The Night That Was: The Garden Dinner

Better late than never! Last month's Garden Dinner organized by Katie Worobeck at the Whalesbone Supply Shop was a huge success! The collaborative culinary effort of Jamie Stunt and Charlotte Langley was backed up by Michael Portugal (Wellington Gastropub), Simon Bell (Oz Cafe) and Caroline Murphy (The Max Pub, Glebe Meat Market). Norman Hardie's wines showed excellently, and as always he told some great stories. Hopefully Katie organizes another dinner soon!

Here's a few photographic highlights shot by Ottawa's very talented Christopher Schlesak. For the rest of his pics from the night check out: http://www.christopherschlesak.ca/gardendinner/

The Garden Dinner at Whalesbone

With harvest upon us, we're getting to the most exciting dining season of the year! To celebrate all the delicious produce coming out of their garden and the sustainable seafood procured by Whalesbone, Chefs Jamie Stunt, and Charlotte Langley, are partnering with Prince Edward County winemaker Norman Hardie for an epic feast in the garden at the Whalesbone Supply Shop on Kent St.

Charotte Langley is the former Executive Chef at the Whalesbone Oyster House and now heads up the kitchen at Toronto's Catch Restaurant. Jamie Stunt, formerly of OZ Cafe is fresh of his Silver Medal win at the Canadian Culinary Championships and winning Ottawa's Gold Medal Plates. These two great culinary minds are the perfect match for Prince Edward County's Norman Hardie who needs no introduction on this website as arguably one of Ontario's and Canada's finest winemakers.

The evening will feature a set tasting menu served family style (think Au Pied du Cochon Sugar Shack) with veg fresh from the Whalesbone garden and the best seafood Whalesbone brings in. The inventively flavourful and rustic culinary styles of Jamie and Charlotte are the perfect match with Norm's famously earthy, Burgundian-style wines. And because everything is better from magnums, most of the wine that night will be served from large format wax top bottles for maximum enjoyment.

$150 all-inclusive is a steal for a dinner of this caliber! For all the details please check out the attached poster and get your tickets at www.gardendinner.eventbrite.com - If you're interested, do it now, as this dinner will sell out fast! 

Road Trip to Charles Smith & K Vintners

Since Walla Walla, Washington is exactly 4 hours from Portland we pretty much had to take a couple days and road trip out to see Charles Smith and the crew at K Vintners. Following the incredibly scenic drive from Portland along the Columbia River Gorge, we arrived in Walla Walla late Sunday afternoon with just enough time to crush a cheese board and a few glasses of wine before they closed down the tasting room. Olson Kundig Architects did an outstanding job with Charles Smith's Walla Walla headquarters, a clear statement of the edgy industrial design that perfectly reflects the aesthetic of the brand.

In the morning we met with Charles' sufficiently rock'n'roll winemakers Andrew Latta (K Vintners) an Brennon Leighton (Charles Smith Wines) for breakfast at Bacon and Eggs. After chatting politics and Walla Walla history over coffee and breakfast cocktails for a few hours we headed out to the vineyards, had a barrel tasting at the winery, and then Charles caught up with us for some lunch at a convenience store taqueria. An all around authentically Walla Walla experience. Here some photographic highlights:

72 Hours in Portland, Oregon

Like Loretta Lynn in 2004, last week I too lost my heart in Oregon. Top to bottom one of my favourite cities anywhere, we didn't want to leave at the end. And frankly, if it wasn't located in America with the risk of bankruptcy from healthcare, I'd consider moving there. While there we heard several times about the growing idea of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia seceding and becoming their own nation, Cascadia. It would include socialized healthcare and chief exports would be craft beer, wine, and bad people. I'd live there for sure.

We loved everything about this town. The architecture/city planning, the culture, the dining, the coffee, the wine...all high end and very unpretentious. For Ottawa folks, it's pretty similar to our city, but less government and more as if Centretown, Chinatown, Hintonburg, Westboro and Aylmer became a city with tulips instead of roses and Gatineau Hills or Tremblant instead of Mt Hood.

We tried to fit in as many coffees, beers, cocktails, lunches, dinners and brunches as possible to get a feel for the scene. Here are some highlights:

Visit to the Willamette Valley, Oregon

Oregon has been staging as a vacation destination for a few years, not only for the restaurants and culture in Portland, but also to visit some of my favourite wineries in the Willamette Valley. Last week my girlfriend and I took a trip to Oregon to get a feel for the Willamette and then check out the wine and dining scene in Portland. Here's a few wine country highlights.

