Dinner’s with 17 strangers at Quails’ Gate’s long table
My wife and I and our 15-year-old daughter had dinner Wednesday with 17 strangers and it was fantastic.
It’s what happens when you book onto the long table dinner at Old Vines, the restaurant at West Kelowna’s Quails’ Gate Winery and you’re seated communally with a bunch of other food-and-wine lovers. This week’s food theme was France. The charcuterie Àrst course arrived on two seven-foot long cedar planks that were placed in the centre of the 25-foot table for everyone to help themselves, family-style.
Naturally, this being a winery, every course will be accompanied with a Quails’ Gate wine.
So, the pate, crusty bread and pickles is matched with the fresh and juicy Cailleteau 2016 Gamay Noir Nouveau.
Our daughter, Grace, had to settle for iced tea.
Quails’ Gate’s Chenin Blanc, the same wine that’s been served to President Barack Obama and Prince William and Kate, came next with the frissee salad.
The main course of pot-au-feu (a fancy French term for country-style beef stew) went nicely with the black-cherry-and- toasted-oak aromas and Áavours of the 2015 Merlot.
And the crepes with Chantilly cream dessert finished off beautifully with 2016 Botrytis Affected Optima.
The long table dinners continue every Wednesday until the end of March.
The next two food themes are Italy and Spain.
The cost is $55 per person, with paired wines $25 extra.
The communal dining is part of Quails’ Gate’s winter program to keep people coming out the winery in dreary weather.
There’s also a Sunday Night Supper Series where parties of four can have a roast dinner for $100, Happy Hours Monday to Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. with $5 tapas and $5 glasses of wine, seminars and cooking classes.