....Chronicles of an Alberta Brewlover....Tantalus Vineyards

The culture of change...how I became to be a lover of Canadian wine.

 ...one of many sips.....

From a meat perspective, I have always supported local. My biggest delight in moving to Western Canada was better access to Alberta Beef. I soon discovered wonderful pork, poultry and game. So why then, was I a drinker of french wine? Did I not understand that all Canadian wine was not Baby Duck? It seems not, but I have evolved....and this is how it innocently happened.

When I was younger, I  spent 13 incredible months living in the South of France. We lived in one third of a 14^th century castle in the middle of the village overlooking the park. I bused to school and worked in the small café around the corner from our chateau – even still…if I close my eyes I can hear the erratic chiming of the two old pin ball machines punctuated by the thud and whirring of the fooseball game. We would travel to other countries on the long weekends and holidays and I logged a lot of time in the Mediterranean.

The concept of local was supported by the skinny green Michelin Guide. There were these unreal whole-in-the-wall restaurants the served bliss - prix fixe. In this manner, I tried things that I never would have selected. I joyfully expanded my palette. Much discovery was made word of mouth and the house wine was mostly delightful and as plentiful as water. In France, food is for pleasure. The portions were smaller and varied, but we were never hungry nor disappointed. 

The village of St Drezery was surrounded by vineyards. In the fall, my brother and I would help with the vendange, or grape harvest. That was some hard work! You shoulder these huge plastic funnels on your back, fill them with plump sweet orbs of sticky juice and flesh until the funnel is full and weighs almost as much as the picker. When the harness threatens to tear your shoulder out of the socket, or you reach the end of your row, you then climb on to a shallow wagon with an auger down the spine (that reminded me of a manure spreader) and tip the bounty in over your head….and repeat. The harvest would then be transported by tractor to the village wine co-op where magic would happen. When you needed wine – you headed down to the coop with a refillable jug and I don’t remember much money changing hands. At the time, a 750ml bottle of beer was half a dollar.

So then we moved back to Canada – the wonderful French wine that we had grown accustomed to seemed very ‘pricey’ and there didn’t seem to be much from the region that we had lived. We were in Languedoc and most french on the shelves of the LCBO was from the Rhone or Bordeaux. (That has now changed considerably) I have to say that an ‘anchor’ was set – French wine was at the top and wine was expensive in Canada - So we cut back our consumption of wine.(This was a hard anchor to change - because of cost or production and other factors, much of the good Canadian wine can cost more than some of the french that has traveled across the pond.) But the change did occur and here's how it happened:

A few years back, I had learned that one of my favourite blues artists – Ruthie Foster whom I’d seen one year at Folkfest, was going to be playing at a winery in the Okanagan. We made plans to go and take in a bit of the regional wine festival. This trip forever changed my perception of BC wines. We signed up for a wine pairing dinner, rented a condo in Okanagan Falls and scored 2 nights of Ruthie Foster tickets for the Blasted Church ‘Midnight Service’.  and we were off. Nothing like a ride through the Canadian Rockies in October to get the heart racing – the winter-laced autumn weather changed every 10 minutes – yes there was snow - and sleet, rain and fog- and the headlights picked up endless eerie eyeballs on both sides of truck on our 9 hour winding path.

The pairing diner was at a now closed restaurant called 764 on Lakeshore Drive in Kelowna– the brain child of Mark Filatow, chef and sommelier at the Waterfront Restaurant and Wine Bar  It remains one of the pinnacle meals that I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. The smoked trout was out of this world! The coolest things about this night were 3:

1. It was a laid back comfortable atmosphere hosted by Mark and David Paterson, production winemaker of Tantalus Vineyards. Both gentleman told wonderful stories of the food and wine; 

2. All of the ingredients were local (a newer concept for a dweller of 6-month ice ravaged Alberta); and 

3. We got to meet Jane from Tantalus who invited us for a tour of the under construction soon-to-be LEEDS certified facility the next day.

Tantalus – we did take Jane up on her offer and headed to the Winery the next day. They were selling wine on the road out of a temporary trailer. (We loaded up) We also toured the soon to be completed facility and met David who let us taste the very young rose that would be bottled the following season. Tantalus takes sustainability and quality very seriously. Their Riesling is wonderful and now available in specialty wine shops in Alberta. Not normally a fan of rose, theirs hold a special place in my heart – perhaps from the personal experience of a celebrated wine-dude breaking down the fresh tasting that was steeped in potential. The silky-smooth Pinot Noir is excellent and I am still hoarding a Blanc de Noir 2004 –(I opened one of two after skating the Midget AAA Esso Nationals gold medal game).

That exceptional wine pairing meal and visit to Tantalus forever changed my perception of Canadian wine - totally for the better. Already a fan of touring micro-breweries (Granville Island, Steam Whistle and Mill Street), we sat down with a wine map of the Okanagan and set out to discover the stories of the people, places and vintages as well as my holy grail - the quest for the perfect Carb-Franc for my Mediterranean-inspired sausage. But more of that in another post......

Recommendations:

Tantalus Vineyards, Kelowna, BC. – Riesling, Pinot Noir and Rose.

Musical Pairings:
Tantalus Vineyards - Pinot Noir: Tab Benoit  A Whole Lotta Soul
Tantalus Vineyards - Blanc de Noir;  Albert Cummings  Hoochie Coochie Man
Tantalus Vineyards - Rose;   Eric Bibb Spirit I Am