Valentine’s Day menu: spoil the one you love

There is nothing as powerful as sharing yourself; your time, your energy and your passion with the one you love.

To me very little can encapsulate this idea as readily as cooking a meal and, yet, I know few people who genuinely love cooking these days. It seems as though I’m watching an entire generation grow up in the shadow of fast-food and ready-to-eat meals. In fact, those two areas have been the source of almost all growth in food sales in North America for the past 5 years in a row.

And I’m trying to understand: the busy lifestyle, the need to continually be doing more… we all know that incomes don’t stretch as far as they used to and everyone is working just a little bit (or a lot) more than ever. You’re up before 6 to make it to work by 8 so that you miss the worst of rush-hour. Maybe you work through lunch or, if you go out, it’s for something quick. Then you’re lucky to be home by 6 and there’s just no time to make something from scratch!

Trust me – I get it. I’ve been there, in the trenches with you. It’s not easy yet I find myself pitying the busy-people more than a little. Why pity? Because these people have forgotten the joy one can find in cooking! The joy of creation, the joy of doing something well and the unabashed delight in putting a smile on someone else’s face… with something as simple as a cookie or, in this case, my Valentine’s Day’s menu.

I crafted this for the light of my life:

filet of beef tenderloin, local wild mushroom demi-glaçe

roasted local organic new potato

roast organic gold beets and butternut squash

steamed organic Swiss Chard

 This is not a complicated menu and yet, should you go to your local steakhouse, no doubt you would be charged in excess of $30 per person just for this entree… and more like $45 when one considers that the entire menu is organic and/or local, seasonal. If I told you that the beef came from a local cattle rancher and was grass-fed and free-range, hormone and antibiotic free and dry-aged for more than 40 days then the price goes up again: $60+ in most markets and an easy $100 in Las Vegas.

I’m not saying that it’s easy to afford the $150+ for just the food in a restaurant, much less the $100+ bottle of wine I would want to pair with it. By the time the night is over you will have spent $300++ and no, for most people, that’s not easy. But my grandma told me once when I was very young “Christopher never give money as a gift, it is a poor way to show you care“.

So let me help you show you care. Let me share a few tricks-of-the-trade and you can make this meal for less than half the price (total cost for these ingredients for 2 people was about $50 CAD at Hopcott’s); you and your special-someone will appreciate it twice as much!

1. BEFORE YOU COOK

There are a litany of things that all chefs do before they cook and all of these little steps get generalized as mis-en-placewhich means “putting things in their place“.

notice the marbling, the quality one gets from a local butcher

a) choosing the steak: notice how this beef is marbled; the fat is integrated right into the muscle meaning that, as it cooks, that fat will render and keep the meat moist. I got this from my local, artisanal butcher (Hopcott’s) and if you Google “local butcher” you’ll find one in your neighborhood as well

b) prepping the steak:  bring that steak out of the fridge an hour before cooking to come up to room temperature before you fry it: going straight from the fridge to the pan makes for tense/tough meat. Pat it dry on paper towel to wipe away any excess moisture and allow for proper searing which locks in the natural juices. Season as you will; the better the quality the less seasoning I use… for this steak all I used was Kosher seasalt and freshly ground black pepper

c) heat your pan: seems like a “no-brainer” but so many people neglect to heat their fry-pan enough. How hot does it need to be? Leave it at medium+ heat for 10-15 minutes before you start to cook so that the steaks start searing immediately and never, ever crowd the pan or you won’t be able to keep the pan hot (the steaks should never touch)

As much as possible, everything that can be done before you start cooking should be done. Once again, this is a key element to mis-en-place because our goal in the kitchen is to ensure we can spend as much time focused on cooking our food as perfectly as possible. So do it! Trim your veggies, dice your onions, set the table, open the wine – all before you ever start to cook the steaks. Now pour a half-glass of wine, start to sear the steaks, and enjoy the process! This is great cooking and these are the stunning wines I’ve sourced for you!

