Best Buys in BC – Easter Spotlight

Peter Cottontail is en route, hopping down the bunny trail to appear either as a chocolate benefactor or an entrée, depending on your family plans (and sense of humour, I suppose). From Easter egg hunts to leisurely spring brunch to a multicourse dinner, Easter long weekend is often centered around food. As we all know at WineAlign, wine and food goes together as organically as Easter morning and treats. With that in mind, we based this month’s Best Buys picks around what we will be pairing to this long weekend’s feasting.

Anthony Gismondi

Sunday is Easter and with the two big turkey holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) behind us, the question is, will it be ham, lamb, pork or fish and which wines should you be thinking about pairing with your choice? This month we explore some of the classic Easter matches. I know, they are no rules anymore when it comes to pairing food and wine, but as mother might say “If your friends were jump off a bridge would you do it too?” Maybe she was thinking about those people who drink shiraz with halibut and cabernet with sushi just because someone said drinking red wine is good for you. Years of experience have taught me some wines react better with certain foods than others. The trick is to know which is which.

One of Easter’s problematic matches is that handsomely glazed ham awash in sugar (pineapple) and salt. Both ingredients tend to bring out the bitterness and tannins in wine. The pairing is not insurmountable as long as you think about fruity, lighter structured reds with supple tannins. Garnacha from Spain or grenache from France should do the job. My pick is M. Chapoutier Belleruche Côtes du Rhône 2012, a mix of grenache and syrah it yields a juicy, fresh, peppery, black fruit flavoured red perfect with the fat and sweetness of the ham. Where white wine is in play a non-wooded or lightly wooded pinot grigio (or gris) would be equally acceptable and my pick is a local favourite: Mission Hill Pinot Gris Reserve 2012. Its round, full, fatter palate with passion fruit, pink grapefruit, and baked green apple is just the ticket to handle the busy flavours of a holiday ham.

Lamb is more of a slam dunk pairing for syrah or shiraz. A roasted leg of lamb allows for plenty of manoeuvring room with red wine but the classic match is syrah or shiraz. Plenty of minty, lamb flavours call for an equally intense red to tame them and you get that with syrah or syrah blends such as the M. Chapoutier Domaine de Bila-Haut Occultum Lapidem 2011, a classic stony, savoury, umami styled Roussillon with juicy black fruit that is rich and intense. Lamb is the perfect foil. The crazy syrah value is Falernia Syrah Reserve 2010 from the Elqui Valley in Chile. Its black pepper, black cherries, chocolate and tobacco will surely melt every mouthful of lamb.

The delicate flavour of pork makes it an ideal candidate for citrus-based marinades and you can choose red or white wine for the match, but the best is riesling. One of the best new world values is the Peter Lehmann Wigan Riesling 2008 from the Eden Valley. Its juicy lime aromas, electric riesling flavours and zesty minerality will all tame the pork. Locally my pick is the Red Rooster Riesling 2012. The style is off-dry, with refreshing acidity and delicious lemon, peach and guava fruit flavours that should carve their way through the pork.

Let’s see now – all that leaves is B.C.’s signature fish: the salmon. In its simplest form the pre-meal smoked salmon (and cream cheese) can be a delight to share with your dinner guests. In this case I’m sticking to sparkling wine and a classic Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne N/V. Fruity, mineral, oyster shell, nutty, floral undertones set the pace for a delicious pre-dinner aperitif that will stand up to the smoke and salmon. If salmon is the main course you may want to consider the classic B.C presentation: cedar-planked salmon. In this case the dense ‘meaty’ oily fish with its smoky flavours can play host to a rich New World pinot noir. My pick is Cono Sur 20 Barrels Pinot Noir 2011. Clearly one of the better Chilean pinots we have tasted this year and still affordable. Look for fruit sweetness and tangy acidity pulling at each other and causing pleasing tension, perfect for salmon. Happy Easter.

DJ Kearney

I love Easter for the egg hunts, the bonnets, the 4 day weekend and especially the non-stop feasting. Drinking, cooking and eating a wide variety of flavours from all corners of the Easter-celebrating world demands a broad range of wine styles.

