Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper v.2013

OK, so I should be totally up front about this post, we're all about the event this time around and not so much about the wine. We downed a bottle and it'll be added to The List but the brutal honesty of it is that I really only grabbed the bottle so that I could fit this year's Fowl Supper into the blog - and even if we weren't popping corks on the best of bottles, it's one of those annual events that we are sure to mark on our calendars as soon as the date is announced.

Now in its 14th edition, the Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper is the signature event for the Fillmore Family Foundation and through those years, the Fowl Supper has grown from a throwback dinner for a small batch of "orphaned" prairie boys to the annual sell out extravaganza for 700 plus prairie fairies and their friends. Seeing as how I've written about the Fowl Supper each year that I've been writing the blog - 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 - I won't regurgitate an expanded history on the dinner so much. If you do go back through those posts, however, you will note that Boo and I haven't been coming to the event all these years because it's a stellar event for tasting wine. It has, however, raised more than half a million dollars for chosen Vancouver charities.

This year's dinner was titled "Ruby Red - Far From Dead" and was a tip of the proverbial ballcap to the Fillmore Foundation's fictional matriarch, Linda Fillmore, and her "80th" birthday. Linda's definitely looking good for "80" but, being the saucy gal that she is, I'm sure Linda would say that she owes it all to staying busy (read "naughty") and to a regular dram or two.

1455.  N.V. Sonora Ranch Pinot Noir (Bottled in BC)

I don't think tonight's Pinot is going to have any Burgundian or Oregon producers quaking in their boots but, if nothing else, it helped put a bit of kick into our cowboy boots and provide sustenance as our table counted all the coins collected this year. When having to serve 700 hungry folks at a buffet, deciding who gets to eat first can be a bit of an unenviable task. The Fowl Supper has traditionally awarded first dibs at the buffet to the table that turns in the most coins for charity - no bills allowed - and returning pros know that the winning tables hand over more than a couple grand each. It makes for a lot of counting though. Luckily, our crew donated over $1300 and, accordingly, lined up in about 4th position.

Boo, Mr. D. and I finished off our Pinot Noir over turkey dinner and all the trimmings. Sonora Ranch is part of the Artisan Wine Shop family - an off-shoot of Mission Hill. Artisan's wines include well known - and rather enjoyable - brands like Fork in the Road, Prospect Winery and Rigamarole, but it also produces a sh*t-load of commercial wines like tonight's Pinot. By using the term "sh*t-load of commercial wines," I'm not saying that they are undrinkable, just that they're definitely aiming for wine buyers that reach for cheap and cheerful bottles. In fact, despite not knowing anything about the provenance of the grapes used in making the wine - a joy of "Bottled in BC wines is that the grapes or juice could come as bulk wine from anywhere in the world - I think the wine was somewhat more sophisticated than the South African Two Oceans wines that have been the Fillmore Family house wine for a couple of years now.

We moved on to beer after our bottle though. 'Nuff said?

One of the hallmarks of the Fowl Supper is that it draws a wider array of folks than just displaced Prairie Fairies - from some real 80 year old aunties to the high school skipping team and hunky opera singer that served up plenty of talent. Even Vancouver's Mayor, Gregor Robertson, showed up this year to suffer a bit of abuse from Linda. Indeed, the Mayor has been a great sport at and supporter of the Fowl Supper for years - even returning after having the manner in which he "appreciably" fills out his jeans announced to the crowd during a previous edition's entertainment. All in the name of good fun, I suppose.

That and the fact that the Foundation's beneficiaries are truly wonderful - and some of our favourite - charities around town. This year's largesse was split between A Loving Spoonful, McLaren Housing Society of BC, Out in Schools and CampOut.

And there you have it. Life may not always be full of 90+ point wines, but there's little doubt that memorable times can be had even if the wine doesn't quite match up to the occasion. Now we just have to try and convince Linda to serve up a few wines worthy of the Fowl Supper's pedigree.

