Blue Mountain & Friends

Following a hiatus of a couple years, Boo and I were thrilled to be able to attend Blue Mountain and Friends - a fundraising event that, after two years, was back to celebrate Blue Mountain's current releases and to help raise over $13,000 for the BC Children's Hospital Foundation.

The evening sees the winery's ten wines each matched with a dish that one of Vancouver's top chefs has prepared to pair with "their" wine. Even though we thoroughly enjoyed both the variety of dishes and the wines, there are always standouts - and, for us, it probably came down to the "I Love Pig" Charcuterie presented by DB Bisto Moderne that was paired with the 2008 Gamay Noir, YEW Restaurant + Bar's Parmesan-truffle Crusted Rack of Lamb with the 2006 Striped Label Pinot Noir or the Seafood Salad served in a Scallop Shell that was served up by Provence Marinaside and matched with the Brut Gold Label.

If I were just picking the wines alone though, I think I'd have to reach first for the 2005 Brut Rose, the Striped Label Pinot or, surprisingly(?) the 2008 Pinot Blanc. Boo preferred the Alsatian Pinot Blanc from last night, but I really enjoyed the Blue Mountain.

We had more than a couple of laughs when we bumped into the CBC Radio One's effervescent Fred Lee who was in his full-on, irrepressible gad-fly about town mode. That boy is a party on his own and I can see why folks jostle to be his plus-one for the evening.

Considering how difficult it can be to see any of Blue Mountain's wines in local wine shops, it was a marvelous way to taste everything that the winery is serving up nowadays. Too bad we didn't actually get the chance to down a whole bottle. I would have dearly liked to add another bottle to The List, but it wasn't meant to happen tonight.

I was rather surprised to see that we hadn't taken many pictures that night and was even more surprised when I didn't see a single glass or bottle of wine in any of the shots.

You'll just have to believe me that there was plenty of wine flowing. You can also believe that I'll be talking more Blue Mountain down the road as well. I'm really going to have to put my mind to getting a bottle of that Brut Rose. Blue Mountain's wines, in general, can be hard enough to find, but the Rose has the smallest production of any of their wines. Makes me want it even more.

A thoroughly enjoyable evening. Hopefully, it will be back next year and we'll be able to make it. I might even try to figure out a way to justify adding a bottle to The List.