Judged on November 20, 2013 the 6th Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown for this popular fundraiser at the Vancouver Aquarium (www.vanaqua.org) to support their continuing fight for sustainable seafood (www.oceanwise.ca). Blogged earlier in my May 27 posting about the wonderful work being done by Ocean Wise. Lots of recipes were submitted by British Columbia restaurants and after some earlier preliminaries a select 13 entries arrived for the finals to be judged by us and the 600+ enthusiastic patrons. Each was paired with a unique craft beer chosen by the chef to complement their dish. The People’s Choice vote was won by Chef Ned Bell of Yew in the Four Seasons Hotel using humpback shrimp, all local cranberries, hazelnuts, apple relish, corn, purple cauliflower in a base of pink peppercorn 35% cream. Winning the judge’s vote for the second consecutive year was Chef Chris Whittaker of Forage with an exact repeat encore of his very successful menu item of Creamy BC Spot Prawn Chowder. Many chefs utilized in the mix some of our great Dungeness Crab even serving it in the empty crab shell – and of course lots of clams and clam nectar. Surprised so many chefs still feel the need to use flour or potato starch to thicken.

Lots of questions raised again by me during the judging as to what is required to make an outstanding chowder. Certainly in this criteria were some of our scoring items of clean delicious taste, aroma, appearance, presentation, creativity, prep & delivery (warm, seafood intact, good textures), beer pairing (Chablis or crisp Sauvignon Blanc also would have worked well with many of the chowders except the spicier ones which needed Gewurztraminer). Every year sees submissions of over 90% creamy New England style and hardly any tomato-based Manhattan styles. One bowl of rich creamy chowder can be satisfying but when you are trying so many in a row your palate really appreciates the change-up of a more refreshing tomato character – and in previous years even tomatillos!

Please give us your wisdom on what makes for you a great chowder. Vote whether you prefer New England vs. Manhattan – not a football match!

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“An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is an old maxim I learned growing up as a child. It must have unconsciously influenced me as I have been following this regime all my life. I am still hoping that the flavonoid quercetin they contain is helping to keep my brain active.

Presently enjoying the brand new crop of apples. Few foods offer the wonderful sensation of biting into a crisp sweet juicy apple! So many varieties to choose from for various uses as set out in www.theyummylife.com/files/Comparing_Apples_to_Apples.pdf   Their list doesn’t include Cox’s Orange Pippin, Spartan, Sunrise, and others such as the newest commercial variety Okana. I like the way Golden Delicious hold their shape in apple pie. For eating raw they list 11 different varieties as highly recommended. Gala “mild, sweet, crisp”  is my usual go to but I also like fresh Ambrosia. Fun time to experiment and determine which type of apple is your fav.

Please vote on your personal choice.

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By schuey (originally posted to Flickr as Cheval Blanc 1983) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Every year seems to bring up new special anniversary wine tastings. Next year undoubtedly will include a focus on how the 1989 Bordeaux and underrated Burgundies are doing at 25. This year I attended several enjoyable events spotlighting 1983 red Bordeaux at 30 years!

Coming right after the ripe concentrated consistent 1982 was a tough task. The 1983 micro climates varied really favouring the southerly drier Medoc regions of AOC Margaux & Pessac-Leognan. Also the hot humid conditions in August resulted in some grape rot & mildew especially where the principals were away on their annual vacation rather than at home in the vineyards like May de Lencquesaing of Pichon Lalande. Their wine is in my opinion the best most complete complex Pauillac in 1983 edging Mouton (cedar) and far better than Lafite (paler and drier) and Latour (atypically light herbal).

What about the wine of the vintage? Domaine de Chevalier and Haut Bailly are typical of a certainly better 1983 than 1982. However Haut Brion & La Mission both show better in 1982 than 1983. Not outstanding on the Right Bank. There are some delicious elegant wines from the Margaux appellation in 1983. Palmer is a star but I have found bottle variation recently as it ages. Served to me blind against Chateau Margaux (and other 1983 wines) twice in the last few months Palmer was both times lighter in colour less structured and less aromatic than Chateau Margaux – a real classic.  Robert Parker prefers Palmer and I agree with him that Chateau Margaux 1983 can have “cork” issues. Still I prefer 1989 Palmer over 1983 – and of course that marvellous trio of 1970, 1966, and 1961.

My vote now for what can be THE wine of vintage 1983 in Bordeaux is Chateau Margaux. One of their many successes under the brilliant Mentzelopoulus & Pontellier team!

Post your vote for the Bordeaux wine of the 1983 vintage. Your thoughts on how they are aging.

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The regular wine column every weekend in The Vancouver Sun newspaper by my long time good friend Tony Gismondi just raised some interesting issues.

Tony postulates that “After decades of chasing intensity and concentration of fruit along with a commensurate level of oak and alcohol, the style of red wine is fundamentally changing in many regions of the world.”  Check out his comments at www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/world+reds/9116810/story.html

As we all know It is extremely difficult to make a great wine anywhere in the world. The climatic conditions can vary from marginal ripeness like for sparkling wine in England (remember Nyetimber in West Sussex declaring no 2012 vintage) to excessive heat in parts of Barossa Australia (will this shiraz need acidification?). It is impossible to obtain perfect growing conditions every year even in Bordeaux or Burgundy. Most knowledgeable consumers are looking for some definition or “sense of place”  in their wine. Just letting the terroir speak can sometimes be overlooked by zealous winemakers. One of the best tests of quality for me is to decide whether the wine is balanced and delicious – inviting you to go back and drink more. This important measure is hard to judge in a wine competition where you are not swallowing the wine for that test but spitting it out. There has been a tendency by some judges to go for the biggest, richest, openly expressive higher alcohol wines. Remember less is often more in finding that “finesse and grace”.  I personally have been an outspoken champion of this latter point of view in wine competitions for decades.

I am encouraged to see this article stating that the new “goal is to bring those grapes to perfect ripeness in almost every vintage and to harvest red fruits over black, finesse over power, leading to drinkability over all other attributes.” Hopefully this will lead to better more distinctive complex drinkable wines. Bravo!

What are your thoughts on red fruits vs. black fruits or what attributes you look for in a red table wine?

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Most of us remember not that many years ago when it was an absolute necessity to have a corkscrew to open every bottle of wine. Of course now there are many screw cap closures which provide an easy opening without the ritual of using one.

However most age worthy reds and treasured old bottles still require a corkscrew.

There are so many products out there on the market to choose from.  Even drill types with interchangeable bits!  Such a problem. What to use?

I started with the double lever style but quickly graduated to the reliable  “waiter’s style” single lever. Still a fav of mine particularly with that silicone coating on the screw. You have total control. Also have used successfully the “Screwpull” and the “Prong” (“AH-So”) types which have their place. However, the Screwpull goes right through the bottom of the cork which is the most fragile part and does not always work successfully on old crumbly corks.

Starting to prefer the last few years the “Durand” (www.thedurand.com) from Wining Taylors LLC in Atlanta Georgia. I used it this month to open a bottle of 1966 Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste from Pauillac after a difficult cork experience on a previous one I opened.  Worked like a charm! Seems to always work though the instructions say “intended to remove only older fragile corks from bottles with an inside neck opening of approximately 3/4 inch”. The principle is a screwed helix into the centre of the cork until a stabilizer bar rests against the top of the cork  and then blades go down either side like the Prong to hold onto it. Expensive but very dependable and maybe worth it. Certainly check it out.

What is the best corkscrew for you to avoid the cork breaking or the risk of getting crumbly pieces of the cork falling into your wine?

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