VanFoodies.com

Last Tuesday, VanFoodies was invited to the “Treats for Tweeters” event at the Seasons Restaurant in Queen Elizabeth Park. It’s similar to its bi-weekly wine tasting series, but this one was exclusively for some tweeters, bloggers and foodies.

Wine tasting at Seasons Winebar

The evening featured wines from Blue Mountain Winery and its sales rep, Christine Fawcett, was there to explain about each wine. Paired with each wine were canapes by the Seasons. In addition to the 3 Blue Mountain wines, we were also treated to the restaurant’s featured summer cocktail called “Summer in the Park”.

Food and Drinks

Here are the pairings and our thoughts about each of them:

1. Blue Mountain’s Gold Label Brut Sparkling with Foie Gras Torchon and Vanilla Poached Pear

Foie Gras Torchon and Vanilla Poached Pear

Mr.: The foie gras was very rich and very smooth, but it was the toasted brioche bread that made it great. Together, their richness was perfect with the dry acidity of the Brut.

The poached pear was sweet enough to rot your teeth, and a bit on the hard side. The sugar piece on top wasn’t necessary. It’s a half decent dessert, but it didn’t go well with the dry wine.

2. Blue Mountain’s 2008 Pinot Blanc with Smoked Alaskan Sablefish and Halibut Cake

Smoked Alaskan Sablefish with Halibut Cake

Joyce: The Pinot Blanc is light with a little tartness. I think it works great with smoked fish or over all white fish with mild flavours. I could taste the citrus in the halibut cake and it did not clash with the wine. The sablefish was nicely smoked and the halibut cake was very meaty.

3. Blue Mountain’s 2008 Pinot Noir with Seared Ahi Tuna and Australian Lamb Chop

Australian Lamb Chop

Mr: The lamb was delicious. Even though it was cooked to medium well, it was still juicy and tender. I don’t know a whole lot about red wine, pretty much all I can say is I enjoyed having the Pinot Noir with the Lamb Chop.

The seared tuna was pretty standard, however the smoked duck prosciutto made it stand out. I’m not sure if the caperberry added anything to the dish, they were a little over-powering.

4. Seasons’ Summer in the Park Martini with Kusshi Oyster and Salmon Mousse

Kusshi Oyster with Wild Sockeye Salmon Mousse

Joyce: Although the use of cucumbers in both canapes and the martini makes them cohesive, I’d have preferred if the chef went for another ingredient for the canapes that would complement the refreshing taste of cucumber. Kusshi is my favourite oyster but in this case the oyster was served room temperature and it just wasn’t at its best. The salmon mousse was creamy and the cucumber cup helped balancing the flavours. The martini was refreshing and it’s extra tasty when you take bites of the cucumber while sipping it.

Final Thoughts

Overall Blue Mountain’s wines were quite good. I (Joyce) quite enjoyed the Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir and their respective paired canapes. They have complex flavour profiles, yet not too over-powering.  Good for pairing with food. Not only that, the wines are reasonably priced at around $18-25 at retail. Currently the wines are only available at its wine store in Okanagan Falls and at local private liquor stores.

Seasons in the Park has been holding wine tasting events every other Tuesday for $25 per person. After this experience, I can say that it’s a fun event for wine and food lovers to learn about local wines and food pairing. For more information, visit the Seasons Winebar page. They still have two more events this summer.

Lastly, check out the following photo gallery for more food pictures and other snapshots of the evening: