Category Archives: BC Wine

May 10, 2013 · 10:00 AM

My Wine Philosophy

Working in the wine industry can, very occasionally, have it’s drawbacks. When your personal philosophy may be counter-productive to that of your establishment or the whole industry. I feel that way about one thing and that is “food and wine pairings”. I’ve been wine and dined at many great restaurants and events for wine-paired menus through the course of my 2 years in the industry, including Local Lounge, Raudz, Waterfront Wines, Miradoro, Terrafina and The Vanilla Pod. All have been exquisite and without my connection to the industry I likely would not have the opportunity to dine at such fine establishments. That being said, I come back to my issue at hand; what food goes with what wine?

DSC_1072 DSC_1107

VS.

I’m asked daily what to pair with our wines and my answer is generally standard. My belief is that if you have good food and good wine they will go together. If you talk to a true fan of anything bubbly; Prosecco, Champagne or anything in the sparkle department, they will tell you that the bubble will go with waffles, caviar and all things in between. This is the way I feel about wine in general. I wouldn’t pair a dessert wine with a steak, I try to keep the sugars matching. Dry (no sugar) foods = dry wine, off dry (some sweetness) foods = off-dry wine.

This is not an industry rule, sommelier rule or something you should follow, the take home message is that rules are meant to be broken and wine is entirely subjective. If you prefer white wine, then drink it with your steak and visa-versa, drink the red with your oysters! Wine is meant to be enjoyed, the best wine pairing is good friends. Who will you share your next bottle with?

Chat with me on
facebook
twitter

Cheers and happy sipping!
Social Sarah Lefebvre

Leave a Comment

Filed under BC Wine

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

May 3, 2013 · 10:00 AM

Small Batch Wineries

My favourite winery to support is the small batch, boutique winery. You’ll often pay slightly more for their product but you’ll happily pay for the experience.

I approach wine as a winemaker not a sommelier. I like to ask winemaking type questions, these are not questions that any typical employee in a large batch winery can generally answer. Residual sugar, carbonic maceration, malolactic and free run are often things they don’t know about. However, walking into a boutique winery, you’ll generally find the owner or winemaker behind the counter. They just want to share their passion and hope you enjoy it, this is their lively-hood. These are the wines that you generally can’t find in any liquor store but exclusively at the winery.  Below are some of our favourite experiences at these wineries.

Our experience at Mt. Lehman, a small family winery on the Langley-Abbotsford border, was just that. Quiet, intimate and honest. Their little tasting room was fitted by Ikea and as a thirty-something adult, that’s very appealing. They had a Chardonnay that was outstanding and we were able to talk to the 2nd in command, owner Vern Seimens son. They both wear all hats pertaining to production, winemaking and sales. Really down to earth and real.

Blackwood Lane, also in the Fraser Valley, is resting on a hill overlooking a beautiful vineyard and situated in a large converted house. The tasting bar is in the sunken living room beside the large fire place. They only make reds and they are outstanding. You’ll have to pay a pretty penny for them but for the collector they are well worth it.

DSC_0874 (536x800)Last summer we had the pleasure of visiting Forbidden Fruit in the Similkameen. Owner/Winemaker Steve Venables took us through a tasting and we sat on the patio while the kids played in the sprinkler and overlooked the river. We were alone at this quaint winery and left with a few bottles of Steve’s great wines.

This is the new patio at Forbidden Fruit.

I hope you have had a chance to visit a small producer. I’d love to hear about  your experiences!!

Leave a Comment

Filed under BC Wine

Tagged as , , ,

March 14, 2012 · 9:22 PM

Thornhaven rocks–full stop.

Have you ever had a winery experience that was so awesome that you went back the next weekend to do it all over again?

Well, that’s what happened to us this past summer. We were looking for a winery with a picnic license in Summerland and stumbled upon Thornhaven. If I’m being completely honest, I’d purchased a Groupon earlier in the year knowing we were moving to the area and this may be a good opportunity to use it. Well, did we ever make the right decision.

untitled
On arrival, you’re greeted with Mexican inspired rounded corners and beautiful fluffy patio furniture, along with a rolling vineyard and views of Okanagan Lake. Not too shabby for a 15 minute drive from home. The wine shop is petite but functional and owner Jan Fraser is there with her enormous smile and contagious laugh.

background-home

Like most wine lovers we have certain styles that we like. My hubby and I both like oaky Chardonnay and really floral Gewurztraminer. Well, they hit the nail on the head. Both whites were not only in our style, they were perfect. Great balanced acid, medium-oak, full Chard and a fruity, yet super floral, spicy Gewurzt. We left the wine shop with 6 bottles.

