Question: What are the early reports on the 2020 vintage for wines in British Columbia?

Answer: The Wine Growers of British Columbia (formerly named BC Wine Institute) have posted a detailed report by region on their website at winebc.com. Check it out. Growing Degree Days (GDD) varied from 1616 in southerly hot Osoyoos to 1341 in northerly cooler Summerland. Good diversity. WGBC summarize the year 2020 overall by stating “wines showing natural acidity, moderate alcohol levels, excellent flavour concentration and ripe tannins making for elegant, fresh, and balanced wines.” Encouraging. Already tasted some bottled 2020 whites and Roses with fresh vibrant fruit all under 12 abv lovely for easy early enjoyment but reds still at their early stages of development with an encouraging pinot noir harvest among other varieties.

During this continuing Covid pandemic we have joined the throngs who have been experimenting with homemade sourdough bread. We had rather a good robust sourdough yeast we used in the old days but with our then busy travel schedule it was difficult to keep it active. We finally let it lapse but continued to make and be satisfied with just old fashioned healthy whole grain loaves for toast and sandwiches. However we missed a delicious versatile sourdough! Now being more home bound we got another active sourdough culture going but not without some
difficulty after trying various “donation” starters from friends. Our current vibrant yeast seems to really thrive on good quality flour with a patient baker. After many experimental trials we have hit on the magic formula resulting in big dense moist interior hard crusted heavy boules (around 3 lbs./14 ounces) as shown in the photo attached. Worth all the effort!

We believe some of the credit for our success in sourdough bread making should go to the high premium quality flour we found and are using from FLOURIST. They are supporting Canadian smaller farmers (write-ups on them on their Flourist website) by sourcing only 100% traceable products and stone-milling the flour in 2 kg bags fresh to order. What amazing pure flour they are able to provide! We have discovered that using a mixture of Organic Sifted Red Spring (the one recommended by them for bread) and some Organic Whole Grain Red Fife has brought the best results for producing the fantastic bread we covet. They have lots of other flour treasures too including Rye, Spelt, Einkorn, and Durum “00”. Also like their Linen bread bags (get rid of that plastic that traps moisture & mold) with a beeswax-lining that allows the bread to breathe and stay fresh longer. All hIghly recommended. Otherwise be sure to seek out your own local best flour provider. Worth it.

Question: What is this latest buzzword for describing wine like “rain on dry soil”?

Answer: PETRICHOR. Wikipedia describes this word with growing popularity as winespeak: “Petrichor” is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra “rock”, or petros “stone” and ichor, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology. The origin is attributed to two Australian scientists who published in the Nature Journal March 1964 the “Nature of Argillaceous Odour” described as petrichor – this smell of rain and oils released from the earth (especially where there are higher humidity conditions). Something interesting and worth investigating further. Perhaps add it to your wine vocabulary together with that controversial one “minerality” for wines from soils with silica or richer in iron oxide.

Up early today May 10  for 7 am (3 pm London England) Zoom celebration World Final Virtual Winners of International Chocolate Awards. Wrote these awards up here back on October 7, 2013 participating in Vancouver live judging. Your scribe has continued to be involved with last year judging on my own and submitting my scores towards their Canadian Chocolatier winners. These have been posted on their website on November 10, 2020 including several of my delicious favourites of Gold from Guild Chocolates in Flavoured Ganache or Truffle category for Passion Fruit & Praline Bonbon, and two outstanding dark chocolate bars of Gold by Centre and Main Chocolate Co for fantastic Preserved Lemon & Winter Savoury special “Gastronomic”, and Silver by Etat de Chocolate for “Passion” special “Innovation”.  

The World Finals today were over 4 hours of virtual celebration for chocolate excellence showing the increasing world wide interest in top quality creativity in stunning craftwork by artists. Lots of educational videos from entrants and sponsors (FBM – Food Boscolo Machines & Pariani – roasted hazelnuts with innovative cold pressed hazelnut oil) and “how we used to judge” past ceremonies presented live. Also a brief seminar on the new judging system presently introduced more similar to coffee judging. The team was led by Martin Christy (London England) Judging Director, Monica Meschini (Florence Italy) Grand Jury Europe, Maricel Presilla (New Jersey USA) Grand Jury Americas. Michaela Schupp Hannover Germany & Jeffrey Lee Hong Kong among many others. Lots of entries and many categories ranging from white, milk, dark, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, spreads, enrobed (especially caramels & popular marzipan), filled (whole fruits, pastes, jellies, gelees, nuts), ganache, truffles, flavoured bars, bean to bar etc. Local ingredients specially spotlighted. Interesting ones to me such as dark with an extract of rose geranium & 72% dark yuzu jelly. 

At the end a special award to Cacaosuyo -Samir Giha plus Overall Gold on top of their earlier “microbatch plain – direct traded” category win to beans to bar establishment of Qantu in Montreal of Elfi & Maxime for Oh La Vache Morropan Milk 60% combining “the finesse of Peruvian white cocoa and the sweetness of Canadian milk” for intense smooth flavours! Hearty outstanding congrats to them for great work and to all the winners. Check out the International Chocolate Awards site for soon to be posted winners in all categories. Their next competition starts September 2021 so follow that.  Well done! 

Question: Can you replace a wine back in the cellar after you bring it out but decide not to drink it?

Answer: Of course you can. Why not? Better to return them to a cooler darker location.Wines can be fragile and don’t like to be disturbed or shaken up or subjected to extreme changes in temperature – which could also affect the cork over a longer period. However wines are also pretty sturdy and forgiving – especially younger wines. Should be no problem. Your scribe often stands up several older wines with sediment deposit to have them ready for decanting in the coming week or so. However if not used I return them to the cellar even though the sediment was moved from the side to the bottom of the bottle. Try to place them on their side in a similar position as before when you return them – generally with the label facing upwards.