Cheesalicious

Cheese really is one of the world’s most scrumptious foods, especially with a great bottle of wine. Cheese can make a wine taste fabulous and wine can make a cheese taste amazing!

My two favourite cheese shops happen to be on one side of the water and the other. One across the strait in Vancouver and one here in Victoria, literally down the street from me.

Interestingly enough there are some remarkable similarities, or not. Charelli’s on Foul Bay Road in Victoria has aptly named themselves the Cheese Chicks. It is a gaggle of fantastic women who know cheese, love cheese and make buying cheese a wonderfully pleasurable experience. They have a teeny tiny store stacked full of cheese, specialty foods, meats, tapenades, pates, crackers, chips and a whole lot of of other delectables. Carmen who is the ultimate cheese chick runs the show with Nicole and Lauren enchantingly smiling at you and helping in anyway they can. They proclaim to have the best sandwiches in Victoria, and with the quality of the bread, cheese and meat, I have no doubt they very well could. Many a time I have named a wine and the cheese chicks have found the best cheeses to compliment the wine, and rarely are they wrong.

Across the water, interestingly enough we have the cheese hunks. The Benton Brothers, Jonah and Andrew along with friend, Ryan, These men of cheese might get as many visits from female buyers for their hunk status as they do for their cheese and other goods. The Benton Brothers have two locations on Cambie and Kerrisdale with a soon to open location on Granville Island. They are cheese importers and bring in cheese from all over the world. They have been known to provide for restaurants as well as cheese shops in BC. In fact some of the cheese at Charelli’s comes from the Bentons! The Bentons too, have amazing sandwiches at their Cambie location. They smoke their own duck breast, have amazing salamis and cheeses and just today introduced a smoked meat sandwich filled with fabulous cheese curds.

Andrew Benton

The Benton Brothers have chef experience and extensive cheese education in their background, so they can tell you just about anything you want to know about the cheese you are eating, it’s bouquet, the tastes you will experience and can help with wine pairings

Interesting how these two wonderful entities, Charellis and Benton Brothers mirror each other. Perhaps the cheese chicks should visit the cheese hunks for a throw down?!

Either way, you cannot go wrong the cheese menu, the amazing sandwiches and the friendly cheese seducing smiles will keep you coming back for more on either side of the water.

Check them out, you will not be disappointed.

Lost in Cyberspace?

Well Good Evening!
 I must apologize for virtually being lost in cyberspace. I am never fond of people who write blogs and then do not take the time to upkeep them. I have so many stories I want to and need to write about, I cannot even count them all. It has been a pretty tumultuous last couple of months! In the end, I have decided to leave the profession that I have been in for the last 20 years to pursue something new. I have always felt that life is full of possibilities to be created and we can do anything that we create for ourselves in this life we live. Over the last couple of years, i have found traits in myself that I did not know existed, or at least had been supressed and I have learned about who I am as an individual. i suppose that this blog was a part of that self-discovery, and the feeling that when you think something should happen, JUST DO IT!! NIKE had it right.
So I have spent the last couple of months figuring all of that out, and it has taken more energy than I had anticipated. I am ready to come back to the blog and tell you about my recent favourite wines, restaurants and foodie experiences. I have to apologize to my wine distributor friends, who left with me with some awesome wines and then probably thought, OK what happened? The thoughts about those spec wines are on their way, as are a myriad of other thoughts about the foodie world. Cannot wait to put a few posts up, look for them in the next little while!
Glad to be back, and so at peace with decisions that I have made to forge forward in life!!
Chat soon!
Shrawan

Venturi-Schulze Tantalizes Crossfit Zone - The Art of the Marilyn Story!

Crossfit 102

Saturday, March 19, 2011

7:00 p.m.

The Crossfit Zone (www.crossfitzone.ca) community is just that. A group of great people, who love pushing themselves to that threshold athletically in the gym and aiming always for the best, but who outside of the gym enjoy wonderful camaraderie, fun and good times as well. I wrote a little while ago about Wine 101, hosted at the home of two of the members which ran through seven of the main grape varietals and gave everyone a chance to experience a little of the wine world.

This time, I was privileged enough to host the group. I decided that we instead of tasting across varietals from different countries and vineyards, that we would highlight one winery/vineyard, and thus one winemaker, and would experience different wines from the same vineyard. Who we would highlight was really quite an easy decision. One of the oldest wineries on Vancouver Island, is the family run Venturi-Schulze (www.venturischulze.com). Marilyn Venturi (nee: Schulze) and Giordano Venturi along with Marilyn’s daughter Michelle Schulze, have created a labour of love in the Cowichan Valley. They have exacting standards, grow their grapes without chemicals and do much of the work around the vineyard themselves. They are famous not only for their wonderful wines, but they craft amazing balsamic vinegar, with starter that Giordano brought from his hometown of Modena, Italy in 1970.

Marilyn is the consummate storyteller, and we were so lucky that she was our guide through the wines of the winery for the evening. We started with the Brut Naturel KS Cuvée 2008 (available at Spinnakers Liquor Store in James Bay or direct from winery $35). Marilyn had ensured that she brought proper sparkling wine glasses from home, and explained to us why once we all had a glass in our hands. The wine formed a layer of bubbles at the top of the liquid in the glass. Upon first sip, the bubbles were responsible for a smooth and creamy sensation on the palette. It was like drinking a rich drink, with tiny bubbles that tickled you. Certainly having had a few sparkling wines in my time, this tasted like a very expensive French champagne, and really I am not a huge sparkling fan. It was not sweet and not dry, it was ‘just right’ as the Three Bears would say. Marilyn did explain that the old wives tale that sparkling wine goes to your head faster than non sparkling is actually true. The carbon dioxide causes some sphincter to stay open and for the wine to flow into the stomach faster and thus into the bloodstream faster. Regardless, it was yummy, and my feeling was, let this get to my bloodstream as fast as it wants, it tastes wonderful! Venturi-Schulze does not use any sulphites in their sparkling or any additional sugars. The wine actually ferments in the bottle until ready for drinking. With this wine, we had some pork and beef sliders with Italian seasonings, a garlic aioli, avocado and tomato. It was the haute cuisine, Crossfit version of a burger and beer!!

So onto wine #2. Ah yes, the 2009 Indigo( Spinnakers Liquor Store James Bay or from the winery $27). This was a special wine for the evening. Why, you might ask? Well we had no oysters…the aphrodisiac of choice on the west coast, so instead we had Marilyn bring the Venturi-Schulze version, this wine. Marilyn explained to us all that with some men, and women, this wine brought out the “tiger”, but not for everyone. It seemed that after tasting this one everyone remained around the group, but no accounting for what may have gone on later in the night! This wine had some definite fruit at the front, described by a few people as mandarin oranges. It was not overly sweet, but had enough fruit in it to just make you sing Yummy! It was definitely a favourite in the crowd, hopefully for all the right reasons!!. With this wine we had lasagna cupcakes. Marilyn had indicated before the tasting that the Indigo would be great with Bechamel sauce. The lasagna cupcake was an attempt to infuse that sort of flavour to be paired with the wine. It was layers of wonton wrappers that substituted for the pasta, with marinara and mozzarella, provolone and parmesan cheese, with some spinach too. The final layer was a piping of ricotta and cream cheese with some nutmeg stirred in to give that béchamel type taste. The wine and the cupcake worked well together and really brought the floral qualities of the wine out.

