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

7 reasons you should go to the West Coast Christmas Show + Marketplace

By Kathleen Rake

This year sees the eighth annual West Coast Christmas Show and Marketplace at Tradex in Abbotsford, Nov. 20 – 22.

This is, hands down, my favourite Christmastime shopping adventure for a number of reasons. Here are just seven of them, in no particular order of importance:

1. I always find unique gifts for special people in the Artisan Gallery.
2. Holiday-cooking demos and creative décor and entertaining ideas at the Home for the Holidays stage get me all eager to go-go-go.
3. There is nothing like watching kids have fun, especially at Christmas. There are lots of things for kids to do—like decorate cookies or make sand art—at Santa's Workshop + Elf Activity Area.
4. It is lovely to wander through the Festival of Trees display (presented by Praise 106.5), where charitable organizations decorate Christmas trees and compete for prizes that help support their respective causes.
5. FREE parking, courtesy of the show's management team, and complimentary shuttle service from The Vancouver Trolley Company. (Yes, I said FREE parking.)
6. It's easy to pick up the tiny poinsettias I love ... 
   (I use a dozen of them, and votive-size e-candles, to decorate the pony wall in our dining room.)
7. Live musical performances at the Sounds of the Holidays stage make me want to sing along.

This year's show offers up a little bit of a wine-tasty twist, with a selection of B.C. wineries (including fruit and honey wineries) plus a spirits maker sampling their wares in the Sips of the Season area. And the good news is, you can purchase what you taste—right then and there.

In addition, I will pair one (or more) of the vendors' wines with each culinary creation at the Home for the Holidays stage. Get the schedule here.

Here is a list of the participants at Sips of the Season. Many of these wineries and wines are new to me, so this should be exciting!

Singletree Winery
Tightrope Winery
Rocky Creek Winery 
Fort Berens Estate Winery
Forbidden Fruit Winery
Damali Lavender & Winery
Backyard Vineyards
Dragon Mist Distillery
Meadow Vista Honey Wines
Hidden Chapel Winery
Sagewood Winery

Find out more by visiting the West Coast Christmas Show's website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed.

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2015 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Singletree Siegerrebe and ramen noodle salad

By Kathleen Rake

In the August 21 issue of the Abbotsford News (page A35), I paired the Singletree Winery Siegerrebe with Lepp Farm Market's Asian Ramen Noodle Salad recipe.

Click here or on the image below for the recipe and wine pairing. 

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2015 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Love rosé wine? Then you should buy this one from Mt. Lehman Winery in Abbotsford

You have to buy this rosé wine from Mt. Lehman Winery in Abbotsford. Really.

Sure it's a gold-medal winner from this year's SavorNW Wine Awards. Sure, it's wallet-friendly, ringing in at just $13.50. And sure, it's grown, produced, packaged, and sold locally. But, best of all, it is bright, well balanced, and delicious.

Read my notes in this month's Sipping Vines column in the Abbotsford News. Also, give the recipe from Lepp Farm Market a try. The tang of the feta cheese and tomatoes, along with the spicy fennel, garlic, and pepper flavours, and the salty-sweetness of the shrimp will work perfectly with this rosé.

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2015 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

It's in the cards: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Fraser Valley to be big winners at Rowena's Inn

Hold 'em? Fold 'em? Play 'em?

Whatever you decide on Friday, May 2 at Rowena's Inn on the River, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Fraser Valley benefits.

The evening includes all sorts of activities: Dinner, pre-dinner reception cocktails, midnight buffet, prizes, live entertainment, and so much more.

Of course, there is the poker game, with very limited seating.

And don't forget the wine tasting, featuring Mt. Lehman Winery. I'll be pouring and presenting.

If you want to stay the night at Rowena's, they are offering event-goers a discount. There are still a couple of rooms available--snap one up if you don't want to drive.

What:
Fundraiser for BBBS of the Fraser Valley featuring, poker, dinner, wine, and more

Where:
Rowena's Inn on the River, Harrison Mills, BC

Date:
Friday, May 2, 2014

Start time:
5:30 PM

Parking:
Free on-site

Want more info? Contact the organizers directly:

Maureen Berlin
604-852-3331
[email protected]

For those of you who don't know, my hubby Rick was a Big Brother for years. We know first-hand how valuable this organization is in our communities.

Visit Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Fraser Valley on Facebook, follow them on Twitter.

Hope to see you Friday night!

www.MentoringWorks.ca 

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2014 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Fraser Valley Food Show: Wine, celebrity chefs and gluten-free specialty products just three highlights

Fraser Valley Food Show returns to Tradex next week, Oct. 4 – 6. This year’s three-day event promises exciting new products and stage activity, along with some good ol’ favourites, including local wines from Mt. Lehman Winery and Blackwood Lane:

The Great Canadian Sausage Making Competition, presented by BC Pork, returns, by popular demand.

