We are teaming up with Parkside Restaurant for the second in a series of handcrafted wines paired with handcrafted foods dinners. The dinner will be outside on the lovely courtyard patio and the wines will all be white. If you made it to our first dinner at Parkside, rest assured, no wines will be repeats and they will all be delicious.

The menu with wine pairings is below. 

Tickets for the Farmstead Wines dinner are $150 inclusive of tax and gratuity, and are available for pick up at Parkside, or by calling the restaurant at 604-683-6912 to charge by
phone. Seating is limited.

Summer Dinner
Tuesday, July 22nd
Reception 6:00 pm
Dinner 7:00 pm sharp

Menu and accompanying wines:
Reception
Agricola Marrone Moscato d’Asti “Sole d’Oro” 2007
–
Charantais melon salad, green pea tips, salt cured foie gras, duck prosciutto, Pineau des
Charentes
Martin Arndorfer 2006 Gruner Veltliner Strasser Weinberge
–
Zucchini flowers filled with ricotta di bufala; puree of fava beans, fresh mint, Tuscan olive oil
Sutor Burja 2006
–
Dungeness crab tortellini, sweet corn jus, summer truffles
Domaine Gauby Cotes Catalanes Blanc Les Calcinaires 2006
–
Fillet of halibut, heirloom carrots, crushed hazelnuts, fried sage, lime butter
Martin Arndorfer ChNb Die Leidenschaft 2005
–
A selection of Petits Fours
Marc Tempe Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives 2005

Someone asked me yesterday what restaurants are helping us support small family farms. As I began to list them, she stopped me short and said, "Just the best ones." I’m sure that there are a few good ones left, and if one of your favorites is missing, please encourage them to order Farmstead Wines for their list.

At any of the following restaurants, please ask the sommelier to point out the Farmstead Wines selections for you. Happy eating and drinking on the cutting edge of eco-gastronomy.

Blue Water Cafe   (coming soon)1095 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC
tel: 604.688.8078

Boneta
1 Cordova Street West
Vancouver, BC V6B 1C8
tel: 604.684.1844

Chill Winston 
3 Alexander Street                                                                         Vancouver, BC                                                                                                tel: 604.288.9575

Cibo and Uva Wine Bar (coming soon)
900 Seymour Street                                                                      Vancouver, BC
tel: 604-683-4251

CinCin
1154 Robson
Vancouver, BC V6E 1B5
tel: 604.688.7338

Chow
3121 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC V6H 3K1
tel: 604.608.2469

 La Buca
4025 MacDonald Street
Vancouver, BC V6L 2N8
tel: 604.730.6988

Figmint
500 W 12th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M2
tel: 604.875.3312

Parkside Restaurant 
1906 Haro Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 1H7
tel: 604.683.6912

Salt Tasting Room
45 Blood Alley ,  Gastown
Vancouver, BC , V6B1C7                                                                              tel: 604.633.1912

Sooke Harbour House
1528 Whiffen Spit
Sooke, BC V0S 1N0
tel: 250.642.3421

Vij’s
1480 11 Avenue West                                                                                    Vancouver, BC                                                                                                tel: 604.736.6664

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Animal, Vegetable, Miracle on the shelves a few months ago. Shortly before moving to Vancouver in 2006 I was driving around Germany with my soon to be wife and brother law. They suggested we play this game called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. I wasn’t familiar with the game, but it sounded simple enough, sort of a 20 questions Pirates of Penzance style.  I was confident enough in my understanding that I went first. They guessed and guessed, but couldn’t come up with anything close in 40 or so questions. I was feeling proud that I had stumped them and when I told them the answer they laughed at me. Not with me, at me. You see, I took the game a bit too literally and my clue was basalt, which I was sure they would get because of the rock formations here off of Stanley Park. They still let me join their family, I think in particular because they realized I needed help. (maybe even a miracle)

Barbara Kingsolver similarly brings you into her family in a journey back to the land. Many of you might enjoy the social storytelling elements of the book, but I’m still happily focused on geeky stuff like food politics.  Join me for an evening of wine and food cooking and pairing tips at Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks, on Friday, June 20. We will sip some naturally farmed, handcrafted wines, cook some seasonal treats inspired by the book and each guest will get their own copy of the book to take home.

