾ oz. saffron-infused simple syrup
1 oz. lemon juice
½ oz. mango juice
3 oz. soda water

Shake all with ice (except soda) and strain into a Collins glass. Garnish with a fan of fresh mango, dusted with ground saffron.

Adrian Stein’s Grapefruit Basil Vohito

1.5 oz. Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka
½ oz. Campari
2 teaspoons white sugar
4-6 purple basil leaves
1/8 white grapefruit, skinned and diced
4 oz. tonic water

In a highball glass, muddle (mash) together the vodka, campari, sugar, basil and vodka. Add ice and top up the glass with tonic, then garnish with a wedge of grapefruit.

Jason Brus’ Sames Punch

½ oz. Finlandia regular vodka
½ oz. Cointreau
¼ oz. apricot brandy
splash each: orange, cranberry and grape juice

Shake with crushed ice and strain into a martini glass, edged in green powdered sugar and garnished with exotic fruits.

(this story appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

Wine Regions: Pretty Paso Robles wine country

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:33:36 -0600

By Cinda Chavich
Don’t worry if you’re unfamiliar with Paso Robles.
Even the wine press calls this corner of southern California a “hidden gem”. But Paso Robles, or just “Paso” in local parlance, is California’s fastest growing wine region, and one that should be on every wine lover’s touring map.
Tucked into the northern corner of San Luis Obispo County, about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles along California’s Central Coast, Paso’s claim to fame is its hot dry days and cool nights, a unique microclimate tempered by the Pacific air that cuts through its rolling valleys every night from the nearby coast.
It’s that 40-degree temperature swing – the largest in any California appellation – and an extra long growing season, that makes Paso Robles such a perfect place to grow grapes, whether its their famous Zinfandels and Cabernet Sauvignons, or the Rhone varietals, like Syrah, Viognier and Roussanne that thrive in this Mediterranean climate. Even if you haven’t visited, you’ve likely tasted some of the distinctive wines made here - intense, lush reds, full of chocolate and violet aromas - from producers like J. Lohr, Tablas Creek, Treana and Liberty School.
That climate also makes Paso Robles a lovely place to live and tour, which is why nearly 170 wineries can be found along secondary roads branching off the main highway, between unpretentious towns like San Miguel in the north, through Templeton and south to San Luis Obispo. But unlike busier Napa or Sonoma, Paso is a quiet, laid back corner of California, where vineyards still share space with cattle ranches, orchards and olive groves.
Paso is also California’s largest wine region – 600,000 acres - so it’s best to base your tour in the town of Paso Robles. Here you’ll find a lovely park and town square, bounded by restaurants, wine shops, boutiques and hotels like the old Paso Robles Inn and stylish Hotel Cheval. Because the region is so large, and some of the wineries so new, there are a dozen winery storefronts and tasting rooms in downtown Paso to simplify a tasting tour.
Or you can head out into the rolling, oak-studded countryside to visit wineries big and small. Travel east of town along Route 46E to high tech, Swiss-owned Vina Robles, J. Lohr, Treana, EOS Estate and Robert Hall Winery, or west along 46W, where there are dozens of choices from the cult wines at L’Aventure to the rare Paso pinot noirs of Windward Vineyards. Up in the Santa Lucia Highlands, off Adelaida Road, you’ll find Tablas Creek – a project of the Perrin family, of Chateau Beaucastel fame – and Justin Vineyards, known for their award-winning Bordeaux and “Paso” (cab/syrah) blends.
Along with a charming inn, Justin also has an excellent winery restaurant. And there are more destination dining rooms popping up all the time, including chef Chris Kobayashi’s Artisan, Vinoteca Wine Bar or Bistro Laurent, all in downtown Paso. Panolivo has an olive oil tasting room or stop at Vivant Fine Cheese to pack a picnic.
Fly directly into San Luis Obispo, or take the three-hour drive down the coast from San Francisco or L.A., then take Highway 101 through the heart of Paso Robles wine country. You may be the first among your friends to discover this gem, but it won’t be hidden for long.

(This story first appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

WORLD WINE: Dogliani earns DOCG for Dolcetto

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:21:10 -0600

By CINDA CHAVICH

Dolcetto may be seen as a simple wine in many parts of Italy but in Dogliani (dole-YAH-nee) – a small town in the high hills of southern Piemonte – winemakers take their local grape very seriously.
In fact, Dolcetto di Dogliani recently entered the realm of Italy’s very best wines by receiving the designation of DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). It’s the height of Italian appellation system. Of the country’s more than 300 DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) zones, only a handful have been deemed special enough to produce DOCG wines. And among the dozen DOC Dolcettos in Italy – including the popular Dolcetto d’Alba DOC – the wines of Dogliani are first to get the DOCG rating.
This puts the Dogliani in the league of other top wines from this region – Piemonte’s famed DOCG Barolos and Barbarescos – and the country’s other tops wines, such as Brunello dei Montalcino DOCG or Chianti Classico DOCG.
While Dogliani is a relatively undiscovered region – and Dolcetto a relatively underrated grape - Italians have long known that the passionate producers in this small pocket of steep vineyards can grow the best Dolcetto in the land. While nearby regions like Barolo and Barbaresco focus on growing the celebrated Nebbiolo grape, and leave their lesser vineyards to early-ripening Dolcetto, the grape flourishes in Dogliani, so winemakers here have long made it their prime focus. Their best wines – once simply labeled “Superiore” – are grown on the steepest sites, with low yields from old vines, and it is these top vineyard sites that have won the coveted DOCG status.
Because of the difficult terrain, these DOCG Dolcetto di Dogliani are artisinal wines, worked entirely by hand and often with no chemical inputs. The result is some powerful and ageable Dolcettos, from producers like San Fereolo, Pecchenino, Anna Maria Abbona, Francesco Boschis, Chionetti and Einaudi. Some are historic winemaking families – patriarch Luigi Einaudi purchased the original family estate in 1897 and later became Italy’s first president – while others, like Cascina Minella are newcomers, devoted to exploring the potential of this indigenous grape. Nicoletta Bocca of San Fereolo has even taken her Dolcetto vineyards beyond organic production – soon to be certified biodynamic.
Like the locals, the Dolcetto grape shows a fair bit of character here. It is challenging to grow and vinefy – sensitive to frost, difficult to ripen and with large seeds that can add aggressive and green tannins if the winemakers are not careful. The best producers are using modern winemaking techniques, to create a more intense, extracted Dolcetto, loaded with black cherry and fresh plum fruit, tart sour cherry acidity, and firm, dry tannins, that can finish with dark bitter chocolate and espresso notes, a good match with the wild Italian greens, meat-filled agnolotti, mountain cheeses and raw carne cruda found on local menus.
These are wines that can – and should – age before drinking, which is the one challenge the producers of DOCG Dolcetto di Dogliani now face. Consumers more familiar with the easy-drinking style of young Dolcetto – Italy’s Beaujolais – will need patience to get the best from these more intensely structured, dark and tannic DOCG wines, the first which are set to be released in 2008.
Only a few Dolcetto wines from Dogliani are now available in Canada, and these serious DOCG Dolcettos remain an undiscovered secret. Most producers are small – which is likely why exports have been slow – but the wines are food friendly, and a bargain, too. The 2005 Einaudi Dolcetto di Dogliani DOC, imported by Empson Canada, retails for around $20 in Calgary, and other top-rated Dogliani Dolcettos, like San Fereolo, Chionetti and Pecchinino can be found in the U.S., current vintages selling for even less.
Like the rustic rural region around the medieval village of Dogliani itself, the people here remain proud of their traditions and winemakers are unwavering in their love of their unique Dolcetto wines, first made here in the 16th century.
The region is spectacular for touring, especially during the fall truffle season when restaurants offer special truffle menus and the Dolcetto vines turn brilliant red and orange. Small, familiy-run wineries dot the hills of the Langhe. Some – like Einaudi and Pecchenino – have small agro-turismo inns, where visitors can stay, and most graciously accept visitors, if you call ahead.
At the Bottega del Vino Dolcetto di Dogliani – an historic vaulted stone cellar beneath the town centre – visitors can taste through dozens of wines from the nearly 50 local producers who have formed an organization to promote their unique wines. And here you can pick up a guide, profiling wine producers, restaurants and rural accommodations - a great place to enjoy these wines, until they arrive in the Canadian market.

(This story first appeared in the Wine Access magazine and website)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

BEVERAGES: The new taste of designer coffee

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:21:00 -0700

KILLER COFFEE

By CINDA CHAVICH
Special to the Globe and Mail

Phil Robertson sucks a mouthful of hot coffee from a deep spoon, slurping it back in one fast whoosh, then closes his eyes, concentrating on the nuances of flavour on his tongue.
“Sweet on the front, almost citrus, you have that tingly feeling on the side, and a real fresh sensation,” he says, spitting the Colombia Las Animas into a shiny silver pitcher and moving onto a freshly brewed cup of Ethiopia Worka.
In the world of serious coffee drinkers, this is part of the coffee “cupping” ritual – the way experts determine which green bean will be sold on the open international market for a mere $1.40 a pound, and which rare and unique beans might command one hundred times that amount.
From their Phil & Sebastian Coffee kiosk, tucked into the back corner of the Calgary Farmer’s Market, Robertson and his partner Sebastian Sztabzyb have created a third wave coffee sensation here on the prairies. They are part of a growing tribe of confirmed coffee geeks, the kind that blog about burr grinders and “dwell time”, “drinking off the Clover” or “the Synesso,” and the kind that don’t blink when a cup of joe hits fifteen bucks.
While mega companies like Macdonald’s and Starbucks duke it out to steal the pedestrian coffee crowd from the local doughnut shop, these baristas and their acolytes are light years ahead, uncovering seriously scientific ways to coax the most clear flavours out of any given coffee bean.
“The computer controls the temperature of each head independently – I can adjust the temperature to within 0.1 degree Fahrenheit – and we can use a PID (digital thermostat) algorithm to change the temperature profile and the pressure time curve,” former electrical engineer Robertson explains, pointing to the guts of his state-of-the-art Synesso espresso machine, and losing me in a stream of barista techno-babble. He worries about humidity and bean density, pressure and temperature, roasting and grind particle size, water purity and timing – and that’s after the many variables – from variety and terroir to processing and packaging – that can affect the green coffee bean.
“Coffee is the most complex culinary item in the world,” he says. “Coffee has 1200 chemical compounds – wine has about 600 - more potential flavour compounds than any other food.”
Serious coffee shops like this are part of the “third wave” of the coffee revolution that began with Peets and Starbucks on the west coast and has since spread its caffeinated tentacles throughout the western world. Like the first wave, the third wave is hitting the west coast of the country hardest, with several cafes and restaurants investing in the latest technology for brewing both Italian-style espresso-based beverages and a new improved French-press style of brewed coffee.
It’s that new brewing technology that’s causing the biggest buzz among coffee lovers – a blocky, computerized coffee making machine called the Clover that essentially automates the traditional French press method of making coffee, one cup at a time. Developed in Seattle, and only recently seen in select coffee shops across Canada and the U.S., the Clover finally offers brewed coffee lovers the same kind of fresh, individually-made coffee that was once reserved for espresso-based drinks.
Phil & Sebastian brought the first $11,000 Clover machine to Calgary, and now their simple coffee counter is a mob scene every Friday, Saturday and Sunday – the only days that Calgarians can get their Clover coffee fix.
It’s a completely different animal when compared with the dark, smoky, charred roasts that made Starbucks famous. For a perfect cup of brewed coffee “off the Clover”, baristas start with high grade, light or medium roast coffee, searching for the nuances of fruit and acidity that come from the best high altitude beans.
Like the North American shift from big Cabernets and oaked Chardonnays to more elegant Pinot Noirs and Rieslings, the coffee lover’s palate is maturing.
“It’s like balancing the scales,” says Robertson, “which have been tipped to the dark roast and espresso side for quite some time.”
Vancouver has spawned several noteworthy shops devoted to quality coffee – Elysian Coffee, J.J. Bean and Caffe Artigiano - all known for their highly skilled baristas and cutting edge equipment. In fact, it was Vancouver’s trendy Caffe Artigiano chain that first introduced the $15
cup of rare Hacienda la Esmeralda Especial coffee to Canada, brewed on their pricey Clover machine. That rare coffee – and the high prices – have since turned up in other cutting edge cafes, including Matt Lee’s Manic Coffee in Toronto.
So what in the world takes a common cup of coffee from two bucks to fifteen?
“It’s mainly a function of demand and supply,” says Vince Piccolo, who founded Caffe Artigiano in 2000 with his brothers Mike and Sammy, but recently sold the shops to concentrate on the business of buying and roasting coffee. Today Piccolo is a direct trade buyer – buying green beans directly from farms and forging relationships with growers – and his 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters is considered one of the best in Canada.
Piccolo was among several top roasters, including the famed Intelligentsia of Chicago, who paid a record $130 a pound for the top Esmeralda beans from Panama in an online auction, after it was named the best in the world in 2007 (and 2005 and 2006) at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual coffee cupping competition.
It’s these “Cup of Excellence” award-winning coffees that are making waves in the coffee world and commanding top prices, as growers in Ethiopia, Brazil and Indonesia learn to plant better heirloom varietals, and to harvest, select, sort and process the beans with care.
If you haven’t yet been to a formal “cupping” or immersed yourself in the bean-lover’s lexicon, dig into your wine-tasting notes. The Esmeralda is described on the SCAA’s auction website as “intensely fragrant and aromatic with exotic jasmine and orange blossom notes, ” “explosively floral,” with “bright, sweet acidity.”
Others have “creamy chocolate, dried cherry and caramel nuances” or “fruit, floral fragrances and light touches of cardamom spice.”
While Robertson says buying and roasting coffee is best left to the experts, coffee lovers can now buy home roasters and beans on line, from companies like Canada’s non-profit Green Beanery, and hone their own roasting skills.
Piccolo says anyone can make a great cup of coffee. Just buy good quality, freshly roasted beans (never more than two weeks past the roasting date), grind them fresh using a burr grinder, and brew with filtered water at the proper temperature. A French press, or a single serving drip filter, will make a great cup of coffee, if the grind is right, he says.
But don’t expect to learn everything about coffee overnight. Coffee is a complicated subject that connoisseurs like Robertson say can take a lifetime to understand and master.
“What I like about coffee is that union between science and subjective tastes, thought and sensation,” says Robertson, tinkering with the grind and water temperature settings before creating another cup in the Clover.
“You don’t really have to know anything – you’re paying me to be the fussy one.”

(This story first appeared in the Toronto Globe and Mail)

©Cinda Chavich 2008
www.tastereport.com

SPIRITS: Super single malts at Whisky Festival

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:48:23 -0700

November 15, 2007
WHISKY IN THE WAREHOUSE

By CINDA CHAVICH

A large Calgary liquor store was buzzing Wednesday night – as were its patrons – thanks to the release of a rare bottling of Glenfiddich and dozens of other single malts to sip.
More than 700 attended the Willow Park Wines & Spirits annual whisky festival, many to taste a dram of the rare 1976 Glenfiddich – an oak hogshead of cask 16389, bottled exclusively for the country’s largest private liquor seller.
“They offered us the cask for a private bottling which is really an honor,” said Peggy Perry, the company’s vice-president, of the 220 bottles that will be sold for $595 each. “In the past, they’ve only offered casks for maiden voyages of the Queen Mary or for events like royal weddings.”
Glenfiddich owner Peter Gordon, great-great-grandson of the famed distillery’s founder William Grant, was there to pass the first bottle to Willow Park president Wayne Henuset, before the whisky went on sale to the gathering of, mostly male, scotch collectors and aficionados.
For the $85 cover charge, guests could sneak a sip of this rarity and a few others. Willow Park also purchased casks from other single malt distillers this year – with a special private bottling of a 1977 cask strength Glenlivet, and a 23-year-old cask of Dewar Rattray Coal Ila.
“We do a few special cask bottlings but mainly in western Canada,” said Andrew Gray, managing partner of Bruichladdich & bottler Murray David, which bottled the special Glenlivet for Willow Park. “There’s another one going to the West Coast Whisky Society in Vancouver.”
With a cask yielding up to 300 bottles (depending on the age and evaporation) and costing $30,000-$100,000, it’s only practical for large buyers or clubs, he said.
Gray was one of a dozen distillery representatives who arrived in Calgary from Scotland for the annual scotch tasting event, and poured samples throughout the evening. Dubbed Whisky in the Warehouse, the event included food and whisky tasting stations throughout the large, multi-level retail space, which was cleared to accommodate the large crowd of scotch lovers.
It’s part of Willow Park’s annual charity auction week – culminating Saturday, Nov. 17, with the gala $175 Charity Wine Auction for its Vintage Fund, a charity trust fund that supports educational and seniors’ health causes in the community. Lots on the block include four vintages of Opus One, a magnum of 1970 Graham’s Port, a magnum of 1955 Chateau Pichon Comtesse de Lalande, and a signed bottle of the 1976 Glenfiddich Private Vintage Single Malt.
There were plenty of other unique and rare malts to savour at the event this week – from the traditional, sherried 21-year Glenfarclas to the 25-year Benromach from the smallest distillery on Moray, and several vintages of Glenrothes, in its contemporary, minimal packaging.
The first 50 buyers of the rare $595 Glenfiddich received a special presentation box, a tin of Glenfiddich fudge and a copper “whisky dog” – a vessel made from a copper pipe and a penny, on a long chain, designed to dip samples surreptitiously from the barrel, then hide down a trouser leg. While the barrel on display was already empty, a single bottle was opened for sampling - a sweet, floral malt with hints of citrus, vanilla and caramel, sure to taste fine in front of the fire for the lucky few who will be sipping the rare whisky this winter.

MORE SCOTCH NEWS...
Glenfarclas has just launched their exclusive Family Cask series – 43 single vintage, single malt whiskies, one for each year from 1952 to 1994. Two Calgary stores - Willow Park and Kensington Wine Market - will be the first stores in North America to stock the Family Casks, which will range in price from $500 to $3,000 per bottle, depending on the vintage. Three bottles of each year are expected to arrive in Alberta in April 2008. For more details, contact Pacific Wine and Spirits at 1-877-716-9463.

Orofino 2006 Riesling wins gold

Mon, 21 May 2007 22:11:54 -0600

John Weber’s Orofino wines are rich, flavourful and reflective of the intense terroir that is British Columbia’s Similkameen Valley. His 2006 Riesling recently won gold at the 2007 All Canadian Wine Championships in Ontario. Visit this eco-friendly boutique winery - a unique, straw bale structure that keeps temperatures evenly cool, even in the region’s desert heat - to try this and other award-winning estate-grown Orofino wines, including their Chardonnay (aged in Canadian oak barrels) and ripe Merlot/Cabernet blend.
www.orofinovineyards.com

Orofino 2006 Riesling
Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
$18

This intense old vines riesling is loaded with zesty lime aromas and minerality - racy but nicely balanced. Grill a scallop or saute a piece of pickerel and indulge in this food-friendly wine from B.C.’s hidden valley.

TECHNOLOGY: Bottling wine in PET plastic

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:57:22 -0600

In a bold move that goes beyond plastic corks and screw cap closures, Australia’s Wolf Blass Wines has released a line of Bilyara wines in 750 mL plastic bottles.
Looking exactly like a screw-cap glass counterpart, the PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are as light as a pop bottle, but with all of the usual style of glass. The Bilyara Reserve wines so bottled (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) were first released in the shatter-proof plastic bottles in Ontario, and are now available in both western and Atlantic Canada.
The Bilyara Reserve wines are premium quality wines - on par with the Wolf Blass Yellow Label line. According to the company’s press material, wines will not pick up any adverse flavours from the plastic bottles, although they recommend drinking them while young rather than laying them down in plastic.
The plastic, screw-top bottles hold the standard 750 mL of wine, but look smaller due to the thickness of the material. In fact, the plastic bottles are 33 percent shorter than the usual glass container, making them simple to stash in the refrigerator or cooler. They’re also fully recyclable - reused for polar fleece fabric, carpets and plastic auto parts.
Created for the UK market - where glass containers are banned at sporting events like soccer matches - the PET bottles are perfect for outdoor entertaining or anywhere hauling a heavy glass container is impractical. Think of packing a bottle of Chardonnay on your next hiking or cycling trip - at only 54 g for the container, you’ll barely notice the weight.
And imagine how your carbon footprint is lightened when your Aussie wine is shipped across the pond in a feather-weight plastic package.

Taste Report - Toasted Head Merlot

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:18:03 -0700

Between January and March, the 35 locations of Milestone’s Grill & Bar across Canada are serving up some special winter dishes paired with R.H. Phillips California Wines.
My favourite pairing at a recent tasting: the Toasted Head Merlot, with an entree of grilled lamb sirloin, rubbed with fragrant Moroccan spices and served with a puree of butternut squash and goat cheese.
At $8.95 a glass - or $36 a bottle - in the restaurant, its well-priced, like the rest of this generous menu. Try other seasonal specialties, including fat PEI mussels and prawns in a mild Thai coconut curry sauce (a great starter for two); the Kobe meatloaf, served with crispy onion strings and savoury gorgonzola bread pudding; and the white chocolate, walnut and cranberry brownie - a dense nut and cranberry-studded cake in a pool of warm caramel sauce. Definitely stick-to-your-ribs, hearty winter fare.

TOASTED HEAD MERLOT
California
under $20

The Toasted Head tier of R.H. Phillips wines are slightly better than their bargain Dunnigan Hills brands, and it shows in this tasty Merlot blend. With 10 per cent Cabernet Sauvignon and a shot of Petit Verdot, it’s a wine with just a touch of tannin, a smoky and minty character, and a bright acidity that makes it perfect with this subtly spiced lamb and sweet squash dish. A red wine that’s easy to enjoy with food.

Taste Report - Rose wines

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 17:56:04 -0700

DRINK PINK

Malivoire Ladybug Rosé (Niagara) $15.50-$16.50 – lots of strawberry and red current fruit, crisp and nicely balanced dry rosé, organically-grown Gamay fruit.

Sperling & Sperling Rosé (South Africa) – Malivoire’s winemaker Ann Sperling joined forces with the Sperling family of Delheim in Stellenbosch to create this new, crisp pink pinotage for the Canadian market.

Cave Spring Rosé (Niagara) $13.50-$15 – Cranberry colour and strawberry aromas, crisp finish, from this Gamay-based Canadian rosé.

Quatroventi Rosé (Italy) $15-$16 – A blend of fragrant Malvasia Nera and Negroamaro makes a lovely, dry and flavourful pink wine.

Domaine Montrosé Rosé (Languedoc) $15.50 – grenache and cabernet sauvignon go into this fresh rosé with notes of strawberries and rosé petals

Chateau Val Joanis Rosé (France) $16 – grenache-based rosé, fresh, light with strawberry notes

Cline Oakly Vin Gris (California) $14.50-$15.50 – Rhone varietals like Mourvedre, Cinsault and Carignane give this cherry/berry wine classic earthy and herbal notes

Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare (California) $18 – the pink cousin to the Cigare Volant red, this lovely peach-coloured rosé includes six Rhone varietals, bright and fruity
Mateus Rosé (Portugal) $9 – fresh, lightly effervescent and only slightly off dry, it’s the original pink

La Vielle Ferme Rosé (Languedoc) $11.50-$12 – organic and easy drinking, well-made blend of Cinsault and Syrah, fresh strawberry and earthy notes with floral aromas

Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Rosé (Spain) $10 – aromas of dried peaches and apricots, melon and spice with clean acidity

Iron Horse Rosato di Sangiovese (California) $13 – a crisp, dry and intense rosé loaded with fresh strawberry flavours, from Sonoma County

Fetzer Valley Oaks Syrah Rosé (California) $11-$12 – dry and intensely coloured, this rosé is a glassful of fresh raspberry fruit

Torres Santa Digna Cabernet Rosé (Chile) $14 – from the Maipo Valley, this deep cherry-colored rosé has a lot of cabernet character, red fruit and structure

SPIRITS: Taste Report - Premium gin

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 17:55:25 -0700

A PREMIUM GIN PRIMER

Hendrick’s Gin ($33): From Scotland, this “small batch, handcrafted” gin comes in a stubby brown bottle with the warning: “It is not for everyone”, but local retails say everyone is buying. Infused with the usual botanicals, plus the unusual addition of rose petals and cucumbers.

Q (Quintessential Gin) ($35): A Warrington Dry, Quintessential is distilled five times for crystal clarity and a silky smoothness. It’s strong (45%) with only five botanicals and a distinctive peppery flavour behind the usual juniper.

Bombay Sapphire ($27): Bacardi-Martini owns this brand which started the premium gin craze with it’s pretty blue bottle and intense style – lots of juniper flavor and nine other botanicals, including eucalyptus and citrus.

Citadelle Gin ($45): Among the most expensive new gins, this French product lays claim to infusing the most botanical flavours into its gin – 19 in all – and being “hand crafted, one cask at a time.”

Plymouth Gin ($25): Well priced, fruity and smooth in martinis or G&Ts, this is the world’s only geographically designated gin – you can make “London Dry” gins in Canada or Calcutta, but Plymouth must be made in Plymouth.

Tanquerey No. Ten ($55): The Tanquerey brand upped its gin ante with this super-premium product, made with only fresh (not dried) botanicals for an intense fruity flavour. Elegant green bottle with a red seal.

South Gin (n/a): From New Zealand, this new premium gin is popping up at all of the finest restaurants in Vancouver (West, Cin Cin, Araxi) but hasn’t appeared in Alberta yet. It’s flavored with the usual botanicals, plus local manuka berries and kawakawa, making it taste like “walking through the bush after it’s rained.” Imagine that.

Taste Report - Ice Cider

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 17:52:53 -0700

TASTE REPORT
If you like ice wine, you’ll love the fresh flavour of ice ciders – a sweet treat at often half the price of ice wine.

Pinnacle Ice Cider from Domaine Pinnacle in Quebec (www.icecider.com), is served in top Montreal restaurants like Globe and L’Express, and is sold in government and private stores across Canada ($25-$33). Deep amber in colour, with nice clean, apple acidity shining through the sweet baked apple and caramel flavours, Pinnacle ice cider is also made in a sparkling style, Cidre de Glace Petillant ($30), the fine bubbles adding a festive texture and lift to this sweet after-dinner drink. A recent deal signed with French Cognac-maker Camus, will see Pinnacle ice cider products sold in duty-free shops around the world.

A stop at an SAQ (Socièté des Alcools du Quebéc) store in Montreal uncovered some unctuous examples of local ice ciders – noteworthy was the Frimas ($45) from La Face Cachée de la Pomme (www.appleicewine.com), made from apples frozen on the trees all winter (50 apples in each 375 ml bottle) it’s a wine with a deep golden colour and even some of those rich honey and nutty flavours that come from ‘noble rot’ in Sauternes. Their Neige is half the price, and a little lighter in colour and flavour.

There are others, too, like Pommes Sur Neige ($40/200 ml) from Les Vergers Lafrance and Pomme de Glace ($22/375 ml) from Close Saint-Denis, with its aromas of baked apples and cinnamon. All available in Quebec only.

The County Cider Company in Ontario’s Prince Edward County (www.countycider.com) are now making an ice cider to add to the line of dry artisan ciders they sell in through LCBO stores in the province. At Domaine de Grand Pré in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley (www.grandprewines.ns.ca), Pomme d’Or sweet apple wine is available from the winery.

Feature report: Quebec Iced Cider

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 18:44:12 -0700

COLD AS ICE

By CINDA CHAVICH

Canucks are known the world over for their uniquely northern libations, from Canadian Club whisky and Newfie screech to unctuous ice wines.
But there’s a new tipple from Quebec that’s making its mark – a delicious dessert wine known as ice cider.
Like our famous ice wines – which, by law, must be made from grapes that hang out on the vine until the temperature dips to -8ºC – ice cider is made from apples that freeze when the mercury dips, something as natural as sunshine in the great white north. The heavy sweet juice is then fermented over the winter, for six months in cold conditions, resulting in layers flavours, the essence of rich baked apples seasoned with nuts, caramel and honey.
There’s been a bit of an artisan cider renaissance in recent years. Like the traditional ciders of Britain, Normandy and the Basque regions of Spain – made with apples with unlikely names like Foxwhelp Bittersharp, Newton Pippin, Somerset Redstreak, Ida Red and Brown Snout - a new generation of cider makers here are now using these tart and even bitter-flavoured heirloom apples to make their dry artisan ciders. Different cider apples, like different grapes, have unique flavour and aroma profiles, from bittersweet to sharp, so the best ciders are blended from several different apple juices. The resulting brew in nothing like the sweet soda-pop-like drinks that have long masqueraded as cider here, with flavors ranging from yeasty and dry, almost Champagne-like, to tart apple with a bitter edge, not unlike a softly-hopped and slightly sweet Belgian beer.
Many of Canada’s artisan hard cider makers – from Domaine Pinnacle and La Face Cachée de la Pomme in Quebec to County Cider in southern Ontario – make hard cider in the drier European style and use the same apples, hanging longer on the tree, for their sweet ice ciders. It’s the freeze/thaw cycle that changes the flavour of the apple juice, removing excess water and concentrating both the sugars and the bright malic acid found naturally in apples.
While some ice cider makers claim to press frozen apples for their ice cider (30-50 apples in each 375 ml bottle), Hanspeter Stutz, who makes spritzy Stutz cider in Nova Scotia, says he creates his lovely Pomme D’Or dessert wine by simply freezing the juice of his Northern Spy, Russet and Coxcomb apples to remove excess water before fermentation.
Fry cider, like wine, can match with a variety of foods, but there are typical dishes created with hard cider to try while you’re enjoying a glass. In Paris bistros, you might try pork, braised in cider with cream and served with French lentils, or roast duck, cooked in sparkling cider with morel mushrooms. In Spain, you may be served hake or cod, simmered in the local light, dry cider of Asturias.
Ice cider, on the other hand, is like ice wine or Sauternes, sweet, fruity and best consumed with foie gras, cheese or fruit desserts like tart tatin. Or try it after dinner on its own – like an apple pie in a glass.

TASTE REPORT
If you like ice wine, you’ll love the fresh flavour of ice ciders – a sweet treat at often half the price of ice wine.
Pinnacle Ice Cider from Domaine Pinnacle in Quebec (www.icecider.com), is served in top Montreal restaurants like Globe and L’Express, and is sold in government and private stores across Canada ($25-$33). Deep amber in colour, with nice clean, apple acidity shining through the sweet baked apple and caramel flavours, Pinnacle ice cider is also made in a sparkling style, Cidre de Glace Petillant ($30), the fine bubbles adding a festive texture and lift to this sweet after-dinner drink. A recent deal signed with French Cognac-maker Camus, will see Pinnacle ice cider products sold in duty-free shops around the world.
A stop at an SAQ (Socièté des Alcools du Quebéc) store in Montreal uncovered some unctuous examples of local ice ciders – noteworthy was the Frimas ($45) from La Face Cachée de la Pomme (www.appleicewine.com), made from apples frozen on the trees all winter (50 apples in each 375 ml bottle) it’s a wine with a deep golden colour and even some of those rich honey and nutty flavours that come from ‘noble rot’ in Sauternes. Their Neige is half the price, and a little lighter in colour and flavour.
There are others, too, like Pommes Sur Neige ($40/200 ml) from Les Vergers Lafrance and Pomme de Glace ($22/375 ml) from Close Saint-Denis, with its aromas of baked apples and cinnamon. All available in Quebec only.
The County Cider Company in Ontario’s Prince Edward County (www.countycider.com) are now making an ice cider to add to the line of dry artisan ciders they sell in through LCBO stores in the province. At Domaine de Grand Pré in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley (www.grandprewines.ns.ca), Pomme d’Or sweet apple wine is available from the winery.

(first appeared in up! magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

TRENDS: Women making great Canadian wine

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:04:10 -0700

By CINDA CHAVICH

It’s midsummer in the Okanagan and, for most people, the focus is on the mellow side of lakeside life – peaches, beaches and perhaps the occasional cold beer.
But Sandra Oldfield is hard at work in cellar at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards. On one of the hottest days of the year, she is on the bottling line with the rest of her small staff – ironically, perhaps, bottling the wine that started with grapes they picked on one of the coldest days in this verdant valley, Tinhorn’s Kerner icewine.
Oldfield is the winemaker at Tinhorn Creek, one of a handful of women who have risen to this prestigious position at several Canadian wineries. While, the job of winemaking has long fallen to men, women are beginning to make their mark as winemakers, especially in New World wine regions like Canada, California and Australia.
While there is some tradition of women heading up important wineries in France – notably the widows at champagne houses like Pol-Roger and Bolinger who held the reigns after their husbands’ deaths – it’s still unusual to see women making wine.
Christine Leroux, a winemaker who now teaches oenology and consults to several small wineries in the British Columbia, says some European wineries still shun women from the cellar, holding to old superstitions that a woman’s innate physiology can somehow spoil the wine. Like the great kitchens of Europe, the wine cellar is a male domain.
“We were about 50 per cent women in school, but the trick is to actually get into a winery in France,” says Leroux, who studied winemaking at the University of Bordeaux and apprenticed at prestigious chateaus like Margaux and Petrus.
Winemaking is one of those jobs that comes with it’s share of preconceived romance – visions of gourmet wine dinners and idyllic days, sipping Chardonnay on the terrace, with tidy rows of rolling vineyards spread out before you.
Of course, that’s the reward, but there’s far more to making fine wine than tasting the results of your labour. It’s a physical and technical job that usually starts with a degree in chemistry or oenology, and requires someone who’s strong enough to haul heavy hoses, handy enough to fix a malfunctioning motor, and suave enough to schmooze the most discriminating wine buyer.
Sue-Ann Staff, the winemaker at Niagara’s Pillitteri Estates Winery, likens her job to that of “a mad scientist”. Whether she’s in the vineyard selecting the particular rows of grapes she wants to buy, tasting the juice as it’s running free from the press, or crunching numbers in the lab, it’s a job that offers unending variety.
“During the day I’m wearing my steel-toed work boots and that night, I’m at a black tie dinner,” she chuckles. “Most people don’t get to see that kind of diversity in their work.”
It might surprise the casual observer to know that there is so much science involved in modern winemaking. But most of the women making wine in Canada today have a serious scientific background, studying everything from chemical engineering and biotechnology, to oenology and viticulture at university. Until recently, specialized winemaking degrees could only be earned at schools in Europe, Australia or California. But now there is a new four-year degree program at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), and many of the students are women.
“Women outnumber men in our program,” says CCOVI Director Ron Subden. “There doesn’t seem to be any difference between male and female students, although women are better tasters, especially in the beginning.”
There are, in fact, more female “super tasters” in the world – people with a highly developed sense of taste. And some say that women approach the job of winemaking with more sensitivity.
“As tasters, a lot of women are better, we are more aware of our senses,” says Leroux. “We listen more to our instincts, which makes us particular as winemakers, too.”
Mira Ananicz agrees. The first woman to make wine in Canada, she has with 29 years of experience at Vincor, the country’s largest winery. Ananicz says women are more inclined to give the wine the nurturing it needs.
“I believe women are more motherly, they like to look after things and provide more tender loving care,” she says. “That nurturing is vital. When making wine, if you don’t guide it properly, you can make a very spoiled brat at the end.”
Many of the women making wine in Canada today have a family history related to the wine business. Leroux is daughter of Montreal’s Michel Leroux, a wine expert and former head of the California Wine Institute. Staff grew up in a family of grape growers, as did Anne Sperling, winemaker and general manager of Malivoire Wine Company.
Sperling’s Casorso forefathers arrived in the Okanagan from Italy in 1850 and tended grapes for the first missionaries in Kelowna. While her years of experience are helping her make fine wine today, there’s still some of that family history and romance that drives her.
“You must be able to taste wine and understand wine to reach higher heights,” says Sperling who also credits her husband Peter Gamble for improving her knowledge of the world’s best wine. “There is art behind the science.”
It’s a job that these women know takes someone who is flexible enough to wear many hats. It’s not particularly high paying and it’s stressful, says Oldfield swirling a glass of her new Gewurztraminer and lifting it to her well-trained nose. But it’s a fun and challenging lifestyle for a true multi-tasker who’s devoted to the product.
“When the grapes come in, I drive a fork lift,’ says Sperling. “I hook up hoses, I run pumps, I do lab analysis, and I taste everything at every stage. I co-ordinate all of the labour activities, I purchase all of the ingredients I need, and I decide when to do what – change the temperature of fermentation, when to go to barrel, what kind of barrels to use.”
The real joy is when it all comes together – the weather, the fruit, the winemaking and the commitment to the product – and when what ends up in the glass is superb.
“It sound so romantic, so glamourous, but you don’t see the dirty, nitty gritty, hard work on night shift,” reminds Staff. “You have to love it to remotely enjoy it.”

(this column first appeared in Homemakers magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Wine: Taste Report - Winter Whites

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:38:25 -0700

Winter may be the traditional season for big beefy and mulled red wines, but when you want a nice white wine to complement the turkey or post-holiday vegetarian diet, turn to these lovely whites.

Virgin Vines 2004 Chardonnay,
Mendocino County, California
$13

Here’s a straw-coloured white with the typical California notes - lots of intense fruit flavour - pears, baked apples, quince - and a sweet vanilla finish to appeal to the masses. Still, a nice chardonnay to serve with a teryaki glazed salmon or a roasted wild turkey.
And I love the bottle - hand-painted label with a very discreet screw tap closure (hidden so well under the foil that I had the corkscrew ready).
(08/06)

Crios de Susana Balbos 2006 Torontes
Cafayete, Argentina
13.5% alc
$18-$20

This is a delicious, full-bodied white made in Argentina from the unusual Torontes grape. It’s a sensual white wine with aromas of flowers and sweet lychee fruit, plus enough acidity and roundness to make it the perfect match to fish and seafood meals, or poultry with reduction sauces. At $18 it’s a bargain and a wine that will have your guests guessing.
(12/06)

Jackson Triggs 2005 Proprietors’ Reserve Sauvignon Blanc
Okanagan, Canada
$18

You can tell this wine is going to be special when you pick up the heavy frosted bottle. It’s signed by Donald Triggs (former company head) and you know the proprietor had something to say about what’s in the bottle. That is a big, intense and ripe sauvignon blanc - with lots of ripe grapefruit and round buttery aromas, a touch of the typical grassy notes and just enough acidity to make you reach for another sip after that piece of young goat cheese. A very drinkable white and a great example of solid Canadian winemaking.
(12/06)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Wine: Taste Report - Prosecco

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:37:46 -0700

The following is Cinda Chavich’s report on the bubblies of the Prosecco region of Italy, as heard in conversation with host Donna McElligott on CBC Radio Dec. 29, 2006.

listen....

The New Year is almost upon us – time to celebrate with friends and family and toast the passing of another year with a bit of bubbly. While Champagne is the classic drink for this time of year, our food columnist Cinda Chavich is here with a few suggestions about some other kinds of sparkling wine you might try to toast the season.

Q: CHAMPAGNE IS THE TRADITIONAL DRINK TO RING IN THE NEW YEAR. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHAMPAGNE AND OTHER KINDS OF BUBBLY?

A: Well, Champagne is the original sparkling wine – first created by monks in the Champagne region of northern France some 200 years ago. Even today, by law, anything labeled “Champagne” must be made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes grown in this part of France and made in the traditional Champagne way. That means very dry wines are made, blended and bottled, then a bit of extra sugar and yeast is added to each bottle, setting off a second fermentation inside the sealed bottle, which creates carbon dioxide and the characteristic bubbles in the wine. Each bottle then must be “riddled” - that is slowly turned upside down over a period of several weeks until the spent yeast settles in the neck of the bottle. Finally, the neck of the bottle is fast frozen in a nitrogen bath, the plug of dead yeast is “disgorged” and the bubbly wine is re-corked and sold, without ever leaving its original bottle.

Q: THAT SOUNDS COMPLICATED – AND AN AWFUL LOT OF WORK.
A: It is – which is one reason why traditional Champagne can be expensive – from about $40 to several hundred dollars a bottle.
Which leads me to other less expensive methods of making sparkling wine – such as the way they make bubbly wines in the northern regions of Italy.
I was in the Prosecco region, near Venice, this year, and learned all about how they make the traditional bubbly Prosecco wines there.
Instead of doing a second fermentation of the wine in the bottle, the second fermentation, to create the bubbles, takes place in a sealed tank, which is called the Charmat method. Then the wine is bottled, under pressure in a special bottling machine, to maintain the fizz. This method is faster, easier and less expensive to do – so Proseccos tend to be far less expensive than sparkling wines made in the traditional, bottle-fermented style, usually around $20 a bottle.

Q: SO PROSECCO IS THE NAME OF THE WINE REGION – IS IT ALSO THE NAME OF THE GRAPE?
A: Yes. In Italy, they also make bubbly wines labeled “Prosecco” in other parts of the country, but the true Prosecco DOC wines come from the region just northwest of Venice between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene in the province of Treviso, made mainly with Prosecco grapes.
This is the area I visited – beautiful medieval towns in the heart of this dramatic, hilly wine region, known not only for sparkling wine, but for growing risotto rice and radicchio, and the Renaissance painters who painted beautiful frescoes on the walls of historic homes and buildings here.
There are more than 100 sparkling or Spumante wineries in the Prosecco region, and they are creating better quality Prosecco wines all the time, and now some of the best are beginning to find their way to Canada.
If you’re looking for the best Prosecco, look for one that says Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOC on the label. The best of the best – the finest bubbles and best flavors – are labeled Superiore di Cartizze – the Cartizze being the best, steep, south-facing slopes in a tiny part the region where the harvest is later and the grapes riper and more intense.
These Cartizze wines will be the most expensive of the Prosecco wines, but still a bargain relative to the best French Champagnes.
Some of my current favourites are the Rustico from Nino Franco, which is available here for about $21, and the Proseccos from companies like Bortolomiol, Carpene, Col Vetoraz and Bisol.

Q: HOW ELSE IS PROSECCO DIFFERENT FROM CHAMPAGNE?
Because the grapes are different, and the method is different, you can get different flavours and aromas. Aged champagnes can have a toasty, yeasty, bready aroma – a result of the second fermentation in the bottle and aging on the yeast – while Prosecco tends to be more floral and fruity on the nose, which is a result of both the Charmat method, and the fruitier Prosecco grape.
But these days, even in Italy, they are growing Chardonnay and using it in their sparkling wines, so the differences can be slim.
Proscecco is traditionally made a little sweeter than French Champagne – those labeled Brut are usually the driest.

A: ARE THERE OTHER BARGAINS IN THE BUBBLY WINE WORLD?
Yes, there are other producers around the world who make sparkling wine using the traditional French method, including those in Spain, California and even Canada.
Spanish bubblies – called Cava – are made using local grapes and fermented a second time in the bottle like Champagne. They can be very good value – usually less than $20.
There are also some great Canadian bubblies – a couple of my favourites are made in the Okanagan, including Stellar’s Jay, from Sumac Ridge winery, and the sparkling wines from Summerhill Wines in Kelowna. You’ll also find a good sparkling wine from Chateau des Charmes in the Niagara region.

Q: SO WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SERVING BUBBLY WINES?
A: Well, first make sure you have the right glassware – Champagne and other bubblies should be served in a tall, narrow champagne flute or small tulip-shaped glass so that you can watch the tiny bubbles rise in the glass.
Bubblies should be served well chilled – refrigerate or serve from an ice-filled bucket.
And you should be careful when you’re opening a bottle of bubbly – there is a lot of pressure inside that bottle and you don’t want to see corks flying across the room.
I’m going to open this bottle – I hope – as a sommelier would in a restaurant.
First you remove the foil and the bale – that wire cage that holds the cork in place. Make sure you’re not pointing the bottle at anyone because the cork can fly off at this point.
Drape a clean towel over the top of the bottle and grasp the cork through the towel. Hold the base of the bottle with your other hand, with your thumb up in the depression or punt at the bottom, then holding the cork, twist the bottle until the cork is released.
They say the cork should come away with a sigh, not a crack or pop, so let’s see if I can manage to do that.
You never want to shake the bottle or push the cork out – you’ll end up with bubbly wine everywhere except in your glass.

Q: WHEN SHOULD YOU SERVE BUBBLIES?
A: They say the bubbles carry the alcohol in the wine quickly to your brain, which is likely why champagne and bubbles like Prosecco or Cava are traditionally served to kick off a celebration, like New Year’s Eve, or to start a festive party.
I like bubbly as an aperitif, but real Champagne lovers claim it’s a wine that you can drink throughout the meal. This is true, especially with a nice dry sparkling wine, but some people find that the bubbles are difficult to digest. You can opt for a semi-sparkling – called “Frizzante” in Italy or “Cremant” in Champagne – for dining. Or just save the bubbles for drinking before the meal, or with dessert.
Dry sparkling wines usually have a good acidity, with citrus notes, so match well with seafood, oysters and light foods. Bubblies are actually good with salty foods because the salt brings out the fruity flavours – some say champagne is the best match for chips or French fries. Good with sushi and the fresh young cheeses which are also traditionally made in the Prosecco region.

