Author: deanengemoen

So, things have been not-so-great on the “mothers” front for us lately. As I mentioned previously, my mother-in-law passed away a few weeks back, and my Mom has Alzheimer’s and has deteriorated to the point that we had to move her to a full-time care facility. Now, in the grand scheme of things, this is a very good thing; she will be safer there and will be well cared for. However, she spends all day, every day, waiting for us to come and get her to take her “home” (back to her last place). She is miserable.

Anyway, this has caused an unusual amount of stress in the household, so a couple weeks ago our dear friend decided that to get away from it for a while, we should all go to Blackwood Lane in Langley for “pizza on the patio!”. What a great idea….and we decided to make a day of it, and do something we have been talking about for years but have never got around to: a little Fraser Valley wine tour!

We started off at the closest winery that was open at 11 AM, which was Township 7. We have been to the Township 7 in the Okanagan once but this was our first visit to their Langley location. One thing I noticed right away was that they have reserved the best parking spots for their Club members. A cool perk for those loyal to you. Other wineries should do this!

They had 6 wines for us to taste, let’s see how it went!

So that was it for our first winery on this little impromptu trip. You may have noticed that NONE of the grapes in any of these wines are actually grown in the Fraser Valley. That would change, soon, as this trip unfolds.

Next up: To Abbotsford we go, our first visit to a really new player in the game, Seaside Pearl!

 

 

In Vegas for 6 magnificent nights last week, and we decided to make our last dinner of the trip, our “date night”, particularly special. It turned into the most expensive dinner we have ever had, which was pretty much 100% because of the wine.

We started at the bar, while we waited for our table, with a couple glasses of this little gem.

For appetizers, my wife chose a salad while I had lobster bisque. To accompany those, we bought a half-bottle of this. The Eiffel Tower has the most incredible selection of half-bottles that I have ever seen.

Now, for the main event, and pairing with a couple of Filet Mignons (both so big we could not possibly eat them all), how about a 33-year old Bordeaux??

We finished off the meal with a sublime chocolate soufflé, and then rolled ourselves out the door back to our hotel. What a meal, and a perfect way to end a simply spectacular vacation. Cannot wait to go back.

Up next: Lots of random stuff we’ve been drinking to update you on. Stay tuned!

Well I had this blog post about 90% done last weekend and was all ready to get the VIWF finally finished when we suddenly lost my mother-in-law, making blog posts seems pretty unimportant. As if that wasn’t enough, I came home from the hospital with the flu. I cannot remember ever being that sick. My wife, who had JUST got over that same flu she picked up in the same hospital, while visiting her mother a few days earlier, did yeoman’s work taking care of me and nursing me back to health, all while dealing with the loss of her mother. I am a very lucky man.

Life goes on. And so does the blog. Let’s get to it.

We tried hard to get to at least one booth from every represented country, and I think we did a pretty good job. One year it would sure be nice to taste everything at the Festival, but in order to do that, I’m pretty sure we would need a time machine. We even picked up our first-ever bottles from Croatia and Romania. To the wine!

Familia Zuccardi 2016 Q Malbec – 90
Familia Zuccardi 2017 Q Chardonnay – 89
Familia Zuccardi 2016 Tito Zuccardi Paraje Altamira – 92
Familia Zuccardi 2014 Jose Zuccardi Malbec – 92

Barossa Valley Estate 2016 Shiraz – 92
Barossa Valley Estate 2016 GSM – 88
Barossa Valley Estate 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 91
Barossa Valley Estate 2015 E&E Black Pepper Shiraz – 94

Tahbilk Winery 2016 Shiraz – 88
Tahbilk Winery 2018 Ngambie Lakes Marsanne – 89
Tahbilk Winery 2018 Viognier – 88
Tahbilk Winery 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 88

 

Monte Creek Ranch 2017 Riesling – 88
Monte Creek Ranch 2017 Pinot Noir Reserve – 88
Monte Creek Ranch 2017 Sparkling Reserve – 88

One Faith Vineyards 2013 Grand Vin – 93
One Faith Vineyards 2014 Grand Vin – 93
One Faith Vineyards 2016 Certitude – 92

Viña Santa Ema 2017 Amplus Merlot – 87
Viña Santa Ema 2015 Catalina – 87
Viña Santa Ema 2017 Amplus Cabernet Sauvignon – 89

Coronica 2013 Gran Teran – 87
Corinica 2017 Malvazija – 88

Korta Katarina 2016 Rosé – 84
Korta Katarina 2016 Posip – 86
Korta Katarina 2009 Plavac Mali – 87
Korta Katarina 2008 Reuben’s Private Reserve – 88

Krolo Winery 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot – 84

Casale del Giglio 2016 Cesanese – 88
Casale del Giglio 2015 Madreselva Riserva Rosso Lazio – 90

Di Lenardo Vineyards 2017 Pinot Grigio – 86
Di Lenardo Vineyards 2017 Father’s Eyes Chardonnay – 91

Marchesi di Barolo 2014 Barbaresco DOCG della Tradizione – 89
Marchesi di Barolo 2014 Barolo DOCG della Tradizione – 89

Tenuta Argentiera 2016 Poggio ai Ginepri Rosso – 91
Tenuta Argentiera 2018 Poggio ai Ginepri Rosé – 88
Tenuta Argentiera 2015 Bolgheri Superiore – 92

Ville Le Calvane 2013 Colli della Toscana Centrale Borro del Boscone – 88
Ville Le Calvane 2011 Toscana Matriarca – 88
Ville Le Calvane 2016 Chianti Colli Fiorentini Quercione – 88
Ville Le Calvane 2011 Super Tuscan Oltre Strade – 87

 

Real Companhia Velha 2015 Evel Tinto – 87
Real Companhia Velha 2015 Touriga Nacional – 89
Real Companhia Velha 2016 Evel Branco – 86

Liliac 2017 Sauvignon Blanc – 87
Liliac 2015 Red Cuvée – 87
Liliac 2016 Feteasca Neagra – 88

Oregon

Elk Cove 2016 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir – 89
Elk Cove 2016 Mount Richmond Pinot Noir – 92
Elk Cove 2016 Clay Court Pinot Noir – 91

King Estate 2017 Willamette Valley Pinot Gris – 88
King Estate 2016 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir – 87

Washington

Aquilini Red Mountain 2017 Horse Heaven Hills Syrah Rosé – 87
Aquilini Red Mountain 2015 Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon – 91
Aquilini Red Mountain 2015 Red Mountain Family Blend – 92

Wines of Substance 2017 Substance Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Wines of Substance 2015 Motor City Kitty Syrah – 86
Wines of Substance 2017 ViNO Pinot Gris – 87
Wines of Substance 2015 ViNO Rosso – 87

Bodega Garzon 2016 Estate Cabernet Franc Tannat – 87
Bodega Garzon 2016 Reserva Tannat – 88
Bodega Garzon 2018 Reserva Albariño – 88
Bodega Garzon 2018 Estate Pinot Noir Rosé – 86

That’s a wrap to the 2019 Vancouver International Wine Festival! Already looking forward to next year!

Next up for the blog: SOOOOO much random stuff to catch up on!

We spent enough time tasting wine from France this year that I am going to give them their own blog entry. Also, there are some pretty spectacular rosés in here, including my new all-time favorite. To the wine!

Table #108 – Borie-Manoux

Château Morillon 2015 Bordeaux – 87
Château Herve-Laroque 2010 Fronsac – 90

Table #109 – Calvet

Calvet NV Crèmant de Bordeaux Rosé – 87

Table #110 – Chartron et Trébuchet

Chartron et Trébuchet 2016 Mâcon-Villages – 88
Chartron et Trébuchet 2017 Pouilly-Fuissé – 89

Table #112 – Les Grand Chais de France

Domaine de la Baume 2017 Viognier – 88
S de la Sablette Rosé – 90
Domaine de la Baume 2017 Pinot Noir Rosé – 87
Château de la Galinière 2017 Rosé – 91

Table #113 – Château Minuty

Minuty 2017 M de Minuty – 88
Château Minuty 2017 Prestige – 89

Table #115 – Ulysse Cazabonne

OK that’s it for France. Can’t wait to really dig into their wines at next year’s VIWF!

For now, just one more blog post to finish it off, as we tour around the rest of the world. Coming up!

Table 23: Kendall-Jackson

Kendall-Jackson 2017 Vintner’s Reserve Rosé – 86
Kendall-Jackson 2016 Jackson Estate Hawkeye Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Kendall-Jackson 2017 Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay – 88

Table 24: Kenwood Vineyards

 

Table 26: La Crema

La Crema 2017 Monterey Rosé – 86
La Crema 2017 Monterey Chardonnay – 88
La Crema 2017 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay – 89

Table 29: Louis M Martini Winery

Louis M Martini 2016 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Louis M Martini 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Louis M Martini 2015 Lot 1 Cabernet Sauvignon – 92

Table 31: Michael David Winery

Michael David Winery 2016 Freakshow Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Michael David Winery 2015 Freakshow Red Blend – 87

Table 32: Oak Ridge Winery

Oak Ridge Winery 2016 Old Soul Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Oak Ridge Winery 2016 Old Soul Petite Sirah – 89

Table 42: Signorello Estate

Signorello Estate 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon – 92

Table 43: Silver Oak Cellars

Silver Oak 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 94+
Twomey Cellars 2014 Soda Canyon Merlot – 92+

Table 44: Silverado Vineyards

Silverado Vineyards 2017 Estate Grown Vineburg Chardonnay – 87
Silverado Vineyards 2017 Estate Grown Miller Ranch Sauvignon Blanc – 90

Table 45: St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery

Table 47 Stag’s Leap Winery

Stag’s Leap Winery 2016 Napa Valley Petite Sirah – 89
Stag’s Leap Winery 2017 Napa Valley Viognier – 87
Stag’s Leap Winery 2016 Napa Valley Merlot – 88

Table 48: Talbott Vineyards

Talbott Vineyards 2016 Kali Hart Pinot Noir – 91
Talbott Vineyards 2015 Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir – 90
Talbott Vineyards 2016 Sleepy Hollow Chardonnay – 89

Table 51: Trefethen Family Vineyards

Trefethen Family Vineyards 2016 Estate Chardonnay – 88
Trefethen Family Vineyards 2016 Estate Dragon’s Tooth – 89

Table 52: Wagner Family of Wine

Wagner 2016 Conundrum White – 87
Wagner 2015 Red Schooner Malbec Voyage 6 – 86
Wagner 2016 Emmolo Merlot – 88
Wagner 2016 Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc – 87 

Table 53: Wente Vineyards

Wente Vineyards 2016 Southern Hills Cabernet Sauvignon – 85
Wente Vineyards 2014 Riva Ranch Single Vineyard Pinot Noir – 88
Wente Vineyards 2016 Riva Ranch Single Vineyard Chardonnay – 92

Well, that finally wraps up California! We sure discovered some terrific wine, and we are really well stocked up on Cabernet, Chardonnay and Zinfandel!

Next up! Lots more great stuff to go over from Wine Fest…..I might split up the rest of the world into two posts, I have not decided yet, but I’ll get going on those this weekend. Stay tuned!

 

It was a good festival. Oh, so much wine.

This just in: California makes good wine.

Duh.

Interesting host region for us this year: We already know a ton about California wine. We have belonged to four California wine clubs (three in Napa, one in Sonoma) and we frequently buy wine from California and have it shipped to our package place in Sumas and drive it across the border. So, we figure this week would be about finding some new wineries we weren’t familiar with, and maybe finding some gems that we have previously overlooked. It seems unlikely that we are going to suddenly discover something completely new and different, but you never know.

As in previous years, I will give just my scores for a bunch of the wines (let’s face it, if I did an in-depth review of every wine I tasted I wouldn’t be finished in time for NEXT YEAR’S festival), and full reviews of everything we bought, or wanted to buy but was sold out, and a few other interesting wines as well. Here we go!

I will post the table name and number, which are in alphabetical order. Some booths have labels that may seem out of place but I assure you they are not. A lot of times they have subsidiary labels (ie Silver Oak and Twomey). There were 53 California tables. If a table number is missing, we just didn’t get there.

Table 1:  B. R. Cohn Winery

B.R. Cohn 2016 Silver Label Pinot Noir – 86
B.R. Cohn 2016 Silver Label Chardonnay – 86
B.R. Cohn 2016 Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon – 89

Table 2: Beaulieu Vineyard

Beaulieu Vineyard 2016 Napa Valley Carneros Chardonnay – 89
Beaulieu Vineyard 2015 Napa Valley Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Beaulieu Vineyard 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 90
Beaulieu Vineyard 2015 Napa Valley Merlot – 89
Beaulieu Vineyard 2014 Reserve Tapestry – 89

Table 3: Benzinger Family Winery

Benzinger Family 2015 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir – 89
Benzinger Family 2016 Chardonnay – 89
Benzinger Family 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Benzinger Family 2014 Tribute – 91

Table 4: Beringer Vineyards 

Beringer Vineyards 2016 Napa Valley Chardonnay – 90
Beringer Vineyards 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 90
Beringer Vineyards 2015 Quantum Red Blend – 90

Table 5: Black Stallion Estate Winery/Delicato Family Vineyards

Delicate Family Vineyards 2017 Noble Vines 242 Sauvignon Blanc – 87

Table 7: Don Sebastiani & Sons

Don Sebastiani & Sons 2016 Gunsight Rock – 88
Don Sebastiani & Sons 2016 B Side Chardonnay – 88
Don Sebastiani & Sons 2016 B Side Pinot Noir – 88
Don Sebastiani & Sons 2016 Crusher Petit Sirah – 87

Table 8: Duckhorn Wine Company

Duckhorn Vineyards 2016 Napa Valley Chardonnay – 88
Duckhorn Vineyards 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Paraduxx 2015 Napa Valley Proprietary Red Wine – 89

Table 9: Gallo Signature Series

We had the most lovely chat with winemaker Gina Gallo. Yes, Gallo. THAT Gallo.

Don’t let the name “Gallo” scare you off; they make a lot of great wine in addition to the entry-level Ernest and Julio Gallo stuff that comes in boxes and tastes closer to turpentine than fine wine. There is a market for that stuff (OBVIOUSLY), but they also make a million other wines, many of which are of excellent quality. And Gina was a delight….knowledgeable and giving and so pleasant. I think she would have chatted with us for an hour if we didn’t have other wines to taste!

Gallo Signature Series 2016 Russian River Valley Chardonnay – 88
Gallo Signature Series 2016 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir – 90

Table 10: Geyser Peak Winery

Geyser Peak Winery 2017 Pinot Grigio – 87
Geyser Peak Winery 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 89

Table 11: Girard Winery

Wow, this is the epitome of what we were hoping to find: a winery we were not familiar with, pouring across-the-board quality wines.

 

Table 12: Grgich Hills Estate

Grgich Hills 2015 Napa Valley Chardonnay – 86
Grgich Hills 2016 Napa Valley Fumé Blanc – 86
Grgich Hills 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 90

Table 13: Hahn Family Winery

Hahn Family Wines 2017 GSM – 87
Hahn Family Wines 2017 Monterey County Chardonnay – 86
Hahn Family Wines 2017 Monterey County Pinot Noir – 88

Table 14: Hall/Walt

Hall 2015 Kathryn Hall Cabernet Sauvignon – 94+
Walt 2016 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay – 87
Walt 2016 La Brisa Sonoma County Pinot Noir – 88

Table 15: The Hess Collection

Hess Select 2014 Trio Red Blend – 89
Hess Select 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 89

Table 16: Hope Family Winery

Liberty School 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 86
Liberty School 2016 Chardonnay – 85
Treana 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 89

Table 17: Imagery Estate

Imagery Estate 2016 Chardonnay – 86
Imagery Estate 2016 Sauvignon Blanc – 86
Imagery Estate 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 91
Imagery Estate 2016 Pinot Noir – 85

Table 18: J. Lohr Vineyards

J Lohr 2015 Hilltop Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – 92
J Lorh 2016 Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon – 88

Table 19: Jackson Family Wines

Freemark Abbey 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 89
Cambria 2015 Julia’s Vineyard Pinot Noir – 88
Copain 2017 Tous Ensemble Rosé – 86
Stonestreet Estate 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon – 88

Table 21: Josh Cellars/Joseph Carr

Josh Cellars 2017 Chardonnay – 87
Josh Cellars 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles Reserve – 90
Josh Cellars 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Joseph Carr 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 87

Table 22: Justin Vineyards and Winery

Justin Vineyards and Winery 2016 Sauvignon Blanc – 85
Justin Vineyards and Winery 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – 88
Justin Vineyards and Winery 2015 Isosleles – 89
Justin Vineyards and Winery 2015 Justification – 88

 

Enough for today! We will finish up California in the next post, and then move onto the rest of the world!

 

 

Calling a bit of an audible here, since my festival wine has not yet arrived in my local BC Liquor Store and I need that to properly finish off my festival reports….so I’m going to do the finale first.

In cases where the wine would be tough to find in local markets, I have provided the importer and their contact info in the “Notes” sections of the wine reviews.

It’s tough to imagine a better way to end this festival every year than this event. This year we had company, as our dear friends Travis and Melissa joined in on the fun. The four of us were seated at the smallest table, which sat only six, and we were joined by Valentina Abbona, the lovely Director of Marketing for Marchesi di Barolo, and Jason, a local agent for her winery (and others). They were both delightful company for the afternoon.

Valentina, in particular, was passionate about her brand. It took us a while to find out that she was not just the Director of Marketing, but the SIXTH generation of this family winery! She travels almost 200 days a year to promote her brand. Her father is the winemaker. This is a huge family business in a little town in Barolo.

She is the kind of person who could convince a drowning man to buy water, if you know what I mean. What a pleasure it was to sit and chat with her during this amazing lunch.

Although, I was a little nervous rating her wine while she sat right next to me; hopefully it didn’t suck!! 🙂

As always, they started us off with a little bubbly as we waited for the main courses to begin.

Reception:

Not a fan of tuna OR cucumber, but this was pretty tasty.

Primo:

They substituted a beautiful caprese salad for my wife who can’t eat scallops. Both dishes were fantastic.

Two wines with this course. I felt the first one was a better pairing, but I was in the minority at my table I believe.

Secondo:

Every year we come here they serve us a fantastic pasta dish, and this one might have topped them all. Incredible. Oh, caciocavallo is a smoked cheese….I had to look that up!

At this point we switched over to the reds, and two more pairing with this course. The Chianti paired beautifully with the food, the other one, not at all.

Terzo:

Oh my. I have become quite the fan of veal. Another dish that was off-the-charts delicious.

Quarto:

 

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, lamb is not my thing, but this was freaking spectacular.  I guess I am becoming a lamb fan, too.

Let’s face it, I’m a fan of almost anything when cooked by world-class chefs. Makes all the difference in the world.

Three wines to pair with this one, one of which was Sordo Ravera Barolo, which we tasted and I reviewed here at our Barolo dinner earlier this week.

Oh, and Valentina need not worry about my thoughts on her wine!

Quinto:

Outside of the cranberry raisin monstrosities, this was another perfect dish. Superb.

Talk about a perfect pairing with this decadent beauty!

Well that’s it! Another year, another fantastic experience. Big thanks to Julio and his entire team at La Terrazza for putting on a great lunch as always.

Next up: Hopefully my wine arrives in the near future so I can finish my reviews of everything we tasted, and bought, from the festival tasting room.

 

 

OK, here we go, first blog post of this year’s VIWF; I was not expecting to be able to get one done while the festival was still ongoing, not because of time constraints, but because using only my laptop presents quite a challenge. You see, the boxes that have all the information on the wine, including the score and price, etc, are just images that I create by using a snapshot program. Basically I highlight what I want, and take a “picture” of it and insert that image into the blog. Easy, normally, but because I have only my laptop, and not my large monitor, I can’t actually select the entire image; my laptop screen is too small. I’ve found a workaround that entails copying and pasting from Excel to Word and then creating an image…problem is that the images are smaller than I like. I’ve made them bigger below, but that causes them to look a little blurry. Apologies if anyone has issues with reading anything in those images. Now, enough of the housekeeping, let’s get to it!

Full disclosure: This is one of the last restaurants in Vancouver we would frequent on a normal night. Nothing against the restaurant, but it specializes in oysters which the wife is allergic to and I don’t like, and seafood which the wife doesn’t eat. But, given that this was a Barolo tasting, and it was unlikely that they were going to pair Barolo with shellfish, or fish in general, we decided to give this event a shot.

One more note of housekeeping below: The prices that are listed as at the “BC Liquor Store”, as far as I know that is only at the on-site BC Liquor Store at the festival itself, not in regular BC Liquor Stores. You may have to search to find these after the festival is over.

The event was a tasting of Sardo, a well-known winery from Barolo, who brought us their entry-level offering plus three single-vineyard wines, and a white and a surprise at the end. We were joined by their Director of Marketing, Elisa, straight from Italy, and their local agent, Italo. Both were terrific, friendly, warm and knowledgeable. There were a few VIP’s at our table as well, including Sid Cross, the co-founder of The Chefs’ Table Society of BC. I honestly did not know who he was, but apparently he is kind of a big deal in the world of local food and wine.

 

Going in, we thought this was kind of a nightmare menu for us. The wife can’t eat oysters, has never had Beef Carpaccio in her life, and doesn’t much enjoy duck. I was pretty much in the same boat, minus the oyster allergy.

Thankfully they were more than willing to prepare her a chicken dish to replace the oyster. They were very accommodating.

Course 1:

To say this was the best oyster I have had in my life would suggest I have had a bunch of oysters which is untrue…..but this was really delicious. It might make me reconsider my distaste for oysters. And it paired beautifully with the only white wine served tonight.

Course 2:

To say this was the best Beef Carpaccio I have had in my life would suggest I have had a bunch of Beef Carpaccio which is untrue…..but this was really delicious. It might make me reconsider my distaste for Beef Carpaccio. And it paired beautifully with our first Barolo of the night.

And yes, I was able to simply copy and paste that paragraph above and change “oyster” to “Beef Carpaccio”.

 

Course 3:

To say this was the best…..OK, enough. I would never in a million years order duck in a restaurant, but in previous instances I have had no trouble eating in when served to me in fixed menu dinners like these. In this case, though, I could not eat this, even after asking the chef to cook it a bit more for me (which he happily obliged). Duck goes against my “no cute animals” stance and this one just wouldn’t go down.

Two wines to pair with this course.

Course 4:

Prime rib that looks like Filet Mignon. Delicious, and a beautiful pairing with the gorgeous wine they served with it. I was so full by this point I couldn’t even eat it all, so I brought the rest of it back to the hotel. The dog is going to get a treat tonight.

And, the wine that went with it was just as special as the beef.

If any of you are interested in purchasing this, the agent’s name is Italo Fionda, and he can be reached via Email. Tell him I sent you and get a 75% discount.

Kidding.

Course 5:

Not exactly my idea of “Black Forest Cake”, but since I am not a huge fan of Black Forest Cake, I didn’t care. This was tasty. The wine they brought with it was something I have never heard of before, a dessert-style Barolo!

All in all, a fun night. Not our menu, for sure, so next year we may stick to wine dinners where the menu is pre-published (some are, some are not) when buying the tickets.

Next up: In just hours, our first event in the tasting room at VIWF, the Thursday trade tasting. The blog will return…..soon.

 

Going to start with a perfect pairing from last night’s dinner. Got this recipe online, and it is a world beater, for two reasons. First, it’s freaking delicious. Secondly, FOUR ingredients total if you count salt and pepper. Couldn’t be easier.

Filet Mignon with a Rich Balsamic Glaze

Oh, if you make this, do the glaze separately. No need to put them both in the same pan, that opens up the possibility of the glaze actually soaking into the meat which could affect how it cooks.

Now, to the wine. From time to time, at Xmas, the wife treats me to a “Dean bottle”; a wine that I am more likely to enjoy than she is. Generally, that means an aged Tempranillo (although she is coming around). I am not sure if it was Xmas 2016 or 2017, but this was one of those bottles.

Delicious, and complemented the steak perfectly.

A few other random bottles from around the world:

Another bottle that was a Xmas gift from the wife, 2 years ago. This is the entry-level effort from Pahlmeyer, a top Napa producer. Very tasty.

Robert Mondavi knows Fumé Blanc (in fact he invented the term), and they currently make three: This one, from Oakville, is the middle of the three. The entry-level Napa version is easy to find in any BC Liquor store ($23ish), and the high-end one, available only from the winery I believe, is spectacular. The one in the middle is nice but a far cry from the best one.

Here’s something you don’t see all the time, a Napa Chardonnay closing in on 7 years old, on BC Liquor Store shelves.

