Lammershoek - A New Look at South Africa

I still have a few training drinks to fit in before the Half Corked Half Marathon on the weekend. I may not be able to train on the road, but at least I can keep training with the glass.

1613.  2009 Lammershoek Roulette Blanc (Swartland W.O. - South Africa)

I don't know South African wines very well. We don't tend to buy many ourselves and, when we do run across them at events or parties, they're usually the mass commercial, entry level brand wines. Case in point, I didn't even recognize Swartland as a Wine of Origin appellation in South Africa - let alone know where it is on a map. Same thing with Lammershoek. I knew nothing about it when I picked up this white, along with a red blend, at a charity event silent auction and, while the purchase was a pure gamble, I figured the wines had to be a worthwhile sip as the bottles were donated by Marquis Wine Cellars - perhaps Vancouver's premier private wine merchant. If you can't trust them for a bit of an adventure, who can you trust?

Lammershoek is a family run and managed operation that produces three label ranges - an entry level, this eponymous label and a "project" label that pushes boundaries and plays with more unusual grape varieties and techniques. The winery added a new winemaker, Craig Hawkins, in 2010 and he's apparently upped the ante since his arrival. The experimental, "project" label - Cellar Foot - even has a Syrah that is aged in barrels under water. Never heard of that one before.

Hawkins wasn't with the winery during the vintage and pressing of the juice for the '09 Roulette Blanc but he did supervise the blending of the finished wine. He has an interesting production method for this wine (at least for the subsequent vintages) in that the juice is pressed directly into large (300L and 600L), old oak barrels and aged for 12 months on its lees (spent yeast cells) and then blended and placed in a 9500L concrete tank where it is aged for another 5 months on lees before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The finished wine sees Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Clariette Blanche combined for a rich mouthfeel that goes more for minerality and spice than for fruit - quite different from most of the whites we find back home in BC. It was definitely big enough for a pork roast - although I think I'd want to drink it more with food than just by itself for a cocktail sip.

The grapes are farmed organically on dry land (no irrigation) from well established vines and that likely adds an even bigger element to the mouthfeel on the wine.  The Chenin vines are between 45 and 50 years old, the Chardonnay and Viognier around 30 and even the newest Clairett Blanche vines are 15 years old.

A definite change of pace for my wine glass. I'll be interested to see what the red is like.

From Baton Rouge to Antigua

Our last night in Antigua is upon us and, following our epic afternoon at Jacquie O's Love Beach, we've opted for a light dinner at Jeaux and Matinder's. Jeaux offered to make "conch water" - which is apparently Caribbean for conch soup. Jeaux advises that if the dish were called "conch soup," it would really be more of a stew. Regardless of the name, it was tasty enough that she could have served it up as part of the Dinner Club Road Trip menu. After all what's 5700 miles when there's conch water involved.

Our pre-dinner task was to finish off the last of the duty free gin and engage the hummingbirds on the deck. There was a steady barrage of the little guys. They sure loved that sugar water (and that's real "sugar water," not sugar soup). Some of them were even brave enough to come up to the feeder while I was holding it out at arm's length. Luckily for me, they preferred the sugar water to my gin.

Jeaux's mom was our additional guest for dinner. Having visited J&M during one of their winter migrations to Antigua, Maman decided to forego the standard Quebec snowbird destination of Florida and rent a villa of her own at Jolly Beach. Many years have past since the last time I'd seen Maman and we were certainly much tamer than we were the first time I'd met her over two decades ago. At the time, she was teaching French in Baton Rouge and she'd graciously (read "foolishly") offered up her couch to a gang of four that had descended on Louisiana for Mardi Gras. Jeaux and Matinder can weave some riveting travel stories, but Maman is no slouch of a storyteller herself and it was lovely to reconnect after all those years.

Admittedly, our shots of the wine bottles being added to The List with this post weren't quite as lovely as the event. I will point out, however, that despite our day touring the island, it wasn't an inability of the photographer to focus. Somehow, we managed to hit a wrong button on the camera and we hadn't noticed that it wasn't focusing until we went to review a couple of shots later on.

Luckily there was a picture or two of the bottles on my phone so that I'd have close ups of the label.

1565.  N.V. Torresella Prosecco (Prosecco DOC - Italy)

A final visit to Epicure - our resort wine source - led to yet another Prosecco that didn't seem familiar from our own Vancouver market. A little crisp, bubbly action was a fitting way to toast the end of our brief stay in the Caribbean. It was a definite feat - and fête - to shepherd four couples to the far corner of the continent for a dinner party but J&M pulled it off.

I figure that if you can't raise a glass to that, I don't know what is toast-worthy.

1566.  2009 Cederberg - Bukettraube (W.O. Cederberg - South Africa)

I definitely didn't know what I'd grabbed when I picked this one - our final bottle in Antigua. Cederberg is apparently South Africa's highest vineyard (at 3200 feet above sea level) and it is currently celebrating the fifth generation of the Nieuwoudt family on the land's rocky, high-altitude terrain. But, more than that, it turns out that Bukettraube isn't just a proprietary name for the wine, it is a rather rare variety. A cultivar of German and Alsatian history, there are apparently less than 77 hectares of the grape remaining in the world.

Score another addition to my Wine Century club tally!

Given its German/Alsatian heritage, it might not be too surprising to find that the grape is part of muscat family. It had a definite residual sweetness - such that Boo didn't want anything to do with it - but I found that the more hot sauce you added to the conch water, the better the wine went with it. The sweetness of the wine also matched up with the Antiguan Black pineapple (that we finally managed to find at a reasonable price after a number of roadside stops during the day) and coconut ice cream.

Some bubbles with Maman, a new Wine Century Club grape and a final night dining harbour-side with  wonderful friends. It doesn't get much better than that. But on that happy note, it was time to head back to our place and pack. We had one last island adventure planned for the morning but that meant we had to be ready bright and early to allow enough time to tackle our quest and make it to the airport.

A Little Wine With That Snorkel?

Having bundled Lady Di and She Who Must Be obeyed off to the airport only last night, it was now time to say "goodbye" to Axel and English Doc.

They didn't need to leave for the airport until about noon. So, there was just enough time for Axel to take a final stroll with us up to the beach just past Jeaux and Matinder's villa. Antigua apparently has 364 beaches and we're discovering that there's a rather wide assortment of environments to be found. Called the North Beach at Jolly Harbour, this is a small beach where the sand is largely broken shells as opposed to fine, soft sand. The fact that we were the only souls on the beach for most of our visit just made our beachcombing that much more special.

The far end of North Beach finishes with a series of beachfront villas - villas that are a tad more luxurious than the townhouses we're all staying in. Boo and I noticed one that seemed to particularly fit our style; so, we took the liberty of posing for a picture poolside since it didn't look like anyone was staying at the villa at this time. Something tells me this little bit of luxury goes for a somewhat higher nightly rental than our unit does.

A boy can dream though, can't he? I can only imagine the tea dances or wine tastings and cocktails parties that I could put together with these digs at my disposal.

Maybe next time we're down here.

Once the boys were on their way to the airport, Jeaux, Matinder, Boo and I took to the road. The afternoon's plan was to lounge over a picnic lunch at one of Jeaux and Mat's favourite beaches. Although this new beach was located right next to one of the island resorts, it was amazing how - once you were past the resort layout - we could count the number of people we encountered on the fingers of one hand.

Talk about your idyllic picnic location. It definitely calls for a little wine.

1559.  2012 Douglas Green - the beach house Rosé (W.O. Western Cape: Wellington - South Africa)

Something tells me that, perhaps, the Douglas Green winery had occasions just like our picnic when they were coming up with a name and style of wine. The name, "the beach house," might have played just a tiny role in our picking the wine before we hit the beach. That and the fact that the wine had been sitting in the grocery cooler and was all ready for our sun splashed adventure. It didn't hurt that it was from South Africa and that was a bit of a different route than all the Mediterranean Rosés we'd been drinking so far.  We see very little Pinotage grown at home in the Okanagan; so a 100% Pinotage Rosé was alluring.

Despite the Pinotage base, the wine featured all sorts of red berry notes and had a touch of sweetness to it. Once again, in the heat of the day, that sugar note didn't hurt when following the spices that were fully evident in our picnic foods.

In addition to the variety of beaches, Boo and I were quickly finding out that there are remnants of abandoned colonial forts and towers all over the island as well. Following our picnic, we took a hike to and wander through the small fort found on the headland of our little cove. That was followed by a swim and a snorkel - and another bottle of wine as a reward for having burned off so many calories on the Caribbean sands and waters.

1560.  2011 Château de Varennes - Beaujolais-Villages (Beaujolais-Villages AOC - France)

As previously mentioned during these Antiguan posts, the Caribbean heat doesn't particularly lend itself to big reds. But that doesn't mean that we can't venture into red territory with some lighter red wines - like Beaujolais. Château de Varennes is new to me - particularly since we don't drink an awful lot of Beaujolais - but the lightness of the Gamay Noir grape was well suited to our beachside repose. It was a heartier sip than all the whites and rosés that we'd been quaffing so far; yet, it was anything but overbearing in the heat of the afternoon.

