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Roads, Baguettes, and Blackberry Wine: A Vancouver Island Food Safari
by Sue Kernaghan
Here’s a perfect day for the foodie in your life:
After
a night at an oceanfront lodge, pick up a pair of bicycles and peddle
round to some local wineries, sampling a Merlot, a Pinot Gris, or
perhaps a kiwi wine. At noon, spread your picnic blanket under a tree
and dig into some fresh baked bread and locally made cheese before
wending your way back to the lodge.
You’ll have time for a massage at the spa before
taking in a talk on local cuisine, wine or art. Around sunset you can
settle into a meal of, say, oysters, salmon, or halibut from local
waters, or free-range duck or venison from a farm down the road --
perhaps with some wild mushrooms foraged from nearby woodlands.
It gets better: You don’t have to transfer through
London or Paris to find this slice of culinary pleasure. It’s on the
Saanich Peninsula, 20 minutes north of
Victoria, B.C..
Vancouver Island as a whole, and the Saanich
Peninsula in particular, is a modern-day rarity: a place so blessed by
climate, geography -- and dedicated farmers -- that it can produce
virtually everything a diner could want -- organically, sustainably,
and deliciously.
Central to this equation is the Island Chefs
Collaborative (ICC), a group of about 35 top toques dedicated to using
locally grown, organic, seasonal, and minimally processed ingredients.
Simon
Manvell, for example, an ICC member and chef at the Saanich
Peninsula’s popular
Dock 503 restaurant, works with about 25 local farmers, fishers,
crab-trappers, seaweed suppliers and mushroom foragers to create a 100
per cent island-raised menu.
The results are impressive, garnering this little
marina-side room numerous accolades, including the local restaurant
association’s Restaurant of the Year.
Manvell credits the ingredients: “When I see the
time and care that my suppliers put into producing the food, I’m more
likely to respect the food in the kitchen and make the same effort in
presentation. The ingredients are so good it makes my job easy.”
Dock 503’s Saanich Peninsula location was,
culinarily speaking, the back of beyond when Manvell moved to the
island in 1997. Now, this bucolic region is rapidly joining the nearby
Cowichan Valley as a destination of choice for lovers of good food and
wine.
Two hostelries make good bases for fork-and-knife
safaris of the area.
In Victoria, the romantic
Abigail’s Hotel offers a Peninsula Wine Country Package, which
includes accommodation, breakfast in bed, a four-hour private
chauffeured tour of three Saanich Peninsula wineries and lunch at a
winery.
On the Saanich Peninsula, the
Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa, due to open in May 2004, will be home
to an 80-seat restaurant and wine bar, a marine pub, a
café-bakery-coffee-bar (think Napa Valley general store), and a wine
shop -- all showcasing local fare.
The
lodge promises to be something of a base camp for foodies in the area.
In addition to producing wonderful meals, Executive Chef Brock Windsor
and Sommelier Brian Storen, both formerly of Whistler’s renowned
Bearfoot Bistro and the Island’s leading-edge Sooke Harbour House,
will offer guests a chance to learn about Vancouver Island cuisine
first hand. Events will include foraging trips for mushrooms,
fiddleheads or wild herbs in the local woods, cooking classes, wine-tastings,
farm-gate tours, guest appearances – and, well, pretty much anything
to do with the local bounty.
Whether peddling around on your own or joining a
tour, an obvious first stop is
Victoria Estate Winery. The island’s largest winery, it’s centered
on a 21,000 square foot cedar building with a wraparound verandah
overlooking the vineyards.
Tours include a stroll through the 6-acre vineyard,
a short film on wine making, a chance to watch the winemakers at work
from the mezzanine gallery, and a tasting of the Merlot, Pinot Gris,
Riesling or half dozen other varieties produced here. (Winemaker Eric
Von Krosigk plans to crack Victoria Estate’s first bottle of bubbly
soon.)
The winery’s bakery/deli stocks fresh bread, locally
made cheeses, antipasto platters, lox and fruit, which you can enjoy
on the verandah or outside on one of the “licensed lawns” under an oak
tree overlooking the vineyard, or beside the pond.
A
very different experience is in store at the nearby
Marley Farm Winery.
Opened to the public in June 2003, this rolling
green 47-acre spread high in the Mount Newton Valley is Vancouver
Island’s only fruit winery.
Winemakers Beverly and Mike Marley are originally
from Jamaica (and, yes, Mike is related, distantly, to late reggae
artist Bob). With the help of son Mark and daughter-in-law Danielle,
the Marleys produce Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir as well as blackberry,
kiwi, loganberry and raspberry wines using fruit from their own and
nearby farms.
A lot of people are hesitant about fruit wines,
admits Danielle. “But now that the public has tasted them, they’ve
taken off. Kiwi and loganberry are now our two top sellers. The berry
wines do have a real berry flavour to them, but the kiwi is a
surprise: it’s fruity, yes, but fruity like a Gewürztraminer. It pairs
beautifully with spicy food, like a curry.”
Or perhaps a Jamaican patty?
This spring, you can stop for a tour, a tasting, and
a view down the valley from the big patio. Come summer, the Marleys
hope to start offering light Jamaican-inspired lunches. Watch also for
fruit vinegars and some rich late harvest fruit wines dubbed Kiwi Gold
and Blackberry Gold.
Also
on the peninsula is Chalet Estate Winery, specializing in the light,
fruity Ortega and Bacchus varieties that are so well suited to the
climate here, and, of course, the luscious
Butchart Gardens, whose green-thumbed staff have worked wonders
for generations.
Celebrating its centenary in 2004, this 50-acre site
in Brentwood Bay is home to one of the world’s most famous display
gardens; catch, if you can, the fireworks display each Saturday night
in summer.
Discovering British Columbia is as easy as calling
toll-free 1-800-HELLO BC (North America) or HELLO BC (435-5622) in
Greater Vancouver. This reservation and information service provides
free help and advice in planning a trip to British Columbia, from
travel ideas and tips to booking your accommodations, tours, and
transportation. You can also order your free copy of the BC Escapes™
Getaways Guide. And be sure to check out the Tourism British Columbia
web site at
www.HelloBC.com.
