A No Frills Sunday Meal

We hadn't seen Miss Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed for a while. So, I made a quick call to check up and see how they were doing. Lo and behold, we got a dinner invite out of it. They were having our mutual friends, Bittr & Sweet, over and the Lady said that it's not really any extra work to make dinner work for six - provided we'd be happy with a "no frills" Sunday night meal.

Knowing fully well that Lady Di doesn't know the meaning of "no frills" when guests are coming over, Boo and I leaped at the chance. BittrSweet used to be in the Dinner Club with the rest of us some years back and that just increased the chances of a full meal deal.

1057. 2009 La Frenz Viognier (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

I know that Lady Di has a fondness for both Viognier and La Frenz; so, this was a no brainer. The only thing I was mildly concerned about was whether this vintage had already been added to The List. Luckily for me, it hadn't. I've added the 2007 and 2008 but '09 was still ripe for the adding. It seems that Viognier is becoming more popular as an Okanagan varietal every year, but Jeff Martin and La Frenz were among the first to bottle it. They've got the whole aromatics, full body, fruit and acid down pat and, while their version might not take the "Best White Wine of Show" every year at the prestigious North West Wine Summit (like it did in 2008), you know it's going to be a winning bottle. (BTW, this 2009 only took a Silver at the 2011 Northwest wine Summit.)

Seeing that this was a Sunday night, we weren't exactly wolfing down the wine - despite its pedigree - and, as such, there was even a bit of the Viognier left to try along with the gals' Thai-inspired seafood soup. For me, the richness of the La Frenz actually matched up better with the bruschetta that Lady Di and SWMBO had served up. I doubt I would have noticed that so much, however, had the next bottle not paired even more beautifully with the soup.

1059. 2010 Little Straw - Signature Blend Tapestry (VQA Okanagan Valley)

A blend of Riesling, Auxerrois, Gewürtraminer, Sigerrebe and Schönburger, I was pleasantly surprised with the Tapestry. On the whole, I like a number of the Okanagan white blends of Germanic varietals that seem to becoming more and more prevalent and noteworthy from BC wineries. Like many of the others, this is an easy-drinking, aromatic sipper with a lower level of alcohol (11%) and touch of residual sugar that paired well with the spice in the Thai soup.

I say that I was surprised with the Tapestry, but only because I don't really know much Little Straw Vineyards. Located in West Kelowna, their total production is limited to around 3500 cases annually (850 of the Tapestry). I rarely make it to the Kelowna area and I have to admit that, on the few occasions that I do find myself in the area, I tend to gravitate to the bigger guns like Mission Hill and CedarCreek. I might have to reconsider things a little next time around.

Lady Di might have planned her dinner around a "no frills" concept but she certainly didn't plan on skimping with the plate size. She was fairly quick to acknowledge that the salmon and quinoa main was somewhat on the "monster-size" scale. She just figured that she was plating for big boys. She might have been right; there wasn't much left on any of the plates when we were done.

1060. 2009 Quails' Gate Pinot Noir (VQA Okanagan Valley)

After finishing off the gals' Tapestry, it was rather fitting that we opened the BittrSweet contribution for the evening seeing as how Quails' Gate is pretty much Little Straw's neighbour. Again, Quails' Gate's location in West Kelowna means that Boo and I don't have all that much of their wine in our "collection." Certainly not like we do with the more southern-based wineries. I took a quick look back at the blog entries and, even though this is the fifth Quails' Gate wine to be added to The List, more often than not, we find ourselves drinking their wines because someone else has brought it along.

Pinot Noir is Quails' Gate's flagship varietal (although Boo has a definite fondness for their Old Vines Foch) and we never fail to enjoy it - whether the standard label or Stewart Family Reserve. Tonight's bottle just reminds me that I should turn my mind to their wines a bit more down the road. I think we all loved it with the salmon.

Four hours later, it was time to either say goodnight to our little "no frills" dinner or to just lounge out on the couch and close my eyes. Home and my own bed won out, but you gotta love "no frills" when it comes packaged like tonight.

Award Winning Neighbours

In the cause of brevity and catching up, I'm going to add the next two wines to The List on the same post. They might not have been opened on the same night but they are neighbours on the Naramata Bench and both appear regularly in this blog.

1043. 2005 La Frenz Merlot (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

La Frenz is definitely one of our favourite "Go To" wineries. Consistent quality is a hallmark for La Frenz, but that being said, I think we might have been better off had we "gone to" this bottle a little while ago. Boo's tightening of the "No Buy Leash" is going to see our opening more bottles like this - ones that have seen a bit of ageing - and maybe that's a good thing. As much as I enjoy La Frenz on the whole, I think the integration of fruit, acidity and structure that we're used to with their wines had passed us by with this bottle.

On the other hand, our slight disappointment in the wine might just show how little Boo and I know when it comes to fine wine. The 2005 Merlot won Gold at the All Canadian Wine Championships and won "Best Wine of Show" and "Best Red Wine" at the 2007 Northwest Wine Summit. Awards don't get much bigger than that for BC wines.

What the heck do I know anyhow? Guess it's a good thing that we have one more bottle to give it another go.

1044. 2010 Red Rooster Pinot Blanc (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Red Rooster's home estate vineyard and winery is located less than a mile down the road from La Frenz and, as often noted in this blog, winemaker, Karen Gillis, and team have been raising the bar year after year of late. Karen's had a banner year of awards herself in 2011. Her Chardonnay was named one of the top five in the world at the Chardonnay du Monde competition in France; the Pinot Noir won Best New World Pinot in California; her Syrah was named Best Red at the 2011 BC Wine Awards and a recent Meritage won one of eleven Lieutenant Governor's Wine Awards given last summer.

The Pinot Blanc hasn't garnered huge press and hardware yet; but, boy, were Boo and I ever pleasantly surprised when we opened this bottle! As participants in the Adopt-A-Row program, we receive a mixed case of wine every year and this year's case recently arrived. (Thankfully, it doesn't contravene the No Buy Leash.) We simply grabbed the Pinot Blanc as an easy weeknight wine. I could easily have opened a second bottle right then and there.

Most folks go right past Pinot Blanc on the wine shelves. It generally doesn't tend to stir much in the way of flavourful emotions. This bottle proves that such a statement doesn't have to be the case. I know that Barbara Philip, Canada's first female Master of Wine, feels that Pinot Blanc could be the best choice of a varietal for the Okanagan Valley to adopt as a signature grape and help the region make a splash on the world wine scene - much along the lines that Sauvignon Blanc became synonymous with New Zealand.

This is a prime example of a wine that can turn heads. It did just that for us. With its partial exposure to a bit of French oak and 6 months of ageing on its lees, the wine was rich and complex in a way that I don't usually associate with Pinot Blanc. There was plenty of Okanagan tree fruit front and centre and a real nice, but bracing, acidity and citrus note on the finish.

A $17 price tag isn't going to hurt at all either.

I'm going to look forward to another bottle of this one.

The Neighbourhood Dine Around Comes Around

Despite the fact that I was out last night for what was likely my first "last call" in I don't know how many years, the old "no rest for the wicked" proved itself true because I had to get right back on the social horse and wagon and get ready for our annual Neighbours' Dine Around. The players may have changed somewhat and those involved have expanded a bit over the years, but the basic premise of spending a short time eating and visiting with our neighbourhood gang during the holiday season remains the same.

The array of food and drink never ceases to amaze me and tonight was no exception - even if I wasn't fully participating in all the wines and cocktails that were available.

1013. 2008 Mon Ami Rascal GSM (VdP Meditterannée - France)

After a bit of jockeying for positions, this year's extravaganza started off with Cupcake and Haggis and, being the rascal she is with all things witty, Cupcake served up the cutest little olive, carrot and cream cheese penguins. The kids loved them and you can count me in as one big kid. Whether they went along with the GSM is irrelevant - they were too cute to care.

Mon Ami Rascal is the house blend made for the earls restaurant chain by the Perrin family in the south of France. GSM (or Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre) is a traditional Rhone blend and, as you'd likely expect with a house red, it's an easy drinker with plenty of fruit and easy tannins. It's an easy way to start the evening avec nos amis rascals.

1014. 2010 Thornhaven Estates Gewürztraminer (VQA Okanagan Valley)

BabyMama and Arty400 offered a butter chicken as well as a vindaloo curry. I could have easily just chowed down on a couple heaping bowls of this and called it a night - but I had to show some restraint and limit myself to just a sample since there were another four homes to visit - and stop #2 is still considered appies in the greater scheme of things.

I always look forward to seeing what wines Arty400 serves up since he's a bit of wine fiend and he's always on top of the latest suggestions that Barb Philip, one of Vancouver's resident Wine Masters, is touting. I totally get serving the Gewurtz with the curries and the Thornhaven exhibited all the classic characteristics of a Gewurtz, but it wasn't my favourite wine of the night.

I didn't get to spend too much time with Nature Boy and Mr. Principled at their stop because I had to make a quick exit to get our place all set up, but I was able to hang around long enough to try their most delicious lamb stew. They matched it up with a very tasty red wine but I only had time for a quick sip and didn't even catch the name of the wine. I may have to try and follow up on that with them.

1015. 2009 Stoneboat Chorus (VQA Okanagan)

Boo and I teamed up to make a tourtiére seeing how it's a classic Québécois dish to serve up at Christmas. I'd never tried making it before but, if I do say so myself, it was pretty darned good. Boo made one of his best crusts ever and the filling was bang on tasty. When our tourtiére got the seal of approval from Marquis and Red, our resident Montréalers, I knew we'd pulled it off.

I offered up both a white and a red as the joy of tourtiére is that it'll match up with almost anything. An earlier vintage of the Chorus was added to The List a couple of years back, at #336, when the wine was still called "Nebbia." A blend of six white varietals, it's a summer sipper kind of wine that captures all the fruit of the Okanagan. I figured it would match nicely with the pork and crust.

Plus, the wine's a bit of Christmas present to myself because I'm going to add the Schönburger varietal to my Wine Century Club list this time around. I didn't add the grape last time because it's only provides a small percentage of the blend, but I'm adding all the varietals I find in blends nowadays since I've finished off the initial century. Besides, I rather doubt that I'll run across many wines that feature Schönburger in anything more than a supporting role.

2006 LaFrenz Shiraz (Okanagan Valley)

I brought the LaFrenz out simply because it's a beautiful wine and it made sense to share LaFrenz with our friends. Actually, I didn't exactly have to foresight to think of that little witticism before I opened the bottle but I'll use it since somebody pointed out what a nice idea it was. Credit where no credit's due. Gotta like that. I found the wine to be a little more acidic that I recalled in the past, but that was likely a good thing with the flavours of the tourtiére.

I do know that everyone was asking about the LaFrenz. So, I guess I'll let that make me feel a bit better about the fact that I served a wine that's already on The List. I'm not supposed to do such a silly thing.

By now, I was starting to fade a bit, but there were still two homes to visit. I kind of made an executive decision to back off on the wine though when I started nodding off - martini in hand - in a cozy old couch at Shameless Hussy and Rock God's place. At least I didn't spill the martini at all or start to snore. I don't know that I'd be able to show my face in the neighbourhood after such a faux pas.

As if they haven't seen way worse.

A double dessert and quick massage in Widya's "alien attack" chair basically spelled the end of evening for me. No cigars or Port this time around but it was yet another great little affair for the crowd. Now it's time to diet before the rest of the Christmas dinners to come.

A Scary Possibility with La Frenz

I had a bit of a scare on the BCWAS Bus Tour last weekend (and not just the scare of retribution for having maybe purchased a few more bottles than I was "permitted" under the brief loosening of the No Buy Leash).

No, the real scare was that, at one of the tasting events, I was party to a conversation where folks had recently tried some older La Frenz wines - and they'd concluded that the wines hadn't aged well at all. In fact, the comments were more along the lines of "they weren't even worth drinking."

Knowing that Boo and I still have a number of "older" La Frenz wines hanging around, I figured I'd better open one ASAP to see if we were going to be stuck with a bunch of dead wines.

931. 2005 La Frenz Cabernet Sauvignon (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

This Cab was the first one that I grabbed. I realize that a 2005 isn't what you'd normally think of as an older vintage, but it is getting on a bit for BC wines. With such a recent history to the wine industry here, most juries are still out on the ageability of our wines. All the same, La Frenz winemaker and owner, Jeff Martin, even states on the back label of this bottle that he figures it should age at least ten years. I was pretty sure that the conversation I was party to was talking about Cab though; so,it seemed to make sense to open one.

I was either going to be extremely disappointed or greatly relieved.

I'm pleased to say that our bottle was still in fine form. No signs of oxidation. Plenty of fruit (although not as much as it might have had earlier in its life). And enough tannins and acidity to give the wine a good balance on the palate. There was certainly still enough wine there to leave you wanting some food to go with it. The glass packed enough punch that you likely wouldn't want to stand around all night long, drinking this bottle just by itself.

I'm not exactly sure how many more bottles of La Frenz we have lying around, but, at least, I'm not going to worry so much that they all have to be opened immediately.

Not that I ever mind opening a bottle of La Frenz.

A New Season...That Doesn't Involve Hockey

It may not capture quite the same city-wide excitement of the Stanley Cup playoffs but, for many, the arrival of the spot prawn season hits all the same notes when it comes to the Vancouver food scene. There's an opening weekend festival, line-ups at the fishing docks, special menus at scores of restaurants and plenty of finger licking good shellfish.

Count me in!

As this post happens to hit another milestone in this Wine Odyssey, it's fitting that we enjoy our first spot prawns of the season with one of our favourites BC wines.

800. 2009 La Frenz Riesling (Naramata Bench - VQA Okanagan Valley)

After having tasted a whole array of BC wines, the La Frenz Riesling was one of the wines that Boo and I served at our wedding/tenth anniversary party a couple of summers back. (I know, how do you have a wedding and a 10-year anniversary at the same party - but that will have to remain a complicated story for another day.) So, it's not hard to understand that this wine has been a tasty treat for us for some time.

I'm glad to say that the 2009 vintage is still up to par - and is a worthy bottle to serve up as #800 on The List and as a pairing for the spot prawns Boo picked up at Granville Island earlier today. A little olive oil, garlic and a splash of Riesling - both in the pan and in the glass - and we were set.

One of the hallmarks of Jeff Martin's Riesling is that he leaves a touch of residual sugar to counterbalance the natural acidity that standardly shines through with the varietal. This slightly off-dry note can disagree with many but I particularly enjoy it and it came to good use with the sweetness of the spot prawns. Without that "touch of honey," the acidity might have been a bit much for the delicacy of the prawns.

A little more of both please...

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

749. 2009 LaFrenz - Alexandria (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

- bit sweeter than I'd expected, fuller with a long finish - almost dessert like. Good thing there was some spice in our Mardi Gras Jambalaya; the off-dry aspect was tempered somewhat.

- another one to add to the Wine Century Club.

I'll have to come back (hardy har har, he says) to go into this wine a little bit more, but I'm being pressured to move on.

Canucks Knock Out the Kings

Seeing as how I was at the Playhouse Wine Festival instead of sitting back with a bottle of La Frenz for Game 5 last Friday, I decided to try and make up for it with a double header of wine Sunday night. The fact that the Canucks were up two games to one and could close out the series left me thinking that I should bring out the big reds. The hope was that a bit of punch and body to the wine would provide that little extra to put away the Kings.

Looks like it worked. (Were it only that easy.)

429. 2004 La Frenz Reserve (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

430. 2005 La Frenz Reserve (Naramata Bench - Okanagan Valley)

Reserve is La Frenz's entry into the Bordeaux styled blends. The free thinker that he is, Jeff Martin doesn't cater to the marketing that is the "Meritage" name, but he delivers all the same.

