Gathering wine bloggers (including yours truly) from all over the Internet, PALATE PRESS: The Online Wine Magazine publisher, David Honig, is working to prove that bloggers are the "brand-new force in wine media."
We are going to have so much fun. Come and give us a read...
Thursday, June 4, 2009 marked the opening of two new exhibitions at The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford: What's Going on up There?, by Yukon Artists @ Work Co-operative and Confluence, paintings by Brandon Gabriel.
"The Face of Abbotsford" by Desneige Meyer is featured at The Reach
Since the people at The Reach know me to be a bona fide oenophile, they asked if I'd pair some wines with the exhibitions—affordable wines they could serve to those who attended the exhibition opening and myriad related events over the weekend.
Here's what I came up with:
“Artists who live and work in the North see it through the eyes and understanding of inhabitants, their lives and culture shaped by it.”
And so it goes for wine.
The Marques de Rojas Garnacha reflects the land from which it comes and speaks of the people who tend it. This wine is complex in its simplicity. Produced from a single variety, Garnacha, Marques de Rojas is full of black raspberry, plum, and a little bit of earth on the nose and is plush on the palate with berry jam, more plums, a little spice and minerality. As yummy with Asian-influenced chicken dishes as with barbecued beef, this wine proves an easy sipper all on its own.
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The Jackson-Triggs Esprit Collection Sauvignon Blanc is a coming together—a confluence, if you will—of flavours. You’ll find citrus, tropical fruit, and little bit of grass on both the nose and palate. This wine is bright and crisp and pairs perfectly with typical summertime West Coast fare: seafood, salad, and grilled vegetables.
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Like a long and glorious northern Canadian summer sunset, the Quails’ Gate Rosé is easy to love. A wine made from primarily Gamay grapes, this is a dry wine that bursts with strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb on the nose. A definite palate pleaser, the Quails’ Gate Rosé is deliciously fresh, fruity, and fun. Serve well chilled with almost anything!
Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
June means sunshine, the end of the school year, more daylight hours and, of course, Father’s Day. And together these mean more patio time and outdoor living. While I typically prefer a white, rosé, or sparkling wine for the heat of the day or a dusky summer evening... Read more
Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
So you tell me, what's better than four solid days of guided fishing in pristine wild surroundings, while drinking good wine, dining on gourmet food, and telling tales—all for a good cause?
The hospitality industry and its friends are invited to "cast a Line and raise funds" at the inaugural fishing tournament for the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation from Saturday, September 5 to Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at Langara Fishing Lodge. The tournament kicks off with a reception in Vancouver on Friday, September 4.
If you're interested, contact Harry McWatters at wine@harrymcwatters.com or 250-490-7946.
The Hospitality Foundation Fishing Challenge brings together leaders in the restaurant, hotel, wine & food service, and retail industries from across the province for four amazing days of fishing, wine, dining, and entertainment at Langara Fishing Lodge. Participants have the opportunity to network, catch the ‘big one’, and help raise funds for their host charity. With McWatters overseeing the program, participants are guaranteed an exciting, fun-filled experience.
And, since there are just 25 spaces available, it's important to reserve your spot soon.
The cost, which includes transportation, accommodation, guided fishing, tournament prizes, meals, featured winemaker's dinner, special wines with dinner, and the sorts of memories you only dream of, is $5,000 per person.
“We have an opportunity to experience world-class fishing, make some new friends, and most importantly raise funds for a very worthwhile charity,” noted McWatters. “We hope to make this tournament an enjoyable annual event and one that provides the Foundation with a source of revenue for many years to come”.
ABOUT THE BRITISH COLUMBIA HOSPITALITY FOUNDATION
Founded in 2006, the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation is a charity that helps the hospitality industry look after its own. Borne by the desire to financially assist long-time wine agent Michael Willingham, the foundation was established to help anyone within the foodservice, beverage, and hospitality industry that required support due to illness or accident.
An endowment fund, with a goal of raising 1.5 million dollars, has been established and deserving individuals have been helped through this worthwhile program. The foundation also supports an educational program that awards bursaries to those aiming for a career in the industry. Fundraising efforts include an annual golf tournament, the Founder’s Dinner, the Chilean Wine Festival, and a fishing tournament. For more information please visit www.bchospitalityfoundation.com.