Q: CAN YOU COOK WITH PROSECCO OR OTHER SPARKLING WINE?
A: Yes, you essentially lose the bubbles but these wines can replace a dry white wine in any recipe, whether it’s a butter and white wine reduction for fish or a marinade. I have seen recipes for risotto – the Italian rice dish – made with Prosecco and dessert sorbets or sauces made with bubbly. You can certainly use it in cocktails, like the famous Bellini of Venice, which is a combination of Prosecco and peach puree. It’s also often mixed with orange juice – blood orange juice at this time of year – or even pomegranate for colourful, bubbly cocktails.

RECIPE:

PROSECCO PUNCH
A festive beverage that combines sparkling white wine and fruit juices – to toast the new year.

2 cups pomegranate or cranberry juice
2 cups pineapple juice
½ cup orange brandy (like Grand Marnier)
1 orange, thinly sliced
750 mL bottle Prosecco (or Cava or other sparkling white wine)

In a large punch bowl or jar, combine the fruit juices, brandy and sliced orange. Refrigerate. Just before serving, stir in the sparkling wine. Serves 6.
©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Spirits: Designer gin - new cachet for an old drink

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:31:58 -0700

IN PRAISE OF MOTHER’S RUIN

By CINDA CHAVICH

It’s 2 a.m. and mixologist Timo Sütonen is maniacally muddling up a concoction of fresh pomegranate seeds, passion fruit pulp, mint leaves and, the latest spirit in the cocktail craze, designer gin.
I’m standing behind the bar watching his frenetic performance – journalists need to know – but this is already the third (or is it the fourth?) stop on our dizzying tour of the hip London bar scene and frankly, things are getting a little fuzzy. Here in the clubby, private lounge of Dick’s Bar in trendy Soho (aka the Atlantic) there’s no sign of the sexy celebs who reportedly hang out at this secluded shrine to the cocktail culture. But we’ve certainly seen our share of sexy new gin refreshments tonight – from the icy gin martini created with a traditional tableside flourish at The Duke to the mouth-puckering gin and limoncello offered at TV chef Jamie Oliver’s über-moderne, hidden haunt, 15 - gin is alive and well in London. In a new generation of gin joints, gin is nudging vodka aside as the white spirit of choice for the sophisticated sipper.
Unlike vodka, gin is anything but neutral, with it’s infused flavours of exotic “botanicals”. And with new small-batch, “artisan” gins on the market, sipping your way through a selection of today’s premium gins – in London bars like Lounge Lover, the Lab and trendy new Steam, where 95 per cent of the cocktails feature gin - is akin to tasting fine single malts.
It’s a trend that’s hitting this side of the pond, too. According to the New York Times, the venerable gin and tonic is among this year’s top food trends. And if you cruise the spirit shelves of any savvy liquor or wine shop in Calgary, you’ll find far more than the usual Beefeater’s and Gordon’s. From rose petal and cucumber-perfumed Hendrick’s gin, to the frosty “Q” (the Quintessential gin), France’s premium Citadelle gin and the historic Plymouth Gin, distilled in England’s oldest working distillery, there are many serious new gins to sample.
It’s a long way, both in space and time, from the roots of this oh-so-British of spirits. Premium gin may be the hottest new trend in the booze market, but it’s definitely a beverage with a chequered past. The exotic flavours we’ve come to expect in a good gin martini – from earthy juniper berries and orris root to lemon peel, coriander and essence of sweet orange – were originally added to mask the off tastes in Dutch genevers, the first inexpensive, roughly-distilled spirits available to the masses in Britain.
When this sailor’s-style gin first arrived on the scene some 350 years ago, it was quaffed in quantity in the slums of London, so much so that it was blamed for many of the city’s social ills. By 1727, Britain’s six million citizens were downing 5 million gallons of gin a year . “Demon gin” was seen as the root of all evil, the leading cause of crime and immorality – “the Devil himself in a vile dram of gin” wrote the anti-gin campaigners of the time.
The British government passed several successive Gin Acts, in an attempt to stop the production and sale of gin, but gin persisted. From illegal “bathtub” gin to underground “gin joints”, gin retained it’s popularity through this and other attempts at its prohibition.
Even Gin is still the favoured beverage of expat Brits, sipped in the far-flung colonies of the empire for centuries. Shaken (or stirred) into martinis or splashed over ice with a shot of sweet lime or bitter tonic, gin is the perfect tipple when you’re out in the midday sun.
And it’s a fascinating topic to explore. My first stop, on the London gin odyssey, was Plymouth Gin – Britain’s oldest gin brand and the only gin in the world with a “geographic designation.” Like an appellation wine, Plymouth Gin may only be made within the old walls of the town of Plymouth, and every batch is still infused here using the original, 200-year-old recipe.
“The distillery was founded here in 1793 to supply the navy during the Napoleonic wars,” said Plymouth Gin’s managing director Nick Blacknell, touring us through the tiny distillery, set in the 15th-century monastery where the Pilgrim fathers found lodging before setting sail on the Mayflower. “The British Navy took the habit of drinking gin wherever it went, and by the end of the 19th century, Plymouth Gin was the biggest selling gin in the world.”
That may not be the case today, but Plymouth certainly is a gin with provenance. When the town was flattened during WWII bombings, locals fought to save original building. Its rabbit-warren of small, Medieval rooms still hold the pair of 155-year old pot stills which have long infused Plymouth Gin with its unique flavour.
“Our gin uses seven botanicals, and it’s the quality of those botanicals that’s key,” says head distiller Sean Harrison, describing the pungent pine-scented juniper berries he buys from northern Italy, the coriander seed from Russia, the sweet orange peel from Spain, and the pricey cardamom seed from Sri Lanka. “We have to match these ingredients every year, to maintain a consistent flavour. Then we boil them together with completely neutral alcohol, in this hissing monster, to make gin.”
Not all gin is created equally. Industrial-style gin-makers may use essences to flavour their gins. But the best artisan gin makers follow a similar process, distilling the neutral grain spirits with the various botanicals several times to release their essential oils. The final product is affected by both the botanicals in the recipe and the water that’s used to cut the high proof spirit – Plymouth’s claim to fame is the soft water from the surrounding peat bogs of Dartmoor which gives the gin a unique roundness in the mouth.
While all of this might be moot when you’re whirling your gin up in fruity cocktails, it’s definitely relevant when you want to make a martini or a simple gin and soda.
The Savoy Cocktail Book, first published in 1930, lists hundreds of recipes for cocktails served at the Savoy Hotel back in the glamorous Jazz Age. Head bartender Harry Craddock, who compiled the recipes, recommended Plymouth Gin with equal parts of Rose’s Lime Cordial on ice in his Gimlet, a recipe that’s as refreshing how as it was then. Or you can simply shake your gin with a dash (or a dollop) of vermouth for a classic dry martini, like Bond creator Ian Flemming and film genius Alfred Hitchcock once enjoyed.
Or be cutting edge, and take a tall gin and tonic out into midday sun. It’s not that mad, really.

A PREMIUM GIN PRIMER

Hendrick’s Gin ($33): From Scotland, this “small batch, handcrafted” gin comes in a stubby brown bottle with the warning: “It is not for everyone”, but local retails say everyone is buying. Infused with the usual botanicals, plus the unusual addition of rose petals and cucumbers.

Q (Quintessential Gin) ($35): A Warrington Dry, Quintessential is distilled five times for crystal clarity and a silky smoothness. It’s strong (45%) with only five botanicals and a distinctive peppery flavour behind the usual juniper.

Bombay Sapphire ($27): Bacardi-Martini owns this brand which started the premium gin craze with it’s pretty blue bottle and intense style – lots of juniper flavor and nine other botanicals, including eucalyptus and citrus.

Citadelle Gin ($45): Among the most expensive new gins, this French product lays claim to infusing the most botanical flavours into its gin – 19 in all – and being “hand crafted, one cask at a time.”

Plymouth Gin ($25): Well priced, fruity and smooth in martinis or G&Ts, this is the world’s only geographically designated gin – you can make “London Dry” gins in Canada or Calcutta, but Plymouth must be made in Plymouth.

Tanquerey No. Ten ($55): The Tanquerey brand upped its gin ante with this super-premium product, made with only fresh (not dried) botanicals for an intense fruity flavour. Elegant green bottle with a red seal.

South Gin (n/a): From New Zealand, this new premium gin is popping up at all of the finest restaurants in Vancouver (West, Cin Cin, Araxi) but hasn’t appeared in Alberta yet. It’s flavored with the usual botanicals, plus local manuka berries and kawakawa, making it taste like “walking through the bush after it’s rained.” Imagine that.

(appeared first in Avenue Magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Chavich on Wine - Okanagan wine tour

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:30:17 -0700

TOURING NAPA NORTH: WINE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD

By CINDA CHAVICH

You can read about exotic places, imagine how things taste and feel, but when you’re up to your elbows in it, stuff sticks - and this is doubly true when you want to learn about wine.
I’ll never forget the nearly vertical vineyards of the Rheingau, how hot it gets in the Russian River Valley, or the aroma of Burgundy aging in the ancient cellars under the streets of Beaune.
But you don’t need to go traipsing off to Europe to hone your wine knowledge. You can get a good grounding in the world of winemaking with a tour right here at home, an easy weekend getaway to B.C.’s Okanagan Valley.
This is the perfect time of year to trek out to the Okanagan for a hands-on immersion in the art of winemaking – either during the annual Fall Okanagan Wine Festival, or anytime in the warm, lazy, almost–tourist-free months of September and October. They don’t call the Okanagan region Napa North for nothing. There are dozens of fine wineries with lovely tasting rooms and some good restaurants to visit, and you might be lucky enough to arrive during fall picking or crushing operations, and really get a good look at how the process works.
But anytime you wander through this pretty valley, there are wineries where you can stop, visit and learn a lot more about wine in a few days than you ever will if you stay at home.
Of course, it’s wise to stick to the VQA (Vintner’s Quality Alliance) products to insure that you’re drinking wines that have been grown and made in the area. Overall, both Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are varietals that have succeeded in British Columbia so try as many as you can. Make sure to taste the Quails’ Gate Family Reserve Pinot Noir, the Tinhorn Creek Pinot Noir and food friendly Pinot Gris, Gehringer Brothers’ Optimum Pinot Noir, the wonderful Pinot Grigio from Mission Hill, and the Estate Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from Blue Mountain Vineyards.
Start your tour by visiting The Wine Museum in Kelowna, next door to the quaint British Columbia Orchard Industry Museum in the historic Laurel Packinghouse (1304 Ellis St.). This museum/wineshop will give you a good overall picture of the local wine industry before you set out. From your base in Kelowna, you can easily access several of the region’s top wineries, from Gray Monk and Quail’s Gate, to Summerhill, Cedar Creek, St. Hubertus and the spectacular new Mission Hill Winery. Enroute to Penticton, you’ll pass through Summerland where Sumac Ridge Winery and Peachland where the new Greata Ranch Vineyards are located. It’s worth getting off the main highway to explore wineries like Lake Breeze and Kettle Valley in the Naramata area up the southeast shore of Okanagan Lake.
As you head south of Penticton, you’re getting into the hotter, drier parts of the valley where the best reds are made. A strip near Oliver called the Golden Mile is home to wineries like Tinhorn Creek and Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery but don’t forget to head off the main highway and check out Hawthorne Mountain Vineyards, Blue Mountain Vineyards and Burrowing Owl, with it’s lovely new Sonora Room gourmet restaurant.
You can book a winery tour with an area tour company and head out on a bus with a group for the day which is a good way to pack a lot into a short period and avoid the designated driver dilemma. But if you have time, poking through wine country at your own pace is usually more fun. After all, one of the joys of wine touring is that moment of personal discovery, when you come around the corner on a pretty back road and discover the wine of your dreams.
Don’t forget to pack a case to take home.

MY MUST-SEE SPOTS:
While there isn’t room in this space to talk about every interesting Okanagan winery, (there are more than 40 in the valley), some should not be missed:
White wine lovers need to go north of Kelowna to Gray Monk Cellars (www.graymonk.com) for a taste of their namesake Pinot Gris (a.k.a “gray monk”) and award-winning unwooded Chardonnay . Also try the Pinot Auxerrois and Pinot Noir.
Arguably the most impressive old/new winery in the valley is Mission Hill Family Estate. Owner Anthony Von Mandl ambitiously rebuilt the old hilltop winery, complete with impressive tasting, dining and production facilities which rival any of the top wineries in California. Come to hear the massive hand-forged bells peal the hour and ask for a tour of the gorgeous barrel room. Calgary star chef Michael Allemeier moved to the valley to be Mission Hill’s exclusive cook – likely wooed by their stunning commercial kitchens and the incredible fresh Okanagan produce. Make sure to taste both the 1999 Estate Syrah and 2000 Reserve Shiraz wines, the 2000 Reserve Chardonnay, and their estate Oculus, one of the country’s best red wines.
Quails’ Gate Estate Winery produces great Pinot Noir and a delicious Late Harvest Optima dessert wine. The 2001 Family Reserve Chardonnay and 2000 Riesling Ice Wine also recently won gold medals at the International Wine Competition in San Francisco. This is the place to dine – the Old Vines Patio restaurant overlooks the vineyards and new chef Judith Knight is so talented she was once heart throb Kevin Costner’s personal chef (www.quailsgate.com).
Don’t miss Cedar Creek Estate Winery, named winery of the year at last year’s Canadian Wine Awards. Cedar Creek recently completed an ambitious expansion at the winery including a new hillside cellar. Ask to taste their 2000 Platinum Reserve Chardonnay and Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir while you’re dining on their pretty covered terrace (www.cedarcreek.bc.ca).
Spiritual types should ask for a tour of the impressive pyramid at Summerhill Pyramid Winery where the best wines are aged with pyramid power. There is a beautiful wine shop here and a chance to see how real method champenoise sparkling wine (their specialty) is made from organically-grown grapes (www.summerhill.bc.ca).
Stop at Sumac Ridge Estate Winery (near Summerland) for their refreshing Stellar’s Jay Brut sparkling wine on the patio, and enjoy a bottle of their 2000 Black Sage Vineyard Meritage with a gourmet meal at the Cellar Door Bistro (www.sumacridge.com).
Tinhorn Creek Vineyards is also a favourite spot for tasting and touring, with 15 “educational stations” throughout the property to explain how fine wine grapes are grown. Ask about their Winelovers’ Club – a chance to stay in their vineyard guest house and do some hands-on work, from pruning and picking to helping with the crush. Don’t miss their delicious 2001 Merlot – lots of ripe fruit and toasty vanilla on the nose (www.tinhorn.com).
While you’re in the arid, deep south, take a trip to Inkameep Cellars, the new winery owned by the Osoyoos Indian Band and operated in a partnership withVincor, the only Native-owned winery in North America (www.nkmipcellars.com).