2010 Muga Reserva Rioja DOC

91+ points, $25+ CAD, EXCELLENT Value

*DECANTING NOT NECESSARY*

… perhaps the most enticing aspect to this wine is the rich floral aromas it offers at the same time as the ever-approachable ripe red and black berry tones (think of a bowl full of raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries and black currants); hints of vanilla, warm toasty oak and peaty-earth round out the bouquet. The palate is brisk enough to warrant food (medium+ zippy red/black currant acid) and the sultry/fine medium- tannin structure means you can enjoy this on its own, with food or even a great cigar! Bold flavors with a full, youthful expression mimicking the aromas are truly fantastic when one considers that the winery produces over 850,000 bottles of this: more of this is made than the total production of many small to mid-size wineries! Enjoy 2015-2020+ due to excellent construction.

… the only way this wine could be any better, more complimentary, with beef tenderloin is to grill that beef over a wood fire; the smokey tones of mesquite, applewood, hickory or whatever you use for your barbeque will play with the wines’ peaty/earthy tones and bring greater balance to the ample berry notes. The crispness/freshness of the acidity works perfectly with an unctuous sauce like demi-glaçe or a compound butter and the peaty/earthy notes will find unison with the wild mushrooms used in this example.

 2011 Chaberton Estate Reserve Syrah

Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, BC

92 points, $31 CAD, EXCELLENT Value

**Silver/2014 National Wine Awards of Canada, BC**

*DECANTING NOT NECESSARY*

… there are producers in BC whose Syrah/Shiraz is easily on par with some of the top producers in the world. Dollar for dollar these wines can be compared to the northern Rhône valley (France), Barossa (Australia) or Colchagua (Chile) and yet, for the most part, they are unknown. But not for long! Chaberton Estates is just one of a litany of great Syrah  producers and the wine speaks for itself; textured aromas rich with red and black berries (raspberry, blackberry, huckleberry), dark flowers (irises, lilies, roses), cinnamon bark, pink peppercorn all colliding with a stunning synergy. The palate is brisk enough to warrant good food and yet balanced well enough to enjoy on its own; tight/focused full red currant acid frames a full/fine/chewy tannin structure that delivers an excellent concentration of flavors that mimic the bouquet. Excellent structure, this wine has the capacity to age gracefully for years and will continue to evolve: enjoy 2015-2025.

… this is a sophisticated wine; as such, pair it with food that is more subtle. Beef tenderloin is delightfully tender (hence the name) but rather lacking in flavor, especially when one compares it against cuts like a T-bone or ribeye. Let the musky, perfumed floral tones in the wine bring balance to the beef and elevate both! Savor the wine on its own or delight in how the fresh acid keeps the beef from weighing too heavily on the palate… the fresh berry tones will also balance the ultra-rich demi-glaçe.

2. WHILST YOU COOK

a) the pan: pan-searing steak is classic French cooking at its finest so don’t be afraid to emulate classic French methodology! We only drizzle a touch of oil (canola) on the steak before searing but otherwise it is a dry pan. This is important for purity of flavors as, if the oil gets too hot, it can impart unpleasant flavors on the beef.

b) turning the steak: Notice how I don’t turn the steak until it has seared perfectly on one side. How do I know it’s seared? It lifts easily from the pan! Now I just turn it over, spoon a healthy dab of butter on top to ensure it stays moist, and finish it in the oven

c) the oven and timing: I cooked this at 425F and, given the 1.5″ thick steaks, calculated approximately 90 seconds in the oven for every degree of “doneness”: RARE=90 seconds, MEDIUM RARE=3 minutes, MEDIUM= 4 1/2 minutes, MEDIUM WELL= 6 minutes, WELL=8 minutes… if you’re cooking for 5 minutes or longer, take a moment to spoon those lovely pan juices over the steak. It just takes a moment but makes the world of difference!

3. POST COOKING

organic produce just TASTES better!

I love cooking but I do not love cleaning. As such, I make every effort whilst cooking to ensure that when I’m done the kitchen is as clean and organized as possible. I want to enjoy my meal, savor every moment, and when it’s done take my wife and the remaining wine and curl-up on the couch. I can’t do that if the kitchen looks like a bomb went off! So take a moment while the steaks are searing, the veggies are roasting, the sauce is simmering and the greens are steaming: clean a few utensils, scrub the cutting board, wipe the counter. And never forget to just soak your pans when you’re done with them! My clean-up, post-meal, is rarely more than 10 minutes because it was drilled into me from an early age: Clean As You Go!

So enjoy your Valentine’s meal and enjoy the process! You just might find it so addictive that you’ll want to be sharing that special feeling more and more often! And it truly is like anything else in life; the more you do, the easier it gets. It’s still work, even for chefs, but it is rewarding work. It’s fun work and the kind of work that I now share with my 3-year old daughter who comes and helps me season food or scrub veggies in the big sink. She loves organizing my dirty dishes and YES! That inevitably means that I clean up after her cleaning-up but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

My daughter gets excited about baking scones with Daddy. She grabs a chair to come help with dinner and gets mad if she’s shooed off. She actually enjoys helping to unload the dishwasher. Is our family perfect? Far from it. But – but I’ve seen the gleam in her eye, the swelling with pride, when she tastes something that she helped to make and I am so humbled that I helped her find that within herself.

 This Valentine’s Day my hope is that you will remember: the most genuine happiness comes from knowing you have shared with the one you love and shared not just of your wallet, but of your self.

Many thanks to my friends the Hopcott family of Hopcott Meats (artisanal butchers) for the brilliant components for this meal; they truly are some of the best tasting, most tender, steaks I have ever had! And of course to Christopher Stewart Wines: importers of Muga for Canada and to Chaberton Estates of British Columbia for the generous sample bottles. As always you can find more recipes, free wine reviews and my notes on premium distillates and cigars on:

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Thorn-Clarke wines, South Australia

Thorn-Clarke Wines

 With the 2015 Vancouver International Wine Festival just around the corner my mind has started leaping ahead to the star-studded line-up of world-class winemakers who will be jetting in. Over 1,700 wines from 170 wineries will be poured and some of the most exciting, to me, are from this sixth-generation producer from the Barossa valley.

 Let's be honest about why I'm so excited to meet these folks: it's all about quality. But maybe I don't mean quality in the way that you're thinking. It's not just that this family, who've been pouring heart and soul into South Australia since the 1850's, released an entire line-up of wines that are great value for money. Hey - it's the "Golden Age" of wine! We're used to getting great wine for a great price.

the vineyard of St Kitts

THE thing to me is that I'm continually impressed, each and every year, because this is what they do with every vintage. I'm entering my fifth year writing about wine (a "youngster" still to many) and I taste a silly amount of wine... on average it's over 2,000 per year. And I can tell you, without reservation or hesitation, that there are very very few producers who are releasing quality of this magnitude year after year after year. Every year just a little better than the last, every wine being sold for less than it's true value.

The Clarke family state categorically that they:

"-take a long-term view of the future and our goal is unashamedly to be still growing grapes and making wine for another six generations."

And this is how it's done. This is why James Halliday, who knows more about Australian wine than any person who ever walked the Earth, has given Thorn-Clarke 5 stars for the ninth time in a row! Not familiar with Mr Halliday? Suffice it to say that when a winery earns it's first 5-star rating, it's going to be written about in the news. It is the benchmark for "outstanding quality" in Australian wine and is used as the yardstick by which every winery judges it's calibre versus it's colleagues and it's own previous vintages.

Nine times in a row means that the man who knows the most about Australian wine considers this tightly-knit team to be amongst the top echelon of a country brimming with brilliance. And when one hears the stories - of David Clarke testing soil samples by the light of the headlights of his car, at night, so as not to arouse suspicion in local farmers... well, stories like this are what feed the intuition that herein lies something beyond a desire to make good wine, it's (mild) obsession in the best of all possible ways.

This is the team that outfitted entire vineyards with moisture-probes: calibrated to only allow the vines access to irrigation under the most stringent conditions. Is this an environmental responsibility? Of course it is, but the benefit to you and I is that Thorn-Clarke is keeping it's berries small; less water per grape means a higher concentration of flavors!

Planting cover-drops between the rows of vines, planting thousands upon thousands of trees on the properties; these are environmentally responsible as well right? Once again - the winery and it's team are to be lauded, but as someone who's just one generation off the farm I'm thinking about the bio-diversity! What is happening is a return to, as some call it, ancestral farming. Through these techniques Thorn-Clarke is creating an environment that will allow full expression of flavor to come through the grapes and give their land it's own unique taste.

And this vision is all the more apparent when one hears them speak of their ardent efforts to now return the local waterways to " -a pristine example of native vegetation.". It's funny in a way, to think that in 100 years we as a First-World culture have come full circle; from the early 1900's and respecting the land and it's cycles, to the mid 1900's when we first decided that we needed to control Mother Nature and her many flights of whimsy, to the early 2000's when the trend is coming back to a place of respect.