I didn't see breakdowns of the varietals, but the labels say that Martin's Bordeaux blend is primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot being the second most prominent component. It was interesting to try the two vintages side by side. I don't know that I would have recalled much of a difference had we tried them on separate occasions. While the overall profile was very similar, I think there was a touch more fruit on the nose and the palate with the 2005.

And, being the fruit-driven kind of guy that I am, I suppose it makes sense that I took a bit bigger pour of the '05 with the second glass.

Don't take me too literally on a more prominent fruit though. Neither of the bottles struck me as big, new world, fruit bomb kind of wines. They were more of smooth Sedin kind of pass than a big Alexander Edler hit (that'll test your hockey trivia).

The end result, however, was that the Canucks indeed won the game and the series. The series of La Frenz wines carried the day in their winning ways and Boo and I clearly won in that we had the chance to drink six of Jeff Martin's wines over the course of a week and a half. Seems to me that the only losers were the L.A. Kings.

Bring on the second round! Now to pick the series winery.

Paella Perfection

Boo and I (and The List as well) lucked out the other night. Awhile back, we realized that we hadn't seen Axel and the English Doc for some time. So, I e-mailed them to see if we might be able to get together for dinner. We managed to decide on a Friday night, but I guess I worried them a bit with a "warning" that I wasn't going to promise anything extravagant since I'd be at work all day. Axel decided to host us instead since he had the day free.

My guess is that he didn't have a whole lot of free time during the day because there was plenty of food that all took a good amount of prep time.

Seeing as how Axel also invited along some other friends, it made for, not only an evening of good food, but also a chance to add a number of wines to The List.

168. NV Segura Viudas Cava Brut Reserva (Spain)

Much of the evening's menu flowed from Spanish tapas food. So, a bit of Spanish bubble seems like a good fit for the evening. Serving sparkling wine along with food seems to becoming more popular even at home dinners. Food and wine writers have long praised the foodworthiness of bubbles and it seems to match particularly well with tapas.

This wine is a perennial favourite of critics and writers as it is made in the traditional methode Champagnoise but is sold for a fraction of the price. For the wine trivia lover in all of us, it's also a blend of three grape varietals that few (short of the bona fide geek) would recognize - Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo.

Space likely won't allow as much information on the remaining wines from the evening, but you could tell that Axel had let his guests know the planned menu in advance. Most of the wines were fine matches for the paella and tapas.

169. 2007 Bene di Batasiolo Barbera d'Alba (DOC Barbera d'Alba - Italy)

I'm finding that Barbera is a bit of "go-to" varietal for me nowadays. It always seems to be quite food-friendly and this was no exception.

170. 2008 Quinta Ferreira Rose (VQA Okanagan)

I was intrigued to see that this Rose was a blend of a number of varietals - Merlot, Syrah, Malbec, Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. I wouldn't normally expect so much blending in a Rose.

171. 2005 Bodegas Zabrin Atteca Old Vines Garnacha (DO Calatayud - Spain)

Tyrant brought this along and it definitely showed why he's on a bit of Spanish wine kick at the moment. Bang for buck. Isn't that music to all our ears? Lovely wine (although it's completely in a New World style and that might not be your bent) and nice marketing job on the packaging. I'll keep my eye open for their wines in the future.

172. 2005 St. Hallett Unearthed Touriga Nacional (Barossa - Australia)

I couldn't find much about this wine online but I briefly read the back label of the bottle that evening. The information proferred stated that every so often the winery finds, or unearths, some blocks of grapes - not normally used for single varietal wines - that scream to be set apart that year. St. Hallett normally uses its Touriga Nacional (one of Portugal's big grapes and a primary ingredient for Port) in one or more of its red blends, but the 2005 vintage saw this separate bottling. I don't think that they've done it again since.

173. NV LaFrenz Liquer Muscat (Okanagan)

The final wine of the evening was another treat brought along by The Tyrant. We have some of this at home as well - one, because it's from LaFrenz and, two, since it's fashioned after the Aussie "stickies" that I love so much.

This is a perennial award winner for the winery and those awards are won at some of the bigger competitions around in these parts. It received a Double Platinum (one of only eight awarded) by Winepress Northwest this year; was given Gold & Best Fortified of Show at the Northwest Wine Summit; and brought home Gold at the 2008 All Canadian Wine Championships.

It was a grand way to sit back after dinner and finish off a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Move Over Sancerre

The other week, when we had our Dinner Club with Lady Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed, I waxed poetically (well sort of) about one of the Sancerre wines that we had that night. Sancerre white wine means Sauvignon Blanc and we really liked the refined nature of the Francois Crochet.

Well, this BC fave winery has delivered a Sauvignon Blanc that makes me think I don't need to go all the way to France to find an SB that doesn't feel that it has to mimic New Zealand in its flavour profile.

152. 2007 La Frenz Sauvignon Blanc (Okanagan)

We usually think red when we drink La Frenz, but that might just change now that we can add this Sauvignon Blanc to their Riesling which is already one of our faves.

I don't think Jeff Martin can really do any wrong. Interesting guy. Great wines.

At $22 this year, it is a bit more than we'd normally pay for a mid-week white, but you could serve this to me any time. And that's almost half the price of the Sancerre that we liked so much. There's just not a lot of it to be found.

In fact, a most unfortunate note is that Boo's "No Buy Leash" was strapped on pretty tightly around my neck when La Frenz's whites were released this year. I didn't order any - like I usually would - so we don't currently have any of the 2008 in the cellar. I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for it in some of the private stores in case there's the odd bottle around. Leash be damned. Wish me luck.

An Evening With La Frenz and Friends

Friday night, Boo and I went to the annual BC Wine Appreciation Society's dinner event and this year, a single winery was featured at the dinner.  We were very glad to hear that the winery chosen to participate was La Frenz.  As mentioned only a few postings ago, La Frenz is one of our favourite wineries in the province.

As we were drinking a flight of six wines with the various courses, there is no one bottle that we get to add to The List.  As pointed out in that post, a number of these wines would have been added had the Canucks made the third round of the playoffs though.  All six will make The List in due course.  We have at least one bottle of each in our "cellar."  

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Jeff Martin, the proprietor and winemaker at La Frenz walk us through the wines he was serving - particularly when he came to chat at the individual tables.  He was perhaps a tad more forthcoming on the down and dirty about such topics as why he doesn't care about VQA designation, about the creation of the Naramata Bench Association and about the state of and future of the BC wine industry.  With 38 vintages to his name, in both the northern and southern hemispheres, he's got a great base to work from should he choose to mount the soapbox.

All the wines met with great approval at our table.  Some of the dishes created by the students at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts were more successful than others.  Despite an intriguing presentation on a small ice block, not many went for the buttermilk and avocado sorbet as the palate cleanser - although I finished mine off just fine.  Generally, I think the most successful pairing of the night was the Reserve Chardonnay with scallops served with a miso glaze and citrus marmalade.

Now, to get those La Frenz wines on The List.

I'd Hoped for a Whole Series

Goodness, I seem to be on a bit of stretch of BC favourites - Burrowing Owl, Sandhill, and now La Frenz.  Had the Canucks beat Chicago and made it to Round 3 of the playoffs, I was going to feature La Frenz as the series winery.  Maybe the Canucks didn't make it, but I can still enjoy a bottle of La Frenz to help quell the pain.

55.  2006 La Frenz - Montage (Naramata - Okanagan)

A montage is defined as "any combination of disparate elements that forms or is felt to form a unified whole, single image, etc."  This Montage is a blend of syrah, merlot and cabernet - not exactly the most common blend of grapes, either for BC or elsewhere.  I'm sure there's a story behind the wine that I'd like to follow up on, particularly since I've seen it made with pinot noir in the past as well.  

I don't think this wine is generally seen as one of the stars of the La Frenz cellar (not that there's a lesser wine to be found) but I like it as a nice approachable wine.  Good for a Friday night watching a movie on the TV.