Wine 101

The world of wine is vast and that can be intimidating – but not at this seminar. I will break it down to the basics and give you a good foundation of wine knowledge. At La Table Commune, there are a maximum of 12 guests, so you will have ample opportunity to join the discussion and get all of your questions answered by a familiar face.

Your global wine adventure will include eight classic styles of wine and a discussion of each one, where it comes from and the grapes it is made from. Whether you’re a wine newbie or you’ve been drinking wine for decades, you’re sure to try something new and learn a little something along the way. If you find a new favourite, you will enjoy a 10 per cent discount on your shopping after the event.

Knowing what you like and what to expect from different bottles of wine can really help you to make wine purchases that are better suited to your own taste.  This class will give you the tools you need to identify and describe what you like and you can use these tools to continue to learn every time you taste a wine. Cheese will be provided from Benton Brothers Fine Cheese and we will have a chance to discuss pairing wine with food.

There’s no better winter getaway than a quick trip around the globe – and travelling with me is always an intoxicating adventure.

Date: Fri, Jan 13, 2012
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: $35

This seminar is limited to 12 seats and is a first come, first served basis. Please call Firefly at 604.875.3325 with your credit card details to purchase your ticket and reserve your seat. Alternatively, you can purchase tickets in person at the store, 2857 Cambie Street, Vancouver.

I’ll be selecting a variety of delicious wines perfect for your harvest feast. At La Table Commune, there are a maximum of 12 guests, so you will have ample opportunity to join the discussion and get all of your questions answered by a familiar face.

Our search for perfect pairs will include six to eight samples of wine, a discussion of each one and why it would pair well with certain dishes. You can apply these food and wine pairing principles to any meal, not just Thanksgiving dinner. Light snacks will be provided during the tasting to add to the experience. Discover some wines that you like and enjoy a 10 per cent discount on your shopping after the event. Remember — Thanksgiving is the following long weekend.

Date: Thu, Oct. 6th
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: $35

This seminar is limited to 12 seats and is a first come, first served basis. Please call 604.875.3325 with your credit card details to reserve your seat. Alternatively you can purchase tickets in person at Firefly (2857 Cambie St, Vancouver).

Sparkling wines are made all over the world, but most famously in Champagne where they also command premium prices. We will taste different styles of bubbles from around the world and you can be the judge of how you would like to invest your sparkling dollars.

We will also discuss the traditional method for making sparkling wine, along with other methods that can be used. You’ll finally know how they get the bubbles into the wine! You will be led through a flight of six to eight wines and have a chance to discuss with your fellow tasters. Following the event, guests will receive a 10 per cent discount on their shopping.

No date yet for the big day? This might be the perfect opportunity to plan one. Who knows, you might even meet that special someone around La Table Commune.

Date: Fri, Feb 11, 2011
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Cost: $35

This seminar is limited to 12 seats and is a first come, first served basis. Please call Firefly Fine Wines and Ales at 604.875.3325 with your credit card details to purchase your ticket and reserve your seat. Alternatively, you can purchase tickets in person at the store (2857 Cambie Street, @ 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada).

Sunday – Day 3

My volunteer shift didn’t start until noon, but the seminars were already in session then, so it was a quiet start. During the afternoon sessions, I poured BC wines for Sommelier Kurtis Kolt during his two back-to-back seminars: Keeping it Local – BC Wines with BC Cheese, followed by Tasting British Columbia. These were part of a mini-tasting series, so there were only about 25 people in each session. The style was casual, with people standing around high-topped tables (although some people were ultra-casual and took a seat on the floor. I didn’t blame them — it had been a long weekend of indulgence!). As Kurtis spoke about each wine, myself and the other sommeliers would circulate the room to pour the wine.

Kurtis lived and worked in Naramata for six months this year, following his award for Sommelier of the Year Award at the 2010 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival for his work at Salt Cellar in Vancouver. He explained to the crowd that after working in the wine industry and selling BC wine at Salt, it was time for him to take advantage of the close proximity to the Okanagan wine region and dive in — really get to know the area.  However, the pace of Okanagan life became a bit slow and after six months he packed his bags again for the city. His time in the Okanagan left him with some great stories and knowledge to share about the wines he selected.

I was not invited to taste any of these wines or cheeses, so I don’t have much to comment on there. I was kept fairly busy during the seminars making sure all the guests were served. I guess after the weekend of tasting I had, it was time for a few dry hours.