The stories behind the wines from Venturi-Schulze are a wonderful part of trying their wines. Having Marilyn tell the stories makes them all that much more compelling. Even the names of the wines, often random in their nature, are interesting. The third wine was the Felino, which is named for a small town near where Giardano Venturi, the winemaker, grew up. The wine itself is a bright and crisp white. The Pinot Gris in it lend some wonderful fruit overtones. The orange citrus is a wonderful flavour, while the acidity of the grapes blended well with the barbecued ribs that I served with this wine. The ribs disappeared in no time, just like the wine, which was obviously a fan favourite. The ribs had been cooked for a few hours in Phillips Slipstream ale with a little maple syrup and a whole lot of spices. Their slight sweetness and spice blended well with the wine.

Pinot Noirs, as highlighted in Sideways, the movie, have earned a cult following. Generally, my experience is that either people really love them or they just do not care for them all that much. When presented with the Venturi-Schulze version, really, it is hard not to love it. Their pinot noir has the earthiness typical of many pinots, but the fruit forwardness of the wine tantalizes the tongue immediately and the smooth tannins make it a wine that slides down the gullet very easily. Giardano has done a masterful job of taking what was a difficult year of grapes in 2007 and crafting what is an amazing bottle of wine.  The common comment as the wine was poured was: “Oh I can smell the farm”! To me the sign of  a great pinot noir is the farm – you can smell it and then the fruit just takes you away. That is exactly how I felt with this one. It was cherries and blackberries on the tongue, and then melted away beautifully with smooth tannins and a full bodied finish. Obviously well crafted and engineered by the winemaker. With no malolactic fermentation, this really is a wine to behold. I only wish I could get a chance to try the reserve version as well, which sounds absolutely divine. With this pinot, I served some braised beef in Indian spices on a fresh mini-naan bread with a cilantro pesto yogurt sauce. The spices worked well with the smoothness of the grapes and really brought out the sugars and the fruit. Would definitely pair these together again.

The final wine of the night was the absolute best story. The Brandenburg Number 3 has recently been voted best local after dinner drink by Monday Magazine. Marilyn gave us the entire story behind it, and really given the current movie climate out there it was so a propos. A story of Giardano and his shyness and stuttering, and his amazing afternoon as a youngster sipping the fermented juice destined to make Balsamic vinegar in Modena. He, similarly decided to craft Brandenburg Number 3 in the same way, and he has done so SO successfully. A wonderful nectar full of sugars, yet dry in some senses, that just rolls of the tongue and tantalizes every taste bud.

It was like having a caramel treat, when your mother is not looking. Just that yummy and that decadent, but so accessible. I paired two very diametrically opposed dishes with this wine to showcase its diversity. We had both a chicken curry with Basmati rice simmered for a few hours, with some fresh cilantro and caramelized ginger as well as an orange, fennel, almond biscotti handcrafted in my oven, and providing just that hint of dessert that accents a wine like this o well. Really the wine tastes all that more amazing after you hear Marilyn tell the whole story of its origin, but really, just get a bottle and find that special someone and sit down, and drink the whole thing….it is divine!

That was it for the wine, but Marilyn is so generous that she brought some verjus as well as the infamous Balsamic vinegar for all to taste as well. She crafted , well actually her daughter Michelle Crafted a sorbet from the verjus, which is the not so sweet raw juice of harvested grapes. Wonderful to cook with, and as Marilyn mentioned to de-glaze a pan with, when cooking, well ANYTHING! Even raw, the verjus had a wonderful grape flavour and just that sourness that makes eating a pickle so wonderful. 

The balsamic, made from starter that Giardano brought from Modena in 1970 was amazing. It had a subtle sweetness to it, that would lend it to be distributed wonderfully over some fresh tomatoes with fresh cracked pepper, just as well as it would be over some great real vanilla ice cream. It would be the highlight in either instance. This vinegar is true and wonderful. The true foodie will appreciate just how wonderful it is and how it can accent so much that you create in the kitchen.

So, in the end, what an amazing evening. We had story upon story from Marilyn, wonderful wine, some great food to go along and of course the camaraderie of the Crossfit group. Even Marilyn commented afterwards about the wild Crossfit group, and the nurturing atmosphere created. If you get a chance make an appointment and get up to Venturi-Schulze Vineyard. These guys know what they are doing, do it with love, do it with care and do it because they know what they are doing – absolutely stellar!!

Just Shiraz you say.....Pity!!

When friends invite you over for a blind shiraz tasting there is only one thing to do, go with wings on! So it went for a BLIND shiraz tasting. It was well-organized and formally conducted. Here were the rules of the game. Everyone had to arrive with a light appetizer and a bottle of shiraz. There were no rules for the shiraz, could be at any price point and could be from any country. The key was, of course, that the shiraz deemed as the best would win a prize. That being said, the one liked least would get a booby prize too!

Each shiraz was secretly brought into the house, absconded and taken to a secret location where it was dressed with a jacket preventing anyone from knowing which wine was which! Once all the wines had arrived, between fabulous cheese plates from , who else the Cheese Chicks at Charellis, the tasting began. Each Shiraz was poured and individually we each rated the shiraz with a number between 0-100 and by making some additional notes.

The shiraz grape can be huge and fruit forward, especially when it comes to the Australian kind, but we had shirazes from France, Argentina, Italy, South Africa and Australia. The complexity of the wines varied as did the heaviness.

In the end, the amazing happened. Every single person chose the same wine as their favourite. From a group of 10 people, this is relatively uncommon. The Shiraz most preferred by the group was the 2008 Nederburg Shiraz. For a wine selling in the Fort and Foul Bay Liquor store for $12.99 that is a big comment. It beat out other shirazes from Australia in the $30-40 range.

The next best wines were all very close in the end. One of the top contenders was The D'Arenberg Wild Pixie 2008 which is a shiraz with a little Rousanne grape mixed in. It sells for $29.99 at the Fort and Foul Bay Liquor store. The wine that seemed to be lieast liked was from an Italian Vineyard and was called the Cusumano. It sells for $17.99 at the Fort and Foul Bay Liquor Store!

Nevertheless, the fun of the blind tasting and then discovering the wines was fabulous! The cheese was wonderful, and the company was even more terrific. Another excellent wine night!

Impromptu Gatherings - More wines to sample!

I have to admit that when I started writing this blog it was just a way to let friends know about some of the wines I am drinking, what I am enjoying and my suggestions on which wines I think are pretty darn great. When I was contacted by a wine distributor (Philippe Dandurand Wines) I was wholely surprised. When she said she would be happy to drop off some wine for me to sample at my front door, it went from surprise to elation to surprise again! Really, someone wants me to try their wine! Wow~!

When it was suggested that I try two French wines, I was intrigued. Would they be old world, would they be too sophisticated for my self educated palate? They arrived, one red and one white. The red was called FUN and was a Beaujolais by Georges Duboeuf ($13.99 at Fort and Foul Bay Liquor Store) and the white was a Dourthe La Grande Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc ($14.99 at Fort and Foul Bay Liquor Store). I have to say, I was skeptical to begin with. Were these really wines they wanted me to try. Were these just gimmick wines aimed at a particular part of the population? Perhaps it was latent reticence that left me waiting a couple of weeks prior to putting these wines into action. A buddy called on Friday at about 5:00 p.m. and said he wanted to go out for a glass of wine and something to eat. Instead, I said, I have a couple of bottles of wine here, why don’t you join me, I’ll cook and we can chat in my kitchen at the bar!

So over he came. We started with the FUN Beaujolais. We were eating prosciutto, a little French Brie and homemade chicken curry with basmati rice. We both took a little snifter of the wine in our glasses and drew in the aromas. It had a good fruit forward nose to it, with some strawberry and a little plum on the end. On first taste the opening comment was, that it does not fight with your palate, it is an easy to drink wine. There were definite flavours of blackberry, currant, but overwhelmingly there was some strawberry. This was not a huge tannic wine, it was a lighter crisper, fruitier wine with a good finish. It was yummy and I have to say, surprisingly so. Would this be a complex wine to have with a heavy piece of lamb or with prime rib, probably not, though it would do just fine. With curry or spicy food, this is an excellent choice. Who said you cannot have red wine with curry? A good choice for those in your circle who might not be huge red wine fans, but want to be a part of the red wine crowd. I had read some of the online reviews and sure enough it matched up very well.

Next it was onto the white, the Dourthe. The initial nose on this wine is citrus with some good grapefruit and lemon combined.  As soon as the wine hits your tongue you can sense the lemon, but not in a puckery bad way. It is almost as if taking in the best part of the rind, no bitterness, just a great lemony scent and flavour. This is a wine you have a sip of, and then feel that compunction to just have to have another sip. It goes down easily and leave a marvelous aftertaste in your mouth. This wine tastes like far more than its sticker price, which usually means a price increase will eventually hit the BC Liquor store, always seems to happen to the good ones. With a good chill on it, the wine is crisp, has little to no aftertaste and just really goes down well.

I will have to check on what my next assignment is from the wine ladies as I am calling them – so far has been nothing but a pleasure. Check these two very different wines out – you will be pleasantly surprised!

Impromptu Gatherings - Debaters Galore!

The best nights are sometimes the ones when you say to your friends, hey do you want to come over for dinner tonight, an hour before you want them over. You are not really sure what you are going to make, what you are going to serve, but it is still fun to entertain, open great wine, chat and let it fall as it may. A couple of weekends ago that was exactly the case. Was after the High School Regional Debate Championships. The organizers had worked hard all day, it was only fitting to say come on over for a good steak and some great wine. So that is exactly how it went! About an hour after it all ended we were nibbling on prosciutto, brie and readying ourselves from some great New York striploins.  We had some reticent red wine drinkers in the crowd, so we started with an 8th Generation Riesling ($19.99 at Matticks Farm VQA Wines) from Okanagan Falls, BC. I have been waiting to try this wine. I had it on good authority from Chris and Beata Tolley at Twisted Tree Vineyard in Osoyoos that this Riesling was fabulous. I tried to get to the winery last Summer, but it seems as far as I thought I had driven, it was yet further. I found a bottle at Mattick's Farm VQA store in Cordova Bay, so I had to get it and put it in the fridge. This was the perfect opportunity to open it. So I did, and it was just as fantastic as it had been portrayed. It had some huge citrus on the nose, with some orange and watermelon on the tongue. The prominent sugars mean that it rolled onto the tongue easily and ran easily down the throat. A beautiful German style riesling, and with wonderful grapes. Definitely one that is worth searching out if you can find one. From there we did move onto some red wines. Before the steaks went on the BBQ we opened the Cotes du Rhones Villages Perrin and Fils Rasteau from France ($21.99 at Fort and Foul Bay). This was another recommendation of my Fort and Foul Bay Wine expert and once again he did not disappoint. This was a typical Cotes du Rhones. It was earthy with flavours of tobacco, a little smokiness and leathery. It had some good fruit on the tongue with currants shining through everything else. A good wine to begin with, though if I had it to do again, I would have served this one with the steaks – I think it would have matched up well.

Of course, most were craving beef in the rare to medium rare category and thus a great deal of red meat appeared. It was combined with some spinach, garlic lemon mushrooms and salad on the side. One of the guests had brought a bottle of Five Star Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon from Walla Walla, Washington. I am the only person who enjoys saying Walla Walla? Walla Walla Walla Walla Walla Walla!! This wine was one that he had picked up in his travels, so not sure if it is available in BC. It is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little merlot in there for well roundedness. And well rounded it is. It has some great tannins, but not the overpowering Cabernet Suavignon type that can make your mouth pucker when you taste. These ones were balanced and made you feel like you were drinking an excellent wine. The nose has some smoke and perhaps a hint of coffee to it. The initial flavours and cherry like with a little chocolate and espresso on the side. This was an excellent wine. I will have to see if I can find it in BC. Perhaps in Vancouver!