ABOUT LANGARA FISHING LODGE
Twenty-five years ago, Langara Fishing Adventures first brought sport fishing to the unexplored waters of Langara Island in British Columbia’s remote Queen Charlotte Islands. Since then, the lodge has introduced thousands of anglers and outdoor enthusiasts to the beauty and bounty of this incredible location, and has earned Langara Island a place among the world's great fishing destinations.
From the beginning, Langara Fishing Adventures’ goal has always been the same: to provide the greatest fishing experience possible, and to ensure the resources we rely upon are abundant, healthy, and sustainable for generations to come.
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Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
I love impromptu dinner parties because they always inspire me to be creative—quickly.
Here’s how I handled six people for dinner and just two skinless, boneless chicken breasts.
First, I took stock of other provisions on hand: olive oil, fettuccine noodles, a baguette, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, cooking onion, dried and fresh basil, about eight mushrooms, garlic, organic chicken broth, a couple of different lettuces, some Campari tomatoes, and two bottles of the Jackson-Triggs 2006 Proprietors’ Reserve Chardonnay
($13.00/13% ABV).
Then I took to chilling the wine, using our quick-chill sleeve for one bottle so I could start drinking it nearly right away.
After slicing and browning the chicken breasts, I added the onion, garlic, mushrooms, sea salt, freshly cracked white pepper, a small palm full of dried basil, and browned it all a little more. Then I added about two cups of chicken broth and two cups of the wine to the pot. In my estimation, two cups of wine or stock is roughly equal to four glugs (glug-glug-glug-glug) poured directly from container to pot.
While that lot simmered, I cut the cream cheese into small chunks and measured out about one cup of grated parmesan cheese. And, because I maintain that one should never cook with a wine he or she is unwilling to drink, I refilled my glass.
*This column was originally published in the May edition of Friday! Newsmagazine, a Black Press publication distributed monthly with the Abbotsford News.
*Please note that the Winemaker's Dinner in the Gallery mentioned in the column has been cancelled; however, the Rotary Wine Tasting & Silent Auction is still a go.
This just in...
The B.C. Wine Museum & VQA Wine Shop presents:
Wine Industry Trends- Blogging and Social Media
Thursday, May 7 at 7:00 p.m.
The B.C. Wine Museum & VQA Wine Shop presents wine tastings with a twist at The Wine Education Series of Tastings, or WEST. Explore British Columbia wines and meet some of the winemakers and producers from wineries across the Okanagan Valley while you learn about current trends in the wine industry.
All WEST events are hosted by Julianna Hayes, who is the editor of the Official Wine Tour Handbook to B.C. Wine Country.
Growing trends among those in the wine business include blogging and participation in social networking sites such as Twitter. Hayes publishes her own blog and is well aware of these rising trends. "Many winemakers are out there publishing and writing their own blogs," she comments. "Blogging is an immediate means of communication and one that anybody can try, making it very accessible and effective."
On Thursday, May 7, WEST welcomes guest winemaker Bradley Cooper from Township 7 Vineyards & Winery and Black Cloud. He'll pour a flight of Township 7 wines and discuss what's new on the B.C. wine scene, including how social media is affecting how we access wines.
Township 7 has locations in Langley and on the Naramata Bench. Cooper has been the winemaker for Township 7 since 2005 and he recently launched his own wine brand, Black Cloud Wine.
Tickets are only $25, $20 for Kelowna Museums members. Seating is limited. To reserve tickets now call 250-868-0441.
Hayes and Cooper will be live blogging this event.
You can read Cooper's blog at www.steepcreek.blogspot.comand; you can read Hayes' blog at www.vineliving.blogspot.com.
Follow Cooperand Hayes on Twitter.
All WEST events take place at the B.C. Wine Museum & VQA Wine Shop, located inside the Laurel Packinghouse at 1304 Ellis Street in Kelowna's Cultural District.
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We had dinner last week with new friends, the soon-to-be-wed Karen and Brent—yes, this is the Karen of www.WineBard.ca fame.
Karen and Brent hopped in their zippy new car and made the trek to Mission from North Vancouver and then we travelled together to Harrison Hot Springs, where we planned to dine from the new spring menu at Ravens on the Beach.
