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British Columbia’s Bold Reds for Celebrating
Sip Some of British Columbia’s Best Red Wines to End or Start the Year Whether you’re thinking about a nice prime rib dinner, grilled lamb chop dinner, or just cozying up by the fire, a glass of one of British Columbia’s Best Red Wines might be just what you need. Why not lean in and support your BC Wine Growers and Vintners and put a bottle of BC Wine on the table? We have a few heavy hitters…
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BC Bubbles Worth Celebrating With
Pour Some Local Bubble into your Glass this Holiday Season What’s in your glass this holiday season? How about some BC Bubbles to help you celebrate the close of one year and the start of a new one? Listed in alphabetical order so I didn’t pick favourites. Priced as sold in BC at the winery or BCLDB. More on Wine Evolve 2020 Brut Premiere $43.99 Evolve Sparkling’s refreshed lineup of…
Road 13 http://bit.ly/2C7aGWB
A tour of sixty wineries in seven days through BC's Okanagan. Day 2. C.C. Jentsch Cellars Road 13 Gehringer Bros Tinhorn Creek Cassini Cellars Kismet
US Expands Travel Warning for Laos after Latest Shooting Attacks on a Tourist Route
Straits Time | 8 March, 2016
“The United States issued a new travel warning for Laos on Monday (March 7) after the latest shooting attacks against traffic on a road much used by international tourists.
Last month, Washington had already warned travellers to avoid the South-east Asian country's Xaisomboun province after roadside attacks left three dead.
Now the warning has been extended to Road 13, a major route between Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, two of the country's most popular tourist destinations.
It cites "the unpredictable nature of the violence and the lack of official information regarding possible motives or a Lao government response".
These mystery gun attacks have killed one and injured nine, the State Department added, stressing that violence is also continuing in Xaisomboun province.
US embassy staff are banned from Road 13 from Kasi in Vientiane province to Phou Khoun junction in Luang Prabang province, 50km away.
Landlocked communist Laos is usually isolated, but in September it will host a summit of the leaders of China, Japan, the United States and the 10-member strong Asean.” SOURCE
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Food and Wine (and more) Experiences you should try by Valerie van der Gracht posted on My VanCity
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Food and Wine (and more) Experiences you should try
You know I enjoy wine tastings even though I consider myself to be an entry level taster or a novice wine taster but it wasn’t until I started to discover other events beyond wine tasting that I came to love food and wine (or beverage) events.
First it was experiencing Parksville Uncorked. I had heard about Parksville Uncorked’s Swirl event from friends that attend every year but until 2013 I hadn’t attended myself. It sounded like a promising concept – a major grazing event featuring an excellent selection of British Columbia wines paired with small bites.
Well right off the bat can you can cross out “small bites” and replace it with an amazing array of culinary delights that never stopped coming. As generous as the array of gourmet delights is, both evenings the emphasis is definitely on the pairings, with either beers, ciders and ales or wines flowing almost unrestricted throughout. This is first and foremost a tasting event, it just happens to be a tasting event with an extraordinary amount of excellent cuisine.
I was fortunate to attend in 2013 the inaugural year of Untapped, added to the agenda of a weekend of wine tasting paired with a selection of gourmet samplings and wine dinners, Untapped featured a focus on local craft beers, ales and ciders. Like Swirl the concept of Untapped is to introduce you to the pleasures of pairing your beverage with specially created samples of local fare. Untapped features not only the founding partners, Tigh-Na-Mara Resort & Spa and The Beach Club Resort but also dozens of other establishments who present samples of their expertise with pubs, restaurants and caterers from all over the Island
Untapped pairs an ever increasing number of great local craft breweries with some of the best “pub” food you have ever tasted. I almost hesitate to refer to what is served at Untapped as pub food unless the average pub is serving Dungeness crab cakes or Duck confit sliders. This year the Beach Club provided a handy “tasting note” sheet complete with logos of each of the 23 brewery or cider makers that made it easier to keep track and not miss a single presenter.
Swirl takes place the following evening with the two hosts Tigh-Na-Mara and The Beach Club alternating the main events between them. In 2013 Tigh-Na-Mara hosted Untapped and the Road 13 wine dinner, while The Beach Club played host to Friday night’s Swirl and a Burrowing Owl winemakers dinner. Swirl is then hosted by Tigh-Na-Mara in 2014 and Untapped hosted by the Beach Club in 2014.
Unbelievably the gourmet culinary bites offered at Swirl, pair extraordinarily well with the excellent selection of British Columbia wines, and are a little more fine dining than the night before and all are absolutely wonderful.