The first night we stayed at Archery Summit's guest house which really set a high bar for the whole trip. Archery Summit is no meek endevour. It is one of the most state-of-the-art wineries with the only traditional caves dug into the hillside for their cellar in Oregon. Each of the estate single vineyard wines have such distinct characteristics and are physically some of the most gorgeous and meticulously maintained estates in the valley. It is obvious why their wines command such premium prices and sell out annually.

Next was onto the Westrey Wine Company with co-owner/winemaker David Autrey. David was one of the coolest guys we met on this trip, his truly garagiste operation offers no BS, fluff or fancy showroom from a warehouse in McMinnville, they are 100% about what goes on in the vineyard, then into the bottle and it shows! These wines are very popular in the Ontario market and I see why. David joked that in one day we were going to see the three extremes of the Willamette wine industry with Archery Summit's billion dollar ownership, Westrey's garagiste operation in McMinnville, and John Paul's extremely philosophical operation at Cameron Winery where we were off to next.

What an interesting guy John Paul was to listen to...almost an Oregon version of Jacques Lardiere from Louis Jadot. He had endless things to say about global warming, indigenous yeasts, and dry farming--he's so anti-irrigation, he even started the tongue-in-cheek DRC (Deep Roots Coalition). And to say John Paul's wines have a cult following would be an understatement, as the wines are fantastic and perpetually sold-out. So unfortunately we likely won't see any in Ontario for another few years until we get another small allocation...but be ready with your chequebooks when we do!

After day 1 it was clear that the Willamette is certainly dynamic and there is lots of exceptionally good wine being produced. Here are highlights from the rest of our visit:

Lifford Fete du Pinot Noir

Lifford's triennial Fete du Pinot Noir is modeled after the Pinot Noir festival that happens in New Zealand every three years. We put an educational focus on our event for the trade by putting sommeliers in group seminars with a panel of top Pinot Noir producers around the world where they discuss a topic and take questions from the audience. This year's topics were terroir, rootstalks and cool climates. At the risk of sounding like an extreme wine geek--It definitely gets emphatic when a lineup of principals from Joseph Phelps, Staete Landt, Louis Jadot, Bachelder Wine and Frescobaldi get debating their own takes on natural ferments or clonal selection!

After the morning seminars we all have lunch together and move into a room for a walk around tasting with all the suppliers wines. Here are a few highlights from this years event. All pictures were taken by Lifford's Andrew Sainsbury, the man who writes our tasting notes, helps produce the Wines of the Week and makes our website run at Lifford!

i4c - Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration

Oregon has had their International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) since 1987, and Niagara has recently followed suit with their Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration (i4c) since 2011. Only a few years in it's already getting serious attention as top international wineries, speakers and journalists are participating in the 3 day event in Niagara. The idea is to showcase Canadian cool climate Chardonnay in a global context alongside visiting producers and their like-minded wines.

Having never been in the past and with more hype building, this year I decided to go as consumer and take in the event, have some fun and celebrate Chardonnay. Here are some highlights: 

Lunch with Philippe Zinck

Earlier this week, Philippe Zinck of Alsace's Domaine Zinck was in Ontario for a market visit with Ottawa and Toronto restauranteurs. To kick things off in style we hosted a Monday Masterclass Luncheon at Supply and Demand with a group of Ottawa restauranteurs who dig French wine.

Philippe himself is younger than most principals of French wineries, stylish, unassuming and a bit understated, but a complete fountain of knowledge on Alsatian wine...and the wine he produces is outstanding in its own right, but an unbeatable value when you factor in the prices. It's no secret that Alsace is one of my favourite (if not my very favourite) regions, so any chance I get to learn from one of their best winemakers is exciting.

Domaine Zinck 'Portrait' line, at Supply and Demand.​

The 'Portrait' line of Domaine Zinck wines are already a favourite in Ontario and many markets in Canada, but this was a great opportunity to re-introduce them, taste them side-by-side and ​learn about them from the winemaker. We showed the Crement D'Alsace Brut, Crement D'Alsace Rose, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, all of which have textbook varietal typicity and are incredibly versatile with food...as was showcased by their pairing with Supply and Demand's Chef Steve Wall's amazing menu! A 4-course sharing-feast mix of raw shellfish and pickled food to start, followed by a nod to Alsace with his Tart Flambee and finished off with a massive platter of pork stuffed with pork and sausage. One might think that such rich hefty meat would overpower the Alsatian wines, but the plump texture and crisp acidity balanced wonderfully.

​We finished off the lunch with a Grand Cru tasting paired with a stinky cheese platter. Philippe's Grand Cru wines are another example of the outstanding value that is hard to ignore. For wines in the $30 range, they drink like $70+. At a tasting later that day, Ottawa restauranteur/sommelier Stephen Beckta likened Philippe's Grand Cru 'Pfesigberg' Riesling to Trimbach's epic 'Clos St. Hune', but at a fraction of the price. High praise in the Riesling world, but well deserved.

​And it seems good times in Ottawa built to great times in Toronto with a wine dinner at Enoteca Ascari where many bottles Crement D'Alsace were sabered by Philippe, Vive La France!!

Terroir Symposium Chefs at Norm Hardie's

Between the winemaking team and the always visiting chefs or sommeliers, there is usually a fair amount of talent hanging around the winery at Norm Hardie's, but yesterday was a bit extraordinary. Most of the chefs, winemakers, speakers and organizers from Monday's annual Terroir Symposium descended upon Prince Edward County for a kind of day-after party, a hedonistic afternoon of culinary collaboration.

The Terroir Symposium crowd at Norman Hardie Winery

Terroir is an annual hospitality industry conference organized by Arlene Stein. A huge amount of work goes into organizing this one day event, and Arlene has done and outstanding job collecting many of the world's top names in hospitality to attend and contribute over the past few years...most of which arrived at Norm's yesterday for some extra fun, Prince Edward County styles. Notably absent at lunch was Terroir keynote speaker René Redzepi, chef/owner of Noma in Copnhagen, but the culinary firepower wasn't at all weakened as top chefs from all over North America and Europe all pitched in for a feast. Guests included former Gold Medal Plates champion Mark Lepine from L’atelier in Ottawa; Jeremy Charles, Raymonds, Nfld; Connie De Sousa & John Jackson, Charcut, Calgary; JP McMahon, Aniar Restaurant, Galway, Ireland; Magnus Nilsson, Executive Chef, Faviken, Jarpen, Sweden; Kobe Desramaults, In de Wulf, Dranouter, Belgium; Scott Vivian, Beast Restaurant; Mathew Matheson, Parts & Labour amongst many more.

And an extra big congratulations to Ottawa's Stephen Beckta for ​winning the GE Monogram Terroir Award for Outstanding Service Professional! You can read all the details and Stephen's response here in the Ottawa Citizen Blog. Here are a few highlights from yesterday afternoon:

The Night That Was: Mariposa Maple Dinner

​This past Saturday night I realized a career-long dream of hosting a wine dinner in my work boots. Having grown up on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, I don't get many opportunities for country wine dinners. So when organizer Katie Worobeck started planning a Maple Syrup Celebration dinner for Mariposa Farm in Plantagenet, about 45 mins east of Ottawa, I was immediately on board. Katie's plan was to round up 3 of Ottawa's best young chefs and have them join Mariposa Farm's Chef Matt Shepard to each prepare a Maple Syrup inspired dish for a big dinner. The rest of the lineup included former Mariposa Chef Mark Currier now of Hintonburg Public House; Jon Svasas formerly of Domus and Taylor's Genuine who is soon to open Fauna; and also Gold Medal Plates champion Jamie Stunt of OZ Cafe. The wine pairings included selections from Ontario's finest: Tawse Winery, Norman Hardie, Thomas Bachelder, and Hinterland Wine Co. All the wines paired perfectly with the dishes, each in a different way contributing to the rustic maple theme of the dinner.

Mariposa Farm owner Ian Walker ​gave everyone a tour of his sugar bush and syrup boiling operation. He does things the old-school way, boiling down the sap in a large cauldron hung over a fire that burns all day. ÄLska Farm owner Genevieve was also onsite with her boutique maple syrup production which she was reducing down the syrup to make some fantastic maple taffy on popsicle sticks! And we kicked off the dinner with me sabering open a few bottles of Hinterland's 'Les Etoiles' traditional method sparkling from Prince Edward County...