We arrived in Harrison Hot Springs with plenty of time to spare before our reservation so we walked alongside the lake to the old Harrison Hotel. We popped inside the gracious property, explored a little, and then headed for the bar and cocktails—Bloody Caesars for three of us, a beer for the other. After some chatting and laughing we made our way to Ravens.
Ravens has a great site, beachfront, within the Harrison Beach Hotel complex. It's just too bad the spring evenings aren't yet warm enough to make dining outside an option.
We started dinner with a four-way shared appetizer of brie-and-honey fondue, followed by Yarrow Meadows breast of duck in blueberry and ginger pan jus for Karen and me (we picked our food to go with the wine...but I'll get to that in a minute), the halibut feature for Brent, and herb-roasted 1/2 chicken for Rick.
The duck and accompaniments were lovely. The savoury richness of the duck and its blueberry and ginger pan jus worked wonderfully with the Black Cloud pinot noir and its earthy aromas and blueberry and black cherry flavours. And I’m not just saying it. It really did. I, of course, snuck (I don’t suppose it’s really sneaking when he knows it’s coming) a taste of Rick’s chicken and I’m happy to report it, too, proved wonderful with the wine.
I spotted a couple of plates of the fish & chips go by: tempura-fried pacific cod, Ravens’ tartar sauce, potato and yam fries, all served with fennel and apple slaw. I have to go back to give that one a try!
Salut!
Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
If you're reading my blog, then chances are you (A) love wine as much as I do, (B) are in the business and want to see what's going on elsewhere, or (C) are seeking some sort of answer about a particular wine, wine-and-food pairing, or the wine world in general.
I'm always on a quest to learn more about wine because, frankly, I'm no wine expert; rather, I'm a perpetual student of wine. Enter wine pro (and tech pro) Doug Cook and his Able Grape wine information search engine. It's a neat little tool that helps me search out all things wine.
I have one installed in the left-hand sidebar of this blog as well as at my website, www.ClickMediaWorks.com, on the Wine, Food, & Travel Writing page.
Salut!
Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
I recently wrote a wine piece for an online mag where my assignment was to pair a wine with a book they had already chosen and reviewed: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Further, the book reviewer had offered up a recipe of sweet meringue cookies called Marguerites. Many thanks to www.Vinquire.com for help in finding a wine that U.S. and Canadian readers can easily access.
Here's the piece:
During a period of darkness and gloom, we all seek some sort of escape, something cheery, light, and fun. Right? And if when we find that something, it appears much more sophisticated and complex than it really is, then life is sweetened just a touch by our dodge, isn’t it?
Welcome Mionetto’s Il Moscato, one of Italy’s sweet little sparklers, and the perfect sipper while reading “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.
Moscato (also known as muscat or muscadel) is one of the oldest grapes known to winemakers and often produces a still wine considered quite ordinary. But when Italian vintners take this grape and turn it into a frizzante wine that is light-bodied, sweet, and fruity, with gentle bubbles that give off a refreshing little tingle, it becomes something more than ordinary, drawing people together to celebrate their every day.
Il Moscato, widely available throughout the U.S. and Canada and priced anywhere from $8.99 to $18.99 for the 750ml bottle, proves true to its varietal. This pale yellow sparkling wine is extremely fragrant, with floral, musky, grape, and peach notes, and just a hint of something I’d describe as lemon meringue pie. Topped off using the beer-bottle-style crown cap typical to the regions that produce this wine, you never have to worry about popping corks.
I recently took the Il Moscato to a dinner party and at dessert I paired it with one-bite meringue cookies—perfect! Both the cookies and wine were light, sweet, and airy. You may want to try lemon tarts, a fruit tray, or biscotti with the Il Moscato.
Quick Wine Notes:
Frizzante is an Italian term used to describe the sort of light bubble found in moscato and prosecco wines. It is a gentler bubble than spumante. In France, they refer to the style as pétillant.
Varietal refers to the particular type of grape. For example, moscato and prosecco are varietals, as are chardonnay and zinfandel.
When serving wine with dessert, make sure your wine is as sweet as or slightly sweeter than your goodies. A wine that is too dry—not sweet enough—will seem sour and disappoint you.
Salut!
Copyright © 2009 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.
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