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THE SHOW

It’s Super Bowl Weekend!

Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole from Sports Centre at TSN are paying their annual visit to The Tasting Room.

They began as a humble sports pairing at TSN and we heard from them 7 years ago before yet another Super Bowl.

Then they headed for Fox Sports One in LA only to be shown the door several years later but not before guesting on yet another Super Bowl Tasting Room Radio.

There are some saying that it was their appearance on TRR that hastened their exit.  Not True.

It was Jan and Dan’s appearance on Hollywood&Vines TV with Jason Priestley and myself that did them in.

Upon returning to TSN, we were told by their “people” that J&D would never again guest  on Tasting Room or H&V.

Several weeks ago I reached out to Onrait and O’Toole in the hopes they would relent.

They didn’t exactly relent but they simply forgot ever having been on either show.  So we’re good.

Jay and Dan will take us through:

The Game

The Food

The Swill

The Odds

Their Podcast

The Jannies

Jay and Dan Direct.

I was going to ask them for some of their favorite music tracks but when Dan said “Play Dean Martin”  I shut that down Right Away.

https://www.tsn.ca/jay-and-dan/podcast

 Mira Tusz and Daniel Dragert–  Co-owners/Winemakers at Kutatas (Salt Spring Island)

 This is the first in a series of features on new wineries around the Province that we think you may want to know about.

(working title The Chase)

Mira and Dan realized a dream when they recently bought Mistaken Identity Vineyards on Salt Spring Island.

Mira and Dan

Dan had been the winemaker at Averill Creek in the Cowichan Valley and Mira had been working in the vineyards at Unsworth, also in the Cowichan.

I discovered their wines at last year’s Locals Only event that Rich Massey throws at Edible Canada, Granville Island.

The wines were outstanding.

I mumbled something like “who ARE these guys and how did they pull this off”?

Currently,  a majority of their small production comes from 3 acres of Pinot Noir and Ortega in  Deep Cove/North Saanich, on Vancouver Island. These blocks are managed sustainably.

Most of the vineyard is dry farmed to limit yields, restrict berry size and express terroir. They personally hand tend the vineyard to ensure they achieve the highest possible quality.

Now they have their own vineyard and we’re the lucky ones who’ll be tasting their wines in years to come.

Mira and Dan are redesigning their new Tasting Room … so we huddled in the cellar and tasted the whites and reds.

Pinot Noir Rose

Ortega

Pinot Gris

Plus 2 different Pinot Noirs  (Clone #114)

(whole cluster and de-stemmed)

Also, a Bubble program is in the works.

Keep an eye and nose on  Kutatas (Koo Tah Tash)

They hope to be open on Valentine’s Day  Feb 14^th

https://www.masseywines.com/kutatas-wines/

STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:

The Californians

Vancouver Wine festival

OK Falls pours in Vancouver

Aquilini. Red Mountain Wines

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Year Seven of The Four F’s

(Food. Fishing. Fluids and Friends)

As all good things sometimes do..it started with a “what if”.

 What if I put together some of my food and wine friends who loved fishing – and we all went fishing together but we also brought along wines we wanted to share and food we wanted to cook?

John, Mark, Terry and Rhys

 Except for several years when one of them was just too damn busy,  the friends line up has been pretty much the same.

Here are some links on “the friends”

Basically, these are gents and artists you would love to hang with.

Chef Mark Filatow  Waterfront Bistro  (Kelowna)  https://waterfrontrestaurant.ca

John Weber – Orofino Wines (Similkameen)  https://www.orofinovineyards.com/about-2/

Rhys Pender – Little Farm Wines (Similkameen) and Master of Wine.  http://littlefarmwinery.ca/

John Weber, Mark Filatow, Rhys Pender

The really interesting thing with this group is that at times the fishing is EVERYTHING.

Then the Wines become EVERYTHING.

Then the food becomes EVERYTHING.

We dive into all three with a shared passion that seems to know no bounds.

For example –

Fishing – Except for this year we have always fly fished in the interior of BC. Skitchine Lodge, Cathedral Lakes, 7  Half Diamond Ranch , Tunkwa Lake.

This year we head for Campbell River on Vancouver Island and some Salmon Fishing.

Gowlland-Harbour-Resort-Outdoor-Patio

Our home base was the gorgeous Gowlland Harbour Resort on the jewel known as Quadra Island, just off downtown Campbell River.

And most importantly,  our guide was one of the very best Mark Stewart from East West Charters in Campbell River.

http://eastwestcharters.com/

TDM & Mark Stewart

So, here’s Mark with a boat build for four..now holding 5. As the rods went off..all four reaching for the now bouncing rod.

Surprisingly, it all went very well thanks to Mark Stewart and his 28 years of experience. We caught and released lots of wild coho..kept one hatchery coho.

John caught a Spring and everyone caught sockeye and pinks.

We were chased by dolphins who surfed in the wake of the boat as we cut through the water. Exhilarating!

We tasted Moscato d ‘Asti for breakfast..memorable.

Wines – We each like to bring wines that we think the group would find interesting.

A grand total of 22-25,  depending on who you talk to.

Wines from Croatia that Mark brought back from his summer trip there.

I brought a Viognier from France

John from Italy and Orofino.

Rhys from EVERYWHERE. Palo Portado for one

A Spectacular Education.

Chef Mark Filatow

Food – Chef Mark has always traditionally brought to these trips his gift of making something truly special from an assorted bag of goodies.

We know there will always be two Tomahawk Chops from Two River Meats in North Vancouver.

Tomahawk Chop

He’s usually chosen to cook these on an open campfire but this year we had the luxury of a BBQ. (In the Dark)

The rest of the meal started with a charcuterie board that was outstanding  It truly challenged the wines..

Including N’Duja made from #cheamviewranch pork from @tworiversmeats and @medleyorganics espelettes

Salad..exploded on the plates. Lobster mushrooms with toasted corn gnocchi and glazed delicata squash.

I dream about these meals..before and long after.

Let me finish by thanking those who helped make this wonderful trip happen.

The guys for one.  They all are busy.

John and Rhys were just starting their vineyard harvest. Mark Filatow may be the busiest chef in the Okanagan.

A minor miracle that they freed up.

Thanks go out to Mark and Anita Stewart. A formidable Team –  Son and Mother.

The staff at Tourism VI for the assist and support. https://www.tourismvi.ca/

The staff at Gowlland Harbour Resort/Quadra Island https://twitter.com/GowllandHarbour

Shawna Gardham for support and encouragement right from the start.

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STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON

New wineries to watch for.

Kutatas – Salt Spring Island

Frank Gigliotti changes the name of the game

Vancouver  Wine Festival: Hello California!!

The Aquilini Wines from Red Mountain

BC Spring Releases