la stella & le vieux pin / 2009

Photos Courtesy of Degan Beley

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La Stella & Le Vieux Pin, the sister wineries to the mother of Enotecca Winery & Resorts, are both situated in the Okanagan region of British Columbia. Through meticulous methods of viticulture, their processes in production have progressed by way of blending both a traditional winemaking style with techniques used in consideration of the region in which their grapes yield to.

Back in August of this year, I had my first taste of La Stella at an open house event held in Yaletown. While sipping away & swaying slightly, I realized suddenly that the weakness in my knees was not the result of intoxication, but rather the culmination of a developing crush for their wines. & with my mood melting in with the music of both the on-site cellist & violinist, it was easy to see how my senses were swayed. In all, my best-loved bottle of the night was the 2006 Maestoso Merlot.

I was invited out to but unfortunately missed the harvest season for both these wineries, but will be staying at La Stella & visiting Le Vieux Pin for New Year’s Eve & until the first few days of January. In the meantime, I received a recap in development details for both La Stella & Le Vieux Pin for 2009 that I wanted to share with you here.

La Stella

• increased the use of larger format barrels (400-500 & 1000 litre puncheons) for the aging of the reds (in accordance with Italian & especially, Tuscan winemaking traditions)

• increased the use of non-French oak barrels. We now have a healthy number of Eastern European, Hungarian & Slovenian oak barrels for aging our reds (again, in accordance with the Tuscan wines)

• first time that we (or anyone in the Okanagan) is doing a Moscato d’Asti style wine from the Moscato Bianco (with small amounts of Ottonel & Orange Muscat). This wine will be slightly frizzante, with a lower alcohol percentage (around 10% or under) & just off-dry

• harvested Sangiovesse (both Grosso & Piccolo clone) from two separate vineyards. Fermentation finished & the resulting wine looks promising

• made an unoaked Chardonnay excusively from the oldest Chardonnay vines planted in the Okanagan, which were planted by a previous grower & has been in the hands of the Olivier Combret family since 1991. We leased the entire lot of the old vine Chardonnay planted on the complex soils of his vineyard in the upper parts of the Golden Mile. Some schist & shale have been noticed in the soil there (exciting soil component that is rare in our region)

• first release of a non-single grape varietal wine from either of our two wineriesto date: 2007 Fortissimo: an Okanagan red blend that is inspired by the super Tuscans. Merlot, Cab, Cab Franc (in future vintages to have Sangiovesse) fermented & aged according to the Tuscan tradition

Le Vieux Pin

• made two styles of Chardonnay exclusively from the oldest Chardonnay vines planted in the Okanagan, which were planted by a previous grower & have been in the hands of the Olivier Combret family since 1991. We bought the entire lot off the old vine Chardonnay planted on the complex soils of his vineyard in the upper parts of the Golden Mile. Some schist & shale have been noticed in the soil there (exciting soil component that is rare in our region). One was picked much earlier & fermented ala Chablis, while the other batch was more southern Côte-d’Or inspired with barrel ferment; malolactic & aging in barrel

• significant & huge news is that in 2009 we did not make any Pinot Noir & made only very small amounts of Merlot that might not even be released as a single varietal & instead, go into a blend of our second label: Petit Le Vieux Pin. We still did thirty cases amount of Cab Franc, but our focus was & probably in the future will be on one grape: Syrah or Shiraz

• we received Syrah from seven different vineyards, fermented & aging separately. This is the first time, we believe, that this has been done in the Okanagan. We have fruit from places like Cawston to various vineyards in Osoyoos, Golden Mile, Black Sage Bench & north of Oliver. We received Syrah from many different clones, soil types, exposures & elevations. All the yields across the line were three tons per acre or less with many of them around or even under one ton an acre. All premium Syrah’s. If all goes well, we’re going to have some high quality wines from this vintage for release

• we harvested & fermented small amounts of Mourvedre from two different vineyards

• we harvested & fermented a healthy batch of Roussanne all by itself and it’s looking very interesting & promising already. Again, we think that no one in the Okanagan has done Roussanne by itself in the past. We know wines that have had Roussanne as part of the blend, but not on its own

• for the first time, we experimented with fermenting in acacia barrels. We find that this wood type gives the wine honey, elder flower & unique, hard to pin point spices. We did two batches in acacia: one Sauvignon Blanc & the other a Viognier

