Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay 2006 ($19.99 in BC)

This pretty, pale gold wine is, as of this moment, my favourite Chardonnay. I could drink it forever. I had my first taste at the Wine Access-Mission Hill Winery of the Year dinner at the Blue Water Café in July (food porn blog post here). I adored it then, and I love it now.

This is a wine of contradictions. It's mellow, pretty and friendly, but also complex and has a bit of a bite. It's not a monster -- there's no overoaking here, no massive fruits. Here, Mission Hill proves that restraint and moderation can provide very interesting results indeed.

On the nose, apricot and pear, with swirls of anise and honey. The taste -- Granny Smith apple, lots of mineral and some ash. Creamy, with the oak barely apparent but bringing it all together. There's tons of dynamic energy in the back-and-forth byplay of mellow cream and tangy bite.

Wonderful, wonderful! I am in love!

Happy 5th Birthday CRU!!!

Last Wednesday Miss Annie and I went to a fabulous birthday party for the wonderful, Zagat-rated restaurant and wine bar CRU. Happy birthday CRU!!

And happy 100th post to us, Full-Bodied! Bringing you wine and cleavage several times a week. To celebrate, I give you the best photo taken at the CRU party:



Yes there were three women fluffing Miss Annie. We can't help it, it's what we do.

OK, on topic. Cru is a wonderful restaurant. It has possibly the city's best by-the-glass winelist. The food is terrific, and the chef is seriously adorable. I'm serious. She needs to be on Cute Overload.



CRU chef Alana Peckham, with owner Mark Taylor and manager Bill Eckhardt.

Cheers to you, CRU crew! Your accomplishments are herculean! You have kept a fine restaurant going and growing in the ultra swift and competitive Vancouver marketplace. That's a major accomplishment.

The party was lovely. Here are some pics:



Lovely babes



More babes



Yet more babes



CRU Manager Bill Eckhardt and and Danna Rutherford, who has glorious hair.



Special guest cleavage

I did take photos of men too, but none of them turned out. For example, Ian Hanomansing was there with his lovely and vivacious wife Nancy Trott. He's one of the handsomest men on earth but the photo makes him look like a plague victim.

And I after much protest I managed to get a pic of David (Superhero Waiter Alias: Maurice), but it looks horrible. If I posted it he'd track me down and punish me (not in a good way, either).

We had wine! Mission Hill Pinot Gris, Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris, Township 7 Merlot among wonderful wines I wasn't quick enough to snag. Nice choices, folks.

And we had food! David aka Maurice tirelessly offered plate after plate of Moroccan spiced lamb chops (so tender!), halibut cakes with preserved orange (the world's most wonderful fish stick), house cured salmon (holy wow), heirloom tomato gazpacho (yummm), caramelized onion and sheep’s milk feta tart (to die), and a wonderful blackberry and creme fraiche on a melt in your mouth biscuit (could have eaten 100 of them).

Thank you CRU crew for letting us share in your birthday celebration.

Finally, I leave you with one final babe:



Not only is she gorgeous, she took good care to keep our wine glasses filled.

Grey Monk Odyssey Pinot Gris 2006

BC wine folks have been weighing in on Pinot Gris lately. BC does Pinot Gris really well, and some say that it should be considered a specialty of our region. Anthony Gismoni discusses the topic here, and I've heard the opinion repeated hither and yon.

Let the Pinot Gris roll, says I! Especially when it's this tasty.

Brief symposium on Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio: they're the same grape, but denote wines made in different styles. Pinot Gris is the French style -- more mellow, more mineral, less fruit. Pinot Grigio is the Italian style -- crisp and fruity. But to confuse the issue, some wineries don't pay attention to the style in naming the wine. If you particularly prefer a style, check with your friendly wine store salesperson before buying.

Grey Monk Odyssey Pinot Gris 2006

This is truly a French-style Pinot Gris, with tons of mineral and a subtle hand with the fruit. The nose is understated, clean and floral. The taste is almond, apple and lots of mineral. This wine for contemplating, it makes you sit down and think. Lately I've been preferring wines that put the mineral up front and go easy on the fruit, so I loved this bottle.

One added benefit to mineral-heavy wines compared to fruit-heavy -- they seem to last longer. Fruity wines tend to taste terrible after just one day in the fridge, but mineral-heavy wines can take a little air. I finished this bottle two days after opening, and it tasted just fine.

Quail's Gate Chenin Blanc 2007

It's official, Chenin Blanc is my new favourite varietal. It's a lesson in contasts, crisp yet mellow, stony yet floral, it's all about the yum. I adore it! I loved this Mexican offering, and I worship the Inniskillin Discovery version (review to come -- there's a bottle in my "cellar"). Chenin Blanc, I love you!

(You may have noticed by now, I tend to love everything I like. I'm just not a luke-warm kind of person.)

Ok, the wine.

Quail's Gate Chenin Blanc 2007

On the nose, it's fresh, stony, bright mountain stream, with some citrus and floral notes. When I smell it I picture this:



Stream in the Mt. Robson vicinity, by Blibbler

Oh yes, it's heaven.

Taste: At the beginning of the swallow, it's a flash of fresh and disappears, then it builds back quickly with lots of citrus and floral flavours. The finish is long -- about 2 minutes straight, with lip-smacking lemon and lime pith. But it doesn't seem acidic, it's mellow too. And there's more stone -- ash, really. So wonderful.

It's a total treat. $17.99 is a bargain at some BC Liquore stores, though I got my hit at wonderful Taylorwood Wines in Yaletown. Get yours!

UBC Farm is under attack

UBC Farm free range chickens by bbqmag

We're all worried about the rising cost of groceries, safety in our food supply, and the effect of high oil prices on the future cost of the food we eat. So under these conditions, who looks at the only functioning farm within the city of Vancouver, labels it Future Housing Reserve and plans to build high priced condos on it?

UBC Campus and Community Planning, that's who. Look at a map of UBC, and you won't find the farm. Future Housing Reserve -- that's what it says, and they won't even allow the farm to be properly signposted. (I drove around UBC for over 30 minutes last night, trying to find it.)

The next 6 months are critical for the fate of the farm, and we can all make a difference to help save it. The general public will be given the opportunity to weigh in on the issue during a series of community forums October 16-28. Watch the UBC Farm website for specific information (and I'll post updates here, too).

The farm is valuable -- not just to the 2200 UBC students from 7 faculties who use it for research and learning -- but to all of Vancouver. There are children's programs where kids get to work with volunteer retired farmers to learn about gardening, and there is a market garden every Saturday morning which attracts over 20,000 people each year. Researchers at the farm are doing critical work on healthy ecosystems -- work that cannot be duplicated in a lab or classroom.

Let's not let this wonderful resource get turned into yet more unaffordable condos. Vancouver has plenty of those, but only one farm.

101 things to eat in Vancouver before you die

Here's an inspiring list of local delectables from Vancouver Magazine. Perhaps a little North and West Vancouver intensive for this big city girl, but some of these treats sound good enough to lure me out to the 'burbs.

To this list I have to add the Walnut Raisin bread from Fratelli, accompanied by St-André cheese from La Grotto del Formaggio next door and fresh Okanagan nectarines.

¡Viva los Vinos Mexicanos! Monte Xanic Chenin Columbard 2006

In May I was in Mexico City, and on the last day of my trip I managed to find a liquor store and grab a few bottles of Mexican wine to bring home. They've been sitting patiently, waiting to be enjoyed until finally a few days ago I cracked one open.

Lately I have been developing a huge weakness for Chenin Blanc. Yes, I tend to like off-dry wines, is that uncool of me? This bottle was lovely, extremely cleavage-worthy, and if it were available in Vancouver I'd never be without. It was about $12, but the shop I bought it at was in a very upscale area so it would probably be cheaper elsewhere.

The Monte Xanic Chenin Colombard is 95% Chenin Blanc and 5% Colombard. It was very aromatic, with peppery apricot and honey predominating, but also floral and mineral notes. It's off dry, of course, and had a very nicely balanced acidity with honey, peach, apricot flavours with some fine minerality and lingering pepper. The finish was loooooong.



Chicken with nectarines

Chenin Blanc is great to cook with, so I sacrificed a glass to a quick dinner. I carmelized an onion with a chicken breast, then added a sliced nectarine and deglazed the pan with the wine. Quick and Delish!

Strangely -- considering how close Mexico is -- their wines are practically unknown in Canada. Spanish imperialists and missionaries first brought vines to Mexico in 1521, so Mexico has been making wine for longer than any American nation. I intend to find out more! There's an Mexican wines English language blog, sister to one in Spanish.

¡Viva los Vinos Mexicanos!

Dine for charity, my lovelies

Help save the UBC Farm! Bid bid bid like a baby squid!



More info here.

Agricola Marrone 2006 Langhe Arneis Tre Fie

Agricola Marrone 2006 Langhe Arneis Tre Fie ($39.50 and worth every penny)



Anthony's lapel, captured at Vinocamp by Luckyfish

First of all, let me apologize for not having a cleavage pic of this wine. It completely deserved it, but I didn't get the shot. Perhaps I was too busy enjoying the wine.

Vancouver's Farmstead Wines brings the Piedmont to BC. Agricola Marrone is a family-run, naturally farmed wine producer in the Piedmont Barolo region. Marrone wines are fantastic. I was first introduced to them last February at the Vancouver Wine Fest, and took home a bottle of their drool-worthy Muscato d'Asti (review here).

Farmstead Wines, by the way, is a real treasure. Passionate proprietor and chef Anthony Nicalo finds naturally farmed, grower-produced wines (which he terms Vinaroon wines) and imports them to BC. The entire Farmstead line can be purchased at Firefly Wines on 12th and Cambie.

Queen of digression: Firefly Wines has an 8-bottle Enomatic wine sampling system, so shoppers can sample wine there at any time. What a fantastic perk!

Back to the Arneis. I'd never heard of the Arneis varietal before -- Italy has so many exotics to explore! Jancis Robinson, in her Oxford Companion to Wine, mentions that it nearly died out in the 1970s but has since seen a resurgence.

The 2006 Langhe Arneis Tre Fie has a gorgeous, delicate floral nose, with pear scents and a touch of honey. On the palate it was dry and light but complex with a deep minerality swirling with ripe Bartlett pear. It would be perfect with grilled halibut. What a beautiful wine.