Following the BC mini-sessions, I went up to the Viking Stage again to sit in on Molecular Gastronomy at its Coolest – Barefoot Bistro and Inniskillin Winery. The presentation was pretty cool, literally, with Dominic Fortin, pastry chef of Barefoot Bistro, freezing dehydrated pineapple pieces with liquid Nitrogen. Guests were offered Inniskillin Icewine to pair with the frozen pineapple, and it definitely brought out the tropical fruit in the Icewine. Dominic followed up that spectacle with by freezing ice cream with the same liquid, as cold smoke rolled over the edges of the bowl.

It was a sweet and fitting end to my weekend in food and wine paradise!

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Saturday – Day 2

Saturday I was back at 10 a.m. to report for my first volunteer shift. I was marched up to a table of open Pinot Noir and told to taste it all. That’s a lot to face so early, but I suppose it could have been Napa Cab or Argentinean Malbec! One other sommelier and I worked through about four dozen bottles to make sure all the bottles were showing well for the Pinot Noir from Around the Globe seminar.

After tasting through the wines, it was time to pour them. Pouring a flight of a dozen wines for about 60 people is no easy task. It is very important that each wine is put into the correct glass, or the consumer gets a misrepresentation of the wine. Also, when trying to make four bottles pour exactly 60 servings, it is important to have a good measuring instinct, as there is certainly no time to measure each serving.

Next it was on to set up the Bubble-icious seminar, which also posed a challenge. Since an important part of enjoying sparkling wine is the mousse, it does no one any favours to pour out the wine in advance and let it become flat and warm. So timing was crucial for this one, only half the wines were poured to begin, then the pouring team burst into the room half way through the seminar to pop more corks and buzz around the room filling the rest of the glasses.

During the down time, I was able to sit in on the Cool Climate Clarity seminar, featuring 13 Australian wines. Mark Davidson of Wine Australia was the host, colourful and good-humoured, but most of all knowledgeable and keen to sweep away the notion that all Aussie wines are over-ripe fruit-bombs. He made the point that there are more cool-climate growing areas in Australia than most people imagine, especially in the South and Tasmania. Favourites in the room (because with a boisterous Aussie leading the session, everyone has to speak up) included the Tahbilk Marsanne 2008 (~$18), Ocean Eight Verve Chardonnay 2008 (~$50), Yabby Lake Pinot Noir 2007 (~$51) and Ring.bolt Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (~$22).

When the seminar let out it was time to jump into action. In an amazing feat of teamwork, the volunteers and convention centre staff managed to turn over the two 60-seat tasting rooms in one hour. This is amazing because 120 seats, with an average of a dozen glasses at each place, require a whopping 1,440 wine glasses. After a tasting, these glasses usually still contain some wine. So the excess wine must be dumped out, the dirty glasses collected into dozens of crates and whisked away; the water glasses, spit cups, tasting mats and garbage must be collected and recycled or thrown out; and the table cloths must be changed. Now it’s time to set up for the next tasting! Cloths down; mats down; spit cups down; 1,440 new, clean glasses out; wines organized, opened, and tasted; and each wine must be poured into the appropriate glass at each seat.

Once that madness was over I was able to join the Argentina – Beyond Malbec seminar hosted by Iain and Barbara Philip of Barbarian Wine Consulting in Vancouver, and it is always a pleasure to be in their expert company. Since Canada is the number two export market for Argentinean wine (after the USA), Argentina is trying to get consumers to think of the country for more than the popular Malbec. The seminar was very informative, taking guests through all the regions in Argentina, considering latitude, altitude, climate, soil and water influences. For me, the Michel Torino Cuma Torrontes “Organic” 2009 from Cafayate, Salta offered a lot – crisp, refreshing acid, light body, aromatics, and for only $14. The top of the reds was Finca Decero “Remolinos Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 — smooth, balanced with a lot of fruit extraction for only $28.

After helping with the tear down of the Argentina tasting, I had finished my volunteer duties for the day. I went up to the Viking Stage to join the All You Need Is Cheese seminar, where Canadian cheese was paired with Summerhill Pyramid wines. There were nine types of cheese and six wines to play around with pairing. My favourites included Boerenkaas from Natural Pastures in Comox Valley paired with the Chalice, a deep, nutty, caramel-y dessert wine, and the Tiger Blue from Poplar Grove in Naramata paired with the Riesling Icewine.

We finished the epic day at the Crush Gala Tasting … for the third time. This time I stood in line to try the 2006 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red ($149), big, red blend (Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec) from the Napa Valley in California. It was a wine with depth and made me a little weak in the knees. Thankfully there was great people-watching when I took a seat and watched the buzzing tasting room.
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Friday – Day 1

My weekend began Friday afternoon with Crush – the Trade Tasting. It is open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights, but Friday afternoon is reserved for the “trade,” which includes those in the food and wine business. The trade tasting is a great place to start the weekend off because there are often familiar faces in the crowd, the crowd is thinner than in the evenings, and there are often special wines only offered to those in the trade.

Next it was off to the Top 25 Reception, which was held at the new Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, a beautiful wood-and-glass structure perched on Blackcomb Way with a near 360-degree view of the mountain scenery. The event showcases the results of Cornucopia’s Top 25 contest, judged by a skilled tasting panel.

The number one wine overall was Carrion Cristalino Rosado (~$16), a pink sparkler from Spain, which is quite affordable to try for all of your upcoming holiday celebrations. BC wineries in the Top 25 included Summerhill Pyramid Winery (Organic Riesling Icewine 2007 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2007), Deep Creek Wine (Pinot Noir 2007), Painted Rock Estate Winery (Merlot 2007), Therapy Vineyards (Chardonnay 2008), and Tinhorn Creek Vineyards (Oldfield Series 2 Bench White 2009).

From the Top 25, we were off to Sidecut, open since June 2010 at the Four Seasons Hotel and a great place to enjoy Canadian prime steak, rubbed with your choice from six rubs. Then, when the steak comes to the table, a slab of six sauces is delivered as well! Since they began with such great meat, I found all the rubbing and saucing overkill – the steak had great flavour all on its own.

Next it was back to Crush for more tasting at the evening event where Painted Rock Estate Winery’s line-up stood out, as did Ex Nihilo Pinot Gris 2009, Quinta Ferreira Estate Winery’s Obra-Prima and Summerhill Pyramid Winery’s Cipes Brut.

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The fun and sophisticated evening will be held on November 20 at 7 p.m. at the Vancouver Lookout, hosted by Global TV’s Catherine Pope, an adoptive parent herself. The event is a fundraiser for the Adoptive Families Association of BC (AFBC).

While enjoying the amazing 360-degree view, guests can sip fine wines from around the world, nibble gourmet foods from across BC while grooving to live jazz performed by musicians hand-picked by Vancouver’s Gabriel Mark Hasselbach.

There will be live and silent auctions, including an exclusive wine section and … wait for it … the Vancouver firefighters are back by popular demand on the auction block with “Fire in the Kitchen,” a custom meal cooked and served by some of the city’s most handsome firefighters!

From AFBC’s press release:

“But the real story isn’t the event,” says Karen Madeiros, Executive Director of AFBC. “It’s the children who are waiting for families. For too many of them, time runs out. Our goal is to tell more stories like June’s–to find a family for every child.”

June is 21. Four years ago, after spending most of her life in foster homes, she was adopted. With a family to applaud her when she graduates from university, dance at her wedding, and support her when she starts her own family, June’s chances for success in life are good.

James, also 21, spent most of his life in foster homes, too. But, unlike June, he “aged out” of the system at 19. Without the permanency of a family to celebrate his successes, catch him when he falls, or just make him a birthday cake, research shows that James is significantly less likely to succeed in life.

The following numbers paint a stark picture for young people who reach 19 without finding a permanent family:

• Girls are four times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy.
• 45% of youth will experience a form of homelessness in their first year out of care.
• 73% of young offenders are former youth in care.
• 21% of youth in care graduate high school compared to 78% of the general population.

June and James (not their real names) are just two of the reasons that people across North America celebrate Adoption Awareness Month. In BC alone, there are almost 1,000 more reasons just like them.

“Throughout November,” says Madeiros, “we host events designed to raise awareness about adoption, raise funds to support adoption, and above all to celebrate adoption as a way of building strong families, one child at a time.”

Tickets for Wine In The Sky are on sale now at www.bcadopt.com. Early Bird tickets (until November 5) are $95; after November 5, the price rises to $125. A VIP Group of 10 tickets goes for $1250 and includes valet parking, a complimentary drink, and a cocktail table reserved up front.

The Osoyoos Celebrity Wine Festival is quickly approaching and some friends and I have been working on an entry for the Vinos — a wine commercial film festival that is part of the fun. The idea is for BC wine lovers to have some fun and explain why they love our province’s delicious wine. Our entry is now shipped out, so we will have to wait until June 10th to find out how we do!

Some of the videos are already being shared and you can check them out on You Tube. I’ll be sure to post a link when our video is available online.

The film fest is just one of many events happening during the festival, which runs June 10 to 12, 2010. Expect to see Jason Priestly, Steven Page, Lou Diamond Phillips and celebrity chefs such as Ned Bell hanging out around town. Shelley Boettcher dishes the latest about the event in the Calgary Herald.

Firefly Fine Wines and Ales held its first educational tasting event Saturday, May 29, 2010. Guests were invited to enjoy “A Taste of Summer,” with three whites, three roses and three big reds. The evening was hosted by yours truly, Sheila Whittaker.

