Naramata Bench Winery Association

[Vancouver]

I just heard about this and figured some might be interested:

The Naramata Bench Winery Association is holding its second annual "Best of the Bench" Spring Release on Tuesday April 19th, 2005, from 6-9pm at Villa Amato, 88 E 1st Ave. in Vancouver.

Each of 14 wineries will be selecting their singular best wine to pair with the inspired food creation of the best of Vancouver and Naramata restaurants. Here are the pairings:

Elephant Island Orchard Wines & Les Amis du Fromage

Hillside Estate Winery & the Barrel Room Bistro

Joie & Memphis Blues Barbeque House

Kettle Valley Winery & Lumiere

La Frenz Winery & Raincity Grill

Lake Breeze Vineyards & Mahdina's

Lang Vineyards & the Naramata Heritage Inn

Laughing Stock Vineyards & C Restaurant

Mistral Estate Winery & Café de Paris

Nichol Vineyard & Bis Moreno

Poplar Grove Winery & Le Gavroche

Red Rooster Winery & Villa del Lupo

Spiller's Estate Winery & Hermitage

Did anyone go last year? Is it worth the price?

Cheers!

[Mooshmouse]

What is the price?

[Vancouver]

Oops. Sorry to leave that part out - $75. Tickets will be available via ticketmaster apparently.

Cheers!

[barolo]

I went last year when it was at the Roundhouse. A good event, although some of the food ran out early so you are advised to show up on time.

[merlin]

Looks like quite the impressive line-up of wineries...a number of familiar names but a few that I do not know at all...Okanagan keeps on expanding

[Vancouver]

I looked into it a bit more and also found out that they are offering a Best of the Bench case of wine to purchase. Here is their blurb on it:

"To experience these superb wines at home and create your own perfect culinary pairings, take home a "Best of the Bench" Case for sale at the event. Do not miss this opportunity as several of these wines are produced in small quantity, with limited availability. Additional sales will be available after April 19th at Marquis Wine Cellars & Kitsilano Wine Cellar (Vancouver), Spinnakers Spirit Merchants (Victoria) and Bubblees (Penticton). This year's format includes 14 wines in a funky bench box design."

Sounds like an interesting case to purchase and get introduced to some of those new wines!

Cheers!

[Zucchini Mama]

Picnic Deluxe: The 2005 Naramata Bench Tasting

It was like the decadent picnic of my dreams: food from some of the top fine dining restaurants in Vancouver paired with the wines of the Naramata Bench. My partner and I discovered Naramata 7 years ago, in our life B.C. (before child). We would stay at a cheap motel in town and tour around tasting wine and eating local food. I'll never forget the first time we tasted the Nichol Cabernet Franc. We both looked at each other thinking "This is a real find". Then, when our child was one year old, we did the same thing with him in my backpack carrier, and the wines were getting better and better. Now I can't believe how far wineries like Red Rooster have come. The secret is out, and I'm filled with both pleasure and sadness. (Damn, the prices will skyrocket!)

The venue for the event was a ballroom above Mario's Gelatti, with big windows on the North side facing Science World and False Creek. We were there when the doors opened and the crowd swarmed towards the food. The room was a good size for the event, but it was just so popular, that it was immediately crowded with short lineups for food and wine.

The most successful bites were generally the ones that were a) pre-assembled and b) not dependent on a temperature above lukewarm to be successful. Something simple like the duck and prune rillettes served by the Barrel Room Bistro were perfect to grab and go on to the wine that it was paired with (Hillside Estate Winery Reserve Merlot 2003). Forgive me if I can't remember every element of every casse-croute: some have so many ingredients I couldn't keep track of them all! Please feel free to correct any of my mistakes made below.

A couple of firsts and seconds for me: It was the first time I tasted Alberta-raised Kobe beef (luscious and tender), and cavello, yes, that's Italian for "horse" (equally tender). The Kobe, served by Mahdina's was sliced thinly, it must have been marinated, and wrapped around some fois gras, on avocado purée on a rice cracker. The rice cracker sunk it for me-too many associations with my son's preschool snack time. Next was the horse. I loved watching the expression on people's faces as the chef from Bis Moreno revealed the source of the meat he was serving. For the most part, people dug in and loved it. My partner took some convincing, "But you have to try it, they did a whole thread on horse meat on eGullet!". P liked it all right, but he makes an excellent buffalo carpaccio himself, so he's pretty fussy. This was paired with the Nichol Vineyard Syrah 2001. We had a 1998 Nichol Syrah the other night that was just ready, and I would keep the 2001 in the cellar for a few more years.

This was the second and third time I tasted fois gras-which is indeed perhaps the most guilty of guilty pleasures. One with kobe (it was overwhelmed by the meat), and Villa Del Lupo served a fois gras parfait with fig and balsalmic something, preserved pear, garnished with a sliver of quail's egg. I don't know, fois gras tastes like meat-flavored whipping cream to me - call me a phillistine, but I don't think the pain is worth the gain! This was paired with The Red Rooster Merlot Grand Reserve 2003-I'm amazed at how much more body their wines have of late.

The Raincity Grill made one of the most intriguing snacks of the evening: Little Qualicaum Raclette (panna cotta?) with fennel salad, grilled octopus and candied hazelnut. This was served on what looked like a homemade cracker. The sexy mouth-feel satisfied my deep octopus-loving soul and the flavours were subtle-almost too subtle for the luscious Viognier is was paired with from La Frenz.

From Lumiere we had a team assembling and serving braised beef rib truffle pressé on celeriac purée with chocolat jus and a celery leaf and arugula garnish -uh, at least I think that's what they said it was. As I was being served I found it hard to restrain myself from asking Rob Feenie if White Spot was going to start serving fois gras on it's triple O's. I hadn't had enough alcohol at that point to do it. Also, his food does have a way of making me speechless. Truffles have the same effect on my brain as donuts seem to have on Homer Simpson-D'oh! This was paired with the wine everyone was falling in love with, the King Merlot from Kettle Valley.

The sweet item was from the Naramata Heritage Inn: goat cheese and yogurt cheesecake with almond shortbread and a thyme-infused Bosc and Bartlett pear compote. (Thanks to them for writing this on a sign on their table!) It was a clever idea-to serve each round of cake on a cookie. This was gorgeous and I'm going to have to try it at home. It paired well with The Lang Vineyards Riesling Select Late Harvest 2003.

My favorite combo of the evening was Hervé Martin's Roquefort cream piped on top of a slice of pear on a slice of toasted baguette (baked twice daily at his restaurant, Hermitage). This was garnished with walnuts and paired with Spiller Estate Winery's Pear Fruit Wine, I loved it! P. tasted the wine without the cheese, and said it does stand up on its own - perfect for wrapping up a dinner party.

There was tons of food. Memphis Blues ran out of BBQ halfway through, but I wasn't surprised because their portions were huge. The pork was paired with Joie Noble - a blend of Gewurtz, Kerner, and Muscat. I liked it - fresh and summery. I was surprised that the white held up so well to the BBQ.

The savory highlight for me was the sausages and beans from Le Gavroche. It was duck (?) sausage served on white bean cassoulet with a chocolate port sauce. This dish made me want to try the restaurant, because it was what I imagine when I think of French Bistro Food - unpretentious and bloody good! It was paired with The Poplar Grove Reserve 2002 (Bordeaux blend).

A couple of things I wasn't fond of were Umami's rissoto cakes with endamame and shrimp - too fussy to prepare and didn't quite work. I also didn't like the cold macaroni dish with Uni Mayonnaise served by Café de Paris.

Elephant Island cherry Stellaport was served with cheese from Les Amis du Fromage. They also printed up a lovely little card with the names of the cheeses and the wines they were paired with which was much appreciated. I liked the port, but I'm a bit of a sucker for anything remotely port-like. The cheeses matched with the port were Italian Taleggio, Ermite from Québec, French Roquefort, British Lemon Stilton, and Saenkanter 4 yr. old Gouda from North Holland.

My favorite red was the Portfolio 2003 from Laughingstock Vineyards-64% Merlot, 33% Cab. Sauv, and 3% Cab Franc. It needs time in the bottle to soften the tannins, but has lots of potential.

I had a great time, and by eight o'clock it became crowded enough that it was time for us to leave. Apparently they were pouring wine long after the food ran out. The amount of wine poured in the glass was a bit too generous, in fact for a tasting. I didn't want any of it to go into the bucket! It would have been fun to stay to the end and chat more with the winemakers, but of course, we had a babysitter on the meter, so we headed home where I had a glass of milk and an oatmeal cookie to settle in for the evening.

What a great city we live in! And here's a cyber toast to the celebration of ten fantastic years of sharing good food and wine with my guy!

Zuke

[nwyles]

Wow !

I went to the trade tasting but as always, five wineies into it , it is all about hanging with the friends that you run into. At our tasting there was no food athough I would have enjoyed the cavallo.

A few notables.

Nichol Vineyards Capricchio ( ? sp )

Kettle Valley King Merlot

Laughing Stock Vineyards

Jamie Maw's new haircut - he looked like my slightly older brother - I will be 39 on Saturday so Maw was looking 42 ish !

[BCinBC]

Zuke, thanks for the report. Some questions (for anyone really) from someone with a very limited wine education:

La Frenz Viognier - I have had this recommended to me, on the basis that I'm not a white drinker and much prefer reds. You described it as "luscious" – could you expand a little? I’m wondering if you mean not crisp (the website notes it’s a higher alcohol %), or if it’s more full bodied white, or? Also wondering if it's a sweetness 0 or 1.

Kettle Valley King Merlot – what year? Did you get to talk to the maker(s) at all? We have a single bottle of their gamay, but were told to wait a few years. Sounds like we should pick up the king merlot too.

Cheers!

[Zucchini Mama]

I'm an amateur vinophile myself. The Kettle Valley King Merlot is 2002, and it's a very hot commodity, so get it while you can. I'd say the Viognier is medium-bodied. Let me talk to my father-in-law before I give you a sweetnes rating-he's the real expert, or better yet, drop into Village Wines and get the real scoop on the whole event.

Edited to add: Happy Birthday Neil! Like my partner and I, you were born in a fire horse year which means your faults and strengths are doubled! Double trouble!

Zuke

Edited April 22, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[Mooshmouse]

La Frenz Viognier - I have had this recommended to me, on the basis that I'm not a white drinker and much prefer reds. You described it as "luscious" – could you expand a little? I’m wondering if you mean not crisp (the website notes it’s a higher alcohol %), or if it’s more full bodied white, or? Also wondering if it's a sweetness 0 or 1.

←

I'd say the Viognier by La Frenz is more of a 1 than a 0. Not necessarily crisp, perhaps more round and creamy tasting. Here's Anthony Gismondi's take on it. As a red-wine drinker who's started her re-education on whites, I quite enjoy this Viognier.

Hope this helps!

[BCinBC]

Thanks Moosh. Crispness schmispness is what I say, so it sounds like the Viognier is a must try. Cheers!

Edited April 23, 2005 by BCinBC (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

Arrgh! My post got lost. What I said was the guy at Village wines seconded that emotion-it's a 1 because of its honeyed sweetness. Andrew Jefford (101 Things You Need to Know About Wine) likens a good viognier to a young girl stepping out of a shower. I think it's more like Mae West stepping out of a scented bath. ;) The man at VW reccomended drinking the wine with soft cheeses like brie or gorgonzola.

They are having a Bench taste on Saturday from 3-5 p.m. Should be fun. Phone the store for details.

Zuke

Edited April 26, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[appreciator]

I'm an amateur vinophile myself. The Kettle Valley King Merlot is 2002, and it's a very hot commodity, so get it while you can. I'd say the Viognier is medium-bodied. Let me talk to my father-in-law before I give you a sweetnes rating-he's the real expert, or better yet, drop into Village Wines and get the real scoop on the whole event.

I was looking for the KV King Merlot this past weekend and could only come up with a Merlot. Even their website doesn't call it King Merlot so I am just wondering if this is something special that may have only been at this tasting, or has anyone seen this anywhere around town. The Broadway International Wine Store at Broadway and Macdonald carries a few KV wines, including a Merlot. I tried their Brakeman's Select which is a blend of Pinot Noir, Merlot and selected other red varieties. I won't bother to attempt to describe it as all attempts at such are mostly useless, but I will say that we enjoyed it, especially after it had been open for a couple of hours. Here's a link to the KVW website in case anyone is interested: Kettle Valley Winery I guess I could fire off an email to them to inquire about the King Merlot but thought I'd try to get more details here first.

edited because I can't spell!

Edited April 26, 2005 by appreciator (log)

[Chef Metcalf]

I was looking for the KV King Merlot this past weekend and could only come up with a Merlot.

You can find it at...

Dundarave Wine Cellar

2448 Marine Drive

West Vancouver, BC

V7V 1L1

Phone: (604) 921-1814

Hours: Sun - Tue 10-8; Wed-Sat 10-9

Dundarave has a delivery of the King Merlot coming in this week, so the winery tells me.

Phone to put some on hold, it may go fast.

They received a case last week so maybe there's a few bottles left on the shelf...or not.

cm

Edited April 26, 2005 by Chef Metcalf (log)

[the g-man]

Picnic Deluxe: The 2005 Naramata Bench Tasting

My favorite red was the Portfolio 2003 from Laughingstock Vineyards-64% Merlot, 33% Cab. Sauv, and 3% Cab Franc. It needs time in the bottle to soften the tannins, but has lots of potential.

does anyone know where you can pick up some of this Laughingstock wine (other than the winery)?

[M'd]

I'd have to agree with the g-man;

The Laughing Stock was impressive and showed the young wine maker's training (worked under Ian Sutherland of Poplar Grove).

Similarly Poplar Grove's two single vineyard offerings were also exceptional.

My only issue is with the price. These wines are priced to put them into a VERY competitive international field of competition.

---are they really ready for that?

[appreciator]

I was looking for the KV King Merlot this past weekend and could only come up with a Merlot.

You can find it at...

Dundarave Wine Cellar

2448 Marine Drive

West Vancouver, BC

V7V 1L1

Phone: (604) 921-1814

Hours: Sun - Tue 10-8; Wed-Sat 10-9

Dundarave has a delivery of the King Merlot coming in this week, so the winery tells me. Phone to put some on hold, it may go fast. They received a case last week so maybe there's a few bottles left on the shelf...or not.

cm

←

Thank you Chef Metcalf.... now another reason to head to West Van. After meeting Kim and Frank (I think?) of the Dundarave Fish Market at Chambar on Monday night, I'm very interested in visiting their place as well.

So Dundarave Wine Cellar to pick up wine, lunch at the Dundarave Fish Market followed by a stop at Whole Foods, pretty much rounds out a Sunday afternoon

[barolo]

This week's Courier has a Tim Pawsey article on Naramata Bench wineries including a list of wines that are relatively easy to find in town. No mention of KV wines in that list though. Link to article

Also in this edition are the Reader's Choice Awards which should provide some more fodder for discussion. Here's a preview: Solly's wins best bagels.