• basically, we are now going to focus more on one or two grape varieties but do an outstanding job at them. We believe the Syrah from the South Okanagan has huge potential but only when it’s planted on the right site & harvested at low yields. It can otherwise make for an inferior & boring wine, unlike grapes like Merlot, which seem to fair well regardless of site & yields

review: au petit chavignol

Vancouver, being the big, blue-eyed toddler that it still is has remained sadly sparse in its offering of cheese & wine bars. The Salt Tasting Room, which finally opened its doors a couple of years ago, has since had a gradual following with the opening of UVA Wine Bar last year. But just a few months ago I was suddenly teased by a furious buzz of words that left me full of feverish excitement: a 36-seat cheese & wine bar to open in the somewhat stark area of Vancouver at 845 East Hastings Street. &, as if I needed another reason for my heart to suddenly stop beating, I then hear that the restaurant is set to open by Alice and Allison Spurrell, the owners of les Amis du Fromage, alongside with Joe Chaput: the Duke of cheese & salami in the city. oh, Vancouver – just when I instinctively begin to glance outside of our relationship in yearning to fill the void that you constantly leave me with, here you are drawing me back in at the brink of our collapse. You’re beautiful & all, but bless you for finally realizing that I can’t eat your mountains.

A few have criticized Au Petit Chavignol’s location, in saying that the area is gritty & the restaurant displaced. Personally, I’m drawn to the more desolate & disconnected part of the city, where conformity to a district does not yet exist, & the neutrality of its neighborhood provides its visitors with the chance to focus on the food away from the distraction of trends. From layout to lighting, the restaurant is intimate & diffused of pretention. There were booths hugging tight corners of the room but I sat at the bar to subtly spy on the swarm of passionate activity.

Everything is made fresh & in-house on a daily basis. Characteristically, the food menu consists mainly of cheese but also offers home-made terrines, Iberico Ham & Prosciutto di Parma. The pleasant difference between this particular cheese & wine bar & that of any others in the city is that here they also offer soups, salads, fondue & other cheese-infused meals. I ordered a selection of cheeses from the cow (comté de montagne), goat (marcella) & sheep (pecorino brillo). The cheese, fixed in its own presence of flavor ranging from wood to aged chalky saltiness & red wine, bode well with the adequate & diverse selection of wine (by bottle or glass), & was on par with the Riesling; the obvious pet in the room. As per recommendation, I had two glasses of the German Leitz Riesling & found that it was the ideal balance between all the varying flavors on my plate.

I had plans that night already & sadly could not linger, but am already planning on re-visiting again soon. For now I remain comforted with the evidence of effort that my city is displaying & plan on holding steady for.. at least another month.

review: rolf binder hales 2006 shiraz

Oenophiles, detain your disappointment as I proudly admit that I carry a consuming crush on full-bodied, fruit-bomb wines. The types that are so chock-full of complexity that the smell of these ball-busters consolidate my senses solely to the nose immediately after opening. This might have something to do with how I often times substitute dessert for wine & may subconsciously be yearning for a similarity in taste. You see, as much as I love gorgeous pastries & other such sweets, (see: sidebar links – David Lebovitz), I have a ridiculously slow metabolism & am forced to maintain some type of balance, (sometimes). It’s torturous. I have, however, been recently laying the palate-killer grapes to rest & diversifying my selection. Just, not so much with this bottle. Tomorrow, I promise.

Naturally, what I was initially looking for was a fruit-bomb but what I really got was an Australian Shiraz variety that lingered slightly off that path with the addition of Mouvedre & Grenache. That certainly does not exclude it from being tasty & thoroughly enjoyed. It’s quite floral & bodes cayenne-like spice with a citrus edge. What hit me the most above all were jammy, dark & delicious blueberries. Lovely. Finish was long but slightly acidic. Not the best balance for me but the structure may have shifted with an hour or two in the decanter. Something I don’t use often because I’m the most Impatient Person in the World.

It’s not a legendary value-wine, but for $22 CDN at the local LDB store, it’s certainly worth a go.

therapy vineyards / naramata, british columbia

For a girl out of Europe, I have done an embarrassingly meager amount of traveling in the last.. well – undisclosed & embarrassing amount of time. I have, at least, managed to target Wine Country BC as my feature destination over the hotter months of these last two years.

A rich, rolling scenery of grapes, stretching wide across barren cliffs that tower majestically over a long, glistening lake is nothing short of spectacular to me. The drive there, for as short as it is in its five hours away from the city, is a plethora of morphing landscapes; wavering swiftly from gorgeous greenery to thirsty, desert-ridden trees. The winery & guesthouse that I stay at in Naramata, which is located on the east shore of Lake Okanagan, is called Therapy Vineyards. Let me just say first, that I love Naramata. It’s my most adored of all the communities in the Okanagan & for me offers all the isolation & charm necessary for a tranquil refuge. The air there is sultry & the energy of the land harmonious. You could not ask for a more convenient & yet contrasting escape away from the city.