The next wine in the offing was a deep full rich Malbec from Argentine called La Posta ($19.99 at Fort and Foul Bay). I have written about the Bonarda grape version of this wine too, this one is a little fuller. Deep tannins that really speak to you, but a long, ample finish that really has you thinking, this is good! There is some fruit on initial tasting reminiscent of blackberry and cherry. A little oak but really just a savoury tannin that travels like velvet over your tongue.

Since many were still in the mood, we decided to finish the night with something port or late harvest. Somewhere in the annals of my cellar I found a wonderful gift that I had been given. It was a small bottle of De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon 2003. This was a beautiful finish to the meal offering apricot flavours with some orange marmalade. It is not often that I delve into the Icewine or the late harvest, but this was a terrific end to a great impromptu evening. Some great wines and fabulous friends!

Impromptu Gatherings - Landmark Buddies

Sometimes the best wine nights are the ones that you never planned to have. The ones where good friends invite themselves over, you invite friends over, or just decide you need some company to open some new wine or good wine. It seems to be happening  all the time lately. Is it that I have this intrinsic need to open wine or that my friends have the same need!?

About a year ago, I did a little personal development, or whatever the jargon is for it these days and did some learning through an organization called Landmark Education. I went in skeptical, remained so all the way through and in the end I was blown away. It has been more than a stepping stone, but more like a cliff dive into a different way of living and approaching life. A huge part of the education and technology of the organization are the people you surround yourself with and the support that they give you in creating the things you want for your life. I have been oh so lucky in having quite a number of friends who have been just that support for me. Since it was about a year ago that the transformations began in my life, it was about time to have some of these great supporters over for an evening of some wine, a few nibblies and some great chat. A re-visit of what Landmark is all about, and a re-grounding is always a good thing!

It seemed destined to be a night of carmenere. My wonderful friend at Fort and Foul Bay had come through with another amazing suggestion for a wine, with the Winemaker’s Select Carmenere from Concha Y Toro ($18.99 at Fort and Foul Bay Liquor Store). When he was telling me about it in the store, a couple came up to the display and filled their basket with a dozen bottles proclaiming it was one of the best wines they had sipped lately. I think the comment made was, if I have to take a bottle of wine to someone’s house with me, why would I not take one that is well priced and tastes great!

The four of us sipping that evening, one never drinks, she is always the designated driver, usually vintage orange juice for her, all agreed that this was an excellent and under-priced bottle of wine. It’s nose was full of blackberry, sweet plums and underscored with a little smoke. Upon first taste, the tannic base hits you, lingers and never overcomes you. It just sits in your mouth and tickles your tongue. It is a wine that makes you think, oh wow, this is really yummy. Now, would a first time red wine drinker necessarily think it to be great, probably not. I think the tannins of carmenere, tempranillo and tannat have to grow on you as you drink more wine, but who am I to say – I thought it was quite an amazing wine.

We graduated to another carmenere brought by one of the attendees. So as the conversation wove itself through what was great in our lives and what we were creating next for ourselves, we dove into the Carmen Gran Reserva Carmenere ($19.99 at Fort and Foul Bay Liquor Store). Of course same varietal after another only lends itself to comparison. Both wines had a great tannic base and lots of body. While the W Select just sat alluringly on your tongue teasing you, the Carmen’s finish was a little short. Perhaps if we had done them in opposite order, it might have been different, but still a good value wine and yummy all the same. We were sipping with a little cheese, some tandoori pork tenderloin, crudite with spicy salsa, baguette and prosciutto. Quite a variety of yumminess to go with the wine. Really either was happy on its own, but great with the food as well.

It was a fabulous night of amazing conversations, reinforcing of creations and just plain old catching up. We vowed that we needed to do it far more often, and to keep track of how we could help each other get to where we wanted to go. Always great to share great wine with great people!