Once that bottle quickly disappeared, however, we realized that our beach time was done and that there might be just enough time left for a quick nap at "home" before dinner. And that's always a welcoming thought - whether on vacation or not.

On the way home, we passed a small pineapple plantation. The Antiguan Black pineapple is the national fruit and is branded as being the world's sweetest pineapple. We sure didn't see much evidence of them though. Indeed, thus far on the trip, I'd been surprised at how little agriculture overall I'd noticed on the island. Jeaux tells me that the bulk of the island's food is imported and that - to a great extent - there is a perception by the locals that working in the fields is still negatively associated with slavery during the colonial years. It appears that farming is still a long way from being seen as an enviable means of making a living.

With that understanding, it doesn't sound like anyone is about to take on the task of growing grapes and trying to make an Antiguan wine any time soon. I'll ask Jeaux to keep her ears and eyes open for an Antiguan Black pineapple wine though. After all, I tried a pineapple wine from Hawaii previously and actually thought it was quite tasty. Here's hoping an Antiguan Black wine might be added to The List down the road.

Another Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper for the Annals

Being a born and raised Vancouverite, I have no first hand knowledge of the Prairie phenomenon of the annual fowl supper - a tradition where, apparently, every town, large or small, holds at least one community dinner to celebrate the Fall harvest and to share in a down-home turkey dinner.  Each town and supper sports its own style and traditions, but my guess is that none of them come close to matching the flare of Vancouver's own classic - the annual Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper.

This year's event was the 13th Annual and it is the signature event for the Fillmore Family Foundation.  The Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper started in 1997, when "a group of Saskatchewan transplants" held the first event in an historic Vancouver church basement for 85 guests.  The early years of the dinner saw such growth in popularity that the dinner continually had to move to larger venues - until it arrived at its current home at the Hellenic Community Centre where it sells out to 700 guests.

It's a "can't miss" ticket for Boo and me.  We gather up a gang and our loose change and head out to stuff ourselves on turkey and saskatoon berry pie. It's become such a regular event on so many people's calendar that it's often the only time each year that we bump into some old friends and acquaintances.

The Fowl Supper has morphed into a major fundraiser over the years.  Prior to this year's dinner, the Foundation had raised over $440,000 for a variety of non-profit agencies that deliver programs and services in the areas of nutrition, housing and health.  This year's beneficiaries are A Loving Spoonful, Out In Schools and McLaren Housing Society.  There's little doubt that the most visible face of the Foundation is Linda Fillmore - a feisty "Prairie widow" with a taste for naughty double entendres and lavish outfits.  She's a very naughty girl  - but one with a big heart and pure prairie fairy resolve.

A perennial highlight of the event is the jelly salad contest.  If you're looking for inventive ideas for your next jelly salad, you only need attend one of these dinners.  Winners have included a curling sheet, a map of Saskatchewan (complete with grain silos), a child's fishbowl and this year's jelly portrait of Linda herself.  The salads are often neither enticing, nor edible - who knew Barbie could play a role in so many rude jello activities - but they're always fun.  I had the greatest intention of entering this year's contest but I was thwarted, earlier in the day, when I was preparing to start my multi-levelled extravaganza and discovered that I needed to leave it in the fridge overnight to gel.  Ooops.  Guess there's always next year.

Being a Prairie-inspired event, beer is the most prevalent beverage, but it is a largely gay event as well.  So, there are wines and cocktails to be found.  I've just come to realize that the wines are going to be limited in scope and excitement.

1279.  2012 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

We opted for the Sauv Blanc so that I'd at least have one bottle to add to The List.  After all, I needed some reason to write about the evening on a wine blog.  Let's just say that the Fillmore's have been serving Two Oceans at their events for a couple years now and, while it's a drinkable, bargain wine, the Fowl Supper is generally the only time I grab a bottle.

Our gang this year was a mix of regulars - like Mr. D., Elzee and Tyrant - and a threesome of newbies.  It was the first dinner for Mr. Principled, Nature Boy and KFP and I think they all enjoyed themselves.  With this year's Barn Dance theme, I was hoping to get in a little two-stepping or a Boot Scootin' Boogie but Boo wasn't feeling all that well and we left before the dancing really got under way.

Whether or not my boots got to boogie, it's safe to say that the evening was another big success.  One more Fowl Supper under the belt.  Another wine added to The List.  Big bucks to charity.  What's not to like?  Now, I just have to be better prepared to finish a jellied salad for next year.

Have Yourself a Very Elzee Christmas

With recent and respective travels behind us, we haven't had the chance to catch up with Elzee lately. An invite to come by for some seasonal treats was a welcome surprise - particularly since her folks were visiting and she managed to find a night when a few other friends (whom we hadn't seen in years) were available as well.

