I was pleased to accept an invitation to Taste, a blind wine tasting event put on by the Swallow Tail Culinary Company, with proceeds going to Mount Pleasant Elementary School. I had no idea what to expect and was excited to find the interior of clothing shop Lark perfect for a such an event. The front of the room had a wine bar and a cheese stand run by bcfoodies.com (who i will save for a later post) and further back was the tasting area.

The concept of the night was to have everyone try two wines in each of five categories of taste, paired with tasty bites of BC cuisine. From white to red and through Crisp, Aromatic, Elegant, Smooth and Spicy, the idea was to mark down your thoughts about the wine’s characteristics and guess the grape. At the end we were given the cheat sheet to compare with our notes.

Around the tables we sipped and tasted, assisted at each section (or Taste) by a helpful staff member. I had a lot of fun thinking about the wine and food and their combination, but a little less luck writing down my observations. I needed at least one additional arm and clearly consumption came first. I think I did well identifying some of the grapes but I didn’t get much of the rest down. I was too busy enjoying.

Wine selections got us started on Crisp with a delicious sparkly 2007 Brut Naturel and a lively 2008 Millefiori from Venturi-Schulze of Vancouver Island. The Noble Blend 2007 from Joie of Naramata followed. Aromatic saw a Blue Mountain Pinot Blanc and a Noble Ridge Chardonnay. Elegant was a Pinot Noir 2007 from Averill Creek and one of my favorites, the 2006 Perigee from Le Vieux Pin. Deliciously smooth was Wild Goose’s 2007 Merlot and a 2006 Epoque Merlot also from Le Vieux Pin. And finally we got spicy with a 2006 Meritage from Noble Ridge and the Petales 2006 from Osoyoos Larose were served.

The bites were catered by the garden party supper club. We started with a mushroom stuffed with goat’s cheese, thyme and nutmeg followed by Qualicum Bay scallops (donated by Wheelhouse seafood on Hastings) in salsa piquante. We moved on to a decadent hand-made piece of fair-trade chocolate from Lark, filled with a sherry reduction and red huckleberry. (from skookum harvest) And a handmade chanterelle mushroom ravioli was served in cream sauce, with the mushroom coming also from skookum harvest. And rounding out Spicy, a wine-braised lamb shank was wrapped in a beer batter crepe and served with fresh watercress for a satisfying finish!

I am sure if you are reading this you wish you could taste some of that, so keep an eye out for future events. More pics and full wine list here.