I first came across the Therapy Vineyards label while purchasing their dry, fruit-driven Pink Freud rosé at Marquis Wine Cellar in Vancouver. I was drawn to their canny marketing tactic of tying in the Therapy label by illustrating Sigmund Freud in a facetious manner. Their other, more complex wines, such as the Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Merlot & Chardonnay, all bare psychoanalytical labels, by using the Rorschach Inkblot Test illustrations by asking the consumer, “What do you see in this wine?”. A marketing strategy created by Brandever.

All that aside, their tastiest bottle to touch my lips, would most certainly be the Super Ego, which is a blend of 55% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 8% Shiraz. Those who know me know I like to torture my taste buds with fruit bombs & big reds. This one did no less harm. It’s sold for about $56 in private wine shops throughout Vancouver, but you can grab it for $37 on the vineyard, when they’re not sold out as they usually are.

Their guesthouse itself is totally serene & sits motionless on a cliff next to the vineyard, over-looking the water & the intertwining boaters below. Breakfast is an array of local cheeses, fruits & freshly made morning pastries. Their hot tub is sublime & I am yet to come by a better scenery to sip wine within.

The Naramata bench is scattered with gorgeous vineyards, but in terms of staying on one, this particular winery truly rephrases what therapy should really be about.

wine labels & the allure of aesthetic design

Judging a wine solely by its label is not exactly the most accurate method of delicious discovery, but I personally find it difficult to steer away from being swayed by a classically radiant, clean or witty label that harbors all the elements necessary to lure such a credulous consumer such as myself.

I’m occasionally guilty in extending the benefit of doubt to the design of a product, & invest belief in that the marriage between the wine & the bottle will balance together in a sensory success. I also generally enjoy a product that appeals to a variety of my senses & feel that it adds benefit to the entirety of the experience.

That being said, I don’t always allow myself to fall prey to the aesthetics of a wine label, but at times surrender to what my eyes first tell me. Perhaps I’m shallow that way, but in the end, I’m still drinking wine.

Frank B | Designed by Talia Cohen 

In-house design | Magnificent Wine Co.

Michael Austin | Designed by Hatch 

carpaccio & the de-virginization of my meatless palate

Before yesterday evening at Chambar with a friend, it had been nearly a year that I had consumed any red meat at all. My current logic lays in that until I sort my conflicts of conscience out, that I may as well continue to enjoy red meat to some minimal extent. I really have no environmental or spiritual reason as to why I quit eating red meat in the first place, other than that I went vegetarian for a month last year (well.. more like 2 weeks, 3 days & 12 hours) to give it a go & observe its effects on my body. After breaking my temporary vegetarianism over desperate desires to run through the park & hunt on squirrels, I gave in completely. By completely I mean that I sprinted over to the butcher & bought some lamb to slow-cook over yellow curry. It was delicious, but sadly as I had no enzymes to digest the meat with, I was up for most of the night high on adrenaline. It’s really not the way I prefer to party.

Recently I had planted the seed of meat in my mind again & watered it every so often with ideas on how I was going to re-introduce my body back into the gustatory pleasures of it all. Since I consider myself to be an all or nothing type of girl, we went ahead & ordered the madeira braised rabbit cannelloni, the bruleed venison carpaccio & a bottle of Michele Chiarlo.

It was a beautiful combination & really the ideal way to break back into the scene. The meal really got me thinking about carpaccio & the various ways to prepare it.

The beauty of carpaccio is that there’s little to no cooking involved & flavor can be added simply by rolling the raw fillet in a mixture of finely chopped herbs & finely grated citrus zest before freezing. The trick thereafter is to slice the meat paper-thin, which can be accomplished accurately with an electric knife.

I really love simple dishes like these, which only require the essence of herbs, a drizzle of quality olive oil & some good ole S&P. 

Oh, & I slept this time. I thank the copious amounts of red wine.

buccella wines

& while on the topic of wax seals, Buccella, a boutique vineyard located in Yountville, CA, complimented its hedonistically satisfying wines to a packaging style that is both romantically timeless & sincere.

The concept of “less is more” is truly evident with these labels, speaking closely in effect of a poem; clean on the surface & complex within.

at the intersection of food, wine & design

Welcome. I plan to have this blog extend itself to all the striking subjects that tempt the occasional boredom of my life: food, wine and all-around design. I’m aware that these are all highly saturated subjects.. but commonly celebrated or not, they are what I love.

I should throw in that I don’t own a restaurant, a vineyard or a design firm so, by love, I mean always willing to learn more. What I actually do is eat at a vast number of restaurants, frolic through local BC vineyards (so far), work in creative environments and generally expose myself to whatever strikes me as beautiful – through instant attraction or developed taste.