PRACTICAL MATTERS:
If you choose to visit during the 10-day wine festival, Oct. 3-12, there are more than 100 different events, from specialty dinners and formal tastings to seminars, that you can hook into, including the largest tasting event Oct. 10/11 featuring 35 local wineries at the Penticton convention centre. Check the Okanagan Wine Festival website (www.owfs.com) for details and ticket information.
When in Kelowna, the Manteo Resort (www.manteo.com) makes a nice base camp with its two and three bedroom villas and comfortable restaurant, especially if you’re travelling in a group. There’s even a day spa that offersVinotherapy treatments, antioxidant-rich grape seed scrubs and massage oils created from organic grape byproducts (www.beyondwrapture.com). Other accommodation ideas: The Grapevine B&B (www.grapvineokanagan.com) or the Tinhorn Creek Winelovers Club, with self-catering guest suites in the vineyard combined with workshops and tastings(www.thewineloversclub.com)
For organized winery tours, check out like Okanagan Wine Country Tours (www.okwinetours.com) or the new Wildflower Trails and Wine Tours, which combines a scenic wildflower hike with lunch and tastings at a couple of local wineries (www.wildflowersandwine.com).

(first appeared in Avenue Magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Chavich on Wine - In the pink

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:29:42 -0700

Nothing to blush about

By CINDA CHAVICH

For me, the fact that something sells millions, doesn’t make it good. Think of all of the fast food consumed every day or the latest bubble gum band.
So when I discovered recently that Mateus Rosé was the best selling pink wine on the planet, I was surprised but not particularly impressed.
Like many of you, I remember the rosé years – back in the 1970s when almost every wine consumed was a “Baby” something, a frothy pink bubbly with something cute and fuzzy on the label. It’s an era most wine lovers would just as soon forget.
But at a recent wine dinner at a local restaurant, as we stood around the bar nibbling trendy tapas at the bar, I enjoyed the lightly spritzy rosé they served with the starters. It was a little off dry, refreshing and perfect for the hot summer evening. The colour was deep coral – not the insipid pink of some“blush’ wines – like a nice Spanish rosado from Navarra or a Bandol from Provence.
No one was more surprised than I to discover it was our old party wine, Mateus.
While the good news is that our palates have moved on beyond cloying Baby Duck et al, it’s also good that we are finally able to appreciate a well-made pink wine. The world is full of delicious rosés, and we are drinking more of them – the French Cote de Provence AOC, where many of the world’s best rosés are made, has seen a more than170 per cent increase in exports to North America in the last five years.
It’s this kind of crisp and lightly perfumed rosé wine that’s gaining ground. From the famous dry Tavel rosés from the west bank of the Rhone, to the crisp rosatos of Italy’s Piedmont district and the intense “vin gris” from California’s Bonny Doon and Cline Cellars, these pink wines bear no resemblance to the insipid and sweet white zinfandels and other “blush’ wines of our youth.
There’s no doubt these pink wines are pretty. It’s especially nice to contemplate their pale peach or brilliant strawberry hues against the glinting summer sun, or pour them for a party. But they’re also refreshing to drink alone and with a variety of foods.
While rosés share the lightness and freshness of white wines, and the berry fruit flavours of reds, they’re not created by blending the two. Pink wines are made from red grapes, but the juice gets only brief skin contact - that is, the white juice (all grape juice is white) is only left on the crushed red skins long enough to draw out a bit of colour and body. Some winemakers run the juice off the skins immediately, resulting in a bare blush of pink while others let the skins and juice macerate for a few hours, creating a deep watermelon hue.
A variety of red grapes are used to make rosé – from the ubiquitous zinfandel in California to the pinot noir rosés of the Loire Valley. Some are made from Sangiovese, others with Merlot, Grenache. Mourvedre or Syrah.
Not only is pink wine a great thirst-quencher and quaffer, it’s the ultimate cross-over food wine – equally at home with white meat like pork or chicken, or hearty fish like salmon and tuna. The slightly off-dry versions are also often the best match with something spicy, whether you’re serving Thai curry or Mexican food. And the more extracted, intensely-coloured versions stand up to a variety of simple grilled meats.
Keep your rosé in the ice bucket on the deck to make sure it’s nicely chilled and don’t expect a pink wine to age. Buy it and drink it now.
Rosé may not be serious wine, but who wants to ponder what’s in the glass when the sun is shining and hammock awaits? Just think pink, like the old standby Mateus says in its new marketing campaign. Just don’t think too hard.

DRINK PINK
Malivoire Ladybug Rosé (Niagara) $15.50-$16.50 – lots of strawberry and red current fruit, crisp and nicely balanced dry rosé, organically-grown Gamay fruit.
Sperling & Sperling Rosé (South Africa) – Malivoire’s winemaker Ann Sperling joined forces with the Sperling family of Delheim in Stellenbosch to create this new, crisp pink pinotage for the Canadian market.
Cave Spring Rosé (Niagara) $13.50-$15 – Cranberry colour and strawberry aromas, crisp finish, from this Gamay-based Canadian rosé.
Quatroventi Rosé (Italy) $15-$16 – A blend of fragrant Malvasia Nera and Negroamaro makes a lovely, dry and flavourful pink wine.
Domaine Montrosé Rosé (Languedoc) $15.50 – grenache and cabernet sauvignon go into this fresh rosé with notes of strawberries and rosé petals
Chateau Val Joanis Rosé (France) $16 – grenache-based rosé, fresh, light with strawberry notes
Cline Oakly Vin Gris (California) $14.50-$15.50 – Rhone varietals like Mourvedre, Cinsault and Carignane give this cherry/berry wine classic earthy and herbal notes
Bonny Doon Vin Gris de Cigare (California) $18 – the pink cousin to the Cigare Volant red, this lovely peach-coloured rosé includes six Rhone varietals, bright and fruity
Mateus Rosé (Portugal) $9 – fresh, lightly effervescent and only slightly off dry, it’s the original pink
La Vielle Ferme Rosé (Languedoc) $11.50-$12 – organic and easy drinking, well-made blend of Cinsault and Syrah, fresh strawberry and earthy notes with floral aromas
Marqués de Cáceres Rioja Rosé (Spain) $10 – aromas of dried peaches and apricots, melon and spice with clean acidity
Iron Horse Rosato di Sangiovese (California) $13 – a crisp, dry and intense rosé loaded with fresh strawberry flavours, from Sonoma County
Fetzer Valley Oaks Syrah Rosé (California) $11-$12 – dry and intensely coloured, this rosé is a glassful of fresh raspberry fruit
Torres Santa Digna Cabernet Rosé (Chile) $14 – from the Maipo Valley, this deep cherry-colored rosé has a lot of cabernet character, red fruit and structure

(a version of this column appeared in Avenue magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Chavich on Wine - Biodynamic wines

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:29:11 -0700

BIODYNAMIC WINE: The next organic frontier

By CINDA CHAVICH

The winery looks like almost any other modern facility – stainless steel tanks, the latest engineering in gentle hydraulic presses, and a cool cellar filled with the aromas of a new vintage aging in oak.
But there are other, less recognizable materials piled in the production areas at Chile’s new VOE (Vinedos Organicos Emiliana) winery - from stacks of hollow steer horns, to massive bundles of dried nettles and jars of glittery powdered quartz. Beyond the “green” winery buildings, where new plantings of syrah and mourvedre roll up against the rocky slopes of the Colchagua Valley, fat chickens and snowy geese peck for bugs outside a portable poultry house which is moved regularly up and down the rows.
And in her special laboratory, winemaker Gabrielle Escobar is making homeopathic “teas” from the manure that’s been buried for a year in those same steer horns, and other preparations to feed her vines and replenish the soil.
“It’s the biggest biodynamic project in Chile and the biggest in Latin America,” says Escobar, touring me up past a pen of llamas used to keep the cover crops between the vines neatly trimmed, and shady “biological corridors” of natural flora and fauna.
It’s all part of a system of natural grape production known as biodynamics – the mystical and almost mythical system of organic farming devised in the 1920s by a forward-thinking scientist named Rudolph Steiner. Steiner, who also developed the progressive Waldorf School system, took a philosophical and holistic approach to agriculture, based on the belief that farming in concert with the invisible forces of nature builds healthy, “living” soils, nurtures the microorganisms within those soils, and ultimately the plants they sustain.
Biodynamic wine growers use organic farming methods, free of chemical inputs, then go one step further, following natural lunar cycles and using unconventional procedures they say can harness the energy of the universe. In the fall, steer horns are filled with fresh manure then buried - the composted material retrieved from the horns in the spring becomes the basis of a preparation called “500” that’s sprayed over the vines during the astrological phase that favours root growth. A preparation of finely ground quartz is dusted over leaves during the growing season to accelerate photosynthesis, and there are special herbal teas brewed from bunches of dried yarrow, chamomile flowers and stinging nettles. Growers say the result is a healthier crop, smaller berries with more concentrated flavours, and plants that are tough enough to withstand diseases and pests.
While it may seem incomprehensible to imagine that a few tablespoons of manure or silica, dissolved in gallons of water and sprayed over many acres of vines, would have any effect on the wine in your glass, many winemakers around the world are now farming biodynamically. Proponents says it’s the best way to express a region’s terroir – that combination of soil, climate and location which determines how any grape will grow and ripen, and how its fruit will ultimately taste in the bottle.
What’s clear is that this style of intensely hands-on viticulture connects the farmer and winemaker intimately with the land, the soil and the seasons, to create wines that express every unique place and vintage.
French biodynamic wine guru Nicolas Joly has said that biodynamic wines have “a surge of vitality, and an additional purity”. Mike Benziger of Benziger Family Winery in Sonoma says he’s focused on “authenticity – we put our fingerprints on each bottle of wine and those fingerprints should be obvious.”
At Patianna Organic Vineyards in California, where biodynamic viticulture is creating an amazingly lush Sauvignon Blanc, they talk about “treating the soil, rather than the vine” to make the best wine.
In his book Wine from Sky to Earth, Joly says modern, conventional farming, dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides to sustain plants, divorces the vine from the unique soil where it lives, effectively eliminating one of the key components of terroir. By rebuilding soils, with all of their millions of natural microorganisms and micronutrients, he says vines can be relinked to their “terrestrial world.” And by dusting plants with quartz, or pruning and planting during particular sun and moon cycles, vines can be reunited with their “solar world,” he writes, improving photosynthesis and ultimately enhancing flavour.
This may sound like so much hocus pocus to a conventional grape grower. But like organic and sustainable farming methods – uncommon a decade ago but now favoured by most top producers around the world – biodynamic methods are gaining popularity. Championed by Joly and other French wine producers like Michel Chapoutier and the Perrin family (Chateau de Beaucastel, La Vielle Ferme, Domaines Perrin), the biodynamic bug has now bitten producers from Chile to California, Australia and Spain. A small but select club of passionate producers, they have begun to gather annually to share their knowledge – the second such meeting was held this year in California following their inaugural biodynamic gathering in 2004 in Australia.
Is the wine better? The winemakers will tell you that their biodynamic vines are stronger and healthier, producing cleaner fruit. And with all of the hands-on work required to obtain biodynamic certification (from Demeter, the international body based in Switzerland which sanctions this farming method), its clear that these grapes are some of the most carefully tended on the planet.
But the proof is also in the bottle. VOE’s 2002 Coyam (the biodynamic project of Concha y Toro) was named Chile’s best blended wine by the 2005 Guia de Vinos de Chile, the country’s annual wine guide, while its 2003 Novas (an organic syrah/mourvedre blend) received the second-place silver medal. VOE’s organic 2004 Novas white was also judged among Chile’s top 10 sauvignon blancs in 2005.
Benzinger’s McNab Ranch chardonnay, made with biodynamic grapes, shows a richness and depth of fruit flavour not found in their Carneros chardonnay. And the 2001 Tribute, first released in 2004, a biodynamic blend of Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot is loaded with rich, dark fruit black fruit flavour and fine sweet tannins, Benzinger’s very best wine.
What’s also clear is that a biodynamic vineyard supports a diversity of organisms, both below and above ground. The requirement to leave (or re-establish) belts of indigenous plants among the vines creates the kind of biodiversity not found in most vineyards. At Chile’s VOE, a stream cuts through a cool strip of forest bordering one vineyard, and in Jim Fetzer’s biodynamic Ceago vineyards in California’s Lake County, walnuts, figs, olives, lavender and other perennials grow. At Benzinger Family Winery in Sonoma, there are masses of flowers and grasses in the gardens among the vines.
“Every single plant is selected because it’s doing a job, attracting some kind of beneficial insect,” says Mike Benziger, noting there is an “insectory row” of plants between every 10 rows of vines. “It’s amazing - this land has come alive.”
While many winemakers spend endless time and money to banish flocks of hungry birds from their vineyards, Benziger welcomes the diverse population of birds, insects and small animals his property now attracts.
“We build a self-sustaining system – the perfect balance of predator and prey,” he says of the bats, eagles, hawks and owls which coexist with swallows, robins and bluebirds.
Mendocino-based biodynamics expert Alan York guides these progressive winemakers in the vineyard, prescribing solutions to problems before they occur. That might involve misting the leaves with finely ground silica to toughen the surfaces as they grow and make them impervious to mold or fungus later in the year. Or planting habitat for the kind of predatory wasps that will feed on vine destroying thrips and aphids.
Even phylloxera, the destructive root louse that has devastated vineyards around the world, seems to be deterred by rich, biologically diverse organic and biodynamic soils. According to the Friends of the Earth's Organic Wine Guide, the 71 acres biodynamically farmed at Frey Vineyards are the most phylloxera resistent soils in California, and at Frog’s Leap Winery in Napa, a vineyard devastated by phylloxera has been brought back to life by organic soil improvements like composted grape pomace.
There is a growing selection of organic and biodynamic wines for consumers to choose – more than 7,000 labels worldwide. Many wineries are at least farming some of their vineyards organically and many organic growers now see biodynamics as the next frontier.
“Our mother taught us to put things back better than we found them,” says biodynamic grower Patti Fezter-Burke of Patianna, whose family pioneered organic viticulture in California. “Mother Nature deserves the same.”

BIODYNAMIC LABELS TO WATCH FOR:
Many wineries that use organic or biodynamic farming methods don’t advertise it on the label. Look for products from these producers:

Chateau de Beaucastel (Rhone, France) – this famous Chateuneuf du Pape producer is biodynamic and several other wines produced throughout the world by this family (La Vielle Ferme, Tablas Creek, Perrin Family wines) are produced from organic fruit.

Bonterra Vienyards (Mendocino, California) – Fetzer’s Bonterra Vineyards have long produced wines from certified organic grapes and now their McNab Ranch vineyard is certified as biodynamic.

VOE (Vinedos Organicos Emiliana) (Colchagua, Chile) – This vineyard is certified biodynamic and produces award-winning wines like Coyam (a blend of their best red grapes including Syrah, Carmenere, Cabernet, Mourvedre and Merlot) and the Novas Syrah/Mourvedre blend. A project owned by Concha y Toro and overseen by Chile’s top biodynamic winemaker, Alvaro Espinoza.

M. Chapoutier (Rhone, France) - Chapoutier’s vineyards in the Rhone Valley are farmed organically or biodynamically, and the wines are made very traditionally. In particular, look for Chapoutier Chante Alouette Hermitage, Les Meysonniers Crozes Hermitage, Domaine Saint Esteve red or white, and Vin des Coteaux de L’Ardeche Viognier.

Ceago Vinegarden (Lake County, California) – This is the new biodynamic project created by Jim Fetzer and his Kathleen’s Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is one of the first biodynamic products to be released.

Benziger Family Winery (Sonoma, California) – While not all Benziger wines are biodynamic, look wines like Tribute, Sonoma Mountain Estate Red and Paradiso de Maria Estate Sauvignon Blanc from their Sonoma Mountain estate vineyards which are certified biodynamic. Benziger McNab Ranch Merlot and Petit Syrah are made from bodynamic grapes grown in Mendocino County.

Castagna Vineyards (Beechworth, Australia) – This biodynamic producer makes a great shiraz called Genesis and a wondeful sangiovese (“La Chiave”) in the cool foothills of the Australian Alps.

Maison Leroy (Burgundy, France) – Mme Lalou Bize-Leroy is the doyenne of biodynamic viticulture in Burgundy and her low-yield vineyards produce exceptional (and exceptionally pricey) wines. She’s also the co-proprietor of the legendary Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, also farmed biodynamically to produce one of the world’s most sought-after burgundies.

Domaine Leflaive (Burgundy, France) – Another fine Burgundy producer that farms using the principals of biodynamics – look for the Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet les Pucelles

Marc Kreydenweiss (Alsace, France) – This biodynamic grower produces excellent gewurtztraminier and pinot blanc. The estate – which dates back three centuries – has been entirely biodynamic since 1991. He also makes a biodynamic Barbabelle (syrah/grenache blend) in Languedoc.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards (Napa, California) – This certified organic farm now uses biodynamic farming principals in the vineyard. Look for their fruity Four Vineyards Pinot Noir and Los Carneros of Napa Valley Pinot Noir.

Albet i Noya (Penedes, Spain) – Spain’s largest organic wine producer makes organic pinot noir and cava (sparkling wine), and is experimenting with biodynamic preparations in the vineyards.

Summerhill (Okanagan, Canada) - Summerhill has Canada’s largest certified organic vineyard – producing organically-grown bubblies.

Frog’s Leap Winery (Napa, California) – John Williams of Frog’s Leap has long farmed organically and is now in the process of obtaining biodynamic certification.

Seresin Estate(Marlborough, New Zealand) – Look for fresh grassy sauvignon blanc and flavourful pinot noir from this biodynamic producer in New Zealand.

Sokol-Blosser (Oregon) –Sokol-Blosser makes fine Pinot Noir from organically-grown grapes in the Willamette Valley and their “green” cellar was the first winery building in the US to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Also look for their Evolution white (with nine varietals blended in the bottle!)

(appeared in Avenue Magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

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Chavich on Wine - A quirky label sells

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:28:36 -0700

JUST HAVE FUN WITH IT

By CINDA CHAVICH

The cute Little Penguin has landed, the Yellow Tail is bounding into view and something fun is rolling by on a Red Bicyclette.
Not since Randall Grahm sent an unidentified Cigare Volant to hover over an unsuspecting Rhone village, have companies had so much fun selling wine. There are baby bottles of chic champagne for clubbing, a California Smoking Loon label (very Audubon until you spy the cigarette hanging rakishly in its bill) and Fetzer’s Pacific Bay, complete with computer-generated modern art that evokes a retro psychadelic mood – all aimed squarely at the young and not-so-serious side of the wine consuming public.
Southcorp, the big Australian company known for brands like Lindemans, the iconic Penfolds Grange and now the cute and fuzzy Little Penguin, sees it this way.
“They’re fun, lifestyle-driven wines for consumer who need a great wine for social situations but are less concerned with the more traditional values commonly seen in other wine brands.”
Translated, that’s wines to quaff at a party, for people who could care less about terroir, trellising or hectolitres per hectare, but will buy wine if they can remember the label when they’re standing in the wine shop. Apparently – like my own instant amnesia in music and book stores – many average wine buyers have trouble remembering brands, unless there’s something cute on the label. Ergo, the explosion of colourful birds, kangaroos, bears, pigs, chickens and other funny fauna fronting this new breed of wine.
Serious wines are out. Fun is in.
California’s brilliantly satiric Randall Grahm of Bonnie Doon Vineyard is the granddaddy of this phenom – first to discover that clever puns (both visual and literal) could help create a cult following for obscure, Rhone-style wines from an equally obscure corner of California’s wine world. With his memorable labels (the spacecraft of Cigare Volant celebrating the 1954 local bylaw prohibiting flying saucers from landing in the vineyards of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, or the Madeline-like line drawing of little Malvasia Bianca heading off to school), the loquacious proprietor continues to prove that using humor in the wine business is both fun and profitable. His newsletters are legendary (check out www.bonnydoonvineyard.com for The National Vinquirer , animated vignettes of the whimsical labels, or the clever “CD liner notes” for the Sergeant Pepper-inspired Rhonely Hearts Club Band). But it’s not just about marketing – Grahm’s wines are excellent, too.
The latest example of the success of marketing “fun” when it comes to wine is Yellow Tail, a line of sweet, quaffable Australian wines that have stormed into the North American market – launched in the U.S. in 2001 and already selling 5 million cases annually. With a colorful, graphic rendition of a yellow tail wallaby on the label and a trendy package, the creators of the Yellow Tail brand (New South Wales’ Casella Estate) seem to have surprised even themselves with their meteoric success.
“This is an engineered brand, very much a manufactured wine, and it’s been a fairy tale for us,” admits Casella Estates’ marketing whiz John Soutter, who helped design the brand. “It’s fruit forward with a slightly sweet finish - 85 per cent of the wine we bottle is under $15 (CDN).
“These wines are about delivering a taste profile to the consumer at the price point they want,” he adds. “We’ve unabashedly created that style for the consumer.”
It’s also based on research that shows wine buyers can remember an animal on the label better than anything else. And that a yellow and black label stand out on the shelf. Even the type face – lower case and in square brackets – suggests hip, computer savvy communication.
“It’s youth-oriented,” admits Soutter. “It’s trendy, bright – meant to target that demographic – but we have actually captured a much bigger group of consumers.”
Marketing to the great “un-wined” - 20-somethings weaned on Slurpees, and now hooked on sugary coolers and beer – is a hot topic these days. Hip new magazines like Wine X slip the food and wine conversation between covers that focus on pop music, fashion and Hollywood to appeal to the cooler crowd. New wine books – like Have a glass (Whitecap) by youthful Vancouver wine guys Kenji Hodgson and James Nevison – hope to demystify wine for their generation with an easy, irreverent approach to the topic, much like the California Wine Brats before them.
This is not a new concept. Wine producers have long been pushing the message that wine appreciation is not a strictly upper crust pursuit for the aging and well-heeled. And while that’s worked to introduce wine to more people in the 30- and 40-something age group, it’s not getting through to new drinkers.
As the marketing mavens will tell you: “Young adults don’t drink wine.” But they also know that lifelong consumption patterns are set early, so it’s important to break down perceived barriers to wine drinking and hook young consumers before they’re completely committed to beer and vodka.
Marketing is a big part of the equation, as is price and taste profile. Most of the new “fun” wines are inexpensive, many are far sweeter than average. And packaging is taking wine into places it’s never been before.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, “a younger, hipper crowd with fewer preconceptions about traditional wine presentation” wants it’s wine in easy to use, accessible packaging. Wineries have responded with products in screw top bottles (no need to carry a pesky corkscrew), tetra packs, and even aluminum cans, single servings designed to sip on the dance floor or tote along to a party.
The Champagne houses were the first to head down this road. Piper-Heidsieck launched it’s lipstick red Baby Piper bottles in six packs, and Pommery countered with midnight blue baby bottles of POP, both with co-ordinating straws. The latest entrant in the sparkling market is Napa’s Neibaum Coppola, with its sparkling Sofia Blanc de Blancs (named for hot new film director Sofia Coppola) in hot pink, 187-ml cans.
On this side of the border, B.C.’s Blasted Church Winery (www.blastedchurch.com) is building a following for its estate-grown Okanagan wine, in part due to the clever and creative artwork on the labels. Their visual riffs on a bit of local history about a church that was dynamited to “loosen the nails” before it’s eventual recloation, make discovering a new bottle doubly enjoyable.
And the French aren’t far behind. There’s the cute Fat Bastard hippo on a new export brand from the Laguedoc. And Gallo is producing its own varietal wines in this region of southern France – with a label called Red Bicyclette set to roll out this year.
It may have been the glut of everyday wine on the market, and the emergence of bargain basement brands like Two Buck Chuck that first made wine an affordable option for young adults. Or it may be the tough economy and the cocooning instinct that’s hit Americans in recent years which has led to the boom in whimsical, mid-priced brands. But Stephanie Gallo, granddaughter of E.& J. Gallo co-founder Ernest Gallo, says whatever brings new customers into the world of wine is positive.
“Young adults use wine as a prop – perhaps it’s a beer moment or a martini moment or, when I want to be an adult, it’s a wine moment,” says Gallo, in Calgary to promote the new collection of Gallo’s Turning Leaf wines.
Gallo says Turning Leaf, the company’s mid-priced wines, are designed to give young wine drinkers basic varietals, but to “over deliver” on quality. She says Turning Leaf, introduced a decade ago, was “the first lifestyle brand,” a label that average consumers could instantly recognize, pronounce and remember. This year, they’re re-introducing the straight forward wines to 20- and 30-somethings, with a new Turning Leaf Wine Experience Guide to demystify wine buying, storing, pairing and serving, and a Turning Leaf Wineology board game(see www.turningleafexperience.com).
“We need more fun ways for people to learn about wine, more creative ways to promote wine education,” says Gallo. “Wine shouldn’t be intimidating – it’s meant to be enjoyed.”

HIP, HOT, HAPPY WINES

[yellow tail] Shiraz ($12) – This smooth, inky red from South Eastern Australia has everything a beginning wine drinker wants – lots of ripe fruit, the kind of vanilla aromas that come from a little oak seasoning, nothing too tannic and a great price. They recommend it with pasta, steak or even a fillet of kangaroo steak (but with that cute, rare, ring-tailed roo on the label, isn’t that kind of like Barolo and Bambi?)

Bonny Doon Big House Red ($18.50) – While some American wines are getting beyond that “fun” price point, these wines provide that added value of cerebral enjoyment you can’t put a price on. This classic Doon is always a blend – Syrah, Petit Verdot, Cab Franc – whatever works. The label is a cartoon giggle (the flood light on the prison wall, with the knotted bedsheets hanging from the barred window) and it comes in a kid-friendly screw cap. As they say on the label, “so good it’s almost criminal.”

The Little Penguin ($11-$12) – Southcorp’s answer to the bounding roo, the whimsical label for their new line of Aussie Chard, Shiraz, Cab and Merlot features a cute cartoon penguin – like the tabby-like wallaby on the competition’s package, a real animal that’s alive and rare Down Under. Just released in June, it’s the latest brand to try to grab a piece of the everyday, unpretentious and youth-oriented market. Cheap and cheerful, value-priced varietals.

Fat Bastard Chardonnay ($13) – From the Languedoc in the south of France comes this fanciful brand, with it’s memorable, fat golden hippo embossed on the label. The chard is fresh and clean – lightly oaked but food friendly – and a good value. Some say it’s the big guy in the Austin Powers flicks that inspired the name but according to their Monty Python-esque website, it was simply an expression the makers used to describe a particularly hefty sur lees chard. They also make a decent Shiraz and Merlot.

Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon ($12-$13) – From Ernest & Julio Gallo, this mid-priced line of varietals from California’s central valley has long offered value and consistency. The 2002 Cab, blended with a touch of peppery Shiraz, has lots of bright black cherry and fresh blackberry flavours, and the kind of soft tannins that make it drinkable

(this column appeared in Avenue Magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Interested in publishing the stories, recipes or photos you see on this site? Email me to discuss how to get exclusive regional or syndication rights in your newspaper, magazine or online publication.

Canadian Wine - Tastes From Coast to Coast

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:27:20 -0700

OUR HOME AND WINEMAKING LAND
By CINDA CHAVICH

The big thing about growing grapes to make wine in Canada is the limited land where it’s actually possible.
Fine wine grapes are a demanding crop to grow at the best of times, and in Canada there are only a few pockets where the "terroir" – translated that means places where the soil, weather, hours of sunshine and orientations of the land – is right for growing grapes. But there are a handful of such special spots in Canada, perfect little microclimates, tucked along lakeshores and perched on well-drained benches, where the world’s best vinifera wine grapes not only survive, they thrive.
These are some of the prettiest places in the country to visit for a weekend or a week-long driving tour - country roads winding through undulating seas of vines, punctuated by pretty wineries, where some pretty passionate people will tell you all about how they make the finest Canadian wines.
Grapes have been grown for winemaking in Canada almost as long as Europeans have lived here. But it has only been in the last couple of decades that winemaking experts and grape growers have learned how and where to plant the best grape varieties - the chardonnay, pinot blanc, gewurztraminer, pinot noir, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and even syah grapes that are part of the world’s finest wines. In recent years, Canada has distinguished itself as one of the world’s top "cool climate viticulture regions" with a new oenology and viticultural program at the University of Guelph that is attracting students from other cool growing regions around the world. Our cool climate wines – loaded with fresh fruit flavours and bright acidity – are the kind of crisp, food-friendly wines now gaining cachet among food savvy consumers.
In the 15 years, Canada also established its own appellation system, regulations similar to those in other wine-making countries to govern how its own home-grown wine is produced. The VQA – Vintners Quality Alliance – designation on the label assures the consumer that the wine in the bottle is produced from 100 per cent Canadian grown-grapes and that it has passed the scrutiny of an independent tasting panel.
Today there are lovely wineries scattered along convenient wine trails where you can stop, taste wine and, in some cases, dine in a top restaurant and even stay overnight in an elegant inn. Whether you chose a day trek from Victoria, tasting wine along the backroads in the pretty Cowichan Valley, a week of food and wine touring in British Columbia’s central Okanagan Valley, a taste of southern Ontario from a base at historic Niagara-on-the-Lake or Picton, or a bit of Maritime wine in Nova Scotia, there are wines regions from coast to coast to explore.
And you don't need to be a wine geek to enjoy yourself - just pack a picnic in the cooler and head out to Canadian wine country for a mind and palate-expanding experience.