Prepping for the New Curling Season

With Fall either having arrived or just around the corner, it also means that the curling season will be shortly upon us. More and more of the teams in our league are sporting team names and uniforms and the pressure was on for us to move a little past blasé. We weren't having much luck reaching any consensus with simple e-mails going back and forth. So, in an effort to get ourselves a little more organized than last year, the team decided to meet for dinner and drinks - hoping that abundant libations would prompt the free flow of our creative juices.

For the first time in many years, I was going to be starting out with the same team as I played with last year. For the last so many seasons, we've needed at least one or two new members to flesh out the team as folks have moved from Vancouver or simply moved away from the game. While there's no fear of us challenging for supremacy of the "A" or "B" Divisions in our league, the hope is that we'll be able to build on last year's learning experience - and avoid the dreaded "F."

That "improvement" is, of course, with the actual curling. Anyone who curls knows that the after-game drinks are as much a part of the game as throwing the rocks. We've never had a problem with the cocktails.

1414.  2012 Les Roches Bleues - Pays de Maures Rouge (Pays des Maures IGP - France)

Fisher was brand new to our team and to curling last year and I think it was simple kismet that he ended up playing with us - or at least with me. Fisher and his partner, Paddy, are members of the Opimian Society. So, I can pretty much rely on the fact that, when we get together, he's going to have a bottle or two that I've never seen before.

Such was the case with Les Roches Bleues. This bottle remains largely cloaked in mystery, however, as I couldn't find an easy reference to the wine or winery online. Pays de Maures is a département on the Mediterranean coast of Southern France that produces Vin de Pays wines. The red wines are made with traditional Provencal varieties and this is a Grenache/Syrah/Mourvèdre blend. The only reference I could find to a Domaine Les Roches Bleues was in the Beaujolais district of Brouilly and this wine clearly had a different pedigree. There wasn't much labelling on the bottle but I did see a reference to Bernard Perrin. So, we might assume that this is somehow related to the many wines under control of the Perrin family.

It was pleasant enough out in the garden to get us started. It didn't exactly whisk us off to the Mediterranean coastline but we needed a simple transition from our starting martinis.

1415.  2009 Garcia Carrión - Antaño Rioja Crianza (Rioja D.O.C. - Spain)

M'og brought along this Rioja that is an entry level blend Mazuelo (Carignan), Graciano, Garnacha (Grenache) and Tempranillo and it seems to pull in a fair bit of hardware. Our bottle featured a sticker touting a Best in Class Silver Medal at the 2012 International Wine and Spirits Competition. Antaño is the Garcia Carrión line for Rioja production (there are well over a dozen different brands in total) and they make a lot of wine. Enough to export to over 130 countries.

Burger wine. But it still didn't capture our collective vote.

With the BBQ behind us, it was back to the garden to get down to the business of choosing a team name. As luck would have it, our neighbour, Baby Mama, dropped in and the lady is known for her cultural proclivities and her writing talents. She might be of more assistance than the wine.

M'og wasn't overly thrilled with team names that incorporated a gay naughtiness with curling puns. "Tight Ends" just didn't work for him. Nor did he gravitate to the culturally cool "Legion of Broom." He was leaning towards a name that referenced the sheets of ice that we'd be playing on but his first choice of Ice Storm seemed a tad esoteric for the gang. No one wanted "Ice Queens" despite the fact that we play in a gay league.

Fisher and I thought that "Fifty Sheets of Gay" was witty and topical - as did Baby Mama - especially since they just announced that the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey would be filmed in Vancouver, but M'og and Kaz were hesitant.

Kaz seemed particularly drawn to "Sheet Show" as the pun could reference both our poor play if we sucked or our stellar "show" if we managed to put it all together.

We mulled over it some more as I opened what turned out to be our favourite wine of the evening. Indeed, a possible fave for the memory banks.

