Good Food In The Similkameen?

It was with more than a little trepidation that Alishan and I made the move out of the Okanagan into the relative unknown of the beautiful but isolated Similkameen Valley. Drawn by the chance to purchase five acres of land that well-suited to a vineyard and the stunning beauty of the area, we made the move anyway. Thinking we were destined for home cooking and nothing more exotic than frozen Vij’s meals picked up from the Codfather’s Seafood Market during our weekly trips to Kelowna, our stomachs were ready for a barren run. When we signed the dotted line to purchase our house, I didn’t think there was an espresso machine in the valley. But things have been much better than we’d hoped.

The first discovery was the Riverbed Bistro. After a long day of shuttling our stuff between Peachland and Cawston, we were finally ready for pizza and a bottle of red wine amidst the rubble of boxes. We headed into town (Keremeos being our new “big smoke”) and discovered this newly opened restaurant, something that wasn’t there a couple of months ago when we were finalising our house purchase. The Mexican pizza turned out to be very good (we are now addicted) and on numerous other visits, their skill with the deep fryer has impressed us to no end. There is something great about a restaurant that only does simple food but does it very well. And they make a decent latté. Things were looking up.

The next major victory for our pioneering stomachs came during a fruit stand stop in Keremeos. The family that runs Sanderson Farms also makes authentic pakoras, samosas and a range of curries. My in-laws, who lived in India, proclaimed the pakoras the best they’ve tried since they left. So now we have our little bistro and some good Indian food sorted. Dare I say it, choice.

We also have the recently opened Benja Thai. I was used to some pretty good Thai food in Australia but so often our Canadian Thai experience has been second to many. Our hopes weren’t high but we kept hearing the local gossip about the new Thai restaurant and made our first foray in a couple of weeks ago. Wow. Some of the best Thai food I have ever had. Spoiled for choice.

The Similkameen has always been considered a bit of a backwater with little to excite the senses. But now with nine wineries (and a few more to open soon), this is developing into its own little wine region. And while it might not have the fine dining we often associate with wine, there is both excellent wine and good, inexpensive food to enjoy. There is the feeling that this is the beginning of something exciting. I will keep you updated as things unfold.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

Enjoying Beaujolais Nouveau

It is very nearly the time of year when the much maligned, often shunned and increasingly under-appreciated Beaujolais Nouveau is released.

Beaujolais Nouveau is typically the first wine release of the new vintage. From the Beaujolais region in Burgundy, France, they take the Gamay grape, ferment it by a method known as carbonic maceration (basically it ferments without crushing the berries making a very juicy, aromatic wine), clean it up, bottle it and somehow have it shipped around the world ready for release on the third Thursday of November.

I feel this wine is not well understood by consumers. It was dreamed up as a marketing scheme by the folks from Beaujolais and once upon a time incredibly successful, not now it’s star is waning. Why? Because we take it too bloody seriously. Is it not enough that there is some reason to celebrate something in mid-November? Is it not enough that you can buy a bunch of bottles for about $15 each, invite over a bunch of friends and drink a juicy, light wine and solve the world’s problems without thinking too much about it? That is plenty enough reasoning for me.

Personally, I have always embraced this little wine celebration. In fact, my wife and I have created an annual event around its release. 2008 will be our 10th edition of our little Beaujolais Nouveau and Choucroute Garni feast.

Choucroute is an Alsatian dish and is fantastic with Riesling but it is also perfect with the tart, juicy, young Beaujolais. It’s basically every cut and type of pork you can imagine from smoked hock to sausage cooked under a blanket of sauerkraut and white wine. This year we are lucky enough to have some of the fantastic Crannog Ales and pig bacon made by Cam & Dana of Joy Road Catering. What could be better than pigs fed on organic beer scraps and then made into bacon? Slap some of the fantastic Naramustard on the table, put out the tumblers (no fancy stemware allowed) and this one-pot wonder pleases all palates. It has even been known to tempt vegetarians.

So mark Nov 20th in your calendar, run down to your local liquor store and get your share of the Beaujolais Nouveau. Invite some friends and celebrate the day because someone deemed it was a worthy enough event for a celebration and that should be all the encouragement we need.

(AFP photo: Tokyo wine lovers – and children? – bathe in Beaujolais Nouveau for kicks)

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at

www.wineplus.ca.

Quote: Weight Problem Solved

I read a fantastic quote today. It was one of those cheesy things put as a tagline to an email signature but in the end definitely forgiven as it is absolutely fantastic.

The quote:

“I went on a rigorous diet that eliminated alcohol, fat and sugar. In two weeks, I lost 14 days.” Tim Maia, Brazilian singer-songwriter.

Enough said.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

10 Years of Okanagan Wine

We live in a fledgling wine community here in BC. The wines are developing rapidly in quality although we have little history or pedigree on which to base our decisions. Even though I am a relative newbie to Canada (I have lived here 11.5 years), I feel like I have experienced a large chunk of the growth and development in the BC wine industry. So I decided to throw a tasting.

My first job in an Okanagan winery was in 1999, a point when the industry was just starting to expand. That same year saw a rapid expansion to 4200 acres, from just 2100 in 1994. This year we hit 9100. It seems that the toasty 1998 vintage was the first time people, both customers and consumers, decided that, yes, BC could make a decent red wine. My first couple of years in the industry were spent trying to convince punters that there were, in fact, decent BC red wines. Soon things changed and it was the punters telling me that BC was making some pretty damn good red wines.

Anyway, it seems that 1998 might have been the turning point. It was around this time that there were finally enough quality focused wineries making product BC could be proud of. Hence this tasting I have decided to throw. I feel that from the 1998 vintage on that we finally have a significant enough quantity of quality wine that we can sit down with, taste, analyze, and discuss. This tasting will take a look at something few have thought about or actually analyzed, and that is how well BC wines age. For this tasting I have put together 12 wines from BC, all at least 10 years old and many older. There will be a small panel of wine geeks and it will take the format of both a tasting and discussion. There have already been requests to host a Vancouver version so stay tuned if all goes well. Let’s see what BC wine is capable of.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

Tasting Notes: Plastic Fantastic

It is hard to escape the oddly shaped and decidedly smaller looking bottles that are starting to appear in the liquor stores. These plastic bottles are obviously a good move for the environment (being much lighter for transport and cheaper to make) but the wine has to be bloody cheap for us to forgive this complete lack of packaging class. I tasted two of these wines last week, a semi-local Painted Turtle Cabernet-Shiraz and the Australian Little Penguin Cabernet-Merlot. Both of these wines are cheap and not surprisingly neither blew me away with intensity or complexity. Still, the Painted Turtle was by far the better wine. The reason? It was actually dry. The Little Penguin, on the other hand, was quite sweet – sweet, ripe fruit backed up by nothing else. I poured this wine blind for my Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Intermediate class last week and they were shocked, and to their credit they all picked out the subterfuge.

The moral of the story: don’t be fooled by that bit of sweetness. Look for some substance beyond, some length of flavour and a bit of character.

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Rhys Pender is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Visit his company Wine Plus+ online at www.wineplus.ca.

Cornucopia’s Battle of the Sexes

It’s that time of year again. One of BC’s biggest wine festivals, Cornucopia, is just around the corner. This event is probably still best known for its late night parties and body painted models roaming the tastings, but there is some serious wine content too. We won’t talk about that here.

This year I am sitting on the panel for Battle of the Sexes – a blind taste off that pits male and female wine experts against eachother. It’s one of the most interactive and fun events I have come across at a wine festival anywhere, and I’m excited about participating.

The action heats up and the tasting gets serious as the two panels attempt to identify the blind wines while being cheered and jeered by the crowd. While not a complete gong show, it’s still a blast.

If you’re very lucky, you might get to see wine judge and educator David Scholefield dressed up as a granny.

Food & Wine Heaven In Your PJs

Some of the greatest wine pairings are the simplest. With two young kids, three-hour meals in great restaurants is just more work than enjoyment. So the Vancouver food experience my wife and I look forward to most is now Hon’s with some wine picked up from the Liberty Wine Merchants almost right next door on Robson. The kids are put down to bed and the wine is poured.

Last night’s pairing: the Champalou Vouvray 2005 (a $30 Chenin Blanc from Loire) was rich and complex with those savoury earthy flavours gelling with Hon’s won ton soup, braised mixed meats & seafood, BBQ duck and lemon chicken. We also had to crack into a 2005 Saint-Joseph from Cave Saint Desirat (Rhone). Delicious. Classic meat, leather, red fruits and a long peppery finish.

Food & wine heaven in your pyjamas.

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