Between the Vines: One woman's wine-soaked musings

The Field Guide thanks its beta testers and asks: Who's your farmer?

I participated in the beta testing of the Field Guide, a website that is "a touring resource for the savvy traveller who shares a heart for what is LOCAL."

Use the Field Guide to pick your destination and build your own tour in the Okanagan or Similkameen. The team at the Field Guide have sourced and curated great opportunities for wine, food, accommodation, events, and adventures and put them in one place for you. Visit the site and take a look around, keeping in mind it's not quite finished.

Field Guide founder Tarynn Liv Parker recently thanked all the beta testers during a wine-and-food evening at Forage in Vancouver. Here are some pictures.

I'm looking forward to tasting and sharing my impressions of the Tyler Harlton wine I found in my "lovely parting gift."

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Ka-Boom! TNT Chardonnay a big hit

Okanagan Crush Pad in Summerland, B.C. sponsors a program called Okanagan Wine Campus.

Created in 2011, Wine Campus is a mentorship program that provides the person named Vancouver's Sommelier of the Year a chance to make a small-lot wine using the grape variety and style he or she chooses. The proceeds from the sale of this wine benefit the B.C. Hospitality Foundation.

In 2012, Terry Threlfall was named Sommelier of the Year, so when harvest 2012 fell, he visited Okanagan Crush Pad and worked closely with chief winemaker Michael Bartier to create his wine.

We had great fun tasting Threlfall's TNT Chardonnay, paired expertly with goodies from Hawksworth. The Chardonnay was clean, fruity, fresh, and lively, with a minerality and brinyness (word?) that will make it a swell match for so many party foods.

This wine lives up to its explosive moniker, but can in no way be lumped in with the fruit-and-oak-bomb Chardonnays many have come to fear.  

Our afternoon of tasting TNT was rounded out with wines from Haywire and Bartier Scholefield ... Lovely!

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

West Coast Christmas Show & Marketplace 2013

 

Do you realize there are just five Saturdays until Christmas?

I love the West Coast Christmas Show & Marketplace at Tradex in Abbotsford and am looking forward to spending some time there this weekend, starting on Friday when we judge the entries to the Festival of Trees.

Check out the list of exhibitors and entertainment and then plan your weekend. I'm looking forward to finally getting my hands on some of that Abbotsford-made B&R Laundry Soap as well as my usual dozen pots of little poinsettias.

You can find the West Coast Christmas Show & Marketplace on Facebook and Twitter.

See you there!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

You can still enjoy summer ... sorta, kinda ... with Red Sky Rosé

Before the short, grey days fell upon us, I enjoyed a lovely breakfast and some great conversation with Audralee Daum, co-founder and CEO at Black Cloud, a Penticton-based wine label known for both its Pinot Noir and the lively personality of its winemaker, Bradley Cooper. (No, not that one.)

When I left breakfast for home, I carried away not only a smile, but a sample bottle of the winery's Red Sky Rosé.

Rosé wine: Red Sky Rosé 2012

Producer: Black Cloud 

Country: Canada (B.C.'s Okanagan)

Grape/blend: Pinot Noir

Price/ABV: $20/12% ABV

Through the eyes: Clear and bright. A pink that is more magenta than salmon, if you catch my drift.

On the nose: Bright red fruit and berries, with floral notes and hints of the earth.

On the palate: Juicy and fruity with lots of sweet-and-tart red berries.

Overall: A lively, friendly wine worth drinking and sharing any time of year.

Serve it: Drink this wine with salty or spicy snacks or with your holiday buffet, where you have a number of foods with competing flavours, weights, and textures seeking a complementary companion.

Buy it: Buy this wine online or call +1 (250) 490-7314.

QPR (quality-price ratio): Good.

Together, Audralee and Bradley take care of the Cloudy Day Wine Club, where you can subscribe and automatically receive three wine shipments annually. If you prefer, you can buy wines à la carte at the online wine store.

Black Cloud is on Facebook and Twitter.

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

What does QPR have to do with a wine review?

Here is a little bit about how I review and rate wines using QPR, which is short for quality-price ratio:

I rate a wine’s QPR at excellent, good or fair, depending on what I determine its value to be when considering the quality of the wine compared to its price.

In order for a wine to achieve a rating of Excellent, it has to go far beyond what I would expect at the price point in terms of flavour, structure, and complexity.

A Fair rating means the wine is clean and non-offensive, but I’d likely not buy it for myself or serve it to others.

Good is attributed to a bottle of wine that delivers flavours typical of the grape, has some layers of complexity, and would be easy to pour for guests, given the right circumstances.

Good+ means the wine delivers just that little bit more than a wine rated Good.

Good++ means the wine delivers even more than the Good+, has more complex flavours and aromas, but does not have as much going for it as I'd expect from one rated Excellent.

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.