Shucked on the spot, oysters on the half shell, aha tuna, Vancouver Island scallops, locally raised pork, game, beef, duck, wild salmon and much more is on offer at the numerous tasting stations where you have the opportunity to chat with the purveyors of these offerings. Nor will you be disappointed if you have a sweet tooth. The desserts are innovative and absolutely delicious. For me nothing beats a fresh strawberry dipped in warm chocolate. A nice touch too is the souvenir glass from Untapped and a lovely engraved Reidel wine glass from Swirl to take home.
The quality is consistent which is why Parksville Uncorked is worth returning to year after year. Close for locals and an easy 30 minutes from Departure Bay, Nanaimo for those guests who venture over from the Mainland. I highly recommend taking in all three evenings and stay for brunch on Sunday!
For more information on Parksville Uncorked please visit their website. Held annually the weekend following Valentine’s Day. A perfect weekend getaway! Both The Beach Club Resort and Tigh-Na-Mara Resort & Spa offer accommodation and special Untapped or Swirl packages. In 2014 Untapped was $49.+tax Swirl $69.+tax
Net proceeds from Uptapped benefit The Parksville AM Branch of Rotary International.
Net proceeds from Swirl benefit Variety, The Children’s Charity
On choice, Whether It Matters Or Not
I originally wanted to be an anthropologist. Growing up in Manchester (the New Hampshire one, not the England one) I even dedicated a large portion of my academic life working towards this goal. It was my choice at the time. That was the thought going through my head as I stood in line for the checkout at my local wine shop, behind a male costumer in black tights who was given a free magazine with a top 100 list of wine for 2011. “Says who?” He stated this in a rhetorical manner to the clerk. “Says Vancouver Magazine,” said the clerk, an individual prone to being a judgmental prick at times (but then who of us isn't at times?). I will admit, it did seem as though the customer was the more committed one in this contest of being a swollen prick. The man’s attitude was one that I have encountered many times before when dealing with alcohol that costs over 20 dollars. It all comes down to choice and what that says about a person’s taste. At least, that’s what people are really getting at when they dispute absolutes such as top 100 lists in free magazines. Another thought that goes through my head: Could I have made it to where I am now without my first wife? I had met her at a wine tasting that I attended with my roommate who later in life would run a bed and breakfast for six months before being shut down because a 40-year-old woman sold cocaine out of one of the rooms. After living together for a month we moved to East Vancouver, British Columbia where she would continue work on her graduate at SFU. I would go on to fall in love with the wine industry. I would eventually receive a job as a sales rep for a winery large enough to make money. It led to a form of personal and intellectual success for me. It was my choice at the time. Having said that, the list that the man in tights was questioning is actually a quality list of wines to sample, be you a connoisseur or a novice. Acting above a list of selections doesn’t make you a better person, despite how some may act. If anything, it’s an easy way to narrow down what is notable. On the front page, they inform the reader that judging for the wines was conducted via blind taste tests in order to cut bias. With this method, BC wines came out with 28 wines on the list, more than any other region. In fact, two of my favourite wineries – that I do not directly work for – Gray Monk and The Golden Mile’s Road 13, are well represented within the selection. In the light white category, it’s a treat to see Road 13’s Old Vines Chenin Blanc ‘09 and Gray Monk’s Ehrenfelser make the cut. The Ehrenfelser itself serves as quite the experience of light mango and peach fruit bowel lathered in a hedonistic amount of honey. Gray Monk’s own sparkling Odyssey Brut ‘07 made it for the short list of sparkling wines. Even a few of Road 13’s reds where showcased, such as the syrah-heavy blend Rockpile, which is a good strong wine with smooth tannins and a robust array of rich berries and darker stone fruit. Then again, this could all mean shit, it’s only a selection based on a complex series of blind tastes and what tasted the best. I think a lot about the choices that brought me to work in an industry where I get paid to drink alcohol. I work around people whose own self-worth is measured in how well they can tell the difference between an actual Port and a glass of late-harvest dog shit. This leads to a lot of mulling and vast soliloquies on the topic of “choice.” How to choose the right wine, the smokiest whiskey or the most soul-numbing of vodkas. It’s all just a way of showcasing one’s opinion and taste without trying to be an over the top bastard in the process. The more people agree that you make the best choices, the more you get to act like a jerk about it. At least, this is what I am accused of by my ex-wife. Her constant undercutting of my ego is just her way of dealing with a mixed sack of guilt and confusion. Because I’m not the one who made a series of poor life-choices, and I’m not the miserable one.