And perhaps that's what separates Thorn-Clarke most of all from their competitors. In a time when quality is easier to come by then ever before and even great value can be found on almost any wine-vendor's shelves, respect in it's most sincere form is still rare enough to be extolled when we see it. Respect for the land, respect for the water, respect for the grapes and the winemaking process and, most of all, respect for you - the customer.

I hope you find value in my thoughts on these beautiful wines.

2011 "Terra Barossa" Shiraz-Cabernet-Petit Verdot

89+/90 points, $13+ USD, Great Value

... Expansive yet not expensive: this wine is rich with aromas of wild blueberries and Saskatoons, tomato leaf, warm earth, hints of vanilla, oak. On the palate is a perky acidity with fine, well integrated tannin and an intensity of flavors that well-matches the nose. Very good balance and structure, the length on the palate is also substantial for the price.

... When I smell and taste those darker berry flavors: blueberries, black currants, Saskatoons, I immediately think of venison! To me there's nothing that would pair better with this then a dish of venison stew/ragout with steamed new potatoes and fresh garden veggies. Although, I say that and then I savored the bottle over successive evenings and a ration of premium, hand-made, fresh peppercorn beef jerky from Hopcott farms, Pitt Meadows.

2012 Cabernet Sauvignon

89+ points, $16+ USD, Great Value

... What I love about this wine is its ability to express young Cab: big, beautiful, pear-shaped tones of ripe red fruit, summer flowers, the backbone of pencil-shaving/minerality and the warmth of musk/forest aromas. The bouquet is inviting, the palate offering substantial yet well balanced acid and more of the trademark well-integrated tannin though these are more substantial then the previous blend. Great structure.

... Food pairings abound! A natural for beef dishes, this will also bring beauty to the meatier Italian dishes like a lamb bolognese but I found it light enough to serve with grilled panini for lunch. This is a terrific introduction to the "softer-side-of-Cab" and pairs well with Tuesday nights and a warm fireplace :)

 

 2010 Barossa "Quartage"

Left Bank Bordeaux-styled blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot

91+ points, $18-$25 USD, EXCELLENT Value

... it's no secret that I love Bordeaux, but good Bordeaux is becoming out-of-reach for a writers salary. Top-tier Bordeaux is out-of-reach for most doctors and lawyers. But~! But there is great Bordeaux-style coming from all corners of the world and Australia is certainly a part of that wave. This wine is a personal favorite of mine and I have been constantly impressed vintage after vintage. For the money, this may be one of the best values in the North American market! Rich, nuanced dark floral aromas burst from the glass with violets and dark roses followed by black currants/black cherries/red raspberries. The palate is brisk with lean/focused young red currant acid, fine/chalky tannin and a concentration of flavors that well-mimic the nose and outperform the price-tag. Excellent balance, very good structure, this wine drinks well now and holds for several years but will not develop in bottle due to the Stelvin enclosure.

... Food pairings? Try cigar pairings! From Rocky Patel "Decade" to Montecristo, this wine is a cigar-lovers delight. If you must pair it with food, consider the price and then spoil yourself: this is a decadent treat for a Wednesday afternoon and gourmet pizza, capicollo panini or a simple steak frites... use great ingredients and let the beauty of this Barossa shine!

2010 Barossa Shiraz

90+ points, $15-$22 USD, Great Value

... first, a word on Shiraz if you're thinking right now "Oh - I don't like Aussie Shiraz, I only like French/Spanish/California/etc". In a recent blind tasting with a dozen highly skilled industry professionals, no one could tell which Shiraz out of ten bottles was from Australia. Well... I could tell one of them, but only because I was incredibly familiar with that particular winemaker and knew his "signature". But my point is that there is a new era in winemaking and what you tasted 10 years ago (or older) isn't necessarily what you will find today! I have shown colleagues time and time again that the "New Face" of Aussie Shiraz is a sophisticated, elegant one that merits attention.

... Harmonious. This wine achieves a delightful balance of dark floral aromas, dark exotic chocolate and warm earth tones. The palate is awash in fresh red berry flavors and achieves mouth-watering acidity yet in a balanced and approachable manner. Very good concentration of flavors that match the nose with that ever-present peppercorn finish, to me this is a great example of the modern Shiraz.It will keep well for several years in cellar but, once again, will not develop due to Stelvin enclosure. Enjoy it young with sea-salt and olive grilled lamb and an herbaceous quinoa-tabbouleh salad!

2010 "William Randell" Barossa Shiraz

93+/94 points, $40-$50+ USD, WORLD CLASS

*97 points James Halliday

*in my TOP WINES, 2014

*minimum 1 hour decant or 2 runs through the aerator

... made from small, select lots and only in the best years, this is the essence of truly Great Barossa without the staggering price that some can fetch. That James Halliday of the Australian Wine Companion would bestow 97 points on this is enough for any reasonable person to ascertain that here-in lies beauty... created as an Ode to one of the patriarchs of the Clarke family, this wine offers the "Holy Trinity" of stunning: balance, structure and concentration.

... if you open this wine and find the aromas closed, just try decanting another 30 mins to an hour; it is impossible to over-decant this. To the eye this wine is so dark in it's bruised purple tones that it appears black in the glass. I was most struck by the plethora of floral aromas; the usual suspects of red and dark berries, dark cocoa, peppercorns and warm Barossa soil abound, but the lifted scents of violets, soft roses and irises is both feminine and tremendously alluring. On the palate, it presents tight, lean, well-focused red currant and young red raspberry acid that reminds one of Northern Rhone; tremendously fresh. The tannin is full, yet ultra fine/chalky/chewy and is delightfully approachable considering it's relative youth. The flavors are as full, and full of life and dimension, as the bouquet; a true craftsman's work. If you would drink this now (and it is utterly delightful now) I would highly encourage buying another few bottles to set aside. This wine will live and evolve for at least 15 more years with grace. Food pairing? Consider this dish I created for my Chef du Cuisine final project:

lamb, 3 ways               (sourced from Elliot Ranch, Strathmore, Alberta)

1. tenderloin (wrapped in duck pate and spinach) on braised chicory

2. two points of rack, baked in coarse salt with vanilla bean & fresh thyme, Hainle vineyards Gewurztraminer icewine poached Anjou pear, warm crab-apple compote

3. individual tortierre with braised shank and shoulder, charred heirloom tomato ketchup

the vineyards of Thorn-Clarke

Many thanks to Renaissance Wine Merchants (importer to Western Canada) and Thorn-Clarke Wines for the very generous sample bottles. As always you can find more recipes, free wine reviews and my notes on premium distillates and cigars on:

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an Ode to the humble pot roast

Pot roast:

The lowliest cut of beef turned into the most succulent comfort food. I mean, what says comfort more than pot-roast? Immediately thoughts turn to Sunday evening meals; family is near, there’s good conversation amidst the bickering (it is family after all) and always a decent bottle of wine.

Well as soon as I tasted these two wines I started thinking of pot-roast, and I hope the wineries take that as a compliment! For not all red wines under $20 can actually stand-up to the richness, the intense “beefiness” that is great, slow-cooked meat. These wines deliver concentration, balance and value… perfect for your Wintery-type braised dishes.

THE WINE

2010 Milton Park Shiraz

88+ points, Very Good Value

$14.99 www.BCLiquorStores.com

… deep, dark and inky in the glass – it even looks like a wine for beef! Rich aromas of stewed cherries and blackberries, some fresh thyme and rosemary with that background of cracked pepper that is signature Shiraz. Crisp, light acid and approachable, chewy tannin, the flavors in the wine are much in-line with the aromas and are rich enough to pair with dinner but fresh enough to appreciate a glass or two on their own.

*Shiraz: a note on Shiraz; it is the exact same varietal (grape) as Syrah… no difference at all! The only thing that is worthy of noting between the two is that in the past Syrah was considered the French style of winemaking (and so more restrained, less obvious fruit and more earth tones) and Shiraz was the Australian style meaning big bold fruit, higher alcohol. Well, the times have changed and in a recent meeting of the #WineTastingCircle of Vancouver, industry professionals couldn’t tell which was Australian, American, Canadian or Spanish Syrah/Shiraz. It’s not that there are no differences, but that wine-making has grown and evolved that much in the past 10 years. If you think that you don’t enjoy Australian Shiraz but enjoy full-bodied wines with great concentration, balance and structure then you owe it to yourself to “pony-up” the $15 and give this little gem a try.