We brought our chilled Gewurzt onto the patio and started dolling out lunch to the kids, now 5 and 1. Shortly after we sat down on the overstuffed patio set, the band started; a local band with great character. My 5 yr old got up and danced off her lunch. For a family who loves wine and has little kids, they made it easy. Fancy location, great wine, fabulous entertainment and I didn’t have to pay $15 for a club sandwich to go with it. Sweet!

Enter week 2…
My parents arrived the following weekend to catch some Okanagan sun that was stuck somewhere in Texas. Mostly cloudy and partially rainy their whole 5 days, we spend most of it shopping and drinking coffee. On the Saturday we decided to risk it and packed up our lunch and headed back to Thornhaven. It was packed this week, patio was ram-jam full and we squished on to the edge, purchased our wine and sat down at a little table not large enough for our 4 glasses. The entertainment started, a lady by the name of Pam Ferens and we were off. The sun came out, had to go back and change into my shorts in the back of the van, and the afternoon was a success. But the fun didn’t stop there. The group next to us was ready to leave so we fell into their lounge section and hunkered down to a 2nd bottle of wine. Then the karaoke began..

Penticton 070
There was a cute as a button little girl there named Taylor and she requested to sing Mamma Mia, I leaned to my daughter and said you know that one, being one of our fav movies! A few songs later, Anabel, Taylor and I were singing Mamma Mia to a great crowd of locals and stoppers-by on what turned out to be the best afternoon we’d ever had in a winery.

IMG_0275

Leave a Comment

Filed under BC Wine, Wine Review

Tagged as , , , , , ,

August 3, 2011 · 10:34 PM

I’ll NEVER move to the Okanagan!

If any friend or family member had ever asked in the past, I would categorically answer, “No, we are NEVER moving to the Okanagan”. Even if you’d asked me in February I’d have still said no. However, in a flurry of excitement on June 10th, I moved my family to the greatest valley on earth.

Having always wanted to work for a winery, I was torn, due to the fact that I wouldn’t do it in the Okanagan. I was always so thrilled when another one popped up in the Fraser Valley, which meant more potential options for future work. My passion relating to wine has always been focused on winemaking, not serving at a tasting bar, so in 2007 I enrolled in my very first college course; a starter class to a diploma in winemaking at UC Davis. After loving the info and finishing with an A+, I went back to my quiet, stay-at-home, Mom life.

During the early spring this year my hubby and I began to discuss many future options of change, one of which was moving to St. Catharines and pursuing a winemaking degree at Niagara College. Also during this time I had really embraced the social media movement, following and chatting with winery owners, staff, winemakers, etc. As fast as I could, I was learning the ins and outs of the social revolution that was going on all around us and trying to keep up. I had decided at the time to start my own company and help small wine shops or wineries on social media start-ups. I had registered myself into a social media boot camp, and had booked my first client, when everything changed!

I had done some serious research leading up to eat.drink.tweet (my social media boot camp) Googling or Facebook searching every attendee of the conference so I was prepared to network. I knew faces, professions, hobbies; I was a mini networking stalker! One of the most important things I learned was of a winery that hadn’t updated their FB page in over 6 months. I made a note to chat with them at the conference. Well, they didn’t know what hit them. As soon as I saw their name tag I jumped,

“You guys haven’t updated your Facebook page since September, that’s crap, you’re a big business!”

As they hung their heads, their response was,

“We know; that’s why we’re here.”

Little did I know, I had just chewed out the GM and the new Director of Sales. They were looking at hiring a full time, on-site Communications Manager, so initially I offered contract remote services to help them in the interim. This was a perfect opportunity for me; it would be great to have a big name for the credentials as I built my social media start up. Upon driving home, though, I thought, “I could do that job…”

What followed was like waiting 3 extra weeks for the baby to decide it’s ready: stress, doubt, illness, worry and insomnia. Having been a stay-at-home Mom with no formal background in media, marketing or communications, all I could tell them was that I knew I could do it. After multiple meetings and phone calls they were convinced, and on April 30th I was offered the job.

