Lady Di & Yew

We received an invite from She Who Must Be Obeyed to join up with her and Lady Di for a birthday brunch at Yew, the restaurant and bar at the Four Seasons. Considering who the invite came from, there really was no saying "no." Not that we wouldn't have welcomed the opportunity in any event. I've heard some good things about Yew and, thus far, had only ever popped in for a single drink some months back.

I've gotta say that I like the look of the restaurant - very West Coast Modern - and I'll definitely need to come up with an opportunity to dine in the glassed in wine room.

We also lucked out in that the hotel was having a Sunday special - all wine was half price! I don't think I've ever seen that before, but I liked it. A lot. It provided a perfect opportunity to try some higher end wines that might otherwise be out of our price range when dining out. Unfortunately, we weren't going to get the chance to avail ourselves too much of the special. Not everyone was going to join us in a glass - seeing as how it was still only 11.00 a.m. and they had busy afternoons ahead of them.

That was until we tried the wine though. Another couple glasses were brought out after sips were shared.

242. 2008 Kettle Valley Viognier (Naramata - Okanagan)

I've always thought of Kettle Valley as home of big, extracted, primarily red wines. I also think of them as being rather hard to find. They may produce a large number of wines (one count had them at 29) but they generally make small batches of those wines.

It was the Viognier that caught our eye this morning though. Like me, Lady Di is a fan of the varietal and it sounded like it'd match wonderfully with the breakfast dishes like lobster roll and crab Benedict with saffron hollandaise. And it did go down easily - aromatic and crisp - it took no time before a second bottle was needed. We didn't ponder the possibility of a different, second wine for long - despite my ever-present desire to add yet another bottle to The List.

I gather there must not be much of this Viognier around. I didn't even see it listed among the Kettle Valley wines on their website. Hopefully, we'll find more down the road.