Jumilla “Las Hermanas” organic Monastrell

89+ points, Excellent Value

$15.99 www.BCLiquorStores.com

… fresh, fruity, inviting: this is the wine you open as you’re cooking and hope that you have a second bottle for dinner! The aromas are plush with red cherries, currants and young plums and the palate has just enough acid to crave a bit of fatty food but, once again, balanced enough to appreciate thoroughly on its own. A solid wine, this is already on my Top 100 list for 2014~!

*Monastrell: not familiar with it? I find that this grape is very much like Merlot, which all of us can remember as fresh, fruit-driven flavors. This is a classic to serve at social events, but when well-made can offer concentration and structure to pair with classic Canadian winter dishes like pot-roast, tortierre and Shepard’s pie/Cottage pie. As per this particular producer, it’s small wonder that the European Portfolio Manager for the BC Liquor Board (one of Canada’s three Masters-of-Wine: Barbara Phillip) has named this as an “Insider Pick”. This would be a great value even if it wasn’t organic!

THE FOOD

Making beautiful food doesn’t have to be time consuming! And while I can admire the economy of throwing everything into one pot and turning it on, when plating that food it can look sometimes like a plate for the dog rather than the (fussy) kids.

This plate of pot-roast took relatively little extra time to prepare for dinner @ 5:30:

STEP 1:   2pm:      pot-roast in the oven @ 350F (about a 4lb roast)

STEP 2:   4:30:      baked potato and spaghetti squash in the oven

STEP 3:   5:00:      sauté the whole mushrooms on medium-high for 5 minutes, then in the oven

STEP 4:  5:20       steam the carrots 5 minutes, then throw the broccolini in, continue steaming 3 minutes

Kristof’s Pot Roast Recipe

1 fl oz     canola oil

1              yellow onion, finely sliced

6              cloves garlic, finely sliced

4 lb         pot roast

1 lb         green cabbage, rough chopped

½ bottle red wine

1 L           beef stock

½ tsp        each: fresh thyme and fresh rosemary

*salt and pepper to taste

• Start by sautéing the onions in the oil on medium until translucent
• Add the garlic and continue cooking until it’s turned a nutty brown
• Add the beef, sear on all sides. When it’s on it’s last sear then add the cabbage
• When the beef is finished searing, add the wine, then stock, then herbs
• DO NOT salt the dish until it’s finished cooking… as it reduces, the flavors will concentrate. If it tastes perfect at the start then by the end you run the risk of having salty food!
• Just before serving slice the roast on your cutting board and thicken the juice with cornstarch – excellent gravy! Don't forget to rest the roast on that cutting board for a good 15 minutes to ensure it stays moist!

So enjoy your pot-roast dinner with great wine and family or friends. Treat yourself, spoil someone else, and above all: savor the moment~! Many thanks to the Christopher Stewart Wine Agency, representatives in Canada, for the sample bottles. www.christopherstewartwineandspirits.com

As always, I look forward to your thoughts, comments and questions. Here, or:

on Twitter @AStudentofWine

on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/TheChefandTheGrape

Kanazawa “Raku” Syrah on Viognier, Okanagan Valley, BC

www.KanazawaWines.com

If you’ve never heard the name Kanazawa before, much less in reference to wine, be at ease… until just a few weeks ago, I had never heard of him either.

But now that I’ve tried the man’s wines I can state unequivocally that I shall never forget neither his name, nor how to spell it. For Richard Kanazawa is one of those rare breeds of winemaker: a man who makes wine not how he imagines the customers will want it, and not how some pencil-pusher tells him will garner the most points. No, Richard makes wine the way that the vineyard wants to express itself. And he does it with his own particular skill-set of flourish.

Having honed his talent in prestigious workplaces around the world, it speaks to the terroir here in British Columbia that he has chosen this place to create his signature label. And signature it is~! The Syrah that I tasted was absolutely, singularly self; by which I mean that it chooses not to look or feel like any other Syrah from the region, but to express itself in it’s own manner (and very precisely too I might add).