She's yet to decide if it's a welcome side effect or a curse, but Elzee claims that hanging around with Boo and I as much as she does has resulted in her ever-increasing enjoyment of - and collection of - wine. We were more than willing to help her free up a bit of space in her overflowing wine rack. Through the evening, we also learned that she's even acting as a bit of an influence on her recently retired brother. Now that he's got some time on his hands, she's encouraging his attendance at some tastings and his taking of a few wine courses.

1023. 2009 Graceland Cabernet Sauvignon (W.O. Stellenbosch - South Africa)

We started the evening with the 2009 vintage of one of the very first wines that I added to The List. Back at #17, we polished off a bottle of the 2005 Graceland Cab. Hard to believe that we're now a thousand bottles on. Boo and I don't tend to drink much South African wine, but, if I had to suggest a South African wine to a friend looking for a good, consistent bottle from there, I'd immediately think of the Graceland.

A small, family-run winery - and, no, that family is the McNaughton's, not the Presley's - the farmlands, come vineyard, were purchased in 1990. The McNaughton's waited until 1998 to release their first vintage and they've concentrated on producing red wines only from that time.

At $30 a bottle, the wine has a bit of job fighting it out for attention with the mass market wines we tend to find from South Africa on Vancouver shelves. The fullness and refined integration of the wine, however, makes it a good choice for a special occasion like tonight's gathering.

With a bit of wine and endless appies quickly disappearing, some very entertaining stories started flowing from all of Elzee's family. Momma Elzee even announced that, from this point on, she would refer to me as "Roberto" since I was so thoroughly embracing the Italian "Dolce Vita." It wouldn't have hurt my case that I arrived, greeting her and Elzee, with a big "Buona Sera Bella" ("Good Evening Beautiful").

1024. 2008 Inniskillin - Discovery Series Malbec (VQA - Okanagan Valley)

The next bottle being added to The List is another label making sort of a reappearance. We haven't had an Inniskillin Malbec in recent memory but I have added two other wines from their Discovery Series - a Chenin Blanc and a Zinfandel. The Discovery Series features a handful of grape varietals that remain relatively unexplored in the Okanagan Valley. Still being produced more on an experimental basis, the winery is trying to determine how viable the production of those varietals might be.

Malbec is being sighted in the Okanagan on a far more regular basis nowadays, but it is used largely for blending in the Valley's Meritage wines. Straight Malbec varietal wines are still relatively rare - and, even when they are produced, the volume is quite low. Indeed, only 590 cases of this wine were made. Thankfully, we got to try the Inniskillin tonight. It wasn't as big as the Graceland Cab but it still matched up nicely with the various meats and cheeses.

1025. 2007 Therapy - Freud's Ego (VQA - Okanagan Valley)

I wasn't as hyped about the Freud's Ego. It's an entry level Meritage blend of Cab, Sauv, Cab Franc and Merlot but I found it to be rather light, acidic and green (where the bigger Cab grapes didn't fully ripen). I enjoy the marketing genius that is Therapy but this wasn't a favourite when it comes to the wine.

Our Therapy in the glass was followed by a spirited and therapeutic conversation about the joys of Grappa and its influence in the Elzee family history - and I mean spirited in the best of senses. With Momma and Poppa's encouragement, Elzee pulled out the cherries steeped in homemade Grappa and offered up Caffè Corretto - the latter being espresso "corrected" with a shot of Grappa. Knowing that any caffeine after 4 p.m. renders me unable to fall asleep, I had to pass on the Grappa, but I'm going to look into those cherries a little more after that initial taste.

As fun as the evening was, it was a school night for me and Boo actually got called into work as well, so we had to hug up and wish everyone "Buon Natale." There were some definite "resolutions" to do a little more wine-ing in the upcoming year. Great fun!

Fowl Wine for a Fowl Supper?

At this time of year, if you're in Vancouver and you run into Linda Fillmore - especially dolled up like she is in this picture - it can likely mean only one thing: the Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper. The Fillmore Foundation has been hosting the Fowl Supper since 2000 and raising thousands of dollars for local charities like A Loving Spoonful, McLaren Housing Society and Out in Schools. Fashioned after the community fowl suppers that are ubiquitous across the prairies, the party started as a small event to bring a little bit of the prairies back for many of the fairies that had crossed the Rockies to land in Vancouver.

It's now one of the biggest events on the Vancouver gay calendar. Tickets always sell out and it's often the one time, every year, where you can run into old friends and acquaintances that you haven't seen since the last Fowl Supper.

We were joining up with some our regular gang, but we invited Miss Jaq over to our place for a cocktail before we mosied off to the Supper. Miss Jaq has always been half-way across the world every other time the supper has been held, but we corralled her to join us this time since she was actually going to be in town.