WINERIES IN ONTARIO
Ontario is really ground zero when it comes to fine winemaking in Canada and the Niagara Peninsula is where nearly all of the best Ontario wine is grown. It’s an easy day trip from Toronto to the wineries of the Niagara region. Head south out of the city on the Gardiner Expressway which soon turns into the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way), the road that hugs the south shore of Lake Ontario enroute to Niagara Falls. The landscape changes instantly as you veer off the highway onto the secondary roads, you'll soon be winding your way through bucolic farmland along the edge of the Niagara Escarpment.
The escarpment is a geographical anomaly which makes it possible to grow excellent wine grapes in this otherwise chilly strip of southern Canada. Deposited here during the last ice age, the escarpment is a ridge of land that cuts across southern Ontario from near Niagara-on-the-Lake to Georgian Bay. The ridge traps warm, moist breezes blowing off Lake Ontario, and turns them back down toward the lake, creating a unique microclimate for growing grapes. Known as the Southern Carolinian life zone, it’s a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve where you’ll find 37 species of wild orchids and the oldest living Eastern White Cedars. And it’s one of the few spots in Ontario where grape varieties like chardonnay and cabernet franc express their unique Canadian characters.
There are several important wineries along the escarpment, and you can tour and taste at several along the way. Just follow the “official wine route” signs, clusters of white grapes on a blue background.
First stop is the lovely old barn at Vineland Estates, where Brian Schmidt makes award-winning rieslings and Bordeaux-style reds, and chef Marc Picone uses local ingredients for his creative cuisine.
Continuing east, you’ll arrive in the quaint village of Jordan. This is the home of the famed Inn on the Twenty and it’s namesake Niagara restaurant, all owned and operated by noted local winery, Cave Spring Cellars. Plan to overnight here or at least taste Angelo Pavan's elegant white wines, in the converted apple warehouse that now serves as the winery. Ask about visiting the icy cave and spring which inspired the winery name, and poke through the many antique stores in town.
A short detour south will take you down to see the Speck brothers at Henry of Pelham. Their tasting room sits in the old stone building where their ancestor (the loyalist Henry of Pelham) once ran a roadhouse - make sure to stop and partake of their powerful Baco Noir in this historic spot.
The next stop on your route is Chateau des Charmes, a French-style chateau built by grape growing pioneer Paul Bosc, Sr., the first to plant vinis vinifera grapes in the Niagara region 30 years ago. Now run by his son, Paul Jr., the chateau has an impressive tasting room and beautiful patio where you can enjoy the views of their sprawling benchland vineyards.
Then it’s into Niagara-on-the-Lake, the historic town filled with tourist shops, bed-and-breakfast inns and encircled by well-known wineries like Inniskillin, Strewn, Reif and Hillebrand estates.
Like most wine regions in the world, Niagara has it’s “trophy” wineries – properties with big investments in beautiful tasting rooms, gift shops and stainless steel tanks – and small, boutique or family-run wineries where good wines are created with more modest means. It’s fun to join a formal tour at a big winery, but it’s also nice to speak with the owner/wine maker in a smaller setting.
So plan to make pretty Niagara-on-the-Lake your base, then head out touring the big important wineries, while making time for the smaller ones, too. Big companies like Peller Estates and nearby Jackson-Triggs have impressive, modern facilities with organized tours. But don’t miss smaller facilities like Malivoire’s modern, gravity-fed winery near Beamsville, Thirty Bench Estate Winery and Creekside Estate Winery, with it’s cosy patio for dining.
Make sure to taste some of the varietals that Ontario winemakers do best – from dry, cool climate chardonnays and pinot noirs to impressive cabernet franc and the earthy hybrid baco noir. And remember that some of the best wines can only be purchased directly from the makers at the cellar door.

FOR WINE GEEKS: Be sure to taste the rieslings and chardonnays at Cave Springs, Thirty Bench cabernet franc, the off-dry gewurztraminer and vidal ice wine at Rief Estate, Vineland Estates riesling and red Meritage blend, the Penninsula Ridge sauvignon blanc and syrah, the baco noir and gamay at Henry of Pelham, the Pillitteri merlot and the pinot noirs from Inniskillin, Creekside Estate and Malivoire.

FOR FOODIES: There is a bounty of fresh farm produce in Niagara and several wineries have lovely restaurants featuring top chefs. Plan to dine at Vineland Estates for chef Marc Picone’s cuisine and the best winery restaurant views (www.vineland.com). Visit Hillebrand Estates for outstanding lunch or dinner in the Vineyard Cafe (www.hillebrand.com), dine in the 1885 Victorian house on the property at Peninsula Ridge, (www.peninsularidge.com), or visit Strewn Estate Winery for their regional cuisine and cooking classes.

FOR CULTURE VULTURES: Niagara-on-the-Lake is home to the annual Shaw Festival so there is always live theatre to enjoy. Some of the wineries schedule entertainment, too – check out the summer Shakespeare in the Vineyard event at Henry of Pelham (www.henryofpelham.com) and the grassy outdoor amphitheatre at Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery for jazz or chamber music under the stars (www.jacksontriggswinery.com)

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: The Peelee Island Winery (www.peleeisland.com) sits near the site of Canada’s first commercial winery (established here in 1866) but the first Canadian wines to make any international waves were the ice wines produced by Donald Ziraldo and Carl Kaiser of Inniskillin, the pioneers who established Ontario’s first estate winery in 1975. This is the land of the original United Empire Loyalists, keep your eyes open for historical sites like Laura Secord’s home.

THE OKANAGAN AND SIMILKAMEEN VALLEYS
Once known best for peaches and beaches – the summer holiday capital of central B.C. – the Okanagan Valley has now distinguished itself as one of the best places in Canada to make wine.
The beaches are still here, and the holiday homes, but where orchards once dominated the landscape, now there are vineyards stretching from north of Kelowna, 120 km south to the U.S. border. It’s a large and varied grape-growing area, and you’ll need at least a week to see it all.
Kelowna is a central spot to start, and you can do a lot of wine touring, even if you never leave the city. Arguably the most impressive winery in the country is just across the bridge from downtown Kelowna – the expansive Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, set high on a hillside with a panoramic view of the area. Not only is this the site of one of the oldest wineries in the area, the newly-constructed $35 million Mission Hill facility, with it’s massive bell tower, outdoor restaurant and vaulted underground cellars blasted out of the mountainside, it is certainly the most dramatic. Owner Anthony von Mandl had the tower bells forged in France for each member of his family and you’ll hear them peal over the valley on the hour. .
While in Kelowna, head down to the old warehouse district to the B.C. Orchard Industry Museum and adjoining Wine Museum, both housed in the historic Laurel Packing House (1304 Ellis St.). It’s the best place to get a quick history of fruit growing in the area, and a fast lay of the land.
Several wineries are clustered on the Westside Road area near Mission Hill, including Quail’s Gate, one of the top pinot noir producers in the country. Plan to enjoy lunch in the restaurant there and ask for a glass of the family reserve.
On the opposite side of the lake, still within the city, you’ll find another group of wineries hugging the shoreline - CedarCreek, St. Hubertus and Summerhill, where Stephen Cipes specializes in dry bubbly, using organic fruit, and ages it in a granite-sheathed pyramid he says magically transforms the wine.
Heading south, the main highway hugs the western shore of Okanagan Lake from Kelowna to Penticton, and while you’ll find some wineries along the way – including Sumac Ridge and new Dirty Laundry – the next real cluster of wineries is in the Naramata area.
Naramata is exploding with new wineries – from Therapy, with its unusual ink blot labels, to the impressive Red Rooster Winery with its art gallery to explore and Lake Breeze Vineyards, the country’s first winery to make Pinotage. Plan to stop at Elephant Island to taste their unique fruit wines and Poplar Grove, for both the chardonnay and the artisan cheese, some of the best in the area.
When it’s time to move again, you’ll be heading south of Penticton toward Oliver and Osoyoos. This is the hottest part of the valley – Osoyoos sitting in Canada’s only true desert landscape – and this is where much of the most recent investment in vineyards has occurred. You’ll have to head off the main highway to visit wineries, but most of them are clustered around Oliver, newly named the Wine Capital of Canada. Whether you head down the Black Sage Road to taste and dine at exclusive properties like Burrowing Owl or make your way along the Golden Mile, where wineries like Tinhorn Creek, Gehringer Brothers, Hester Creek and Domaine Combret have commanding views of the valley from their tasting rooms, there’s lots to taste here.
The Similkameen Valley, the next valley to the west of Osoyoos, is just beginning to attract new winemakers – the Chardonnay from the new strawbale winery at Orofino is winning accolades and the organic, fruit-based dessert wines at the newly-opened Forbidden Fruit Winery are definitely worth the drive.
Don’t leave the area before exploring the new Nk’Mip Cellars, the winery owned and operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band and the only First Nations winery in Canada. Not only do they have an impressive winemaking facility and restaurant, featuring Native-inspired cuisine, they have recently opened a resort on the site, with a golf course and upscale accommodations.
While in the Okanagan, taste pinot gris, merlot and gewurztraminer.

FOR WINE GEEKS: The hot, dry Okanagan climate produces ripe, fruity wines with typical cool climate acidic balance including Tinhorn Creek gewurztraminer and merlot, Hester Creek pinot gris and merlot, Dirty Laundry gewurztraminer, Sandhill syrah and malbec, Mission Hill merlot, chardonnay and Oculus blend, Hawthorne Mountain merlot, Sumac Ridge pinot blanc and sparkling brut, Wild Goose pinot gris, Jackson-Triggs Meritage, Forbidden Fruit dry apple wine and white peach dessert wine, Nk’Mip merlot and riesling ice wine.

FOR FOODIES: Don’t leave Mission Hill without a meal in the al fresco dining room or, if you have time, a cooking class with executive chef Michael Allemeier (www.missionhillwinery.com). Judith Knight uses fresh local produce in her creative cuisine at Quails’ Gate’s newly-renovated Old Vines Patio & Restaurant (www.quailsgate.com). Or stay at Joie in the Naramata area – gastronomique guest house where where chef/sommelier and innkeeper Heidi Noble and her sommelier husband Michael Dinn offer foraging and cooking programs, and weekly dinners, exploring the bounty of artisan cheeses, organic fruits and vegetables and other unique foods from the valley (www.joie.ca)

FOR CULTURE VULTURES: Annual spring and fall wine festivals feature winemaker dinners, tastings and other events, or you can check at Mission Hill or Tinhorn Creek, for summer concerts and plays in their outdoor amphitheatres.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: Pioneers in the Okanagan wine business include Harry McWatters (founder of Sumac Ridge and Hawthorne Mountain estate wineries, since sold to Vincor) and George and Trudy Heiss of Gray Monk who planted their vineyards north of Kelowna in 1972. But the real first families of the Okanagan wine business are the members of the Osoyoos Indian Band – longtime grape growers with a newly-opened Nk’Mip Cellars winery at Osoyoos. Visit their Desert & Heritage Centre to learn about the band’s history, their rattlesnake recovery program, and to walk through the desert landscape on their interpretive trails.

THE RIGHT AND LEFT COASTS: WINES OF VANCOUVER ISLAND AND NOVA SCOTIA
A day trip from Victoria will take you into one of the newest winemaking regions in the country – the Cowichan Valley. Cowichan means “the warm land” in the local Native dialect, and the pretty, rolling valley is dotted with organic vegetable farms, apple orchards and newly-planted vines.
From the city, take the Malahat Highway toward Duncan, where you’ll find wineries ranging from Venturi Schulze and Blue Grouse, to Alderlea, Cherry Point and Vigneti Zanatta, all barely a decade old but already making their way onto lists at wine savvy Victoria restaurants. While growers here are still experimenting with clones, many are working with lesser-known grape varieties like ortega, pinot auxerrois and sylvaner, although pinot gris and pinot noir are also showing some promise despite challenging weather conditions.
Since production is so small, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to drink Vancouver Island wines unless you buy them directly from the wineries. The same can be said for the wineries of eastern Ontario and Quebec – the handful of wineries in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, southeast of Montreal, make mostly white wine from seyval blanc vines that are often buried to keep them alive through the winter. It’s more of a curiosity and you’d likely learn a lot more visiting artisan cheese makers on the region’s cheese trail.
In the Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley, there is a similar winemaking experiment underway. At Domaine de Grand Pré, Swiss banker Hanspeter Stutz is making both wine and hard apple cider at a pretty, newly-renovated winery overlooking the tidal flats of the Minas Basin. You’ll also find Nova Scotia wines from Habitant and Jost vineyards, made from marechal foch, l’Acadie blanc, muscat, seyval blanc and vidal grapes grown throughout the province.

FOR WINE GEEKS: On Vancouver Island, try Venturi-Schulze Harper’s Row white blend, Alderlea pinot noir and pinot gris, Blue Grouse pinot gris and pinot noir, Glenterra pinot gris and Vivace (a blend of several varietals) and Marley Farm kiwi wine.
In Nova Scotia, L’Acadie Blanc is a cross developed by agricultural researchers there, the white you’ll find in most bottles, along with seyval blanc and muscat.

FOR FOODIES: Venturi-Schulze makes traditional-style balsamic vinegar at the winery (www.venturischulze.com) and Vigneti Zanatta has a lovely restaurant called Vinoteca, where chef Fatima Da Silva serves lunches and weekend dinners (www.zanatta.ca). Plan to stay at the top of the Malahat at The Aerie for a gourmet wine and food experience, or visit Merridale Cidery for authentic dry hard cider and a stroll through the orchards (www.merridalecider.com)
In Nova Scotia, Chef Alex Jurt creates a fine dining experience at Restaurant Le Caveau, at Domaine de Grand Pré, which makes a nice afternoon drive from Halifax (www.grandprewines.ns.ca).

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: They say that Champlain’s apothecary brought vine cuttings from France in the early 1600s and planted them up in the Bear River region near Digby, N.S., but there hasn’t been a lot of wine-growing in the province since then. The site of today’s Grand Pre Estate Winery is a historic one – near the national historic site marking the spot where the Acadians were expelled from their farms in the Annapolis Valley by the British 400 years ago.

(this feature story first appeared in Canadian Geographic magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

Is that red or white with pig?

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:12:07 -0700

A WINE FOR THE YEAR OF THE PIG (OR YOUR BEST BARBECUE)

By CINDA CHAVICH

During a recent tour through central North Carolina, I noshed on my fair share of slow barbecued, pulled pork, sampling the subtle nuances of sauces prepared both east and west of some imaginary state dividing line. But whether it was east Carolina BBQ – that’s anywhere east of Raleigh – served with a thin vinegary sauce infused with hot chili peppers or west Carolina BBQ, in a sweeter, “dip” made with ketchup , the usual beverage of choice was cold tea or beer.
Now, a North Carolina vintner has come up with something better to match the famed local pig and slaw sandwich, a porcine little plonk he’s dubbed Fine Swine Wine.
Richard Childress, former NASCAR driver and proprietor of the newly-opened Childress Vineyards near Lexington, North Carolina, says he designed Fine Swine to match the local cuisine, hoping his town will soon be known for “it’s fine swine and fine wine.” With a clever label designed by local artist and neighbor Bob Timberlake, this racy number at least promises to have collector cachet .
Selling for $10 (US) Fine Swine Wine is no Two-buck Chuck. Winemaker Mark Friszolowski says it’s a blend of locally-grown cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot, made in an off-dry style, to hopefully stand up to smoky, pit-baked pork served in Lexington, a town that is barbecue central in these parts.
Childress launched the wine in October at the annual Lexington Barbecue Festival, a pig pickin’ party that draws more than 150,000 people to this small rural region each year (www.barbecuefestival.com).