If you care to learn more about Richard Kanazawa, his pedigree, or his current work I invite you to read his website or the words of my colleague and eminent wine-journalist John Schreiner ( http://johnschreiner.blogspot.ca/2012/10/class-of-2012-kanazawa-wines.html ). As for me, you know I much prefer to let the wines speak for themselves:

2011 “Raku” Syrah

85% Syrah, 15% Viognier

91+ points

200 cases produced

• In the glass: a dark ruby core filled with bright highlights – pungent floral tones lifting from the glass with a seductive balance of rose-hips, irises, warm earth and Cab-Sauv-like graphite mineral aromas, pine trees and a last note of fresh thyme in the garden. The palate is food-focused, as the acid can seem out of balance but is simply full of the exuberance of youth. Fine tannin is beautifully integrated already and though this wine could enjoy many years in the cellar, I say drink it now and often! It’s so rare to find a New World Syrah that is so fresh, so inviting, that after one glass one simply looks for another.
• FOOD PAIRING:  a wine like this cries out for wild game, but mostly to me I thought of duck. Duck as only the French would cook it: with Bing cherries. Consider canard au cerises, wild rice – fresh thyme latkes, sweet-soy butternut squash pave, buttered Brussel sprouts. 

I’m reminded of a famous winemaker who once told me : “Some years, only idiots can fail to make good wine. In bad years, only the best winemakers can.” Now I think to myself that perhaps that winemaker was keeping part of the equation to himself. For isn’t one of the keys to being great at something being ahead of the curve? Being that person who thinks just a little differently then everyone else – even when that very way of thinking puts them at odds with the majority?

Today I tried a very special wine from a talented winemaker, and plan on trying everything else that he’s working on. Why? Because I know that soon, very soon, every educated colleague of mine west of Montreal and north of LA is going to being talking about the exciting work of Richard Kanazawa. And I’m going to be the guy with those wines.

Many thanks to FreeHouse Wines: agents ( www.freehousewine.com ) for bringing this to my attention, and my thanks to Richard Kanazawa for the sample bottle.

As always, I look forward to your thoughts, comments and questions. Here, or:

on Twitter @AStudentofWine

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The #WineTastingCircle of Vancouver: BC Syrah compared

A friend and winemaker called me a few weeks ago and asked if I would try his unreleased 2011 Syrah (from BC) and let him know my thoughts.

I have to say, it's a good job that affords one phone calls like that on a regular basis! So of course I generously offered that my taste-buds were up to the task but then the winemaker zealously offered the 2010 Syrah as well; so that I could make an informed conclusion as to the wines' development.

My day was getting better and better, for that was when I remembered that one of his neighbors had also sent me his 2010 and 2011 Syrah. Four bottles is too much for even I to drink on my own, and so I began to drum-up a list of potential reprobates who would come and swill with me in some shady den of iniquity.

Then genius hit: I had always wanted to sit and compare these BC Syrah/Shiraz versus their counterparts from around the world. Well, "if you build it - they will come", and so I got on the phone right then and there and started beating the bushes for support for my little tasting.

First a trickle, then a torrent, of Syrah and Shiraz from every corner of the importer world came washing over my desk like a peppery-Tsunami. By the time I got in my car and drove to UVA winebar (www.uvawinebar.ca/) we had accumulated 16 wines. One writer looked at the assembled throng (? flock? gaggle? herd?) of bottles and simply stated "You got a little carried away." I smiled nervously, wrapped them all in paper bags until even I forgot which was which, and we got down to the business we had gathered for: ascertaining what level of Syrah BC was producing when compared side-by-side, blind, versus some of the most experienced producers in the world.

THE CRITERIA

• single varietal Syrah
• most recent vintage (85% of wines were 2009,2010 or 2011)
• priced between $30 and $50 CAD (in the BC market)

THE PARTICIPANTS

1. Painted Rock 2010, 2011 (BC) www.paintedrock.ca
2. Black Hills 2010, 2011     (BC)    www.blackhillswinery.com
3. Desert Hills 2008               (BC)   www.deserthills.ca
4. Le Vieux Pin 2011             (BC) www.levieuxpin.ca
5. Cedar Creek 2005              (BC)  www.cedarcreek.bc.ca
6. Mission Hill SLC 2007     (BC)  www.missionhillwinery.com
7. Cannonbah   2007                      (AUS)  canonbah.com.au
8. Glaetzer "Bishop" 2012               (AUS)  www.glaetzer.com
9. Tyrrell "Hunter Valley" 2010   (AUS) www.tyrrells.com.au
10. Thorn-Clarke "Shotfire" 2010 (AUS) www.thornclarkewines.com.au
11. Perez Cruz  "Maipo" 2006              (CHILE)  perezcruz.com
12. Tanagra " Casablanca" 2006         (CHILE)  www.villard.cl
13. Corralillo "San Antonio" 2010    (CHILE) matetic.com
14. Altico  "Jumilla" 2011  (SPAIN)  www.carchelo.com