This was our “backup bottle” from our recent Argentina theme night; just in case one of the reds we served was no good. That wasn’t the case, so we took it to a friend’s place for lunch last weekend. So different from BC Syrah (or Aussie Shiraz for that matter), but quite pleasant.

Ah yes, Provence rosé. There is nothing like it. Can’t wait until spring and the new crop.

Here is an interesting bottle; a gift from a friend that knew we were into wine but didn’t know much more than that. This is the one where you can scan the label and get a story about the crime committed by the crook on the label. Interesting gimmick. The wine isn’t something we would drink, BUT, I must confess, we put most of this into a pasta sauce that ended up in lasagne, and it was spectacular there. The sweetness of the wine complemented the sauce.

Now, let’s go to BC for some local treats! We will start with a very special one, part of Tinhorn Creek’s Innovation series. I had to ask them exactly what was so different about this wine, and this was their response:

The grapes were hand harvested in early October and were fermented whole cluster (no crushing or destemming) in open top fermenters and allowed to ferment naturally (no added yeast) for 25 days.  The whole berries and clusters go through a partial carbonic fermentation (void of oxygen) creating a unique flavour profile and texture to this wine that is more typical of Pinot Noir or Syrah.  As the yeast must work harder to get the sugar inside the berries these fermentations typically are cooler and are much less vigorous, leading to long, slow, gentle extraction of colour, tannin and flavour.  The wines were then pressed and racked to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and aging.  The Innovation Series Whole Cluster Cabernet Franc was barrel aged for 16 months before racking, fining and minimal filtration.

The fruit was harvested from Red Brick Vineyard (Osoyoos – Anarchist Mountain).  Vines are 15 years old and the soil is sandy loam.

Some random beauties:

Here’s a couple from another high-end winery under the Von Mandl banner, Martin’s Lane:

That’s it for today, and probably that’s it for at least a week. Who knows, maybe I’ll find the time and inspiration to do a blog post about the VIWF during the festival itself, but no promises. Worst case, I will have a ton to report on when we return!

 

So let’s talk a minute about wine pairings. Anyone who has ever had a glass of wine in their life has probably at least heard about them, or contemplated them. Those of us who take wine a little more seriously, which probably includes anyone reading this blog, know quite a bit about them. In today’s effort, I want to tell you about one of the most perfect pairings I have ever produced. And it was just a little recipe at lunch yesterday.

But we’ll get to that….first, the supermodel.

Yeah, she’s kind of fetching, isn’t she? And she fancies herself a bit of a cook. And she is married to Uber-hunk (if you are into that sort of thing) John Legend. And she has written two cookbooks (so far). Oh, and if you aren’t following her on Twitter, you are missing out. She is hilarious.

I know what you are thinking….first, who the Hell buys cookbooks anymore when there are approximately 1.9 billion free recipes on this thing called ‘the Internet’?

Well, from time to time, you find a special one, and these would both qualify. I know, I know, she’s a supermodel, she can’t eat real food, right? She’s probably produced a “diet cookbook” full of kale and quinoa and other stuff that somehow qualifies as food these days.

Uh-uh. Real recipes, and some pretty great ones too. One of the best potato salads I have ever had. Definitely the best grilled cheese sandwich on the planet. And so many more.

Oh, and if you like Thai food, her mother is a crazy wicked Thai cook, and each cookbook has a section specifically for those recipes.

For lunch yesterday, I made this:

Spicy Jammy Drummies (this is someone else’s picture)

Insanely good. And the sauce would go with almost anything. Any kind of chicken, and probably any pork too. Ham? Oh yeah! In fact, the sauce was so good that next time I will DOUBLE it, so that my chicken is even more gooey and decadent.

And the wine that paired PERFECTLY with it? Here it is.

The food was great. The wine was great. Together, they were sublime.

Pairing food and wine is a passion of mine, and sometimes I get it right, sometimes I miss horribly, and then, occasionally like yesterday, I freaking nail it. And it’s awesome when that happens!

Next up in the blog, a ton of more random stuff to tell you about. I’ll get at least one blog post done this weekend, and then I’ll be silent for a little while as we spend most of next week at the Vancouver International Wine Festival! Can’t wait!