972. 2010 Focus Riesling (VQA Okanagan Valley)

Just as Miss Jaq was making a first appearance, this is a first time for me and Focus Riesling. Years ago, I remember reading Jurgen Gothe, in the Georgia Strait magazine, say that he thought that the 2002 Focus was the first Riesling to come out of Canada that could be taken seriously. Back then, Roger Wong was a young winemaker, working at Pinot Reach, and he put out a side-project label of one wine - a Riesling. After a review like Gothe's, what little Focus there was disappeared quickly and I anxiously waited for the next vintage.

Trouble is that there was no subsequent vintage that followed. 2003 saw the Okanagan wildfire that compromised many of the region's grapes and Wong didn't feel that he could get his hands on fruit that could meet his vision. Pinot Reach then got parcelled off (in large part into what is now Tantalus) and Wong found himself concentrating on a new winemaking position at Grey Monk.

Almost a decade later, Roger and his wife, Gillian, have teamed up with another couple, Ross and Geri Dean, to form Intrigue Wines. Wong still works for Grey Monk but he and Intrigue have started producing their own wines from the Lake Country region. This 2010 Focus is one of the wines that Intrigue has produced and it takes off where that original vintage started - making the odd headline here and there. There were only 89 cases made; so it still won't be the easiest wine to find. But it's worth it!

The name Focus comes from Wong's concept of making a regional wine that focuses on the one varietal that best suits that region's terroir. His thought is that Riesling is that grape when it comes to the North Okanagan If you're a regular reader, you already know that I'm partial to Rieslings. So, it shouldn't be any surprise that I'm going to focus on Roger's wines down the road.

Now, with the residual sugar that is fully evident in the Focus Riesling, some might be tempted to refer to the wine as "fruit salad in a cup." I wouldn't want you to confuse it with the actual jellied fruit salad in a Double D cup that showed up at the Fowl Supper in the annual jellied salad competition. As beautiful - and likely tasty - those cups might have been, the salad made by our friends, Will and Harry, wasn't even a finalist. I think they got bamboozled myself.

Unfortunately for the wine drinker in me, our earlier bottle was the primary focus of our evening's wine enjoyment. The wines available at the Fowl Supper were, by all accounts at our table, rather fowl. We bought a bottle of the only red and the only white. I didn't necessarily think they were as bad as the others but, suffice it to say, that most of our table moved on to beer - and that's saying something for a classy gal like Miss Jaq. As for Elzee, I think she decided to stick with water. Ouch.

973. 2010 Two Oceans Pinot Noir (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

2010 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

Regardless of the calibre of the wine, I'm still adding the Pinot Noir to The List. After all, not every wine on a list of 2001 bottles can be a winner and we did manage to coax Miss Jaq and Nine-Juan-Juan to pose with the bottles - even if they weren't exactly her cup of wine.

In checking back on the blog, it looks like Two Oceans has been the winery of choice for the last three Fillmore Foundation events and I can't add the Sauv Blanc since I added the 2010 vintage after the Fillmore Family Reunion back in the summer. I don't know if the distributors have come on as a sponsor of the event, but I may have to talk to Linda. One never wants to limit one's wine sales - particularly at a charity event.

With no more wine to be had, we didn't last long as the supper moved on from dinner to dance. Turns out Boo, Miss Jaq, and Elzee thought as much about the evening's entertainment as they did about the wine - particularly as the crowd got restless with the floor show and took to launching paper airplanes. Personally, I could have stuck it out with a beer and dance, but 3-1 is a pretty tough vote to get past, especially when Boo was the designated driver.

Hopefully, Linda and gang will de-brief the Fowl Supper and rein in whatever might need it. I love the event and its history, but if stalwarts like Elzee and Boo and me are questioning the bloom on the rose, I have to wonder if others are thinking the same thing.

Or, maybe, we're just becoming old and cranky prairie fairies who complain a lot when the wine doesn't meet our high fallutin' tastes. Guess we'll see.

Fillmore Family Reunion

Every year, one of the highlights on the Gay Vancouver social calendar is the Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper. If Boo and I are in town, we're there - one way or another we do what we need to get some of the hottest tickets in town. Well, for the first time ever, the folks behind the hallowed Fowl Supper hosted a summer event. The Fillmore Family Reunion was a long time coming, but it arrived with a bang and over 600 folks headed out the to UBC Farm for entertainment, BBQ, a slew of naughty picnic games (I've never seen a ring toss game the one there) and plenty o' libations in the sun.

Now this isn't exactly what you'd think of when it comes to visualizing a classic wine tasting event - particularly when the nearest barkeep is slinging beer shirtless. When you have to walk half a field to get to the one bar serving wine - and find that the view isn't nearly as nice - it's easy to revert back to my old UBC beer-swilling days.

I wasn't about to let an opportunity like the Family Reunion go by without blogging at least one bottle though. They weren't about to let us take a full bottle back into the throngs but we made an arrangement to satisfy the rules to get a bottle onto The List - especially when there are only my rules to deal with anyhow.

896. 2010 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (W.O. Western Cape - South Africa)

This being primarily a brew-centric situation, there were only two wines on offer - a white and a red. Being a sunny afternoon, I went for the white. It's (relatively) cheap at $10.50 in the provincial liquor store and it's cheerful enough for a farmyard frolic. I don't know a whole lot about Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa - or even South African wine in general to be honest - to expound on the wine for any length. I wouldn't say that the winery website is encyclopedic with its information either though. Cheap and cheerful - let's leave it at that.

Especially when the wine was hardly an integral aspect of the Family Reunion.

Linda Fillmore, however, is pretty darn close to being the essence of "integral" when it comes to any Fillmore experience. You don't need me to go on here, but you can always check out the website to read about Linda's colourful past - and the good work that she and her friends do. Of course, part of the burden she has to bear is playing MC to the event and coming up with interesting props to catch and keep people's interest. I can't even remember how these gents were involved but Linda had our attention when she needed it.

Having had to put up with and be seen with young'uns like that on stage, it's no wonder that she came running straight to Mr. D, Boo and I after the announcements. There's only so much that an old ticker can take up close you know - not to suggest that either Linda or we are getting long in the tooth. It's just that there's twenty - and then there's our age. It's somewhat like taking two of them, mixing them together and getting almost one of us.

It's enough to drive you to drink.

The Reunion brought out all sorts of relatives - from the young, farmhand cousins to an OUT TV celebrity to some of the sisters and aunties that, as a rule, only come out at night. The heat of the day must have been getting to the girls here, but the gingham tablecloth outfit, with matching parasol, was particularly fetching.

All in all, the family seemed to be enjoying themselves. No doubt, we'll see many of them at the Fowl Supper later this year and, who knows, maybe back on the farm next year as well.

A Wine-Fueled Culture Crawl

The last thing that Boo said to Mr. D. as he headed off to work was, "Don't let him buy anything." And, for once, Boo wasn't even talking about wine. Mr. D. and I were going to wander around some and take in part of the East Side Culture Crawl. The Crawl is in its 14th year and has become a highly anticipated weekend for the Vancouver's often sombre Novembers.

The Crawl is a three-day event that sees upwards of 300 artists - of all types - open their studio space to the thousands of visitors that take in the painting, jewelry, sculpture, woodwork, photography or any other type of medium that one of the East Side artists has decided to dabble in.

I don't know what Boo was afraid of. It's not like I buy art like I buy wine. Turns out, however, that he might have known a little of which he spoke.

Mr. D. and I were going to be wandering buildings and studio on a wet Friday night; so, we took a little encouragement along with us. It wouldn't have been possible to wander around with wine glass in hand, but taking along a couple of travel coffee mugs is a whole other thing.

653. 2009 Edgebaston The Pepper Pot (W.O. Stellenbosch - South Africa)

I haven't added many South African wines to The List; so, it'd be nice to spend a little more time on this wine, but that might have to wait. I see Edgebaston has a "Honey Pot" as well. Maybe a further look at the winery can be completed should we open a bottle of that. In the meantime, winemaker, David Finlayson, refers to this as a "fun, funky blend" of Rhone varietals. It's meant to be all about bringing out the pepper, spice and primary fruit in this Syrah, Mourvedre and Tannat blend (65/28/7). I've never associated the Tannat grape with the Rhone, but Finlayson is also quoted as saying, "Don't think about it. Just drink it." I can go with that.

I do find it interesting that the wine has made it to the Vancouver market when only 1000 cases were made. We're a long ways from South Africa - especially when we're only talking a thousand cases.

There wasn't much opportunity to talk wine with our busy schedule at hand. There was even less chance that three hours or one bottle of wine would be enough to visit all of the artists - but we did manage to fit in just enough on our tour to get into a bit of trouble. Through his association with the Board of Friends For Life and the fundraising Art For Life, Mr. D. has come to know a couple of the artists who's studios we visited. I love the bright colours that Carla Tak includes in her palate and when I saw a small piece for a reasonable price, I felt I needed to pick it up. I was pretty sure that Boo would understand - and, after all, I could always blame it on the wine.

There was a second piece, however, that was a little grander in scope. I have been intrigued by Eve Leader's distinctive paintings for a number of years - ever since she had a piece that caused a bit of a bidding war at Art For Life. Her art definitely isn't for everyone, but I find it compelling and have wanted a piece ever since that first night. Mr. D. and I did find one painting that fit my sentiments nicely - but even I knew better than to spend the more-elevated sticker price on this piece without a bit of consultation at home. Blaming a purchase on the wine wouldn't quite cut it in this instance.

As you can see by the photo accompanying this posting, I got the "go-ahead" to go back the next day and pick up the piece. Not that the painting will ever be a particular favourite of Boo's. The issue now is just to find some wall space for it.

Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper

There are a couple of annual events that are perennial dates on our calendar and their stories are inevitably going to be posted here - even when they might not be best known for for their contribution to the enjoyment of wine.

The Prairie Fairies Fowl Supper is one of them. This year's Supper was the 11th annual and wouldn't you know it - I forgot to bring along the camera. Luckily Tyrant was attending the event with us and he had his camera in tow.

The Fowl Supper is a take off on the prairie tradition of town dinners throughout the fall to celebrate the harvest and the community. Our's simply has a bit of twist - that would be the "Prairie Fairies" part. What started as a church basement dinner for a group of Prairie transplants in the late 90's has morphed into one of the most anticipated events on Vancouver's gay calendar. In a town that is famous for its party people waiting until the last moment to commit to an event, the Fowl Supper has now has a tradition of selling out its 600 tickets within minutes of them going on sale. I know of no other event on the gay calendar that can come close to making that claim.

A whole charitable organization, the Fillmore Family Foundation, has been formed as an umbrella group to shepherd the dinner and the over $370,000 that has been raised for local charities.

It's one of the most unique events in town - bringing together club kids, curlers, cowboys and a whole swack of Saskatchewan trucker caps - and that doesn't include some of the mothers, grandmothers and great aunts that come along for the night. In addition, I think you can be pretty much guaranteed that this is the only event in Vancouver that features a jellied salad contest that sets all those Martha Stewart-y genes a-twitter. I quite loved this year's winning goldfish bowl.

Primarily focusing on turkey, hostess Doreen Fillmore's drag entertainment and an eclectic mix of dance tunes, fine wine isn't necessarily a priority for the event. Now based in a community centre hall, there's a rather limited choice in wine - a red and a white. We worked our way through one of each.

634. 2009 Two Oceans Pinot Noir (South Africa)

635. 2009 Two Oceans Sauvignon Blanc (South Africa)

Although I know these wines are pure entry level, I thought I'd take a quick look at them online. Turns out that Two Oceans claims to be the top selling South African wine in Canada and one of the top 10 selling wine brands overall in the country. I don't know if that's the same for BC as well. Regardless, they're styled for easy drinking with an emphasis on bringing forward the fruit - indeed, I suppose an emphasis on being fruit forward is a good thing at a big old gay event like this. You'll just have to pardon the pun.

I'm not going to go on about the wines or winery since they weren't the highlight of the evening. For many, I'm sure that highlight was gameshow host, Barb Snelgrove's, admiration of and banter about Mayor Gregor Robertson's tight fitting jeans. I've gotta say that, whether you like the man's politics or not, he was one helluva great sport - and when he joked about gerbils, well, I thought I'd fall out of my seat laughing.

It will be a hard laugh to follow up with next year. If we're in town, we'll no doubt be there though. In fact, I'm working on a couple jellied salad ideas of my own.

Indian Dinner

(Still in pre-vacation speed entry mode)

588. 2006 Robert's Rock Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay (South Africa)

An easy accompaniment to an evening of pakoras, butter chicken, aloo ghobi and other Indian treats.

A Canada Day Quarter-Final Quartet

South Africa

vs.

Italy

The other week, our neighbour, GatuBela, popped her head over the fence and jovially wondered if we'd be interested in co-hosting a Canada Day BBQ with the neighbourhood crew. As regular readers may have gleaned from these postings, our neighbours are always good for adding another round of bottles to The List - and are a fun crowd to be with on top of it. Win/Win, methinks.

If nothing else, it would add some more participants to deciding this quarter-final winner - and force us to clean up the garden a bit (although admittedly GatuBela deserves major props for that task).

The weather was hardly shorts and no shirt weather, but at least it didn't rain on us. The only thing about it being both our World Cup of Wine and Canada Day was that there were no Canadian wines to be had since they didn't make it to the World Cup. Whoa Canada.

509. 2007 Porcupine Ridge Syrah (W.O. Coastal Region - South Africa)

510. 2005 Corte Giara Ripasso (DOC Ripasso Valpolicella Superiore - Italy)

I can't recall ever having a full bottle of South African Syrah before and I find that (even though I love the whole concept behind the wine) Ripasso's can go all over the map. So, I didn't really know what to expect in this taste off.