The Gluten-free Living Show, a “show within a show” and newest feature at the Fraser Valley Food Show, offers great products and information for those trying to live gluten-free.

Celebrity chefs Rob Feenie and Corbin Tomaszeski appear on stage to dazzle audiences with their “amazing talent, wit, and humour.”

Kathleen Rake of Between the Vines leads participants through wine tasting and wine-and-food pairing on the Grapes and Hops Stage. Read the schedule here.

Rick Mohabir and Deb Mohabir of Just Here for the Beer educate and excite participants about beer on the Grapes and Hops Stage.

Wine, beer, and spirits (including Abbotsford’s own Kealy’s Moonshine) from BC and around the world available for tasting in the Wine, Beer and Spirits Pavilion.

Bite of the Valley ensures you won’t leave hungry.

Seventeen chefs from BC compete for the title of Master Chef in a hot, head-to-head competition.

Dairy Farmers of Canada present cheese tastings and seminars throughout the weekend.

We’re giving away two sets of two tickets to the show … just answer the following two-part question in the comments section of this blog for your chance to be entered into the draw to win.

I live by two wine-related mantras. Fill in the blanks:

There is never a good reason to not drink _______.

I seek the perfect glass of ____, but hope I never find it.

Entries received before midnight on Thurs., Oct. 3 are eligible for the draw. Winners will be announced here on Friday morning and can pick up their tickets anytime during the show at will-call.

You can find the answers here and here.

À Votre Santé!

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

Heartbreak: A Fraser Valley glass-half-full wine story

Here is my wine column as it appeared in the August, 2012 issue of My City, a monthly magazine in the Abbotsford News.

In the wine world, the term heartbreak is usually reserved for its prima donna, Pinot Noir. Every once in a while, however, the term is appropriate elsewhere.

Vern Siemens of Mt. Lehman Winery has created a gold-medal-winning field blend of white grapes he’s named Heartbreak. Read more.

Salut!

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

2012 British Columbia Winery Touring Guide: Get yours now

Here it is! This is the perfect tool to help plan your BC wine-country holiday in our five regions or DVAs (Designated Viticultural Areas).

The Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, and Gulf Islands are all yours for the tasting.

Just click on this link or the picture below to download your very own copy. 

Many thanks to HelloBC.com and WineBC.com.

Cheers to you!

Lepp Farm Market and Mt. Lehman Winery: Pork and wine from Abbotsford producers tonight

We had Mt. Lehman Winery's 2009 Pinot Gris with dinner tonight.

The wine was cheery and refreshing, with green apples, pears, chalk, and just a hint of roses and tarragon on the nose and palate.

For dinner, we enjoyed the pork tenderloin I had picked up from Lepp Farm Market earlier in the day while in Abbotsford.

I made a rub from the herbs I had grown, dried, crushed, and stored earlier in the season (rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, garlic, plus added sea salt and black pepper), a little olive oil, and some grainy Dijon mustard, and then roasted the meat until it reached just a light pink in the middle.

I'm always shouting how pork and Pinot are made to go together...this time, though, it's Gris rather than Noir.

Cheers, all!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

 

Chardonnay: So much to love about it

Here is my most recent wine column, published September 15 in My City, a monthly lifestyle magazine in the Abbotsford News. 

* * * * *

I have to admit it. I used to be one of those ABCers—Anything But Chardonnay. But that was a long time ago, before my palate was introduced to some great Chardonnays from around the world. And yes, that includes several made in B.C. Read more.

Cheers to you!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.

EAT! Fraser Valley returns to Tradex in Abbotsford, Sept. 16 – 18

EAT! Fraser Valley is back at Tradex in Abbotsford, Sept. 16 – 18, and I'm happy to tell you I'll be presenting the wine-tasting seminar, Palate-palooza: from bubbles to bumble bees, there is a wine for everyone, seven times throughout the weekend at the Grapes & Hops Presentation Stage. Here is the schedule.

Besides the wine, you'll have opportunity to try beers, spirits, and all sorts of food. As well, you can catch celebrity chefs Chuck Hughes and Rob Feenie from the Food Network Canada as they share their culinary creativity.

You can even watch TV-cooking-show icon Graham Kerr, whom many of us remember as the Galloping Gourmet, performing on stage.

Would you like free tickets?

Well, just answer the following question as a reply to this blog post (emails do not count) and the first three people to answer correctly will receive a pair of tickets.

Which of the following seven grapes are allowed to go into the making of Champagne—the real stuff?

1. Chardonnay
2. Chablis
3. Pinot Gris
4. Pinot Noir
5. Pinot Meunier
6. Pinot Blanc
7. Viognier

Cheers to you!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen Rake. All rights reserved.