Road Trip to Kelowna

On a July road trip to Kelowna we ended up at a number of different wineries. The highlight wine was Cedar Creek's Estate Select Pinot Noir, 2004 ($26.99). This is an outstanding wine, which the four of us agreed, is best served with special people. The patio at the winery is a lovely place to have lunch. Another lovely place for lunch is our friend's back deck, shown in the photo.

This wine was a Silver Medal winner at the 2006 Canadian Wine Awards. If you can afford a case, it's okay to cellar for six to seven years.

P.S. Forza Azzurri!

Koves-Newlan Zinfandel 1999

This wine was from the cellar. Purchased on a road trip that took us through the Napa Valley in October 2001, shortly after the events of 9-11.

I like everything from Koves-Newlan and this one was perfect. It had a hearty, earthy flavour but smooth with a fabulous finish. The colour was deep red like bing cherries. It was another perfect night on the deck with the annual BBQ steak. Good food, good wine, good friends.

Drop Your Shorts

As the snow falls outside, I think back to a long, hot day in late June. Sitting on the back deck with family and friends, tasting some new wines, eating a fabulous BBQ salmon

I was serving a rather risqué bottle of Riot Girl Rose 2004, a ($10 US) pinot noir from Hip Chicks Do Wine, a small, women-run winery in Portland, Oregon. It was a simple, very light wine, perfect for a warm summer'’s eve on the deck.

Unfortunately, a superior bottle brought by my cousin, T, overshadowed my wine selection. From Australia, the Annvers, Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 ($25), was a huge hit. We gave it a six-star rating (out of five) and T thought it had sexy legs. The colour was a beautiful red that Mom and Dad said was the colour of Nonno Joe'’s wine.

J was loving the wine so much that she was afraid of drinking it until nothing was left. Somehow, during the animated conversation of the evening, J knocked her glass of wine across the table, she cried out (because it was really good wine) but not before the wine ran across the table and splashed all over T'’s white shorts. After a few more tears shed for the last drops of wine, J sprang into action and made T drop his shorts so she could launder them immediately. And I thought the Riot Girls would be the wine kicking up a fuss.

Annvers is available at BC Liquor Stores.

Watermark Sunday

Since it is perfect patio weather, if you find yourself hungry and near Kits Beach, check out Watermark restaurant. The view from the 2nd floor is fabulous.

This place has had such mixed reviews, kinda feel sorry for the kitchen, but everyone in our party (a table of 10 girls, of which some can be fussy - no names mentioned, you know who you are!) enjoyed the brunch.

I had the black n’ bleu albacore tuna salad which had delicious Cajun-flavoured seared tuna on half an iceberg lettuce cup with a yummy red potatoe salad and perfect sesame dressing. Seriously filling. The menu has a nice range to serve people looking for regular brunch fare, concession food or a fancier meal.

Champagne Tasting

J and I went to the Liberty Wine Merchant's annual Champagne & Caviar Extravaganza tonight at the Vancouver Rowing Club. Because I'm prone to trying everything and suffering the consequences, I limited myself to tasting the French champagnes, Italian proseccos and anything unusual. We made up a 1 to 5 rating scale and did the circuit.

The two that rose to the top are complete opposites. I liked the Laurent-Perrier Brut champagne from France. It had a very clean flavour and soft bubbles with a smooth finish. Mmmmm. It's available at specialty liquor stores and costs about $60. Good for a special celebration.

The other favourite was completely different. It was the Banrock Station sparkling shiraz from South Australia. It pours a deep red and has the full flavour of a shiraz with all the fun of a sparkling wine (without being sweet). This one is available at BC Liquor Stores and sells for $16.84.

There were about 50 champagnes to taste, including one mixing a vodka/champagne cocktail. ML was right about the caviar; the volume and frequency was sparse. When a lone tray made it out of the kitchen it was swarmed and cleared of the tasty appies at a frenzied pace.

Good event, worth going next year.

Wallaby Creek Shiraz

This shiraz with a colourful label hails from South Eastern Australia. I hadn't tried this wine before so searched the web for some reviews and only found these scathing comments. I didn't think it was that bad, drinking it in the back alley, near a fire pit, at our neighbourhood summer solstice party, after a few martinis.

Crowd Pleasing Bubbly

I hadn't tasted Asti Spumanti for a long time until about three years ago when it was served at a cousin's wedding. Before that I had dismissed it as a relative of the Baby Duck and Lonesome Charlie clan drunk by seventeen-year olds (in my day). What a pleasant surprise to discover I actually liked it on my more sophisticated yet far from connoisseur palate. The right combination of bubbles, sweetness and price makes it smooth going down.

We popped the cork on more than a few bottles for a surprise birthday party we hosted in the spring and it was a hit. The clinching comments were "I usually hate champagne." We also chilled a few bottles for our Father's Day brunch mimosas. Good choice to please crowds.

P.S. It's hard to photograph wine labels. I promise to get better.