1416.  2006 Pacific Breeze GSM (Cellared in Canada)

Like the Les Roches Bleues, this was a GSM; however, I know a bit more about this wine. Its provenance is rather modern. As noted previously in this blog, Pacific Breeze is a garage winery in the truest sense of the word. They operate out of a storage unit in urban Vancouver. They source their fruit - primarily from California and Washington - and ship it to New Westminster where their garage operation turns out some very tasty wines. This bottle featured fruit from the High Valley AVA in Lake County, California.

I'm generally not a fan of the Cellared in Canada wines as they are generally bulk wines, mass produced for the entry level market but Pacific Breeze works on producing a premium sip even though they have no option but to sell under the "Cellared in Canada" banner.

Predominantly Syrah (51%) and Grenache (43%) - with a 6% shot of Mourvédre - this was a definite New World take on Rhône blends. Much more reminiscent of Aussie blends than the South of France. Smooth, fruit forward with plenty of nose and flavour, there clearly wasn't enough of it to go around and we all bemoaned the sight of the last bit being poured. Baby Mama asked for a bit to take back to her man, K-Pop, but I later bumped into him on the street but it appears the glass never made it quite as far as to his lips. Best laid plans o' mice and baby mamas, I suppose.

Too bad there were only 400 cases made of this GSM and it's from 2006. I'd certainly like to get my hands on some more of it.

2006 La Frenz Merlot (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

Our last bottle of the night was the La Frenz and we were so engaged with our discussions of team names and uniforms (the latter of which we made very little headway) that I didn't even remember to take a photo of the bottle. Could be that I subconsciously knew that I'd already added this vintage of the Merlot to The List (at #425) and that, therefore, it wouldn't be featured to the same extent. The Pacific Breeze was a hard act to follow but the La Frenz did a good job of standing up for itself - earning itself some fine kudos from the assembled gang.

Unfortunately, our curling club's bar doesn't carry wines of this calibre. We're more of a beer league in the truest sense of the words. That just means that our little "Sheet Show" will have to plan a few more of these little get-togethers.

As for the mean time, "Good Curling."

Fifty Shades of White

A story on the Dîner en Blanc Vancouver website sums up the event as a "posh picnic" where diners "gather at a secret location with the sole purpose of sharing a high-quality meal with good friends at the heart of one of the city's most beautiful locations." Dîner en Blanc made its second appearance in Vancouver and Boo and I were lucky enough to attend. If you're not familiar with the all-white affair, the "must attend" event premiered in Paris 25 years ago and, since then, DEB has become a bit of a worldwide phenomenon. The epicurean delight crossed the Atlantic for the first time in 2009 when it landed in Montreal. It then migrated over the Canada-US border to arrive in New York City two years later. In the short time since then, it has grown to nearly 40 cities across five continents.

I didn't find out about last year's Vancouver début of Dîner en Blanc until just before the actual event and, by then, it was too late to corral an invite. I did, however, get onto the waiting list for the 2013 edition. When, back in July, I still hadn't heard a peep about this year's event, I figured we wouldn't be making an appearance this year either - particularly when I heard that tickets had already gone on sale to previous attendees.

Then, voilà, notice of waitlist tickets popped up in my InBox. The good news was that the Vancouver dinner was increasing in size from 1,200 to 2,500; however, there was also a warning that folks might want to make a run for the tickets right at the noon start time as there weren't many tickets left. While there was mention of high demand, the notice didn't mention that there were around 12,000 eager names on the wait list.

As you might guess from this post, I was lucky enough to get through in time and grab a coveted spot for Boo and I.

Little did I know that we'd also end up popping the cork on one of those "landmark" number wines on The List that night.

1400.  N.V. Charles Meunier Brutus (Cellared in Canada - Quebec)

Had I realized that our initial wine for the evening was going to be #1400 on The List, I might have ordered the more premium sparkling wine. But since I ordered the bottle on the spur of the moment, while being all concerned about the rushed nature of ordering the tickets, I simply picked the easy-going bubbles - especially since I hadn't heard of the wine before.

It turns out that Brutus is a commercial blend of Muscat and Chenin Blanc that is produced and carbonated in Quebec. There's little to know about the back story on the wine as it is a "Cellared in Canada" wine and I couldn't even find out where the grapes were sourced from. I think I could safely bet a pair of tickets to next year's Dîner en Blanc that the grapes weren't grown in Quebec though.

There was a noticeable sweetness to wine that actually complimented the brininess of our introductory course of caviar. And, even if the wine itself didn't rank as a landmark bottle, we were certainly enjoying it on a landmark occasion.

Part of the allure of Dîner en Blanc is that participants aren't told of the location in advance. All tickets have designated meeting points throughout the city attached to them and group leaders then coordinate transport to the secret site. Ironically, Boo and I discovered the previously secret location on our way downtown as the Skytrain passed right by the chosen locale. Unfortunately, we couldn't just get off and arrive on our own as we needed to check in with our team leader and, in what turned out to be perhaps the only real glitch of the evening for us, our group was one of the very last to debark at the "secret" location. As such, we missed out on all the early revelry in watching and mingling as the lucky few arrived and set up their tables.

In an interesting twist, the location - next to Science World and False Creek - was just across the street from where our former neighbour, Red, now lives. Ringing her up, I asked, "Where are you?" and when she replied "just sitting around at home," I asked her if she could see us waving at her. Her "You Buggers" reply confirmed that she was well aware of the event below her. Indeed, she'd already snapped the overhead photo from her balcony - nicely capturing the lay of the land as the sun was starting to set. Local writer, Sandra O'Connell, quoted Tom Robbins and reported that "It was as if a mai tai had been spilled in the sky. Streaks of grenadine, triple sec, maraschino and rum seeped over the horizon, puddled upon the sea." Not that there were any mai tai's being thrown back at DEB though.

Being the naughty boys that we are, I told Red to put on her best white frock and mosey on down to join us for a dance later on. By then, I figured we could find a way to sneak her in past the entry point.

But, first, there was foie gras with Port, duck rillette, truffled salami and prosciutto to be served along with a bottle that might have been a little more fitting of a landmark number.

1401.  2010 Groom Shiraz (Barossa Valley - Australia)

Established in 1997, when 87 acres of bare land was purchased, Groom is a small winery operated by the Marschall and Groom families. They only produce three varietal wines currently: Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and this Shiraz. The home vineyard is in the Kalimna region of the Barossa and they proudly state that they are directly adjacent to Penfold's Kalimna vineyard - a source of the Shiraz going into Penfold's renowned Grange, one of Australia's most sought after wines. Groom draws your attention to another ace that they have up their sleeve as well. Not only are the grapes grown adjacently to an all-star vineyard, but the winery has contracted the services of consulting winemaker, Natasha Mooney, who used to be a work with Barossa Valley Estates and their big gun, E&E Black Pepper Shiraz.

With "connections" to both Grange and Black Pepper Shiraz, there's plenty of reason to hope for a big wine for the big event. I'm a fan of big Aussie Shiraz and this Groom came through for us. There was plenty of dark fruit but that fruit was balanced with body and tannins. It wasn't just a fruit bomb without substance.

With only 900 cases having been made, I'm rather surprised that it was being offered as one of the feature wines being offered at Dîner en Blanc. I should have thought that they'd need a rather hefty supply of each of the wines when there were only six wines in total being offered. I'm jsut glad that we got our bottle.

Each couple is restricted to two bottles of wines. So, the Groom didn't match our crème brûlée as nicely as it did the entrée but it did substantially better with a small cheese course.

Not knowing entirely what to expect for the evening, Boo and I were a little surprised to find that we were likely two of the oldest folks in attendance. Guess most geezers our age don't want the hassle of carrying your own table, chairs and food. Leave that silliness to the 20- and 30-somethings, eh. I think we managed to hold our own - if I do say so myself. I certainly know that we received a number of compliments on our menu.

Besides, it's better to be the oldest guy at the cool event than to be an old fart sitting at home, I say. I think it's fair to say that Dîner en Blanc would have been a landmark event - whether or not we added #1400 to The List - but it was a nice coincidence.

Here's hoping that this old guy gets to add another couple bottles to The List next year as well. I know that speculation has already begun as to the location and the waiting list isn't getting any shorter. Besides, I need another reason to wear the white pants, shoes and belt I picked up. I can't say as they'll make it into regular rotation into my wardrobe otherwise.

'Cuz It's a Thriller....

Halloween is a much loved holiday in our neck of the woods. The Drive has been home to the Parade of Lost Souls on the preceding weekend for years now and our's is a neighbourhood that still seems to get a healthy share of trick or treating kiddies and the local park seems to have become a favourite spot for local fireworks displays. True, our neighbours do favour blasting Rob Zombie tunes to go with the zombie biker in their front yard while we go more for the dancing creatures à la thriller. But, all the same, it doesn't take much of an effort to entice a couple folks over to our place for treats and the little ghouls and goblins.

And a bit of wine, naturally. This year, I pulled a couple bottles where the labels seemed to accentuate the season.

969. 2006 Pacific Breeze Killer Cab (Bottled in Canada)

Lady Di had previously talked about having a tasting where everyone was to bring wines with crazy labels. Killer Cab was to be one of our wines, but the tasting never materialized. So, after a couple of years in the wine rack, I figured it was time to let the Killer out.

Seems like I've talked about Pacific Breeze in this blog more than I've drunk their wines and added them to The List. You can always search the blog to find out a bit more about this true garage winery's take on the whole "bottled in Canada" scene. I think it's fair to say that the winery isn't simply buying up cheap, excess grapes from world markets to make generic (dare I say critter wine). Although Pacific Breeze's grapes are all from California or Washington state, they're bringing in premium grapes and producing wines that have a lot more stature than the aforementioned critter wines - even if it means that they can't be sold as Premium BC or VQA wines.

The skull-crested martini glass may not have been the best way to taste this killer Cab, but sometimes the staging of the event has as much pertinence as the glass does (sorry all you Riedel folks). In retrospect though, I wish Lady Di had carried through with her tasting. I would have liked drinking this bottle a whole lot sooner than we did. Not because it was past its prime. Rather, because I likely would have picked up a few more bottles over the years.

Although he wasn't drinking the Killer Cab, we did have a killer scarecrow join us. It's pretty much a guarantee that Logan will be decked out in a super outfit if costumes are involved. Having come straight from work, his scarecrow this year was great. He was so realistic that he took to standing outside on our porch so that he could scare unsuspecting trick or treaters. I know he didn't mean to, but when he scared one little girl nearly to tears, we felt so badly that we made him abide by a rule that he couldn't scare anyone that was shorter than the fence.

After one little guy had come and gone (he was too short to be scared), his bigger sister came to the door. Logan gave her a good "Boo" and a good startle. Her scream was so convincing that her little bro' started laughing uncontrollably. He came back onto the porch and high-fived Logan, saying that scaring his sister was the "best and coolest thing all evening."

970. 2009 Moon Curser Border Vines (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Our second wine also has a label seemingly custom fit for Halloween. Thing is Moon Curser isn't a specialty market branding, it's a re-branding of Twisted Tree, the Osoyoos winery that came out of gate a couple of years back with guns blazing. Twisted Tree wines have been extremely well received since Day One and I've added more than a couple of their wines to The List. The name change - especially this one - and dramatic label change caught a whole lot of people by surprise.

