Am at the inaugural VinoCamp conference listening to our Artisan Wine Co. winemaker Kathy Malone.
She's discussing BC Wine Regions. The talk is accompanied by her wines, Rigamarole red (a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir and Merlot) and Wild Horse Canyon Savignon Blanc.
Interestingly she notes that in a comparison of Bordeaux and Osoyoos, the Okanagan has 1345 degree days and only 317 mm of rainfull versus Bordeaux with 1326 degree days and 900 mm of rainfall. However Napa is a different story. Napa has 1622 degree days and only a bit more precipitation 599 mm. They have much longer periods of warm temperatures. Thus in BC we have to crop much more (2-4 tonnes an acre) versus 5 tonnes or more per acre in Napa. The scientist at PARC are trying to identify whether there are indeed subregions within the Okanagan appellation. We believe there are five such regions. Will have to ask Kathy for some of her great graphics to include on my blog or add to flickr....
Better than Homemade - Wine 2.0
Brad Cooper from Township 7 and is talking about Crushpad in
San Francisco. Social winemaking, they crushed 700 tonnes in 2007
they're doing about 40,000 cases of wine in 650 separate batches. They
have 10 winemakers on staff. You can text the winemaker and he'll
respond via videocast. All the tanks have barcodes and winemakers all
have scanners. Prices start at $19 a bottle. They will also help you
sell the wine in the US if you want they supply an e-commerce dept.
They have "Zebra barrels" (mixed aged oak staves) so the wine isn't
overoaked. They are expanding to Seattle. They definitely are the
hottest web 2.0 wine startup I've seen!
Food & Wine Pairing - Michael & Michaela
Wine is
meant to have food - at least in Europe. This isn't always the case in
North America. Rules of thumb they suggest: weight, intensity, acidity
and tannins. They brought up the intersting point of the weight of a
dish ie rich meat stews in terms of pairing with wines - better to pair
with big bold shiraz versus pinot noir. However intensity is also an
issue i.e. Thai food, Japense food (seaweed, wasabi), Indian - all of
these flavours will linger on your palette for a long time. Also good
to use low alcohol wine (9-12%) for spicy food. Michelle loves cooking
with a lot of salt to bring up the flavours of the dish, however note
that if you have something really salty and a tannic wine it will
exaggerate the tannins. The tannins will become bitter. With your
cheese plate, she recommends white over red, because cheese is quite
salty and high acidity. Need to pair acid with acid if you really want
a red, maybe have a pinot noir or a gamay noir - soft tannins and more
fruit forward. Port is a great for sweet and pair with a really salty
cheese like Stilton. Or a sauterne with blue cheese.
Riedel
David changed the perception of the sceptics in the
room. Almost everyone believed before the tasting that the glass
didn't make a difference in the taste and bouquet of the wine. However
in doing a side by side tasting, all of us could discern a difference.
We all wanted to purchase one glass for each varietal, though there is
the issue of cupboard space and cost ;)
Healthy Indian Cooking
Bal originally from Punjab had
organic food and spices grow in her backyard. She uses no butter,
instead use grapeseed oil or olive oil and only 2 or 3 spices. She's
demonstrating how to make chickpeas in 7 minutes. No more than 20
minutes in the kitchen. No fat or cream. Mostly vegetarian. Key is
to toast the spices for a couple seconds - need to open up the flavour,
not just throw it all end.
* canned chickpeas
* garlic
* ginger
* graham marsala (coriander, cumin, clove, cardamon)
* cumin seed
* fresh tomatoes
The chickpeas were outstanding and really quick! Will definitely need to get her recipe...
Organic and sustainability
Anthony from Farmstead Wines
speaking on "Vinaroon" they grow grapes and make wine themselves.
Green pacakaging is happening (recycled cans by Paris Hilton, Tetra
Paks) - green is an afterthought it's marketing. Three reasons to
drink organic - treehugger, marketing, highest quality. Eating and
drinking re an agriculture act. Ask what's in your wine. Poured a
white wine from Austria. And a Barbera near Barbesco - make a 113
magnums by a husband and wife team who have 11 hectares with
handpainted labels.
Wine blogging
Kelly one of the two wine bloggers for Full-bodied.blogspot.com, did the perfect wrap up for the end of the day. She accurately summed up blogging in that - you put yourself out there and get comments back.
More to come with photos/recipes, etc...
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