TOP CHEFS TEAM UP FOR CANCER FUNDRAISER
The Fairmont Chateau Whistler hosts a collaborative culinary dinner led by three top chefs lending their time and talent for ELLEvate TogetHER.
Chefs Nicole Gomes (Cluck N Cleaver), Melissa Craig (Bearfoot Bistro) and Isabel Chung (Fairmont Chateau Whistler) will host the Nov. 12 dinner to raise funds for cancer research.
Nikki Callaway, acclaimed winemaker at Quails’ Gate, will attend and provide the dinner wines served by Maryke Vandermarel (Bearfoot Bistro) and Jill Spoor (Fairmont Pacific Rim).
Priced at $279 per ticket plus tax and gratuity, all proceeds go toward the Canadian Cancer Society. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to whistlercornucopia.com.
Following the lead of the
■ ancient Romans, Finger Lakes Wine Flour, a company run by Hilary Niver-Johnson, is making wine flour in the Finger Lakes, a wine-producing region in New York state. The flour is made from pomace, the skin of wine grapes that have been pressed for juice. Using solar dehydration to minimize their carbon footprint, the skins are dried, then milled, sifted and bagged, ready for use as a high-fibre, high-protein, gluten-free, supplement in baking and cooking. What a great idea.
WINE OF THE WEEK Howling Bluff Pinot Noir Century Block 2014, Okanagan Valley
$75 | 91/100
UPC: 626990258773
The name is an homage to the site that was home to more than 100 different apple varieties back in the 1980s. Today the vineyard is home to Pinot Noir clones 666 and 777. You feel the richness of the clones on the nose and the palate taking you toward Central Otago. The fruit spends a year in new French oak, but seems to handle that without too much bother. The flavours are darker (black fruits) and deeper than the Summa Quies with a savoury, sagebrush, spicy undercurrent. Soft warm and silky, this would be the perfect wine for duck. Impressive and on track to become a Naramata terroir wine. Winery direct, private wine shops.
WINE FOR THE CELLAR CVNE Imperial Rioja Gran Reserva Tempranillo — Graciano — Mazuelo 2009, Rioja, Spain
$88.99 | 94/100
UPC: 808755015283 Bodegas C.V.N.E. is still owned and run by the Real de Asua family, who opened the doors back in 1879. Its full name is Compania Vinicola del Norte de España, but everyone calls it “coonay,” after its initials C.V.N.E. The Imperial is a
Rioja classic first bottled in the 1920s, the name an ode to a special bottling for the English measure Imperial Pint known to the Spanish as ‘Pinta Imperial’ or approximately half a litre. The dry farmed bush vines are responsible for low yields and intense fruit, all aged in American and French oak barrels. It’s a delicious blend of 85/10/5 Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo with a rich hedonistic enticing nose of black fruits and a whiff of earth. The palate is silky soft with spicy, savoury, elegant black fruit and tobacco flavours. Impressive at eight years, but will hold another decade and beyond.