Wonderful winter whites
John Weber is the first to open a white wine in winter if the mood and the food is right. “To be honest, we probably still drink more reds in the winter,” said Weber, who owns and operates Orofino Winery in Cawston with his wife, Virginia.
“But, there’s definitely a place for white wines when it’s cold out. White is great as an early-evening wine, on its own, or with the right food. For instance, our White Bridge 2017 ($20) is not a big and rich wine, but it is a slightly off-dry aromatic that pairs well with soft cheeses, salad or oysters.”
White Bridge is a new wine for Orofino and showcases a blend of Pinot Gris, Muscat and Riesling.
It’s been judged a winner right off the bat, snagging a gold medal at the 2018 All Canadian Wine Championships.
The Muscat provides the huge nose of orange blossom, the Riesling brings the citrus and bright acidity and the Pinot Gris some weight and roundness.
Its versatility means its at home in the winter for sipping and food pairing and will also be welcome on the patio come spring and summer.
Here are five other whites that deserve to be opened this winter.
– My wife took the food-pairing suggestion on the back label of the 2017 C.C. Jentsch Small Lot Series Chardonnay ($36) literally.
That’s how we found ourselves enjoying crab cakes and salad with this skillfully oaked Chard displaying aromas and flavours of buttered popcorn, caramel, grapefruit and guava.
It truly was a match made in heaven.
While C.C. Jentsch is in Oliver, it chose grapes from a Summerland vineyard for this vintage of Chardonnay and had winemaker Matt Dumayne from Okanagan Crush Pad craft an exceptional wine.
– The Sumac Ridge 2017 Gewurztraminer ($14) from Summerland is another aromatic white that shines in winter.
It demonstrates the off-dry lychee, grapefruit, apricot and honey you expect in a good Gewurtz.
But, it ups the game with some ginger and spice so it’s hearty enough to pair with butter chicken, which my wife made in the slow cooker.
– A touch of oak gives the Inniskillin 2017 Reserve Pinot Gris ($20) from Oliver the heft to be an excellent winter white.
But there’s also lots of peach, apple and lime flavours and floral notes to make it a standalone sipper or a match with cheese, chicken and pork.
– A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon, Viognier and Muscat gives the Tinhorn Creek Oldfield Reserve 2 Bench White
2 0 1 7 ($23) from Oliver a pleasing tropical-fruit-andvanilla punch that goes well with cheese, salad and risotto.
– Roast chicken is the ideal winter meal to have with Mission Hill Family Estate 2017 Reserve Pinot Blanc ($20) from West Kelowna.
People generally don’t know what to expect from Pinot Blanc because its one of those varietals that doesn’t have a strong identity or style.
But, in the capable hands of winemaker Darryl Brooker, only the top 15 per cent of grapes from estate vineyards are used to craft a Pinot Blanc with distinct pear-and-apple profile with a hint of spice.
Camp Hoo-Ha
A hoo-ha is a commotion, a fuss, an uproar or a hyped happening.
It’s also slang for vagina.
As such, the organizers of Camp Hoo-Ha, a Kelowna food-and-wine event for women, are getting a lot of mileage out of the name.
Wednesday’s Camp Hoo-Ha will be held at the Laurel Packinghouse, 6:30-8:30 p.m., and features wine from West Kelowna’s Niche Wine Co. and a cooking demonstration with Top Chef Canada competitor Chris Chaften, who owns Krafty Kitchen in Kelowna.
Tickets are $65 at CampHooHa.com/events/cooking. Camp Hoo-Ha was founded last year by Melanie McKay, a Calgary-based marketing and advertising expert, who wanted to create an empowering girl guides for grown ups atmosphere where women could embrace the nostalgia, memories and fun of their childhood camp days. Events spread from Calgary to Edmonton to Kelowna. Wednesday’s food-and-wine extravaganza will be the second Camp Hoo-Ha party in Kelowna and it will be hosted by Joanna Schlosser of Niche Wine Co.
Upcoming events could cover anything from parenting, self defence and sex education to cooking the perfect turkey, skin care and gardening.
The events attract fun-loving and knowledge-seeking women of all ages.
While Camp Hoo-Ha uses grown-up, girl-guides-in-uiform imagery to promote its events, attendees can wear whatever they want, no uniforms required.
Winning whisky
It’s the accolade every new-kid-on-the-block wants. And Bearface Triple Oak ($40) has snagged it with a best new whisky win at the Canadian Whisky Awards over 100 other entries.
Bearface is finished at Mission Hill Family Estate winery in West Kelowna by master blender Andres Faustinelli from single-grain Canadian whiskies.
It’s Faustinelli’s inspired combination of oak-barrel aging that creates whisky like no other.
To start, for a minimum of seven years, the whisky is aged in ex-bourbon charred American oak barrels to bring out the warm, smooth and vanilla notes in the distilled spirit.
Next, the whisky goes in French oak barrels previously used to age Mission Hill’s Bordeaux-style wines to add luscious dry-fruit notes and a deep-ruby colour.
The finish, and this is a first for a Canadian whisky, is in three-year-old, air-dried, virgin Hungarian Oak to impart rye-like flavours and rich texture.
This year’s Canadian Whisky Awards were handed out recently in the provincial capital in conjunction with the Victoria Whisky Festival.
Steve MacNaull is The Okanagan Weekend’s business and wine reporter and columnist. Reach him at steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca.