Jennifer Schell - The BC Wine Lovers Cookbook: Recipes & Stories from Wineries Across British Columbia

Contents

Foreword

by John Schreiner

WINE IS GROWN TO ACCOMPANY FOOD, and books like this celebrate the connection between great wines and the foods they flatter. The fresh inspiration behind this particular book is that the recipes are generally not by chefs, but rather from the people behind some of British Columbias best wineries. The profiles and recipes in these pages showcase the people who truly make the BC wine industry what it is today.

Numerous winery owners and employees have roots elsewhere in the world, and this has brought international expertise to our wine industry. (BC is, after all, one of the younger wine regions.) Bernd and Stefanie Schales, the owners of 8th Generation Vineyard, bring the knowledge of so many generations of German winegrowing. Their recipe, a zwiebelkuchen or onion quiche (), is a traditional Schales family dish made to celebrate a new harvest.

The first recipe in the book is a shrimp ceviche from Federico Gonzales (). Handed down in his family, it reflects his Hungarian ethnicity. It will also pair superbly with the full-flavoured reds that he and his peers make in the Okanagan.

This book is far more than a recipe catalogue. Jennifer, who also makes wine in the Okanagan with her two brothers, provides many illuminating details about the winegrowers behind the recipes. For example, the Coronation Grape Streusel Coffee Cake () developed by Susan Richardson of Sperling Vineyards enabled Jennifer to pull together important strands of wine industry history. Bert Sperling, Susans father, supported the grape-breeding program that developed Sovereign Coronation, BCs leading table grape. Sperling forebears, the Casorso family, planted Kelownas first vineyards.

In The BC Wine Lovers Cookbook, Jennifer has woven history and biography together into a joyous celebration of our wines and our wineries in a book that reinforces the essential pairing of food and wine. Reading it made me eager to put on an apron, open a favourite bottle and start cooking.

Introduction

WELCOME TO BEAUTIFUL BC WINE COUNTRY! There are more than 370 wineries (and counting) across British Columbia, split between nine recognized wine regions: the famous Okanagan Valley, the Similkameen Valley, Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Fraser Valley, the Thompson Valley, the Shuswap and the newest regions, Lillooet and the Kootenays. These days, BC is known worldwide for its excellent wine, and as weather patterns change it is becoming possible to grow grapes ever farther north in the province. Which means more wine for all! Our wine world is full steam ahead.

We hear all the time that great wine is made in the vineyard, and BC has an amazing range of vineyard soils. From desert to oceanfront, our diverse geography produces a huge spectrum of distinctive, terroir-driven wines. And the same goes when it comes to food! Farmers will tell you that vegetables have terroir, too. A carrot grown in one region does not taste the same as one grown somewhere else. Its all in the soil and the weather conditions unique to the area. Maybe thats why folks in the wine industry seem to have an instinct for which foods pair best with their wines. Or maybe its because so many BC winemakers have a background in the culinary industry, including plenty of excellent chefs. With the provinces incredible combination of farming, fishing, foraging and fine wineries, BCs food and wine are having one great love affair!

Wine drinkers in BC are absolutely spoiled for choice, and narrowing this book down to the wineries chosen was nearly impossible. Ive tried to include a good range from across the province, with a mix of established and newer wineries. At each stop, youll learn a bit about the history of the winery and winemakers, and what youll find there when you go to visit. Then, Ive shared one or two of their favourite recipes and the perfect wine to pair with them. The wineries in this book are organized geographically, so you could more or less drive from one end of the book to the next (map on . Things change fast in the BC wine world, so give the wineries a call or check their websites before you plan a visit!

As part of the BC wine community myself, I know there is incredible diversity here, not just in our wines, but in the people behind those wines as well. In this cookbook, I wanted to showcase the beautiful cultures and nationalities that make up the communityAustralian, Austrian, Canadian, Dutch, East Indian, French, German, Hungarian, Israeli, Italian, Kiwi, Mexican, South African, Swiss and moreall working together, and all sharing the dream to play a part in one of the worlds most exciting new wine industries. And what better way to do that than through food? For recipes in the book, I asked the people behind each winery for a recipe that was meaningful to them. The recipes they provided are family favourites, from comfort food served after a long, hard day in the vineyard, to dishes prepared to celebrate the end of harvest. I love that some of these recipes came to me as a photocopy of a recipe card, some handwritten by a beloved grandmother. It has been a wonderful pleasure for me to connect with the families featured in these pages, and to collect together their favourite recipes in what feels like one gigantic international potluck party!