Vacation Ramblings
My wife and I recently returned to Alberta from our annual trip out to Tofino with stops en route and during our return in Kamloops, Nanaimo and Victoria.
As per usual, part of the fun is sampling Cdn labels which we do not see much of on this side of the Rockies.
Our "find" of this trip were the wines of Joie in the Okanagan. I had heard of this winery from postings of Vancouverites at eGullet but had not tried them until our vacation.
Really enjoyed their Pinot Noir Rose which is actually a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay. Beautiful colour, crisp and refreshing without cloying sweetness. This would be a great summer time refresher. Good by itself or with cold cuts, cheeses and/or chicken.
We had it at the Wickaninnish Inn's Pointe Restaurant and then at the Delta Victoria's LURE restaurant and Brasserie L'Ecole.
At the latter we had a good wine discussion with Marc Morrison who is the co-owner and sommelier. If you love wine you "owe it" to yourself to try the food and win on offer at this one of our favourite restaurants.
Their wine program includes the policy that if you agree to order two glasses they will open any bottle [apart from "bubblies"] on their list and come to the price per glass by dividing the bottle cost on the list by 5. As a result, a lot of bottles get opened and even if you do not want two of a particular label, chances are you will be able to get it regardless. Bottle "mark ups" are decent. A number of Cdn offerings in addition to well priced French wines.
We had dinner there on the 2 of the 4 evenings we spent in Victoria. The "by the glass" option made it easy for us to switch wines per course. We enjoyed steak frites, duck confit and white beans, seared albacore tuna with braised escarole, ling cod with braised kale amongst other courses during our visits.
On Marc's advice we tried Joie's Unoaked Chardonnay and their Noble Blend.
The former was delicious. Chardonnay including a significant portion of Chardonnay Musque which I have rarely had apart from one I enjoyed from Cave Springs in ON blended with some pinot blanc. Delicious flavour with some botrytis similar to ripe stone fruit.
The Noble Blend is a combination of gewurtztraminer, riesling, pinot blanc, kerner, pinot auxerrois, ehernfelser and muscat. I am not sure of the precise %'s of each. Thought that this might be too sweet for me but I was wrong. Lots of ripe fruit but again, as with the rose, no residual cloying sweetness. Quite enjoyable. Would be great with roast pork or asian influenced fare.
In between meals at Brasserie we re-visited our other favourite Victoria spot, Cafe Brio. They have an outstanding wine list with many hard to find Cdn bottles especially from the Island. Greg, one of the owners, knows and loves his wine. We elected to stay with local wines and enjoyed a reserve Pinot Gris from Alderlea in Duncan and then their reserve pinot noir. Both were very good especially the pinot gris which is copper hued, salmon berry in colour which suggests sweet but is vinted dry. Similar in colour to Kettle Valley which we also like but I think in the end prefer the Alderlea which is slightly "heavier" and a tad less citrus.
During our last day we wandered up the walk-way adjacent to the inner harbour to Spinnakers. I was quite surprised by the extent of the wine list given that Spinnakers is well known as a brew pub. After a refreshing glass of their heffe-wiesen [sp?] we shared a bottle of the Venturi-Schulze [sp?] pinot noir that came complete with "crown cap" closure. Very nice and quite different from other pinot noirs we enjoyed on the trip. Dark purple colour with a "funky" nose and aftertaste. It may not have been the perfect match for the "mountain" of natchos my wife had ordered but I enjoyed it with the variety of smoked fish before me.
Nice trip. Good food and wines.
As per usual, part of the fun is sampling Cdn labels which we do not see much of on this side of the Rockies.
Our "find" of this trip were the wines of Joie in the Okanagan. I had heard of this winery from postings of Vancouverites at eGullet but had not tried them until our vacation.
Really enjoyed their Pinot Noir Rose which is actually a blend of pinot noir and chardonnay. Beautiful colour, crisp and refreshing without cloying sweetness. This would be a great summer time refresher. Good by itself or with cold cuts, cheeses and/or chicken.
We had it at the Wickaninnish Inn's Pointe Restaurant and then at the Delta Victoria's LURE restaurant and Brasserie L'Ecole.
At the latter we had a good wine discussion with Marc Morrison who is the co-owner and sommelier. If you love wine you "owe it" to yourself to try the food and win on offer at this one of our favourite restaurants.
Their wine program includes the policy that if you agree to order two glasses they will open any bottle [apart from "bubblies"] on their list and come to the price per glass by dividing the bottle cost on the list by 5. As a result, a lot of bottles get opened and even if you do not want two of a particular label, chances are you will be able to get it regardless. Bottle "mark ups" are decent. A number of Cdn offerings in addition to well priced French wines.
We had dinner there on the 2 of the 4 evenings we spent in Victoria. The "by the glass" option made it easy for us to switch wines per course. We enjoyed steak frites, duck confit and white beans, seared albacore tuna with braised escarole, ling cod with braised kale amongst other courses during our visits.
On Marc's advice we tried Joie's Unoaked Chardonnay and their Noble Blend.
The former was delicious. Chardonnay including a significant portion of Chardonnay Musque which I have rarely had apart from one I enjoyed from Cave Springs in ON blended with some pinot blanc. Delicious flavour with some botrytis similar to ripe stone fruit.
The Noble Blend is a combination of gewurtztraminer, riesling, pinot blanc, kerner, pinot auxerrois, ehernfelser and muscat. I am not sure of the precise %'s of each. Thought that this might be too sweet for me but I was wrong. Lots of ripe fruit but again, as with the rose, no residual cloying sweetness. Quite enjoyable. Would be great with roast pork or asian influenced fare.
In between meals at Brasserie we re-visited our other favourite Victoria spot, Cafe Brio. They have an outstanding wine list with many hard to find Cdn bottles especially from the Island. Greg, one of the owners, knows and loves his wine. We elected to stay with local wines and enjoyed a reserve Pinot Gris from Alderlea in Duncan and then their reserve pinot noir. Both were very good especially the pinot gris which is copper hued, salmon berry in colour which suggests sweet but is vinted dry. Similar in colour to Kettle Valley which we also like but I think in the end prefer the Alderlea which is slightly "heavier" and a tad less citrus.
During our last day we wandered up the walk-way adjacent to the inner harbour to Spinnakers. I was quite surprised by the extent of the wine list given that Spinnakers is well known as a brew pub. After a refreshing glass of their heffe-wiesen [sp?] we shared a bottle of the Venturi-Schulze [sp?] pinot noir that came complete with "crown cap" closure. Very nice and quite different from other pinot noirs we enjoyed on the trip. Dark purple colour with a "funky" nose and aftertaste. It may not have been the perfect match for the "mountain" of natchos my wife had ordered but I enjoyed it with the variety of smoked fish before me.
Nice trip. Good food and wines.
posted by Bob Macdonald | 9:58 a.m.
3 Comments:
Always interesting, reading Bob Macdonald's postings.
I didn't know there were so many good restaurants in Victoria. We, being much closer to Victoria than the Macdonalds are, typically visit for only a couple of nights, and Camille's on Bastion Square is a must for us... so we don't get out much, anywhere else.
Bob mentioned Kettle Valley. Camille's is the only restaurant we've tried, where Kettle Valley gets a whole page of listings. On our last visit, the waiter taunted us that he was sure thre would be a KVW red on the list that we had never tried. Of course, we knew he was wrong.
He was right. If any of you ever has a chance to try a McGraw Merlot, go for it.
Go Lions! (Sorry, Bob.)
Football? What's that? [smile] My Eskies did not have a good year.
I'll be cheering for the Lions come Sunday since I dislike them less than Montreal.
It has been years since we have gone to Camille's. Brasserie and Brio have become for us what Camille's is for you.
We still have not been to Paprika because our "favourites" usually intervene. Did get to Rosemeade last February. Very impressive.
When we first visited Victoria when my wife's parents used to live there it was Camille's and Rebecca's which was just down from the former on Bastion Square below Harpo's in the space currently occupied by D'Arcy McGee's pub.
I Remember that Camille's did have a good wine list and hosted wine dinners. One of the chefs was from Morinville which is just north of us here in Edmonton.
Will have to keep my eyes open for the "Quick Draw" McGraw Merlot. That is a KVW that I am not familiar with.
The local shelves are full of KVW and Burrowing Owl of late. Not sure why. Unfortunately, the prices are quite high too.
Not as high as the recent release of Oculus but getting there.
I forgot to mention in my original post that I also tried some newer Vancouver Island wine at Spinnaker's with an Edmonton connection.
Andy Johnson who formerly lived here has opened Averill Creek up north of Duncan. I think this year was his first year of production from the vines he planted in the land he cleared.
Spinnaker's had "tasters" of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.
The pinot noir was decent. Light, raspberry scented. Not surprising as I understand that the vines are but three years old.
Did not care for, nor finish, the pinot gris. Way too "complicated" for me.
I think that pinot gris is the varietal that BC does best. I like the fresh fruit and crisp acidity whether in the style done by Kettle Valley or Alderlea or those bottled by Blue Mountain or Burrowing Owl.
The Averill Creek had too much toasted oak. Supposed malolactic fermentation and the like.
I found it like some of the wines the Americans make when using sauvignon blanc and trying to come out with chardonnay. I drink sauvignon blanc because I want to taste sauvignon blanc,not a "wannabe" chardonnay.
Nice to hear from you Lorne.
Bob, Kettle Valley is just now releasing 6 of their big reds - at $35 per. McGraw Merlot among them. You may already be too late.
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