Wine Pairing Dinner
7:00pm, Monday January 14th, 2013
(Exploring the Pinot Noir)
(Sold Out)
Mathew at Nobel Ridge
Pinot noir wines are among the most popular in the world. Pinot noir has a tremendously broad range of bouquets, flavors, textures. In the broadest terms, the wine tends to be of light to medium body with an aroma reminiscent of black and / or red cherry, raspberry and to a lesser extent currant and many other fine small red and black berry fruits.
Touring Church and State
Traditional red Burgundy is famous for its savoury fleshiness and ‘farmyard’ aromas, but changing fashions, modern winemaking techniques,favour a lighter, more fruit-prominent, cleaner style. The wine’s colour when young is often compared to that of garnet, frequently being much lighter than that of other red wines. This is entirely natural and not a winemaking fault as Pinot noir has a lower skin anthocyanin (colouring matter) content than most other classical red / black varieties. However, an emerging, new world, style brings to the table a more powerful, fruit forward and darker wine that can tend toward Syrah in depth, extract, and alcoholic content.
Pinot noir juice is colorless. It is used in the production of Champagne, still red wine, rosé, vin gris white wines and ice wines. A truly versatile grape of noble character.
Guy Morazain presented the following five, very different , Pinot Noirs for your enjoyment. Each wine will be paired with a dish designed by ,Gold Medal Chef, Mathew Morazain, to highlight and enhance their particular characteristics.
Baillie-Grohman is a family run winery named after the Kootenay’s legendary pioneer, William Baillie-Grohman. The owners Bob Johnson Petra Flaa planted
the first crop in 2007 and had their first vintage in 2009. They teamed up with, the 2003 New Zealand Wine Maker of the Year, Dan Barker. Dan spends the NZ off-season in Creston BC, putting out award winning wines for Baillie-Grohman. Bob and Petra’s son Wes is apprenticing with Dan and spends the Okanagan off-season in New Zealand at Dan’s Moana Park winery.
The 2011 Blanc de Noirs has a vibrant and radiant salmon hue with lifted notes of blushed raspberry, dried rose petal and tropical notes leading to vibrant red berries, water melon and cranberry on the nose. The rich textural palate with a long finish and great balance displays elements of pomegranate, wild raspberry, red cherry and cranberry and rhubarb . They are a small winery with a growing reputation, unfortunately the winery has sold out of its 2011 Blanc de Noir. However there still a few bottles available at the VQA shop in Kelowna.
Awards: Silver 2012 Canadian Wine Awards, Silver 2012 BC WIne Awards, Judges Award 2012 International Value Wine Awards, 2010 Vintage: Silver 2011 BC Wine Awards, Bronze 2011 Canadian Wine Awards
Pairing: Fennel and fig pastry with caramelized shallot and cured buffalo
Gehringer Brothers Winery, as the name might imply is also family run. Walter Gehringer went to West Germany for five years where he acquired his fine wine-making skills, graduating 
from the world-renowned University of Geisenheim with an Engineering degree in viticulture and oenology. His brother Gordon also spent four years in West Germany studying the wine master’s art and graduating with a degree from Weinsberg They purchased the vineyard site in 1981. In 1985 the winery was built and the first vintage produced. 25 years later they continue to produce award winning wines.
The 2011 Optimum Pinot Noir is a perfect example of a Burgundian style Pinot, with heaps of ripe Okanagan plums and black cherries lift from the bouquet. On the palate, this full-bodied Pinot offers a tremendous concentration of jammy plum and berry fruit, hints of chocolate and spice, complemented by soft velvety tannins, framed with French oak.
Pairing: Seared and marinated albacore tuna and frisée salad with bbq olives, citrus, pine nuts, and sauce gribiche
Church and State Winery started on Vancouver Island. It had a number of Okanagan Vineyards under contract, to augment their grape production. They use to ship their grapes to the Island for processing. However they now have a facility in Oliver where they make great wines. The 2009 Hollenbach 
Pinot Noir was produced from grapes from a bowl-shaped vineyard located near Penticton. This award winning wine is a beautiful example of an earthy Pinot Noir. Light in colour, the wine has a complex aroma driven by tea leaves, ancient forest floor and wild game, supported by ripe red cherry and raspberry fruits. The array of flavours continues onto the palate where they are nicely showcased in a round, elegant structure with a long, delicate finish. Sadly, they no longer have this vineyard under contract. The 2009 is the last vintage of this Pinot that Church and State has produced.
Awards: Silver – 2011 International Wine & Spirit Competition (London, UK), Silver – 20 11 All-Canadian Wine Championships
Pairing: Seared spiced duck breast with depuy lentils, preserved cherry, crispy carrot and pea shoots.
Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery overlooks Vasaux Lake on the bench just beyond Okanagan Falls. It is named for the noble varieties of grapes grown and the ridge that divides the land on 
which they thrive. Jim and Leslie D’Andrea began their winery in 2001. When they purchased the property it had only 3.5 acre of vines. Since then they have planted an additional 18 acres and have grown their dream into an award winning winery. Their 2009 Pinot Noir is characterized by a strong ruby colour, not common in Pinot Noir. Wonderful fruit aroma and earthy, plumy flavours combine with delicate yet distinct structure and complexity in this Pinot Noir with hints of spice and cherry and black currants, anise and vanilla. It has beautiful mouth feel with soft, silky tannins and a long finish. It is surprisingly smooth, given its 15% alcohol. Nobel Ridge is unusual in that it only releases a wine when it believes it is ready for prime time. Consequently the 2009 was just released and has not been entered in competitions as of yet. The 2008, release last year, won a Double Gold at the 2012 All Canadian Wine Competition and garnered a host of Silvers and Bronze awards in international competitions.
Pairing: Roasted Vale Farm Flank Steak with buttered kale, celery root puree and locally foraged mushroom sauce
Paradise Ranch Wines specializes in producing Ice and Late Harvest wines. Their first vintage was 1998, producing 8 varietals of Icewine using over 300 tons of frozen Icewine 
grapes from the Paradise Ranch vineyards. This represented approximately 75% of the entire British Columbia Icewine grape harvest.
The 2010 Whister Pinot Noir Icewine has 127 g/l of residual sugars. Residual sugar levels for Icewines usually falls between 150–250 g/l. The lower level allows for a complexity flavours to the wine that would normally be masked by high levels of sweetness. Look for strawberry & red cherry aromas, beautiful mouthfeel & a luscious finish of strawberry. It also allows for more interesting pairings. Paradise Ranch is sold out of this beautiful wine, but you can still find the odd bottle at wine shops.
Award: GOLD MEDAL – 2012 Pacific Rim Wine Competition
Pairing: Local pear and walnut strudel with warmed Naramata blue cheese and mustard caramel drizzle
Please Note
We will be posting a selection of recipes of Mathew’s creations from this evenings menu on this web-site. So stay tuned!
We would also encourage the participants to post comments about the wines and pairings in the ‘What Our Customers Say’ section of the Bugaboos Café web-site: