A Sip with A View

Merlot Boy and Margarita's Vanhattan (to quote Vancouver's social arbiter-at-large, Fred Lee)/Manhattan excursion is quickly coming to an end. We thought it'd be a great outing to take them up to the newly-opened Sea-to-Sky Gondola up the highway in Squamish. Merlot Boy, Boo and I had spent a jaunty weekend in Whistler a dozen years ago or so but this was Margarita's first visit to Vancouver and she'd never taken in the destination that plays second home to so many of her countrymen and countrywomen.

Boo and I had hiked the Squamish Chief in what must have been another lifetime but our Aussie buds wouldn't have enough time to even attempt the climb. So, the new gondola presented a perfect opportunity for them to take in the views and see a snippet of BC nature.

N.V. Cantine Sacchetto Vino Frizzante (Prosecco DOC - Italy)

Of course, with this crew, no adventure is truly an adventure unless there's a sip or two involved. Knowing this as a given fact, I'd packed along a bottle of Prosecco and a set of Govino glasses. Luckily, there wasn't too much chance of drinking and hiking beyond acceptable limits. It truly could have been a bit of fall.

While I remembered the wine, I didn't check to see if the Frizzante had already been added to The List. The Sacchetto appears to already be there; so, since this is non-vintage production, there's no new number to help us reach 2001.

Following the gondola jaunt, we carried on up the Sea-to-Sky and gave Margarita a quick tour of Whistler. That and, naturally, a cocktail at the Chateau Whistler's Mallard Lounge.  

We decided to make a pit-stop on the way home to quickly take in Shannon Falls as well. Since there were no additional cocktails or bottles of wine to be had, interest quickly waned and we were all loaded back in the car for the ride home - where there was definitely another bottle ready to be poured.

1688.  2009 Fowles Wine - Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch Shiraz (Strathbogie Ranges - Victoria - Australia)

While both Merlot Boy and Margarita joined Boo and I for a bit of a road trip and wine tasting in the Margaret River district south of Perth in Western Australia, we haven't done any wine tours with them in their home state of Victoria. (There had been a one-day tasting with Damien in the Yarra Valley back in '02 but that doesn't count because Margarita was an unknown quantity to Boo and I back then.)

Of course, Victorian producers are legion; so, neither of our Aussie guests had even heard of the Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch. I'd run across them a few years back at an Aussie wine tasting and, every one in awhile, the winery re-visits Vancouver. I picked this bottle up at one of the Vancouver International Wine Festivals and thought we should toast their neighbourhood producers. Strathbogie is a bit of hike from both Melbourne and Ballarat - where our buds reside - but there's always a chance we could take a tour and a little wine tasting the next time Boo and I make it down under.

I won't even make them take me on a hike first.