Yay me!

Well, if I thought waiting for a job offer was stressful, try selling your house, having your hubby quit his job, start working from home as much as you can and still raise 2 kids! That was tricky. From April 30, we sold our house in 3 weeks and were moved in 5. June 10, game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, was our moving date, as long as they could have us moved in by 5pm so we could go to the pub, which they did. Since then I have worked full time at the winery, doing social media, web updates, writing a newsletter, quarterbacking advertising and starting a wine club, among other bits and pieces. Being part of their team has been fantastic; there is such a huge amount of respect being thrown around by all members.

The kids didn’t fare as well as me with the move. Both got the flu and fever and hubby dealt with more illness in his first 2 weeks of being stay-at-home Dad than I did in 5 years.

As for the overall relocation, it’s been grand. I feel more at home in Penticton after 6 weeks than I did after 6 years in our old hometown. Here’s to being dreadfully wrong and thrilled to be proven so.

Cheers!

1 Comment

Filed under BC Wine, Social Media

Tagged as , , , ,

March 29, 2011 · 8:01 PM

Perseus Winery

I recently attended a wine tasting for the Naramata Bench wineries at eat.drink.tweet, a social media conference for the wine industry, in Penticton. Meeting small batch winery owners, winemakers and staff is my favourite part of the wine business. I’m a huge advocate for the small case, boutique style wineries.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Buree, current GM of Perseus Winery in Penticton. Prior to winery consulting, Tony spent 10 years as a wine consultant at the 39th and Cambie, BC Liquor Store. Now; Tony is a wine, building, land, terroir and winery architect, having worked in the past on Le Vieux Pin and La Stella Wineries. Perseus and Tony are embracing the social media wave. They are new to Facebook and have QR codes on their labels,  well on their way to social media success.

Perseus opened its doors in July of 2010 and this year it will be a 3000 case winery. They produce a Pinot Grigio, Sauv Blanc, Merlot and a Shiraz/Cab blend. Their two specialties are the Invictus, a Bordeaux blend and the Tempus, a 100% Syrah wine, a varietal rarely found in B.C. Perseus has over 100 acres of grapes all over the Okanagan and supplement occasionally with purchased old vine BC grapes until their own are mature enough.

When Tony works with a winery he starts at the end and works his way backwards. His philosophy and main question is “What restaurant do you want to see your wine at?” If the answer is the local pubs’ house wine or Le Gavroche’s flagship red, he’ll know how to take you there. This makes sense, who do you want your end buyer to be? This answers so many questions; quality or grapes, quality of winemaker, value, labeling, packaging, physical winery and much, much more. I actually phoned Tony (that’s the machine you text on, that rings occasionally) after the conference and was planning on asking a few questions and letting him get back to his busy day, but ended up chatting for over 45 minutes about the multiple facets of the BC wine industry. It’s pretty cool chatting with someone that is passionate about the same things as you and wants nothing more than to share that passion. Thanks Tony!!

Along with learning about the winery I also had the pleasure of tasting a few wines. At the Naramata Bench tasting I tried the Tempus, a 100% Syrah varietal. This wine had a leather, smoky aroma with a chocolate, oaked flavor and a medium-long finish. In my judging experience, as an amateur, we judge on a 20 point scale, not 100. I gave this wine 17/20, which would be 85 points. Funnily enough, on my way to the conference I stopped at the BC VQA wine shop in Penticton. Luke, recommended the Perseus Synergy (the Shiraz/Cab blend), after I asked for a red in the $20 range. I didn’t have time to drink it that weekend so brought it home to share with my hubby. It was just as yummy with great raspberry, black cherry and vanilla aromas and a dry, tannic but fruit-forward flavor with a medium finish. I gave this wine 16/20. Both were excellent and I look forward to trying more next time we’re up in the valley.

Leave a Comment

Filed under BC Wine, Social Media, Wine Review

Tagged as , , , , , ,