Enjoying BC Paired: Indulge Your Senses! at #VanWineFest

The British Columbia Wine Institute welcomed me and a room full of other revelers to the “BC Paired: Indulge Your Senses!” during the Vancouver International Wine Festival. This event was a celebration of BC wines, red, white, sparkling and fortified, paired together with locally sourced BC ingredients prepared to complement the wines. 23 wineries were present to show off their wonderful range of BC VQA wines. This walk about event, let you nibble expertly prepared cuisine with BC wines, while you could possibly chat with a winery principal, or just with your friends and significant others.

The event was held at Provence Marinaside, a place that I have been visiting recently to kick off their Wine Bar, as well as to host the inaugural Modernize BC Wine event. Executive Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia helped to make this event a success. They shucked many Royal Miyagi oysters, grilled lamb lollipops and spiced lamb Merguez sausages, pan fried Prawns Provencal, and so much more. I took the time to pick specific BC wines with the wide array of dishes, such as a BC sparkling wine with the shucked oysters.

No time to take detailed notes, just to enjoy the BC experience, and that’s what I did. Some of the wines which I did get a chance to try:

• BackYard Vineyards Banc de Noir Brut, NV ($19.99). This sparkler from Langley, BC went nicely with the oysters.
• Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery, Mingle, 2011 ($17.90). Another sparkler.
• Black Hills Estate Winery Viognier, 2011 ($24.90). An aromatic grape variety you should try if you have not yet. Typically full of stone fruit flavours.
• Tinhorn Creek Vineyards Pinot Gris, 2011. Did you know that Pinot Gris is the most widely planted white grape variety in BC?
• Black Sage Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010 ($23.99). My wine pairing for the Merguez grilled sausages.
• Black Sage Vineyard Pipe 2007 ($24.99). A red dessert wine that I paired with a chocolate tartlette.
• Fort Berens Estate Winery Chardonnay 2011 ($18.99) and Pinot Noir Rose 2012 ($17.99). BC’s first winery from Lillooet. All the wines I’ve tried from Fort Berens have really been top quality.
• Painted Rock Estate Syrah 2009 ($40.00). A wonderful full bodied syrah which I enjoyed with the grilled lamb lollipops.
• Stoneboat Vineyards Pinotage 2010 ($24.99). Pinotage, a cross between the Cinsault and Pinot Noir grapes, originally from South Africa, but I believe produces a very nice wine by Stoneboat.

There were many other wineries and wines during this event. Enjoy the pictures from this event, and seriously consider buying a pair, or more, of tickets to next year’s event. Enjoy!