Why hello there
It's been awhile since i've posted here. In the time that has passed many strange and wonderful things have happened, perhaps most important is the fact that Christle and i now work together. We have spent many evenings after a busy service ruminating over lovely local wines and Belgian beer. Christle has taught me many things about wines and beverages in general. My palate has been refined and i can give a few good lines about most of the wines on our menu.
Our house wines are made up of a mix of local and non-local, more accessible wines. I have developed an intense passion for local wines, my favourite winery being
Alderlea. Personally, i think Roger makes the best, most consistent local wines. The pinot gris and pinot noir are both big sellers in the restaurant and pair well with a variety of foods.
The stand out wine for me and many local wine lovers is the Clarinet. Clarinet is made from 100% Marechal Foch grapes and is intense and dark and luscious. We have three bottles left in the restaurant and i plan on saving them for customers who will truly appreciate what has come to be one of the most sought after local reds.
~jess
Labels: cowichan valley wine, red wine
Tour de France
My brood and I recently returned from visiting family in France and Belgium. As we don't get over to often, our trips tend to be fraught with good food, beer and wine and this trip was no exception. I did
intend on taking viligant notes or at least looking at the bottles occasionally and managed to do so on a few occasions.
Champagne was not one of those occasions. We tasted much champagne, especially with leisurely. luxurious lunches in the South of France. Honestly, I can not recall a single label, however, I think the overall promotion of Champagne drinking is important. In Canada it tends to be saved for special celebrations, new years, weddings and whatnot but why not on a regular evening reading your book by the fire. My husband and I briefly toyed with the idea of having some of those lunches at home but it just seemed to alcoholicy for our prudent Canadian life.
One of my favorite new beer discoveries was the Hoegaarden Rose. Hoegaarden, as seen in a previous post, is one of my favorite Belgian beers so how could you go wrong making this refreshing, light white beer with a touch of raspberry? You can't. It was a wonderful, light, low alcohol beer perfect for hot afternoons when your Champagne buzz is starting to wear off.
Then of course, there is the leisurly dinner to contend with. The 2000 Chateau Coutet, St Emilion Grand Cru, was one of my favorites. It was wonderfully full bodied and rich. We were drinking the 2000 vitage because my husband's father has a wonderful wine cellar in which wine is actually kept and not drunken immediately upon purchases. My husband and I both offered to sleep down there, Dad laughed but I did notice an extra lock on the door next time I went by.
All that remains of our wonderful trip are some great pictures and one lone bottle upon our wine rack of the Chateau Coutet. The only reason it is still there is we are loathe to finish what will surely be a wonderful revisit to a wonderful, far to infrequent, holiday.
Christle
