Killer wine pairings with Dine Out Vancouver Festival 2015 menus
We’re almost halfway through Tourism Vancouver’s Dine Out Vancouver Festival. You only have until February 1 to catch the events and make reservations at some of the 270-plus restaurants around Vancouver offering three-course menus priced at $18, $28, or $38.
As one of the presenting sponsors of the festival, Wines of British Columbia encourages restaurants to offer B.C. wine-pairing suggestions, so as you might imagine, our local juice has been flowing all over town. Now, full disclosure: I taste and drink a lot of B.C. wine. I’ve done many exhaustive tours through wine country and do the odd bit of contract work for Wines of British Columbia presenting trade seminars, and educating retail and restaurant staff on all things local. When it comes to the B.C. wine pairings on Dine Out menus, I look for restaurants that are shaking things up and utilizing unsung or unique wines, hoping that places aren’t playing it too safe or “calling it in” with their suggestions. Yeah, there are plenty of mass-market bottles of Pinot Gris that’ll pair with almost anything, but not many folks get overly enthusiastic about those. Perusing the Dine Out menus, I see some great examples of killer pairings.
At both the Commercial Drive and Main Street locations of the Reef, the $18 menu starts out with a couple of great options, namely a goat cheese and curried squash tart with a shot of spicy roasted tomato soup, or jerk beef balls with crisp roti. With these dishes that will certainly have a little heat, the restaurant is shining a light on Gray Monk’s 2012 Pinot Auxerrois. Arguably the least known of the Pinot grapes, the variety is most commonly found in Germany and Alsace, France, where Gray Monk’s owners, George and Trudy Heiss, originally sourced their vines in the early 1970s. Old vines and definitely an unsung variety—we have ourselves a winner. The lively aromatics and flavour profile, juicy with peaches and fruit cocktail, have enough residual sugar to rein in that heat and enough fruit to keep things lively and bright.
At the Four Seasons Hotel in the heart of downtown Vancouver, YEW Seafood + Bar’s $38 menu storms out of the gates with chef Ned Bell’s 2015 Oceanwise Chowder Chowdown Champion smoked black cod chowder with maple candied sablefish and Okanagan apple butter. Wine director Emily Walker ensures that the decadent soup is paired with something quite special, Road 13 Vineyard’s Sparkling Chenin Blanc. Made in the Champagne-esque traditional method, the cult-favourite sparkling out of Oliver from 45-year-old vines floods the palate with Asian pear, brioche, and honey. Nab a glass or two while you can; it’s rarely open for a pour anywhere but the winery’s tasting room.
David Stansfield, the charismatic freelance sommelier who runs the wine program at both the Coal Harbour and Olympic Village Tap & Barrel locations, was so excited about a particular pairing on their $28 menu that in an email to me he dropped an F-bomb to describe Stoneboat’s 2013 Faux Pas Rosé. This wine pairs with the first-course options of a tomato bisque or a ruby beet and rocket salad with quinoa, citrus honey vinaigrette, goat cheese, avocado, and maple pecans. The Tap & Barrel exclusive is “50/50 Pinot Noir and Pinotage”, and he enthusiastically described it as “super fucking tasty; dry, but full of ripe fruit with a little tomato leafy undercurrent from the Pinotage”.
On the heartier side of things, Brix Restaurant & Wine Bar’s owner David Hannay needed something to go with his $38 menu’s main-course option of braised lamb shank with toasted cumin risotto and baby carrots. Stepping up to the plate is LaStella’s 2012 Fortissimo, a rare “super-Tuscan”–style wine from Osoyoos composed of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sangiovese Grosso, a classic Italian grape variety that isn’t exactly widely planted around these parts. A dark and brooding, chewy wine with currants, dark chocolate, strawberries, and plums, it should be a home run in this scenario.
Finally, a last-course selection on the $38 menu at West restaurant of a chocolate raspberry parfait with vanilla chocolate cookie ice cream has allowed Owen Knowlton—the restaurant and wine director—to flex his creative muscle with Vista D’Oro 2008 D’Oro Walnut Port. A fortified wine crafted from Okanagan Maréchal Foch, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, Fraser Valley green walnuts, and Okanagan brandy sounds a little, er, nutty—but you’ll just have to take my word for it that it works.
Like I said, the festival will be over before you know it, so hop to the Dine Out website and make reservations to enjoy an array of fun food-and-wine pairings across the city.
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