As it turned out, naming a winner to move on to the semi-finals was pretty much unanimous. The bottle of South African Syrah was finished off easily enough - but everyone who cast a vote picked the Italian Ripasso as their favourite. The more serious wine-drinking neighbours liked the complexity of the Ripasso and the others just liked the taste more, even if they couldn't say why.

Other than having an opportunity to get together for the World Cup, food and fun, Canada Day gave a number of us an opportunity to bring out all those patriotic pieces of Olympic clothing that have been in the drawer for the most part since March. In a way, it might have been a good thing that the day was a bit cooler. We wouldn't, otherwise, have been able to comfortably sport the long sleeves.

Short sleeves, long sleeves, patriotism being worn on the sleeve, there was no way that two bottles was going to be enough to keep this crowd satisfied for the evening though - especially when the food started coming out in earnest. The Marquis and Red volunteered their down home ribs and we've decided that they are welcome to do so at any future gathering. In fact, we may just come up with some events simply so that we can coerce them into making the ribs. Even Boo - who fancies him quite the ribs-master - went back for extra servings (I won't say how many) and managed to put a few away for future nibbling. Now, that's not a common occurrence.

As the ribs-munching continued, there might have been another bottle or two opened during the evening, but I never got around to trying them. They won't make it to The List this time, but there were a couple that did.

511. N.V Carpene Malvolti Prosecco (DOC Treviso - Italy)

Yet another Prosecco that I haven't seen before. There can't be any doubt that this style of wine has hit its stride in Vancouver. It wasn't that many years ago that no one had really heard of it. Now it seems like there's a new brand available at the provincial shop or one of the private stores every time I go. A quick search on the internet showed that the winery's website states that it was the "first company to submit quality Prosecco to the sparkling process." Welcome to the market.

It was rather fitting that the Carpene Malvolti made an appearance - a bit of bubbly to celebrate the Italian win in its quarter-final match. After all, the Azzuri didn't make it this far in the real tournament.

But for the serious ribs nibbler, another red made an appearance -

512. 2008 Shot In The Dark Shiraz-Petite Sirah (Australia)

I'll admit that I simply succumbed to the packaging with this bottle. I picked it up last Halloween because of the dark theme of the label. We just didn't get around to opening it that night. It's a bit of surprise that it lasted this long. I don't know that it'd win our little World Cup of Wine for the Aussies, but this is a wine that isn't shy when it comes to BBQ time. There are probably a whack of Bruce's, here and there, snogging on a glass of this and proclaiming that it's time to throw another rib on the bar-bee.

What more can a neighbour ask for?

The quarter-final match score? Since it was substantially more popular, we'll give the Italians a 2-0 win, but, even though South Africa has been shut out of the semi's, the Syrah was hardly a "zero" of a sip.

Springboks and Kiwis

South Africa

vs.

New Zealand

As far as preliminary round goes, this was one of the more intriguing matches. As host of the actual World Cup, South Africa got the nod as the seeded team, but, in my opinion, New Zealand is no slouch on the red wine scene.

I think it's fairly safe to say that the two countries have different approaches to the production of wine. I don't know if either one of them can expect to score big on the soccer field, but either one could make quite a run in these World Cup of Wine playoffs.

500. 2007 Goats Do Roam (Coastal Region Wine of Origin - South Africa)

501. 2007 Allan Scott Pinot Noir (Marlborough - New Zealand)

This taste-off had some real potential. Goats Do Roam has been around for a number of years now in our market. Like many, I've enjoyed the wine and whimsical take on Cotes du Rhone wines since it first appeared. I thought even more of it when I read that the French were trying to take legal action to stop the use of the name.

On a side note, I never did find an English red wine (or white for that matter) for this competition but it would have been quite the marketing ploy to dream up a Cotes du Rooney. I can just taste the brusque profile of the wine being served up. It might not have a lot of finesse but it'll have some sort of punch.

But that's for another time.

The Allan Scott was one of the wines that I'd picked up at this year's Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival. I figured it had a good chance at an upset. Maybe it wasn't fair to put a Pinot up against a wine based on predominantly Rhone varietals and, in particular, Shiraz, but, then again, I wanted to put up a representative wine for each of our participating countries and teams on the soccer pitch can be drastically different in game plan as well.

Unfortunately for the Kiwis, this wasn't the foremost of Pinot profiles and it was a bit to reserved when compared against the South African wine. The Syrah takes this match with its more robust structure and fruit. It wasn't a shut out but I score it a 3-1 win for Goats Do Roam.