A whole baked or grilled salmon can feed an extended family crowd with minimal fuss. Whether you wrap fillets in puff pastry or simply stuff with citrus, and aromatic herbs, white wine needs to have some substance and architecture to contend with richness and intense fish flavour. The Chateau de Sancerre 2012 offers the necessary beam of focused citrus, crunchy acidity, and persistence.

A richer partner for salmon (and excellent with baked ham too) is a Wolf Blass Gold Label Chardonnay 2012 – a stunner that’s not just brilliantly priced, but an ager as well. Make a lipsmacking, glossy lemon butter sauce for the salmon for optimal pairing magic.

Smoky, succulent sweet-salty baked bone-in ham is not only a centerpiece, it will yield a motherload of meals all week-long. A barely off-dry Riesling for the luscious texture, sweet glaze and crunchy, fatty bits like 8th Generation Riesling 2012 will keep your palate cleansed and tingling through every bite. Add herbes de provence to the brine, darken the glaze honey and red wine, and uncork a smooth southern Rhone wine like the M. Chapoutier Belleruche Côtes du Rhône 2012. And if you are roasting a rosemary-marinated leg of lamb for Easter dinner, their Côtes du Rhône will fit like a velvet-y glove.

Rhys Pender, MW

Easter is just around the corner, a time when the promise of spring is in the air, but it still can be chilly and I am not yet ready to switch wine focus to just light, crisp and chilling whites, bubbly and rosé. It is a time to sit on the fence with something refreshing for the afternoon apéro, with something a little more warming to suit the cool evenings.

Easter food is also well suited to these kinds of wines. If you do lamb or ham or if the Easter bunny ends up in your pot, a softer, earthy red or a full-bodied white will do the trick. For apéro, be brave and try the Gonzalez Byass Tio Pepe Fino Sherry. This slightly odd salty, bready and crisp wine grows on you with time, particularly if served with snacks of roasted nuts, olives and anything deep-fried. When moving onto Easter dinner try the Gérard Bertrand 2011 Château l’Hospitalet La Clape for its soft, savoury warmth, the similarly themed M. Chapoutier Belleruche Côtes du Rhône 2012 or a fuller bodied white such as the Spier Chenin Blanc 2012 from South Africa. If roast lamb is your Easter treat, the Rodney Strong Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 has the right mix of flavour intensity and structure to match well.

Treve Ring

As spring sunshine returns to BC, my mind turns towards the warmth of Spain. The extreme diversity across the land of bulls affords wines to suit all tastes and menus. Easter Brunch will be brightened with the consistent, crisp, bright (organic!) brut cava from Pares Balta – a sparkling steal of a deal with pure apple, citrus and stone. If roasted pork or rabbit is on the menu, Toro’s Elias Mora 2010 would suit, reflecting the sunwarmed heat of the renegade region through its red-fruited, unfiltered 100% tinta de toro (tempranillo). Should herb grilled lamb be making an appearance, a fitting match is Vinos de Finca’s Losada 2009 from Bierzo, highlighting the mencia grape in this lush, juniper-scented big red.

But Spain doesn’t reserve all my attention this holiday weekend. The savoury Domaine Wachau 2010 Gruner Veltliner Terraces from Austria caught my memory this month, intriguing with its anise textured and honey kissed notes. Try it with the first of the halibut season. Much closer to home, Stag’s Hollow 2013 Riesling from Amalia Vineyard on Osoyoos’ west bench would make for a fantastic versatile bottle for the table; the shining peach, lime and creamy peach a match for dishes porcine, poultry or piscine. I poured the pure and structured deliciousness of Domaine Lathuiliere Brouilly Pisse Vieille 2012 for a Cru Beaujolais tasting this month, impressing the trade group with its blend of stony seriousness and berry fruitiness. This old-vine gamay would be a brilliant fit for your Easter turkey or cran-glazed ham (#GoGamayGo). If, like me, your traditions are decidedly unconventional, pick up the dry, fruity Lini 910 Lambrusco from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. The striking bottle has ripe berry depth and enough tannin to take on salmon, tuna or poultry, plus fresh acidity and lively bubbles to lend to the festivities.

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