We swirled, we sipped, we spit, we debated. All of these wines, some with more then one vintage - blind - in an hour. And through it all we all learnt a great deal. It was quite a surprise when the unveiling occurred! Indeed, the entire process was a learning one for us all, in the words of one attendee "I'm surprised. I'm surprised not just at the generosity of fruit in all of the wines, but that even I - who have lived in BC for years, cannot tell which are the BC wines."

Here are the top three wines, in order. Scores are approximations and an average.

1. Canonbah drought reserve, 92/93 points

From the Western Plains of Australia, picked at a yield of 1 ton per HA and only in years of drought, this wine sings of refined elegance and decidedly masculine in it's approach. Imagine a Syrah that drinks much the same way that James Bond looks when played by Daniel Craig; muscular yet refined, intense yet sophisticated. This was a wine that categorically impressed everyone on the panel. Only one person guessed where it was from and for the rest of us, we were so delighted by it's concentration, clean mineral-tones, heavily spiced-musky aromas and pungent earthiness that I don't think we cared. This is truly World-Class and well worth the $50 (SPEC) in BC.

2. Glaetzer's "Bishop", 92 points

Precision shone through every sip, every tendril of aroma that slipped up from the bottle. So bright, so refreshing was this wine that more then one person commented (when tasted blind) that it must surely be a New World wine, and obviously cool-climate. We unanimously voted this wine second place, and by a narrow margin. Capable of many years of aging, there is also a great deal of development left. I would personally love to taste a bottle with 10 years on it and see how the fresh notes integrate with dark berries, leather and spice.

3. Le Vieux Pin, 91+/92 points

If the Canonbah was the epitome of masculine elegance, then Le Vieux Pin is the essence of feminine. A hedonistic plethora of floral, musky, ripe red berry tones not only danced from the glass when poured, but continued to evolve for the entire time we had the bottle open. Stunningly fresh yet balanced acids, fine and well integrated tannin,  full concentration of flavors that evolved as well. Utterly delightful and well-worth cellaring.

Honorable mention must be made to the exquisite 2005 Cedar Creek Syrah which was, upon release years ago, rated the best wine in Canada. Now with several years in a well-attended cellar it has evolved into a graceful example of how the varietal can age; with warm raisin aromas and sweet buttery tones, the acids still fresh and integrated, the tannin utterly refined. A graceful palate, everyone was captivated and would have ranked as our number 4 choice for the evening.

And perhaps this was what I had been looking for; a sign of validation that though BC is a small wine region (Algeria produces more wine then BC), we are producing quality. Some of the results were truly brow-raising, and many of the tasters walked away with a greater appreciation for the dynamic work happening "Down Under". Truly, Australia Syrah/Shiraz is not the same heavily-oaked, jammy-berry-laden, high-alcohol beverage that it once may have been... but by the same token, as the wine-industry has evolved over the past decade, BC wines have evolved no less.

And as we dragged our weary-palates towards the door, scores had become less important then process. More important still was the feeling that we perhaps understood a little better the direction our home-grown winemakers were going. Sticking to their instincts, following their own sense of what their land wants to express, I cannot help but believe that when our vines have a few more years on them - I will be reading Australian and Chilean writers talking about how well their Syrah is comparing to BC.

Many thanks not only to the wineries, but to the agents who graciously donated their time and sample bottles:

www.renaissancewine.ca : Desert Hills, Thorn-Clarke

www.freehousewine.com : Glaetzer, Black Hills

www.empsoncanada.com : Canonbah

www.markanthonywinemerchants.com : Mission Hills, Tyrrell

www.christopherstewart.com : Le Vieux Pin

As always, I welcome your comments here - or on Twitter @AStudentofWine

CINCIN~!!!     SLAINTE~!!!     CHEERS~!!!