PLAZA POURS
Chardonnay, Neighbourhoods, Tomato Tonnato, Top Drop
We just launched the second season of one of my favourite gigs this week, Wine Tasting Wednesdays at a little plaza, right here in our Mt. Pleasant neighbourhood.
Each week I collaborate with Brewery Creek Liquor Store, and choose three wines that fit in a theme of my choosing. People trickle into the plaza, and on a first-come-first-serve basis, the first 30 get to hang out and sip the wines that I pour while sharing the stories behind them. And it’s free!
So what’s the catch? There isn’t one, really. This is an initiative by the Mt. Pleasant BIA. For the uninitiated, a BIA, or Business Improvement Area (although they do go by other names) is an organization that is funded by property taxes, with a mandate to improve neighborhoods, increased business, and make them more sustainable. It was a Canadian invention in Toronto! They do things like organize block parties and other outdoor initiatives in tandem with holidays and cultural events, but they also do work in beautifying neighbourhoods. If you belong to ours, as an example, if someone tags your place with graffiti overnight, you can just give them a shout, and they will get it freshened up for you. They also lobby municipal governments on issues that support businesses.
So, besides it just being a fun neighbourhood thing getting people out to support a weekly wine tasting event, the idea is basically supporting local businesses because first off, many people pick up snacks or something to eat on the way to enjoy along with their tasting, but the big benefit or spinoff effect is once people have wrapped up and have a little bit of wine in them, the natural next thing is, “OK! What do you want to do now,” and then the vast majority will likely carry on and do some shopping, or sidle up at a hyper-local restaurant, café, or bar, which further supports the neighborhood. Cool, right? And I get a fun gig sharing wine out of it!
It was a trio of Chardonnays to kick off the season, Chartron et Trébuchet Bourgogne Chardonnay was up first, it seemed only natural to feature the grape’s Burgundian homeland. Peachy, lemony, and nutty with well-integrated French oak provided a nice baseline. We then zipped locally to Okanagan Falls, BC, where the ‘growing degree days,’ or heat accumulation over the course of a growing season, is quite similar to Burgundy, and so technically, the grape should do well here. And it does! Noble Ridge Unoaked Chardonnay is precise and juicy with baskets of apples and pears, and citrusy acid making it lip-smackingly tasty. We then went very low-intervention with the Similkameen Valley’s Ursa Major, and the ‘Boo Hoo, Amiright?’ Chardonnay, composed of fruit the the B.C. village of Naramata, in the central Okanagan. Hazy, zesty, with elements of lemonade and the brightness of kumquat (!), dusted with a little cardamom and sage. So good.
Any of them would come up a treat with my favourite dish of the summer, come heirloom tomato season. Ed Smith of @RocketAndSquash fame has this Tomato Tonnato, recipe that first appeared in his On The Side book, a spin of the classic Italian Vitello Tonnato. That briney, caper-y tuna business with all that umami tomato goodness is perfection.
This time of summer also means we’re striking up the band again, for our next editions of Top Drop Vancouver and Calgary, our terroir-driven, international wine show we put on each May. A good reminder for me to put it out there to wineries and importers that applications are now open at TopDrop.ca!
But, that tomato dish. Seriously. Do it. And if your’re in Vancouver, you know where to find me Wednesday nights for the rest of the summer!
🍾 Kurtis Kolt is a Vancouver-based wine and hospitality consultant who writes about wine, presents seminars, hosts events, judges competitions, works with restaurants on their wine programs, and so on. Beyond consulting, he is the co-proprietor of Top Drop, “the most awesome wine festival in Canada,” and most recently Free Spirit, a hub for non-alc writing, tastings, and events for everyone! Follow him on Instagram, or to learn more, click here!