by Sean Orr | Vancouver bike lanes draw unnecessary lines. No, Vancouver Courier, you’re the one drawing lines. You’re the one making infrastructure a moral issue.

Leading us to the tweet of the day c/o Joe Hill: “Things I’ve learned are socialist: libraries, schools, health care for kids w/asthma, paved roads, garbage collection, the census, science”. Also: parks, safe injection sites, public transit, taxes, and the CBC.

Oh, behave! VPD officer who struck prisoner in wagon last year avoids criminal record if he stays out of trouble for 6 months. Man, I wished everything in life worked like that. “So if I don’t come in to work ripped on acid, smashing dishes, lighting fires for the next six months I won’t lose my job? Cool!”

The Beat doesn’t go on: Second season of The Beat could be its last. Good riddance. If I want to see the police harass the poor I’ll just step outside.

Repeat Offenders: New EI rules takes aim at frequent users, force workers to accept lower pay. So those people who are most vulnerable, hardest to employ, and the most marginalised are now called frequent users? Do they get Air Miles on that?

Turns out Sullivan can write as well as he can run a city: “I have been intrigued by recent discussions in the media about the theory that foreign Chinese homebuyers are responsible for high housing prices in Vancouver”. Foreign Chinese, eh? OK, sorry. It’s not that bad. It’s just that weird self-promotion he always does.

Remove the Bubble Wrap from Our Public Spaces. By-laws are almost always unnecessary. I’m no Libertarian, but I mean…come on, street hockey? The other day at McLean Park we watched the cops ticket a man in a teepee because his dogs weren’t on a leash. They were bothering nobody.

Gym should have let man work out in hiking boots, tribunal rules. Wow, it took a whole tribunal, eh?

Your skinny jeans might be killing you. Yeah, I had to hang up my Nudies when I kept getting Male Itch.

Quail's Gate is located at 3303 Boucherie Road in West Kelowna, BC | 250.769.4451 | 1.800.420.9463 | quailsgate.com

The GOODS from Quail’s Gate Winery

West Kelowna, BC | We are currently seeking a highly motivated, experienced, and creative individual to join our Old Vines Restaurant culinary team in the role of Assistant Pastry Chef. You will provide leadership of production and menu development in the pastry department, as well as mentor and coach pastry apprentices. Our successful candidate will have minimum of two (2) years previous experience with ‘from scratch’ baking of breads and pastries in a similar fast paced environment, preferably within fine dining. They will also have successfully completed a formal education program and achieved an Interprovincial Journeyman’s Certificate.

Quails’ Gate Winery is nestled in the beautiful Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia. Building on our history and strengthening our team is a top priority. Quails’ Gate fosters a positive and supportive work environment, ensuring each team member has the tools needed to succeed. For our 2012 season, we are seeking mature, friendly and eager-to-learn individuals to join our culinary team in the following full time role. Please note the dates of employment vary; however, in general we expect our positions to be starting in June. Details after the jump…

Please submit your resume with covering letter in confidence to employment@quailsgate.com.

Details

3303 Boucherie Road, West Kelowna, BC | Canada
Telephone: 250.769.4451 | 1.800.420.9463
Web: quailsgate.com | Facebook | Twitter

Gallery

The People

Proprietor: The Stewart Family
Chief Operations Officer: Tyler Galts
Winery Chef: Roger Sleiman
Winemaker: Grant Stanley

Members of the Quails’ Gate team are well respected and viewed as some of the most talented in the wine and hospitality industry, making their mark as innovative and knowledgeable leaders. By having been provided many opportunities for development, our staff strive for personal achievement and development. The Stewart family ensures that the best skills in the business are recruited, developed and retained. Winery staff feel that they work for the best winery in the country.

About Quail’s Gate

THE WINE

As one of Canada’s foremost family owned and operated estate wine producers, Quails’ Gate is internationally recognized as a top quality producer of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Quails’ Gate wines are premium and terroir focused. The entire portfolio of Quails’ Gate wines is consistently endorsed by wine experts as one of Canada’s most outstanding.

THE DESTINATION

Not only is Quails’ Gate one of Canada’s foremost wine country destinations, it is also internationally and nationally recognized as a premier agri-tourism destination. Having been provided with a friendly, sophisticated and educational wine and culinary experience, visitors return again and again. The Quails’ Gate onsite experience is most relaxing and welcoming. Onsite hospitality staff are among the most professional, friendly and knowledgeable in matters of wine and food in the country.

THE SITE

The facility and grounds of our vineyards reflect the premium quality of Quails’ Gate wines. The care and attention to detail given to the vineyard and winery landscape echo the attention to detail given to all other areas of the company. Quails’ Gate continues to be a leader in advanced viticulture practices, placing the Stewart family’s vineyards among the most prized grape growing sites for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and other focused varietals in North America.

OLD VINES RESTAURANT

An all season culinary destination, Old Vines Restaurant & Wine Bar is an exceptional vineyard side location on the slopes of the Boucherie Mountain Bench. Guests are warmly welcomed in our must visit West Kelowna site with expansive and picturesque southern views of Lake Okanagan.

Chef Roger Sleiman offers menus with ingredients sourced from surrounding fields and pastures, our kitchen garden and regional British Columbia farms all paired perfectly with our Estate Wines.

Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate highlights the abundant resources of the Okanagan Valley, harmoniously matched with gracious service, breathtaking views and sublime wines. A long leisurely sunset dinner, al fresco bistro lunch or small bites and wine flights in our Wine Bar in summer or Fireside Lounge in winter, Old Vines Restaurant is the perfect location for dinner, light luncheons, mid afternoon grazing or après work sipping.

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If you love Vancouver restaurants as much as we do, you’ve probably heard about the awesome Aprons For Gloves charity and the July 25th Restaurant Rumble (a series of fights pitting restaurant workers against one another in the ring for public enjoyment and a very great cause).

The contenders – and there are many – have been in training for several weeks now, dedicating a lot of time and energy outside the workplace to get themselves ready to rumble (they’ve even built a make-shift gym above Save On Meats). If you haven’t been following their progress on Twitter and Instagram, you should, because some of the shots are priceless (see the one of Pape and Da Cruz below).

The current focus is on fundraising and building awareness, so please spread the word and consider spreading some financial love, too. A lot of local, “at risk” kids will benefit from your generosity, so if you haven’t put up your dukes, consider putting up a few bucks for the kids. You can check out who is fighting and put some cash behind your favourite scrapper here. Tickets will go on sale in June, and we’ll be sure to give our readers a head’s up, because – as you can well imagine – this amazing thing is going to sell out very fast.

NED BELL TRY OUT  CLIP (Executive Chef at Yew in the Four Seasons)

AYA GARCIA TRY OUT CLIP (Barista at JJ Bean)

LINDSAY APLAS TRY OUT CLIP (Server at Cork & Fin)

DALE MACKAY TRY OUT CLIP (Owner/chef at Ensemble, Ensemble Tap)

TRAINING

Steve "Bad News" Da Cruz of The Waldorf displays a shiner delivered by Josh "Brick Top" Pape of The Diamond

SUPPORT APRONS FOR GLOVES

Le Vieux Pin is located at 34070-73th Street outside Oliver, BC | 250-498-8388 | levieuxpin.ca

The GOODS from Le Vieux Pin

Vancouver, BC | With spring coming quickly to a close and summer right around the corner our tasting room is now open every day. Much of the spring vineyard work is now completed including some new plantings down in our South Osoyoos vineyard we call Stag. Winemaker Severine Pinte explains some of the spring work this year: “Spring and frost free nights have finally arrived in the South Okanagan. This year’s project for the Le Vieux Pin winery team was to interplant our Stag vineyard in Osoyoos. A small secondary project was to switch the irrigation system on a tiny block of the vineyard from overhead sprinkler to drip irrigation. We choose the Syrah clone 174 for the elegance and velvety tannins it brings to the wine, especially when planted on the very sandy soils of this site. Why is drip irrigation important? We talk a lot about sustainability and part of this process is to better manage our water input. The sandy soil structure, high temperature and low rainfall, combined with the young vines we are planting are three critical reasons to water the plants in a very manageable and controllable way. Drip irrigation has an efficiency rate of 90 % versus 50% for the overhead. The small patch of vineyard we converted this spring was the last remaining piece of overhead irrigation among our estate vineyards. This transformation was managed by our vineyard manager Jody Subotin and his crew. They got the job done right on time and the young vines got water to start establishing their roots!”

As always you can read this and more in our Le Vieux Pin Newsletters.

Details

34070-73th Street Oliver, BC
Phone: 250-498-8388 | Fax: 250-498-8399
Email: info@levieuxpin.ca
Web: www.levieuxpin.ca | Facebook | Twitter

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Gallery

The People Who Make It Happen

Winemaker: Severine Pinte

About Le Vieux Pin

The best wines come from the best vineyard sites; this is “terroir.” Fortunately for us (and you!), the Okanagan Valley happens to be one of the best wine regions anywhere with its unique climate and variety of latitudes and soils. There is a perceptible difference in temperature and greenery around the valley, from the lushness of the north to the sage ridden desert in the South. According to WineBC, the area between Oliver and Osoyoos is the northernmost tip of the northernmost desert in the world; the Sonora Desert. The summers are very hot; it is hotter in July and August than Napa Valley, but the evenings are markedly cooler. Osoyoos has 1450 growing degree days and a mere eight inches of average annual rainfall (WineBC.com). Low rainfall, high heat units and a dry environment allow us to farm in a sustainable manner with all the respect the land deserves.

Our vineyard management strategy is based on Old World techniques with a dusting of New World modernism added on top. Our focus is to make wine that is representative of its terroir. Non-interventionist and low-input viticulture is the method we use to get there. Deficit irrigation, on-site composting, high-density plantings and extremely low yields allow the vines to show us who they really are, deep down to their roots.

We have very distinct soil composition between our vineyards: some sites are very high in white silica sand while others are quite gravelly and rocky. Some sites show traces of schist and shale deposited by volcanic activities in the area. Along with our sister winery Lastella we own and cultivate 50 acres of vineyards scattered throughout the South Okanagan. We also source some grapes from a select group of growers who have certified organic vineyards or grow with sustainability in mind.

Passion, friendship, dedication and commitment are the recipe for our success.

Please visit the winery when you visit the Okanagan and join our email newsletter for the latest news from wine country. Visit us online at www.levieuxpin.ca on Facebook at www.facebook.com/levieuxpin and twitter at twitter.com/levieuxpin.

Á votre santé!

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Narration and space nerditude by the lovely and talented Dr. Olivia Johnson. Cool (via). Of course Flyer’s goalie Ilya Brygalov still does a better job.

TAKE ANOTHER BREAK