Answer: So many talented knowledgeable sommeliers working in Canada – and around the world! Difficult times for them presently with the continuing pandemic issues affecting hospitality. Impossible to give you a definitive answer. However, your question is most topical because the two day competition (including tests and service skills) by Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) and Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC) for Best Sommelier of Canada was just held this week in Penticton BC. The declared winner last night was Pier-Alexis Souliere, MS from Quebec City. Congrats to him and all the amazing candidates from across the country. Pier-Alexis Souliere will represent Canada in February 2022 at the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) in Chile for Best Sommelier of the Americas. He previously ranked 9th out of the Top 50 at the last World Competition held in Antwerp, Belgium in 2019 won by Marc Almert from Germany (16th person to hold that title). Good luck for 2023.
On reflection during these continuing most difficult Covid times looking back positively on some of my food joys of Summer 2021. SEASONAL. What a glorious word and worthy concept – “depending on, or varying with the season”. Sustainable, organic, biodynamic, and all the other current buzz words are important too but don’t forget to take advantage of what is fresh and currently available in your marketplace by the seasons. Tried to pick a Top 5 out of so many foods that we enjoyed this Summer and early Fall. Here’s a brief overview:
5. LETTUCES: Growing your own is fun and productive. Fav was Arugula.
4. VEGETABLES: So many enjoyed but favs were thin green beans, red beets, fennel, and sweet corn on the cob freshly picked!
3. FRUITS: Most Summer fruits are a special treat. Picking and consuming wild blackberries topped our list but was closely followed by blueberries, cherries, and succulent juicy peaches. Local Strawberries are our usual chart topper but seemed less successful this year under the more trying weather conditions.
2. SEAFOOD: Cherish the wild salmon catch every year with Chinook, Sockeye and Coho slightly more available than lately. Halibut and Brill (or Petrale) Sole are wonderful.
1. HEIRLOOM TOMATOES: Clear winner for us. Longer season this year with the last crop of smaller sizes just purchased yesterday at the Sunday Kits Farmer’s Market. Still love those deep red delicious Black Krim ones. Wrote here more than 7 years ago now in September 2014 about these and other varieties. Are tomatoes really a fruit? Yes apparently so because they contain seeds and grow from the flower of the tomato plant. Almost sweet and juicy enough to qualify as well. However your scribe continues to use them as a vegetable for a starter course salad. Perfect on their own but even better with a complement of ripe avocado, best burrata, green Castelvetrano olives and high quality fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil. So good.
Excited to turn the page to later Fall produce and already buying and enjoying so many different seasonal goodies. The highlights are of course studying the different fresh apples (reported to be 7500 varieties around the world) from sweeter Fuji to quite tart sour Granny Smith. Always so many to taste from best early on Ambrosia to better lasting Honeycrisp. Another joy is the many types of Winter Squash (there are Summer Squashes too) with our fav still being bell shaped Butternut (pale outside and orange inside not to be confused with dark green outer skin Buttercup). Explore.
What were some of the seasonal Summer foods near your home that brought you some culinary joy in 2021?
Question: Do you think that wine prices will increase?
Answer: Difficult question to predict future supply with so many more regions competing globally with quality wines yet often with variable weather risks for less crop production each year. Also global climate change remains an issue for some established vineyards yet providing new optimism for previously marginal regions. Certainly prices and demand for top wines (check the rising prices of 1er Cru & Grand Cru Burgundy) continue to skyrocket. Why even in the October 9-10, 2021 Wall Street Journal had Lettie Teague On Wine liking the lowest AC 2019 Bourgogne Blanc now at $100/bottle by Domaine Leflaive. However, there should always be an adequate continuing supply at the lower price range – especially “plonk” from somewhere. Have you noticed the increase in your grocery bill? Apple is cutting iPhone 13 production due to global chip shortage. Yes inflationary pressures plus many supply chain issues from product to labour are contributing to a likely wine price increase. Prepare. Check out these two topical articles:
Last week your scribe enjoyed two dinners at the busy Five Sails restaurant in Vancouver. The whole team under Executive Chef Pascal Georges, Pastry Chef Daria Andriienko, GM Christophe Chabre, and Sommelier Ramon Fresneda (since 2002) are on a culinary roll. Some beautifully presented dishes with commendable wine service. Congrats for that beautiful tasty chocolate symphony dessert course – so innovative and outstanding!
The dinner on October 9 featured a comparison of 1988 Leoville Barton St. Julien and 1988 Pichon Baron Pauillac. They show the earlier picked classic structure of what we call the last truly old style vintage with lots of acidity and tannins that started off that marvellous trio (1989 & 1990 both riper). LB is still youthful, not as medicinal as property often shows but rather sternly slowly developing. Approachable now. Good decade for them but much prefer 90, 86, 85 and 82 over this vintage. PB has an even darker deep look with more rich fruit on the bouquet and lots of concentration approaching a lovely plateau for best utilization with food. Very good but prefer their outstanding 1990 & 1989 beauties!
The menu on October 5 presented four white Burgundy all of which showed fresher with more fruit a few years ago. The 2011 Macon from Lafon is always a wonderful value but that appellation is for earlier drinking not drying out with 10 years aging. It now resembles a very dry Chablis AC without the fruit and minerality interest. Next was an interesting mini-vertical (2011, 2012, and 2013) of Meursault Les Poruzots from top producer Ballot-Millot & Fils. Fond memories of many delightful bottles from them during the late 70s and 80s with balance (plus battonage) that aged so well. However these three vintages were variable bottles with mixed results. Prefer better vintages of 2010 & 2014 and highly recommend buying all their value with quality 2017 vintage. 2011 lots of acidity but light lean citrus fruit rather simple, 2012 bigger more rich extract but clumsy maderizing, and 2013 another cooler year yet better open aromatics. All three were not really singing. The Poruzots vineyard usually produces fuller style Meursaults and your scribe can’t taste that vineyard without thinking back to that unique opulent botrytized 1986 one from pioneer domaine bottler Francois Jobard. These three Ballot-Millot were the exact opposite in style to that and IMHO showed more enjoyable fruit and drinkability early on. Preference for longer cellaring the vineyards especially of Perrieres and others like Genevrieres and Charmes. The red Burgundy were from 2001, 2002, and 2006 with those charming 2002s the most lauded vintage of these. However the big coarser earthy fruit of 2002 NSG bowed out to my wine of the night, a simple AC 2001 Chambolle from J-J Confuron but splendidly complex and elegant with ethereal flowers! An amazing special commune wine with a surprise showing against Premier Cru and Grand Cru company. Wonderful to see that happen. Continue your search for better values.
We know vineyards are the key everywhere. Overall conclusion is that vintage is important too for both white and red. Some whites should be enjoyed earlier on in their evolution particularly with these continuing days of global climate change. Enjoy the wine & food journey.
Answer: A couple of the many words developed as sort of a slang to call white sparkling wine – especially for Champagne – just like the more commonly used “bubbles” or “fizz”.
