Sid Cross is no stranger to international awards and accolades.

The man who possesses what is arguably the country’s best working palate got a homegrown award during the recent Vancouver International Wine Festival. The SIP Award (it stands for Spirited Industry Professional) annually honours someone who has been instrumental in furthering wine knowledge and awareness in Vancouver and across the country. (Yours truly got it last year, to my considerable surprise and delight.)

About time, say many of us about Sid’s award. He’s been a prominent fixture of the local wine scene since before we really had one. The globetrotting wine observer (and fearless commentator) has roamed the wine regions of the world with his trusty black notebook tucked under his arm for note-taking, the result being that he has tasted more wines—and consequently knows more about the subject—than just about anyone else on the planet. We’re lucky to have him here. Congratulations on one more well-deserved award to one of the living legends of our industry.

The 13th Sommelier of the Year award went to Samantha Rahn, who is wine director at Araxi in Whistler.

Three platinum wine-list awards were handed out to Metro Vancouver eateries this year: Blue Water Cafe, Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill, and the Wine Room at Joey Bentall One. Other places well worth visiting for the scope of their wine cellars include these 11 gold-award winners (one for nearly every month of the upcoming year, if you’re looking for an excuse to visit): Brix, Chambar, CinCin, Hawksworth, Joe Fortes, MARKET by Jean-Georges, Nicli Antica Pizzeria, Salt Tasting Room, Tableau, West, and YEW. Many of these have also been recognized in these pages during the past year.

Thirty-five wine festivals and 25 Vintners Brunches have come and gone, and while I can’t claim attendance at all 35 festivals, I did manage to make it to all 25 brunches. The Vintners Brunch is, for my money, the single best event of the festival. Tickets usually become available around Christmas and sell out within a day or two.

These are the “bests” of the Vintners Brunch, as my palate called them; I didn’t always agree with the judges’ choices, but then I rarely do!

Third place is a four-way tie. Lift restaurant and Edge North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon from California, a fabulous combo: ostrich tartare on a mountain-berry-tea cracker with truffle oil, alongside the 92-point lush and complex red wine. Also, Bella Gelateria’s orange-honey sorbetto and Stoneboat Vineyards’ Verglas icewine from the South Okanagan. Also from wine country: Miradoro restaurant at Tinhorn Creek’s morcilla sausage hash with a perfectly poached egg and espelette aioli, paired with—what else?—Tinhorn Creek’s Oldfield Series 2Bench White, a strong favourite in this corner for many vintages.

The fourth combo in the third-place tie was the curiously named (for a restaurant) Killjoy Barbers’ Bar M Ranch lamb hash, quail egg, mustard, and pickled vegetables with Road 13 Syrah-Mourvèdre. Yes, it’s a restaurant-barbershop combination in Yaletown, and I’ll soon be off to see it and learn what else is on the menu. The food-and-wine pairing was nothing short of brilliant.

Here’s what else you might want to locate around town. Tied for second place in my book were these two. Newcomer/first-timer Kitsilano Daily Kitchen came up with a complicated and ambitious dish: Happy Days feta gougère with birch-syrup-cured pork belly and Valencia glaze, paired wonderfully with New Zealand’s Oyster Bay Sparkling Cuvée Brut. Chef Brian Fowke is a force to be reckoned with. This was my first taste of the recently arrived kiwi bubble, and it was a crisp, refreshing treat.

The other contender came from Kale & Nori Culinary Arts, and was described as “Bittered Sling Orange and Juniper-cured Steelhead on a Wild Yam Pancake with Brown-Butter Mikado Sauce”, a perfect treat with an unoaked Chardonnay from California’s Wagner Family of Wine called Mer Soleil Silver. A challenging dish to assemble but they brought it off, and the wine matched it to a T. Or a C, for Chardonnay.

Time now for the big winner, the best of the bunch, and that belongs to executive chef Blair Rasmussen of the Vancouver Convention Centre. The judges didn’t agree with me on this one, but to my palate it worked best of all. Rasmussen probably cooks more meals than any other chef in town, on a daily/weekly/monthly/yearly basis. He continues to be one of the great and unsung heroes of the city.

His dish was an inspired creation: Dungeness and king crab beignet with coconut chutney and baby-cucumber slaw, and watermelon “pearls”. This tasty and super-creative dish met its ideal match in Yalumba Y Series Viognier—rich and luscious, deep and intense. I hope he serves it somewhere again; I’d walk there.

That’s it from me on the Vintners Brunch for this year. There were many other great dishes by well-known chefs in the mix, and of course great wines from California and elsewhere.

Next year, the theme region is France. Should be good. The only disappointment this year was that Rueben Gurr’s Stolen Moments—the ultimate party band—didn’t get around to playing “Mustang Sally”, their party piece. Maybe next year. I’ll be there.