It was a bling tasting and all I told my guests was that the three wines in each set were all the same type of wine, but from three different countries: Canada, the US and France. The rest was up to them to sniff, sip and discuss their way to an educated guess. We marked the wines based on appearance, aroma, mouthfeel/balance, taste and finish for a total of 25 points. Scores were tallied at the end of the night to reveal the most popular wines. A little competition is always fun!

The first wine of the evening was Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2009 from Washington State ($28.95). It was very pale in the glass and we got pear, peach and other tree fruit on the nose. It left us with a sweet coating in our mouths on the finish. It was a real winner paired with the cheese from Greens Organic + Natural Market, as the salty flavours complimented the sweetness. It would be a great choice for a summer picnic — bring on the cheese, bread and charcuterie! It took third place in the evening’s popularity contest.

Paul Zinck Riesling 2007 from Alsace, France ($27.15) was up next. A couple years older than the other two Rieslings, it was more golden in the glass. There was a definite diesel note and minerality that was not present in the other two. We thought it would be great with fish and chips, as the dryness would cut the fat. Another great food pairing idea was flatbread brushed with olive oil and topped with anchovies and Asiago cheese. Although two tasters really enjoyed this wine, it was 8th overall, as many tasters were unaccostomed to the diesel note.

Orofino Riesling 2009 from Cawston in BC’s Similkameen Valley ($24.85) rounded out the trio in style. It was pale in coulour with floral, peach, apricot and pink grapefruit notes. It was just the right balance of sweetness and acidity, smooth to drink and long on the finish. This wine got everyone talking and was the number one wine of the night.

It was interesting to see the range of wines that can be made from one varietal! As one guest said “I learned something tonight — I like Riesling! I thought I didn’t before.” Congratulations!

We moved on to our second trio, this time is was rose — a must-drink for the summer months.

Domaine du Bosc Rose 2008 from Southern France ($21.15) was the deepest in colour, a fleshy pink reminiscent of tuna sashimi. It was simple, fresh and fruity — one taster suggested it smelled like “Cherry Jolly Rancher.” Although, another said it was reminiscent of “the bus ride home,” since the alcohol came through on the nose. The finish was a bit stemmy and bitter, so this is not a patio sipping rose — it is made for creamy pasta or other rich lunches. This was the least popular wine of the evening.

8th Generation Rose 2009 from Summerland, BC ($23.45) was a pretty pale pink and offered delicious jammy strawberry aroma and taste, accompanied by dried cranberry and sour cherry. It was well-balanced with good acid to compliment the slight sweetness. We all agreed it would be a great wine to greet dinner guests with in the summer and serve with the first course. It would also suit the patio on a breezy summer afternoon. It was the most popular rose of the evening and fourth overall.

Delicato White Zinfandel 2006 from California, USA ($11.35) had a very sweet strawberry and watermelon aroma. The nose gave us a lot to talk about, but the wine was very simple with little to no acidity and it disappeared on the finish. It placed seventh in our popularity contest.

It was time to prepare for summer BBQ’s with some big reds.

I fudged a little bit and chose a Merlot-based Bordeaux to start off a flight of Cabernet Sauvignon. I was dying to try it! Chateau Ronan 2005 from Bordeaux, France ($33.85) had a complex nose of cherry, anise, cassis, and earth. It was a mellow, medium-bodied drink with well-integrated, dusty tannins. Chateau Ronan is the entry level wine from Chateau Clinet, a sought-after Pomerol estate. Being from the right bank of Bordeaux, the blend is driven by Merlot and backed up by Cabernet Sauvignon. It would make a great dinner wine for the summer with grilled chicken, pork or BBQ chicken pizza. It was sixth in the horse race.

After one sniff of Hester Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 from Oliver, BC ($43.25), the tasting room was buzzing with commentary. It was very unique: cedar, wood, sawdust, earth, smoke, vanilla, potpurri — one taster likened it to “working on the roof,” while another thought of a hope chest. The palate was intense with more cedar, vanilla, plum, chocolate and coffee. It screams for meaty BBQ fare: smoked sausage or Jack Daniels-sauced ribs. It placed fifth on the night.

We finished the night with Pacific Breeze Killer Cab 2007, made with California grapes in New Westminister, BC ($27.85). We got chocolate, tobacco, cherry, prune, and sage on the nose. It was a deep ruby colour and full-bodied — tasters were using words like ‘powerful’ and ‘ballsy’ to describe the mouthfeel. This would stand up to anything from the summer grill, especially red meat. It was a great way to end the tasting and was the most popular red, while finishing second overall.

The night was a big success and lots of fun — thanks to all the guests for their active participation! I look forward to the next tasting night at Firefly.