Canadian Wine: Mission Hill - The tale of a BC wine

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:29:56 -0700

MISSION POSSIBLE

By CINDA CHAVICH

Standing on the terrace at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery – rows of carefully trellised vineyards spreading below my feet, a glass of their classic Oculus in hand – it’s hard to imagine that I’m not in California’s stylish Napa Valley wine region or enjoying a bottle in Bordeaux.
The food is sublime, as good as it gets in most places in the world, and the modern architecture around me is both cutting edge and classic. But I’m not in southern California or France. This spectacular setting, the fine wine and food, is right here in western Canada, just minutes from downtown Kelowna, B.C.
Mission Hill has long been one of the most well-known wineries in the Canadian wine world. It’s been here through thick and thin, since the truly frightening early days of winemaking in this country, and it’s living proof that not only is fine winemaking alive in Canada, it’s doing well, very well indeed.
Mission Hill’s rise from mediocrity to its current magnificence is a metaphor for what’s happened throughout the Canadian wine industry in the last decade or two, and especially in the Okanagan wine region of British Columbia. While grape vines were first planted in this fertile valley in the 1860s by an enterprising priest at the Oblate Father’s Mission, it wasn’t until the post-Prohibition1930s that there was any hint of commercial winemaking in B.C.
A trek through the tiny Wine Museum in one of the town’s former fruit packing warehouses tells much of the tale, beginning with the infamous loganberry wines of the Growers’ Wine Company (the predecessor of Jordan and Ste-Michelle Cellars) through those scary Austin Powers plonk years of inauspicious labels like Hot Goose, Okay Port and fizzy stuff like Mission Hill’s Crackling White or that early Canadian classic, Fuddle Duck.
And despite the fact that the industry is still young and tiny in international terms, Canadian wines now rival many in the world. Like their colleagues at Jackson-Triggs, Quail’s Gate, Tinhorn Creek and Burrowing Owl, Mission Hill is stacking up awards every year. In fact, it was Mission Hill’s Grand Reserve Barrel Select Chardonnay that put Canadian wine on the international map when it was named best chardonnay at the prestigious International Wine and Spirit Competition in London in 1994, even after shocked judges insisted on re-tasting the entries before awarding the trophy.

FROM PEACHES TO VINES
This hot, dry and sunny strip of central B.C., wedged between two mountain ranges, has long been western Canada’s fruit belt – a lakeside summer playground known to many tourists as the land of peaches and beaches. But since the late 1980s, when the signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade agreement led to a massive pull-out of low quality grapes and a wholesale replanting of noble vinifera varietals, winemaking suddenly trumped tree fruit farming and the Okanagan Valley earned a new nickname, Napa North.
In the past15 years there has been an explosion of activity in the wine business. There were only 14 Okanagan wineries in 1981 – today there are more than 100, with vineyards planted from Salmon Arm and Vernon in the north, all the way to the famed Golden Mile near Oliver and Osoyoos, along the U.S. border.
Where government experts once warned that only German hybrids or hardy indigenous grapes would grow, stubborn entrepreneurs have proven that this unique Canadian microclimate is perfect for growing many of the world’s most famous grape varieties. From the intense old vines Riesling produced by Pinot Reach to the delicious Pinot Noir from Quail’s Gate near Kelowna, and the reds like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah thriving in the hot, desert-like terroir of the Osoyoos Lake Bench in the valley’s southern extremity, the Okanagan is proving to be one of the best places in the country to produce fine wine.
But it’s taken a great deal of investment and a lot of pluck.
When a young Anthony von Mandl purchased the broken down (and twice bankrupted) Mission Hill Vineyards in 1981 he gave a bullish and now famous speech, outlining his vision for the Okanagan Valley and the western Canadian wine industry. Many of his colleagues thought his vision of “world-class vinifera vineyards winding their way down the valley; numerous estate wineries, each distinctively different; charming inns and bed and breakfast cottages seducing tourists from around the world,” was just that, the half-cocked fantasy of another dreamer from the big city.
But von Mandl put all of his energy (and considerable finances) behind that dream. Mark Anthony Wine Merchants, the wine importing business he started from scratch in 1972, was successful enough to bankroll his winery purchase. A decade later, with the addition of some hot sellers to the company portfolio – from California Cooler and Corona beer to Mike’s Hard Lemonade - the Mark Anthony Group (MAG) had grown into a major player in the wine and spirits business, and von Mandl had the cash to bankroll big changes at Mission Hill.
It took many years to turn the winery – which von Mandl himself admits was in “deplorable” condition – into a world-class facility. In the mid-1980s, the B.C. wine business was in a similarly sorry state. Two-thirds of the plantings were cut-rate hybrids and, with the cheap plonk they produced given tax breaks by provincial liquor boards, there was little incentive to improve quality. Then, in the late 1980s, the federal government signed a North American free trade agreement and it was time for Canadian wineries to either swim among the competitive products of the wine world, or sink. Von Mandl dove in head first.
It was a turning point for the Canadian wine industry. A federal government scheme paid growers to pull out bad hybrid grapes and the industry’s forward thinking entrepreneurs took a chance, buying up vineyard land and planting world-class varietals like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay.
Today, von Mandl’s dream has come to pass, and his own property is the poster child for this New World wine region’s burgeoning success.

THE MISSION ON THE HILL
Mission Hill Family Estate winery is still perched on the top of Mount Boucherie, overlooking Kelowna’s Westbank area, but it bears no other resemblance to the ramshackle collection of buildings von Mandl purchased nearly 25 years ago. The new $35 million facility is much more than a place to make wine – it is a shrine to Canadian wine, food and hospitality which attracts more than 125,000 visitors each year.
Part California mission, part Tuscan villa, it’s arguably among the most visually spectacular wineries in the world, an architectural gem reminiscent of Mondavi’s Opus One in Napa.
It’s a study in the potential of simple natural materials like concrete and stone. A stunning archway frames the entrance to a central courtyard where four hand-cast cathedral bells, forged in France to represent each member of the von Mandl family, peal across the valley from a slender tower that punctuates the view. The vaulted barrel cellar, blasted into the granite mountain-side, is as impressive as any of the top cellars of Europe. And the grand but minimalist spaces – exquisitely conceived and designed for the site by Seattle architect Tom Kundig - are carefully decorated with von Mandl’s museum-quality collection of art, sculpture and antiquities.

A DREAM TEAM
Von Mandl not only made sure he had the means to realize his vision before he forged ahead, he made sure to amass a team of top professionals who share his commitment to quality.
Jay Sharun, Mission Hill’s manager of Human Resources, recently told a professional group that it is von Mandl’s own commitment to “world-class” values and his concept of a “core leadership team” that insures the company runs at top capacity both in the busy summer and slower winter season.
Winemaker John Simes was von Mandl’s first inspired hiring. When Simes arrived at Mission Hill from New Zealand’s Montana Winery in 1992 he already had a reputation as a fine winemaker. But when the first vintage of reserve chardonnay Simes made at Mission Hill was named the world’s best - deemed superior to top challengers from France, Australia and California at an international competition – his cachet in the valley grew considerably.
Still, breakfasting in the winery’s private reception room, beneath a priceless Chagall tapestry, Simes is modest about his contributions to the incredible changes at Mission Hill.
“We were making better wine and having some success but it was hard at the start,” he says of his search for top quality grapes in the early 1990s. “Back then it was a matter of negotiating contracts with growers to get the best fruit.”
In the last decade, under Simes’ direction, Mission Hill has vastly expanded its vineyard holdings – planting imported French vines and investing in irrigation systems, wind machines for frost protection and land in various microclimates across the Okanagan Valley. Now the company owns or leases more than 850 acres of prime vineyards, from the land it owns around Kelowna where riesling, pinot noir and pinot grigio flourish, to acres of chardonnay in the Naramata area, and vineyards in the southern extremes of the region, where Bordeaux varietals and syrah are showing great promise.
“In the first five years that I was here, our company went from wanting better quality fruit to actually putting money on the line to buy vineyards and produce that fruit,” Simes says.
Like von Mandl, Simes is always pushing the boundaries, challenging the growers and makers of Canadian wine to make every vintage better, to see exactly how good Canadian wine can be. He’s now making strides with red wine, especially shiraz.
“The big attraction at the moment is the reds,” he says, noting Mission Hill recently invested in a new red wine production facility, with computerized tanks and cooling systems aimed at long, climate-controlled fermentation. And as the vines mature and produce better fruit, the wines continue to improve.
“Because it’s so unexpected that B.C. would have high quality red wine, that’s what really has people buzzed up,” he says. “We’ve got some cabernet and merlot vineyards that were planted in 1995 and 1997 and we’re just starting to see the potential of these vines.”
“Shiraz is still just a shadow of what it can be.”

DINING ON THE HILL
On the food side of Mission Hill’s operation, top Canadian chef Michael Allemeier shares similar passion. Like von Mandl, Allemeier has long been a champion of regional Canadian cuisine, taking risks to support local growers even before it was fashionable.
“It’s early days here in the valley, but there are a few chefs here now who are supporting the small artisan growers and building standards,” he says. “That’s where everything begins.”
In fact, as we peruse the contents of the cooler in Allemeier’s stunning commercial kitchen, it’s apparent that, like Simes, he believes his success starts in the field. His cuisine is based on the foods that are freshest – from seasonal heirloom tomatoes and local morel mushrooms to organic hazelnuts and the herbs he clips from his own kitchen garden.
“This is a terroir-based experience,” says Allemeier, using the French term which indicates a specific spot’s sun, soil and suitability for growing grapes. “We use peaches in season, Leoni Grana parmesan cheese (from Alberta), free-range eggs. We have four organic farms in the areas, and great game producers in the valley.”
There is local lamb and bison, artisan goat cheese and Quebec foie gras in his big walk-in cooler. Everything that goes into the regular Chef’s Table menus is created here in one of the most beautiful and well-appointed commercial kitchens in the country, whether it’s the wild sourdough starter to make the bread, the duck confit or the house-smoked salmon. The chefs in this unique wine country kitchen even put up preserves like vanilla pears, cherries steeped in their best red wine, and peach chutney to sell in the winery gift shop.
“We start with the wines and all of the food is built around that,” he says. “It’s all part of Anthony’s vision.”

SMALL REGION, BIG PLAN
Over the last 25 years, von Mandl’s Mark Anthony Group has grown to become Canada’s largest private distributor of alcoholic beverages, racking up more than $350 million in sales in 2002.
At the same time, Canada’s wine industry has blossomed. A VQA (Vintner’s Quality Alliance program), fashioned after France’s DOC or Italy’s DOCG regulatory systems, has been developed to encourage production of fine, home-grown Canadian wine. Acres of new vineyards have been planted across the country – from the Okanagan Valley and Niagara Peninsula, to newer start-ups on Vancouver Island, in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, in small areas of Nova Scotia and Quebec.
The rapid increase in the price of land anywhere a grape can be grown is a telling barometer of the growing interest in Canadian wine production. In the Okanagan alone, a small 3-acre vineyard site can command more than $300,000.
Still, the places suitable to plant are limited and the industry will always be small. Last year, 16,000 tonnes of grapes were harvested in the Okanagan Valley – less than half of the tonnage Simes processed every year when he was head winemaker at Montana wines of New Zealand.
“We’re always going to be small, but B.C. can certainly make wine at an international quality level, to sell in international markets,” says Simes, noting even tiny Oregon grows 40,000 tonnes of grapes.
“We are about pushing the envelope on what’s achievable in the Okanagan. I’m just happy to be working for an owner who wants to invest and who has given me the assets to go ahead and do it.”
That’s always been von Madl’s way. Some people have privately questioned his grandiose plans for both the region and the winery. He has been described as an eccentric and a kook, both envied and scorned for his lavish spending and unprecedented investments.
But, at the same time, most would agree he’s been visionary in the midst of a very risky business, forging ahead during a time when many had all but given up on the Canadian winemaking industry. Standing beneath his grand bell tower as the sun sets behind the mountains, there’s no doubt this is a place built with passion.
Von Mandl has long been man with a mission, and he’s proving that a winery in a small and obscure corner of Canada can stand among the world’s best.

TRAVELING TO THE OKANAGAN: A valley that slices down the centre of British Columbia’s south central region, the Okanagan has long been a summer destination for family beach vacations. Drive from Vancouver or Calgary – about six hours from either city – or take one of the many scheduled WestJet or Air Canada flights.

STAYING IN THE OKANAGAN: There are excellent choices in Kelowna and environs whether you’re looking for a big hotel or a simple B&B. A favourite for families is the Manteo Resort, with it’s comfortable beach-side villas and spa(www.manteo.com), or head up into the busy cultural district to the massive Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort hotel (www.grandokanagan.com, 250-763-4500).
Just below the Mission Hill winery, in the quiet Westbank area across the lake from Kelowna, wine writer Michael Botner and his wife Rosemary will make you feel at home (and give you lots of local wine tasting and dining advice) at their comfy home-based B&B, Accounting for Taste (www.accountingfortaste.ca, 1-866-769-2836).

DINING IN THE OKANAGAN: Mission Hill Estate Winery offers a variety of dining experiences – from lunch in the outdoor Terrace restaurant to booking a seven-course Chef’s Table wine and food pairing dinner (minimum of six guests and a maximum of 10). www.missionhillwinery.com
If you’re not dining at Mission Hill, head into Kelowna for dinner at Bouchons (250-763-6595) where Richard Toussaint and chef André Bernier (formerly of Vancouver’s Café de Paris) will wow you with their wine cellar and hearty bistro fare, from classic cassoulet and bouillabaisse to braised rabbit with prunes and pistachios. Another Gallic treat in town is at the Creperie Le Triskell downtown (250-763-5151) – crisp French crepes wrapped around a variety of savoury fillings – not to be missed.

(appeared in West magazine)

©Cinda Chavich
www.tastereport.com

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Spirits: The Season for Cognac

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 18:43:12 -0700

This month: The rare new bottling of 1738 Remy Martin Cognac.

This season, I hope to be sitting by a roaring fire, a fat slice of boozy fruitcake in hand, and a spot of good cognac in the snifter.
I’ve always been a fan of the bargain Remy Martin V.S.O.P. Fine Champagne Cognac (and its expensive big brother, Remy Martin X.O) and this year they’re introducing a step up from their baseline offering - Remy Martin 1739 Accord Royal. With a 65% portion of the Grand Champagne in the blend (compared with 55% in V.S.O.P. and 85% in X.O), and aging in small oak casks, its a cognac that’s just a little more intense than the usual, with some exotic candied orange notes and nutty aromas that will make it perfect alongside my fruitcake. It’s a rare bottling and, at about $80, a bargain.
(cc - December, 2006)