Site icon Tony Aspler, the Wine Guy

A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 408: The Iron Palate Tour

tonyaspler

Saturday, August 18: Guy dropped Deborah and me at Toronto airport for our flight to Vancouver.

We checked into the Westin Bayshore Hotel (where my daughter Annabel works as the Convention Services Manager) and had a Starbucks coffee as we waited for our room to be ready. We have been upgraded to a Junior Suite with a magnificent view overlooking the harbour.

At 5:30 pm Annabel drove us back to her condo to have a glass of wine with her husband Ian and to meet her dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Sienna – a very sweet, calm dog. Annabel opened a bottle of La Frenz Chardonnay 2010. Ian drove us to Provence Mediterranean Grill on West 10th Avenue, where we had arranged to meet Deborah’s school friend Monica and her husband John, an Englishman who went to school near mine. We used to play rugby against them. John ordered a bottle of Kettle Valley Pinot Gris 2011 (golden pink in colour). My starter of crab cakes was followed by tuna. Next a bottle of Quails’ Gate Pinot Noir 2009. Taxied back to the hotel.

Sunday, August 19: After breakfast Annabel picked us up to go shopping for a sweater for Deborah, who had packed according to the weather forecast on the Internet – and had packed all hot weather clothes.

We had made an arrangement to have lunch with Anthony von Mandl, who invited us to drop by his house on the way to the restaurant. We ate at Pastis. I had duck confit salad and Anthony ordered a bottle of Mission Hill Viogner 2010. Annabel drove us around Vancouver then dropped us back at the hotel for 3 pm to meet my cousin Martha and her husband Ron.

We all went to The Lift – the bar/restaurant behind the hotel – and chatted over a bottle of wine (Stone Boat “Chorus” 2010, a blend of Pinot Blanc, Muller-Thurgau, Schoenburger, Kerner, Pinot Gris and Viognier). Dinner with my ex-wife Brenda, her husband Jim, and Annabel and Ian. A delicious meal of carrot soup and salmon followed by fresh berries in yoghurt. I brought along Ontario wines for them to try – Vineland Estates Dry Riesling 2010, Hidden Bench Pinot Noir 2009 and Colaneri Dolcezza Doro Vidal Icewine 2009. Taxied back to the hotel.

Monday, August 20: Up at 6:30 to fly to Victoria. A short 22-minute flight. Picked up a rental car at the airport and drove to Sooke Harbour House, stopping on the way in Langford for a thin crust Boston Pizza.

Our room on the third floor of Sooke Harbour House overlooks the Juan de Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountains of western Washington. An amazingly tranquil and bucolic setting. Sat in the hot tub on our balcony enjoying the view.


Sooke Harbour House

Dinner with Sinclair Philip. during which we tried a variety of BC wines:

Chilled lacinato kale and summer squash soup, served with a Cowichan Valley lobster mushroom and pickled pork tongue sauté, beet oil and a mustard cream, with Starling Lane Ortega 2011 (Vancouver Island).

Port Renfrew ling cod, pan seared with lemon verbena oil, served with a heritage pepper salad, a rustic Italian arugula sauce and a begonia vinaigrette, with Venturi Schulze Indigo 2009 (Schoenburger – Vancouver Island).

Organic spice-rubbed lamb loin, served with a herbal tea and poppy seed couscous in a red onion crisp, accompanied by a nasturtium edamame yoghurt and a lamb sirloin split butter stock reduction, with Hillside Vineyard Pinotage 2009 (Naramata) and Starling Lane Marechal Foch 2009.

Grilled albacore tuna with Qualicum Beach scallops roasted in shell with smoked ling cod and pearl barley dumplings, Miso and honey vinaigrette, blistered summer squash, roasted Ragley Farm yellow carrots, toasted sunflower seed and arugula pesto, Terra Vista Vineyards Fandango 2011 (Albarino and Verdejo, Penticton).

Black currant braised elk neck presented with fenugreek spiced crispy chickpeas, shungikuan sungold tomato salad, chamomile and chive oil, Ragley Farm yellow wax beans, red wine mustard, roasted baby turnips and a horseradish and chanterelle mushroom braisage, with Marichel Vineyard Syrah 2008 (Naramata) and Kettle Valley Malbec 2001 (double magnum, Naramata).

Dark chocolate cakes, blueberry squareand garden-inspired sorbets (apricot-fennel, Rainier cherry-Maraschino sage and raspberry mint) with Venturi Schulze Brandenburg # 3 and Vista d’Oro.

Tuesday, August 21: After breakfast in our room – delicious fresh-baked scones and muffins and a boiled egg – we drove to Venturi-Schulze winery. Giordano Venturi toured us around the vineyard and Marilyn Schulze gave us a tasting before showing us around the balsamic vinegar room.

Stopped in at the Drumroaster Bakery in Cowichan for panini and coffee before driving back to Sooke Harbour House. On the way we passed a grisly accident, two cars in what looked like a head-on collision. We were both shaken by the sight and moderated our speed for the rest of the journey.

Dinner at Markus’ Wharfside restaurant, a small two-room restaurant with nine tables. I ordered linguine with seafood and a Tuscan seafood soup. Deborah had a goat’s cheese salad and halibut. All beautifully cooked. With the meal we had a bottle of Joie Unoaked Chardonnay 2010. Afterwards took a walk along the Quimper Park spit and watched the sunset.

Wednesday, August 22: Up at 6:15 am to drive to Victoria. Dropped off the rental car and made our way to the airport. It appeared that Deborah’s ticket had not been booked for this leg of the trip – from Victoria to Kelowna. Some anxious moments as a well-meaning ticketing agent at the Westjet counter tried to book her on my flight but was confused by the computer. But we managed to make the flight on time.

Picked up another rental car to drive to Oliver and have lunch at Tinhorn Creek’s restaurant, Miradoro. Our table on the balcony gave us a magnificent view over the valley, towards The Golden Mile and Black Sage Road. I ordered salmon ceviche and linguine alle vongole and shared Deborah’s dessert, lemon custard with fresh fruit. The wines: Tinhorn Creek Pinot Gris 2011 (peachy, minerally nose; medium-bodied, fresh with a lovely mouth feel – 88), Tinhorn Creek Bench Rosé 2011 (Cabernet Franc: orange-pink in colour with a nose of redcurrant and grapefruit; fresh and fruity, perfumed and refreshing – 89) and Tinhorn Creek Bench White 2011 (52% Chardonnay, 35% Sauvignon Blanc, 11% Viognier, 3% Semillon, 3% Muscat – fragrant, peach and melon flavours – 88).

Just as we finished eating, Sandra Oldfield joined us and took us down to the boardroom below the restaurant for another tasting:

Following the tasting we drove over to Stoneboat, where the owner Tim Martiniuk and winemaker Alison poured me the following wines:

Dropped into the sumptuous new tasting room at Black Hills Estate for a look and then checked into the guest chalet at Hester Creek with its commanding view over the valley. Before dinner a tasting:

After the tasting we went to the winery’s restaurant, Terrafina, and dined outside. I ordered king crab and smoked trout pizza and a glass of Hester Creek Pinot Blanc 2011. April, the sommelier, showed me how to remove a fruit fly from my wine: use a drinking straw like a pipette and trap the fly. Once out of the glass, blow (don’t suck).

Thursday, August 23: We drove towards Summerland for our first tasting at Wild Goose Vineyards, where we were welcomed by Adolf Kruger and his sons Roland and Hagen (the winemaker). A few weeks ago they had had the official opening of their new winery. In the tasting room they poured:

The next stop was Stag’s Hollow, next door to Wild Goose. Linda Pruegger showed me around the new winery facility and told me she and her husband Larry Gerelus have planted Dolcetto (thought to be the first in the valley) and Tempranillo. In the cellar, winemaker Dwight Sick gave me a barrel tasting of the following wines:

Then Dwight drew off two barrel samples of Stag’s Hollow Tempranillo 2011 and 2010.

Then up to the tasting room when Larry Gerelus returned to taste a couple of wines there:

Next we drove to Okanagan Falls to See Ya Later Ranch on Hawthorne Mountain, currently the highest vineyard in the Okanagan, famous for its dog cemetery. The story goes that Major Hugh Fraser, an Englishman, bought the property in 1919. He brought his young bride over from England, who could not take the remote location and returned to England, leaving a note that read “See ya later.” Fraser lived here for more than forty-five years with only his dogs as companions, all of whom are buried in a small cemetery adjacent to what is now the tasting room.


See Ya Later’s Dog Cemetery

See Ya Later’s winemaker Mason Spink conducted the tasting outdoors on the lawn looking down on the valley.

Drove next to Summerland to tour and taste at the Okanagan Crush Pad Winery, the first custom crush winery in Canada. The modern facility is set in a 10-acre vineyard of Pinot Gris. Michael Bartier (formerly winemaker at Road 13) is the winemaker here who makes wines for the Haywire label, his own Bartier Brothers label and the Bartier Scholefield label – as well as for other clients.

After the tasting the proprietors of Okanagan Crush Pad, Christine Coletta and her husband Steve Lornie, arrived for a family BBQ on the property. With steaks, potato salad and green salad we tasted a variety of the winery’s products, including DiBello Syrah 2010. Tom DiBello, who used to be the winemaker at CedarCreek, is now consulting with Harry McWatters.

Spent the night at the Summerland Waterfront Resort. Iron Man contestants arrived with their bikes.

Friday, August 24: Breakfast with Crista-Lee McWatters and her husband Cam, who own The Local, a restaurant adjacent to the Summerland Waterfront Resort. They told us how hard it is to get and keep trained staff in the hospitality industry in the Okanagan. We drove to Tantalus Vineyards for a tour of the winery by Jane Hatch, the general manager, and a tasting:

Next stop: lunch at Summerhill Pyramid with proprietor Stephen Cipes and winemaker Eric von Krosigk. We sat on the terrace and chatted about old times over a glass of Cipes Gabriel Sparkling. I ordered a mushroom risotto with a glass of Summerhill Organic Zweigelt 2010 and Summerhill Organic Meritage 2008. Then we toured the pyramid, which is an exact replica of the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza in Egypt, scaled down to one-eighth the size. Stephen, a very spiritual New Age man, ages his sparkling wines inside the pyramid.


Stephen Cipes at Summerhill


Apex of the Summerhill Pyramid (interior view)

Our next stop: Mt. Boucherie Family Estate opened in 2001. “If we don’t grow it we don’t put it in the bottle,” Nirmal Gidda, the proprietor, told me. The winery sits on a 12-acre site planted to Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. They source their Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (which go into Mt. Boucherie Summit Blend) and Zinfandel from their Cawston vineyard in Similkameen. With winemaker Jim Faulkner I tasted the following wines:

Then on to Quails’ Gate in West Kelowna for a tasting with winemaker Grant Stanley.

Dinner that evening at Mission Hill Family Estate’s Terrace Restaurant. An aperitif glass of Mission Hill Rosé 2011 (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot) to start. An amuse bouche of vanilla poached pear gazpacho followed by steak tartare (with Mission Hill SLC Merlot 2009) and then halibut with Mission Hill Martin’s Lane Riesling 2011 and Mission Hill Quatrain 2008. Deborah ordered foie gras, which was beautifully presented. That night we slept in a Mission Hill property, the Lake House, down by the water.


Foie Gras at The Terrace Restaurant, Mission Hill


View from Mission Hill’s Lake House

Saturday, August 25: At 10 am a tasting at Mission Hill.

After the tasting we drove down the lake through Penticton to the Naramata Bench to have lunch at Hillside Cellars on the terrace overlooking the lake (the same table we had the last time we were here two years ago). I ordered grilled calamari and confit of duck and camembert sandwich with Israeli coucscous, matched with Hillside Cellars Cabernet Franc 2009, as recommended by the owner, Duncan McCowan. Then down to the tasting room for the following wines:

Dropped in at Painted Rock above Lake Skaha, which will be our vantage point tomorrow to watch Annabel run the marathon leg of Iron Man. Painted Rock has what must be the world’s smallest tasting room. John Skinner tells me he is about to build a spanking new one. An artist’s rendering hangs in the current shack-like building.


Painted Rock – World’s Smallest Tasting Room?

Drove to the Deer Path Lookout in Kaleden, just off Highway 97, set in the woods. It’s an adobe-style B&B, beautifully appointed with a spring-fed swimming pool in the shape of a whale. John and Doug, the proprietors, showed us around.


Deer Path Lookout


View from Deer Path Lookout’s dining room

We dropped our suitcases and drove back to Naramata to have dinner with Ian Sutherland, the winemaker/owner of Poplar Grove, and his wife Valeria at the winery’s newly opened restaurant, Vanilla Pod. Paul Jones, who owns the restaurant, suggested we have the chef’s tasting menu as we tasted Ian’s wines. The menu: a plate of garlic goat’s cheese, prosciutto, olives and red pepper tapenade; grilled scallops with tomato and pesto; wild sockeye salmon and crispy prosciutto butter with green beans and rainbow chard salad; lamb cutlets with squash; New Orleans bread pudding with bourbon cream sauce and vanilla ice cream. The wines:

Sunday, August 26: Awoke at 5:15 am. After a quick breakfast of granola, fresh peaches, yogurt and sourdough toast and jam, we drove to the Sandman Hotel in Penticton to meet our son-in-law, Ian, to watch the start of the Iron Man. There are 3,000 competitors, among them my daughter Annabel (#2636). Apparently, there are at least three volunteers for every competitor. One of their duties is to strip the rubber suits off the participants after the 4k swim so they can get quickly off on their bike ride (180k).


Swim start at the Iron Man

We took up our vantage point at the lake by 6:30 am to watch the pros start fifteen minutes before the amateurs. It’s a magnificent sight – close to 3,000 swimmers entering the water at the same time, like an enormous flock of Canada geese thrashing about to take off. We walked over to the start of the bike section to see Annabel off but there were so many competitors in black outfits that we missed her. Luckily, Ian got a photo of her back. Breakfast at Denny’s and then Ian, a chiropractor who had worked on fifty of the athletes before the race, gave me a work-out on my knee. Feels much better.


Advice for Iron Men

Back to the B&B for an hour’s sleep before setting off to Painted Rock winery to watch Annabel on the marathon leg. Ian had biked out to where we were and had to treat two runners for exhaustion on the way. Drove back to Penticton and we had dinner with Ian at China Gardens on Main Street – a buffet which was very good – before making our way to the finish line to watch Annabel complete the course. We witnessed two proposals of marriage as runners came through. One young woman held up a sign reading, “Jordanna, will you marry me.” Her boyfriend grabbed the sign from a friend as he ran to the finish line. Annabel came in at just over 14 hours feeling sore but triumphant. We are so proud of her accomplishment. Drove back to our B&B for a well-earned sleep.


Annabel’s marathon

Monday, August 27: Drove down to Osoyoos and had a quick lunch at Subway before driving up Road 13 to Don and Elaine Triggs’ winery-under-construction – Culmina Family Estate Winery. Don and Elaine drove us around their three vineyards set high above the valley floor – Arise Vineyard (39.9 acres – 380–450 metres, planted to Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Malbec), Margaret’s Bench (7.9 acres at 555–595 metres – Riesling, Chardonnay and Grüner Veltliner) and Stan’s Bench (7.9 acres at 400–460 metres – Chardonnay, Riesling, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Viognier and a corner for 1000 bush vines to be determined later).


Elaine & Don Triggs at the top of their world
(see the winery under Don’s left hand)


The south Okanagan, Canada’s only desert

At the top of the property is a rock from which you get a spectacular view of the whole southern Okanagan. We spent the night at Don and Elaine’s house in Osoyoos. A riotous dinner with our hosts and their youngest daughter Sara, who is the sales and marketing manager for Culmina; and the entertaining antics of the family dog, Barry, a Pembroke Welsh corgi. Don opened up a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée, which he served with smoked salmon (from a fish he had caught). We started with tomato soup with Quails’ Gate Chenin Blanc 2011, followed by Filet mignon with sauce béarnaise, new potatoes and salad with Jackson-Triggs Shiraz 2004 and Almaviva 2008. Dessert – peach, plum and blueberry pie with crème fraiche.

Tuesday, August 28: Sara prepared breakfast for us and then we drove from Osoyoos to Kelowna airport, a journey of two and a half hours, to catch the plane to Vancouver. On the way we stopped to buy some organic garlic. Az, the young daughter of the family, gave us a very professional rundown on the different types of garlic they grow – Red Russian, Music, Alvan and Inchelium Red. Couldn’t resist her salesmanship (www.grownwithlovegarlic.ca).


Az modelling garlic

Our Air Canada flight was delayed and so was our connecting flight to Toronto. Arrived home at midnight to a rapturous welcome from Pinot the Wonderdog, who had just returned from ten days at Innisfil with Valerie, our dog walker/sitter.

Exit mobile version