photo: Robbie Sebullen
Vancouver's Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar joined Master of Wine, Mark de Vere, to co-host a wine-tasting event that showcased some of the best wines from Napa Valley's renowned Robert Mondavi Winery.
It was an educational and informed evening of delicious wine paired with exquisite signature dishes.
It was an educational and informed evening of delicious wine paired with exquisite signature dishes.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
Founded in 1966, the Mondavi winery has fast become synonymous with premium California wine. It is the birth place of Fumé Blanc; the wine chosen to open the evening.
It is coupled with gougeres with goat cheese. Fumé Blanc is also known as Sauvignon Blanc but has a slightly richer style and a “gentle creamy texture,” says de Vere. The 2010 is a “dry but high-quality version,” he continues. Both this wine and the Pinot Noir we sample later are hand-harvested in order to draw the flavours from the juice of the fruit rather than the skins. It is two-thirds barrel-fermented then finished in a steel tank to punch up the flavour.
It is coupled with gougeres with goat cheese. Fumé Blanc is also known as Sauvignon Blanc but has a slightly richer style and a “gentle creamy texture,” says de Vere. The 2010 is a “dry but high-quality version,” he continues. Both this wine and the Pinot Noir we sample later are hand-harvested in order to draw the flavours from the juice of the fruit rather than the skins. It is two-thirds barrel-fermented then finished in a steel tank to punch up the flavour.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
Next on the menu is scallops casino and it is paired with a 2008 Chardonnay.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
The Chardonnay has a brightness to it with an aroma of apples and pears and an ever-so-slight hint of pineapple. Glasses are raised more than once for this flavourful wine, and are generously refilled. "There is a hint of oak on the nose but not the palate," says de Vere. "These wines have an intensity but aren't heavy."
photo: Robbie Sebullen
From there we are treated to a delectable dish of sockeye salmon with tuscan kale, mousserons, shell beans, garlic sausage, and in a balsamic soy reduction.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
It's paired with a 2009 Carneros Pinot Noir that brilliantly accents the flavour of the fish. It has a hint of fresh cherry and raspberry, "Giving it a richness and expressiveness and a silkiness that keeps it fresh," adds de Vere. The first grapes to arrive at the Mondavi winery were the Pinot Noir, we're told.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
We then move on to a
Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 ...
photo: Robbie Sebullen
paired with braised kobe short rib agnolotti with creamed spinach, alpindon cheese, and reduced braising juices with lovage soffrito.
The Cab Sauv 2009 has an intensity of fresh blackberry without a jam characteristic. "Mondavi once said, 'making good wine is a skill. Making great wine is an art'," quotes de Vere. "Fine wine leaves you wanting for another sip. You taste new things every time," he continues.
The Cab Sauv 2009 has an intensity of fresh blackberry without a jam characteristic. "Mondavi once said, 'making good wine is a skill. Making great wine is an art'," quotes de Vere. "Fine wine leaves you wanting for another sip. You taste new things every time," he continues.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
With each new wine we move further north in the Napa valley. We are next introduced to probably the most delicious combination of food and drink of the evening, with a prime beef striploin coupled with a Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2008 and a Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005. These are two of the priciest wines of the evening but there is no denying the intensity they bring to the palate.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
The reserve wines are the cream of the crop: the best parts of the best vineyards; the vineyards at the foot of the hills. The looser drain soils are at the back of the vineyard because the rain washes the soil down from the mountains. Both the 2008 and the 2005 draw ohhs, and ahhs from the table; glasses are drained and generously refilled, to the great pleasure of all.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
"There is a power and intensity and yet an elegance, subtleness, and gentleness too," says de Vere. "Mondavi put it best when he said, 'They have the power of Pavarotti and the gentleness of a baby's bottom'. Mondavi would walk the vineyards and taste the grapes to tell when they were ready. It really depended on the block of grapes."
photo: Robbie Sebullen
The evening wraps up with two scrumptious deserts. Apricot panna cotta featuring an almond streusel with white peach sorbet ...
photo: Robbie Sebullen
and petit fours.
photo: Robbie Sebullen
The final wine of the evening is Moscato d'Oro 2009: a sweet, desert wine with exotic floral aromas of pink jasmine and lemon blossoms overlapping tropical notes of guava and lychee.
"When you ferment at a cool temperature you preserve the flavours," says de Vere. "It's the sweetness that is the natural grape flavour. A beautiful way to end a meal."
"When you ferment at a cool temperature you preserve the flavours," says de Vere. "It's the sweetness that is the natural grape flavour. A beautiful way to end a meal."
photo: Robbie Sebullen
"The real purpose of wine is to add beauty and joy to a meal," adds de Vere. And that it did.
This was a well-thought-out meal coupled with some of the best wines from the Napa valley.
The Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar and the Mondavi Winery; a match made in culinary heaven.