The story goes that the folks behind Twisted Tree found that, despite their good reputation, they were being too easily confused with other wineries - Tangled Vines and Oliver Twist in BC and the California bulk brand, Twisted. Wanting to create a new, distinct image for the winery - one that was a little more "dynamic" and "radical" - they certainly appear to have achieved that goal. They looked to history in the Osoyoos region and identified with the stories from the 1860's and 1870's gold rush where smugglers used to ferry contraband into the U.S. in the dark of night. They used to curse the moon because the light of the moon made it tougher to evade border guards.

Border Vines is the new name for the old Six Vines. The wine incorporates all six Bordeaux varietals - Cab Sauv, Merlot, Malbec, Cab Franc, Petit Verdot and Carmenère. The primary facet of this wine that differentiates it from virtually any other BC Meritage blend is that the Carmenère component constitutes 23% of the blend. I doubt there are more than a handful of other BC wineries that even have access to Carmenère, let alone use it for a quarter of their wine. The winemaker posits that it's the high percentage of Carmenère that adds the spicey note on the palate.

Good thing the wine is still as good as it used to be. Despite the interesting story behind the name change, I'm one of those who still prefer the old name and labels. I won't stop buying the wine because of the new labels but there are only so many times a year that you can invoke Halloween. I might think twice about bringing one of the new labels to someone's house for dinner at other times of the year.

In the meantime, it was a bit of a thriller of an evening. Fun times and good wine for all.

Such a Sparkling Event!

A beautiful bride. Sparkling Hills Resort. What better nom-de-ma-plume could there be for my cousin, Centreman's, now legal squeeze than Sparkle?

I could go on about the stunning setting and lovely outdoor ceremony, the several "sap boy" moments or the abundance of hockey players, firemen and lively gal pals at the wedding, but this is a wine blog (at least, primarily a wine blog). So, I'll bypass all the wedding niceties and say that I was intrigued to find out what wines had been chosen for the reception and dinner. I know that we did a whole lot of tasting before we chose the wines for our reception. As such, I like to see what other folks decide upon for big events.

I was hoping to be able to add a couple of new wines to The List and hadn't counted on being lucky enough to add four new wines.

953. N.V. Yellowglen Pink (Australia)

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get a shot of the bottle. The glasses kept coming out ready and filled - with nary a bottle in sight. But I did get a shot of Boo toasting his glass of Pink in the art piece that was a wooden "fur" coat.

I don't think I've ever tried this easy sipping, fruity sparkler prior to the wedding. I see that Yellowglen promotes itself as Australia's "#1 sparkling wine brand" and, as part of the omnipresent Aussie juggernaut, Fosters Group, I maybe see how Pink (and its mate, Yellow) are the biggest selling bubblies Down Under. It's definitely entry level - as opposed to vintage - bubbly but it's priced well and is made from the classic Champagne varietals, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. An interesting choice, but I can see how it perfectly suited the reception and Sparkle's pink-themed wedding.

The dinner tables all featured red, white and rosé wines - so that all tastes could be covered - and so that I'd get three more bottles to add to The List.

954. 2010 Quails' Gate Rosé (VQA Okanagan Valley)

It was nice to see that a Rosé had been included in the wine choices. Rosé wines can be a tough enough sell in downtown Vancouver - let alone with the rough and tumble interior guys. Quails' Gate produces a nice, dry version though - made, largely, from Gamay Noir (90%) with some Pinot Noir filling in the balance. Nice and dry, the bottle was quickly emptied at our table.

The remaining two wines were special bottlings for the Sparkling Hills Resort by Bounty Cellars. The Resort had teamed up with Swarovski Crystal for the design of the resort and Swarovski is found throughout the hotel and spa. They've even connected with a local winemaker for a pair of house brand wines that are called Crystal. Naturally, all the labels sport small Swarovski crystals on them.

955. 2008 Bounty Cellars - Crystal Gewurztraminer (Okanagan Valley)

956. N.V. Bounty Cellars - Crystal Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot (Okanagan Valley)

These are the first Bounty Cellars wines that I've added to The List. I have seen their products around but I've never actually had a bottle. Bounty's is an interesting story. They work much in the way of a French wine négociant where the company buys wines and grapes from other producers and growers from BC, Washington state and elsewhere and then puts out a finished product.

They also fill a particular niche in that they specialize in private labels for their wines - just as we see with the Crystal label. Most wineries won't get involved with private labels unless there is a large, minimum order; however, Bounty will apparently produce a wine for individual customers for as few as two cases of wine. John Schreiner has reported that the company created more than three hundred private labels in the winery's first three years of existence. He also states that the "private label niche accounted for about 60 percent of the revenues" in 2007.

To be honest, we were all far more caught up in the wedding to pay an inordinate amount of attention to tasting and thinking wine.

I've been to a great many weddings over the years, but Boo and I don't take in many nowadays. Most of our friends are long past married (or divorced). I certainly go to a lot more wine events than I do weddings. So, it was nice to see the younger folk kicking up their heels and having a great time.

I know that there have been more than a couple weddings that I've been to where the joy of the occasion was not only on the happy couple's face but more than matched by the guests. This one actually stands out for me though. I am sometimes reminded of my Mom raising her hands in the air to sing along with "It's Raining Men" and our reception, but I'm glad to say that there were some equally memorable moments here.

Cheers - and our very best wishes - to the happy couple.

Hitting The Beach

On this occasion, "hitting the beach" meant the neighbours' backyard. Nature Boy and Mr. Principle wanted to have a little beach party but didn't want to have to deal with sand or having to find their way home after beating the heat and all the dancing with plenty of sangria and beer.

Their invite proclaimed a "Bikini Dance Party." Luckily, for at least Boo's and my sake, Hawaiian shirts and shorts were also acceptable under the dress code. Somehow, the thought of either one of us in a "mankini" just wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts - endless pitchers of sangria or not.

879. N.V. Toscano Rosso 4L Box (Bottled in BC)

Looking back on the party, I don't think I actually had a glass of the Toscano Rosso solo. Now, I know your immediate reaction would be to channel the "wine snob" in all of us and ask "Why would you want to?" But that's not the point of this little Odyssey. We welcome ALL wines - with pedigree and without.

And, believe, me there was nothing wrong with the Toscano Rosso and the Sangria. There were at least a couple of refills of those 4L boxes needed. If they have such a party again, the boys are going to have to look into the 16L box that is apparently available for sale. I couldn't easily find out anything about the wine (producer, grape varietal or source) but I did see that it's part of the Vincor portfolio and it falls under the "bottled in BC" - or "boxed in BC" in this case - category which means that the fruit can be sourced from anywhere and is often excess production from California, Australia and Chile.

Regardless of the wine's pedigree, Sangria always seems to be the great equalizer when it comes to utilizing entry level wines. Sangria has to be one of my favourite summer drinks and I don't find it being served nearly enough! It's always interesting to hear what various hosts have used in the way of a recipe. I'll never say "no" to a good idea for the Sangria jug.

The boys were missing their regular - and favourite - deejay but there were plenty of deejay wannabees and there was no lack of dance tunes. Mr. Principle must have one heckuva an account with iTunes because all requests were met for the dancefloor. With the volume steadily increasing and the guests spilling out into the lane, we were getting plenty of surprised looks as folks drove by.

Particularly as a few mankinis actually did start to appear.

Must have been the punch in the Sangria.

Pac Rim Bonspiel - Harder! Harder!!

I've hit another one of those posts that's really more about where we were drinking the wine as opposed to the wines themselves. This weekend was the Pac Rim Curling Bonspiel and I won't try to kid you - a curling bonspiel is not likely going to be a prime spot to find fine wine. Curling has more of that beer cachet - even if it is a gay bonspiel. Caesars, maybe. Coolers, likely. But wine is more like a hard double.

That being said, it goes without saying that there's going to be plenty of booze over the weekend. I'm kinda glad that I managed to fit in as much wine as I did - particularly since our little makeshift, raggamuffin team put together a pretty darn good run at the bonspiel. I think we turned a couple heads when we managed to knock off two of the early contenders in our first two games - getting ourselves into the quarter-finals of the "A" Division. We couldn't quite pull off three straight, but that left us in fine position to party on the Saturday night and those early wins definitely called for a bottle at the club.

714. N.V. J-T Unity Cabernet Sauvignon (Bottled in Canada)

I won't pass judgment on the fact that the Unity label - wines that can be a blend of BC, Ontario and international grapes - is all that was available at the curling club. As mentioned, the fact that they have wine at all is encouraging. Plus, the fact that you can buy it at the liquor store for $10 gives the club a decent sale price that still earns it some cash.

It's certainly not going to challenge any of J-T's other VQA vintage wines on quality but it's entirely drinkable. That being said, I have read that this new Unity brand is one of the biggest seller for the provincial liquor board - especially when all you really need is something to down along with the popcorn while the "Drag in a Bag" contest is going on full force in front of you.

For the second year running, the weekend's organizers have randomly drawn three teams in the bonspiel to pick one of their players to get all dolled up and perform a lip-sync for the gathered teams. I don't know if anyone was going to challenge last year's winner, Beyonce, performing Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It), but it was still as entertaining as all hell. I'm just ever so glad that they didn't pick our team - since two of our players had magically disappeared and there's no way I would have had the slightest idea of what the words to Britney Spear's Toxic might have been.

I have to admit that I think our Britney must have been channelling Ms Spear's during one of her breakdown or rehab periods. There's no doubt that she was a lively girl, but she was, indeed, a tad "toxic." This year's winner, Margaret Ho, may not dress as skimpily as Lady Gaga but she did a bang up job on Bad Romance and she got to take the crown and sceptre all the way back to Calgary with her. I'd like to see her explaining some of the pictures to the cowboys back home.

We actually played Ms. Ho and the Calgary team the next morning and I don't know if it was because they'd won Drag in a Bag and had lost their killer instinct or because "Margaret" just couldn't see the broom through the residual blue eye shadow, but, in any event, we managed to beat them for yet another unexpected win.

Our next match didn't actually involve playing the superheroes team that came all the way from San Francisco to play but they certainly brought a lot of fun to our event.

Our win over Calgary took us to one of the divisional finals where we managed to pull off another upset to win ourselves a nice little wad of cash - enough that, if we'd put it all towards cheap, red wine, we'd have had enough to bring about more than a couple wicked hangovers the morning after. We took the money and ran though.

Playing in one of the finals did leave us rushing to get to the banquet though. What was surprising was that there was even less choice of wine at the hotel than there was at the curling club. The banquet facilities offered one red and one white. What options were there but to get one of each?

715. 2010 Trivento Pampas del Sur - Select Shiraz/Malbec (Mendoza - Argentina)

It's funny that this is the only red that they had available. The 2008 Pampas del Sur Select mad it to The List as well (at #254) when it was the only red wine available at the Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper a couple of years back. I guess getting gigs like this where there's lots of drinking to be done and your's is the only wine being sold does wonders for corporate sales. That'll also help make your wine one of the best selling wines in the province. Then again, there's plenty of this wine available when this export brand for Concha y Toro's presence in Argentina produces millions of litres of wine annually.

716. 2009 Castello di Gabbiano Pinot Gris (IGT Veneto - Italy)

I don't know how much wine Gabbiano produces but it also is one of the Top 20 wines sold in BC. Simple and easy on the pocketbook. I guess that's the secret.

We were in a good enough mood following the weekend that we'd have been happy with virtually any bottle of wine - plonk or not. So, to come away winners and add three wines to The List, I'd say that the weekend was quite the success.