 Contact Books to Cooks to reserve your spot today- 

Barbara-Jo’s BOOKS TO COOKS
Main Shop
1740 West 2nd Avenue (half a block east of Burrard)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
V6J 1H6

Telephone  604-688-6755 

Making wine naturally is very, very difficult. I just got an email from Milva Giacone of Renato Fenocchio. The message does not need much explanation. The photo above is from when we introduced two of our farmers, Martin Arndorfer and Renato Fenocchio- that’s Milva and |Martin discussing best practices in the vineyards. 

Ciao, Anthony

i write from this e-address because my does not work…we have a bad storm and hope it will not be hail. Yesterday there were a terrible hailstorm in Bra and the day before in Canale, and it destroyed all.

Now it has  been raining since May 11th and our grapes are going. and, even if we work in the vineyard while it rains, we are afraid this vintage will not be ok, unless it stopped raining at once.

I am happy about Martin’s vineyard…he could avoid the hail. He is a nice guy and a excellent producer and he deserve good luck.

Instead we have a problem, in the sense we have only 1500 bottles of dolcetto 2007 remaining from the first bottling -the one you tasted- and could not work the other wine, that is the same of the first bottling but now it is cloudy because of the bad weather and can’t be moved or bottled until it stops raining. And it seems we are having rain and hail for 8 days more.

So we are sorry we have not enough wine for your new shipping, but we could not work for a month in the cellar and we are late with the works that we thought were ok at the end of may.

i know it is a terrible problem, so i hope you will excuse us for being late: as you know -we learned it by  Bruno Giacosa- natural wines can not be worked with bad weather and we have not having one month  of rain since 1991! The problem is bottling them with the rain means they will be cloudy always. Natural wine is a great goal, but it suffers everything.

so , according to you, is it possible to send you only 1500 bottles of Dolcetto 2007 now and the remaining bottles with the next order? The alternative is to wait at least 30 days for having all the 1920 bottles. they could be ready, then, but not refined.

i wait for an answer from you, and apologize for the problem. Hope you will find a solution and promise of doing everything we can do for helping you.

thank you  very much

milva

(We will obviously take less Dolcetto on the current order) 

Some people must have their plane ride US Weekly fix and I do too, but it’s called “Fast Company.” I used to subscribe, but I actually prefer the immediate gratitude of seeing a new issue on the airport newsstand. No matter the magazine, from Ranger Rick to Sports Illustrated to Esquire, I always flip directly to the back page. In the current issue, Elizabeth Spiers takes on the “buy local” notion. “much of the buy-local  movement has nothing to do with geography. The emotional tenor, at least, is much more about shunning corporate behemoths. If the farmer next door happens to be Monsanto, you rethink buying local. What buying local really means is buying boutique-branded artisanal products that are crafted with tender loving care by actual human beings. Or what merely appear to be. Witness the success of the slightly-more-expensive-but-supposedly-made-with-love-by-seemingly small -companies Muir Glen, Kashi, Odwalla- owned by General Mills, Kellogg, and Coca-Cola, respectively. Large corporations certainly aren’t unaware of local appeal and are happy to exploit it as a marketing tool…The challenge for the socially conscious consumer is to determine whether a "local" purchase actually achieves what it’s supposed to achieve."

Sometimes our wines are passed over for less expensive, chemical-laced versions from BC wine factories in the interest of being "local." It’s too bad because knowing your farmer isn’t just a slogan- Farmstead Wines actually knows every farmer personally, and you can enjoy a delicious bottle of wine while supporting a small farmer who farms naturally with love. The solution to the challenge that Ms. Spiers presents is one that can only be resolved by truly understanding provenance of the products we consume. Often, supporting a local farmer means something more than an arbitrary mileage calculation. 

(Thanks to Hugh MacLeod for the cartoon. You should be reading his blog…http://gapingvoid.com/) 

I was lucky enough to have my wife, Sarah, accompany me on my most recent trip to France.  Below is the long, interesting email that she sent to family and friends about our adventures…

Hi again - this is a long one so only read if you have time…

Just finished the wine tour in France. It was again, amazing, like last time… different because now we know the people a little better but a true experience nonetheless.

More details to come when we return but an overall theme would be… It is interesting how much the philosophy  of working in the vineyards relates to everyday life and life in general. First, a little bit about the trip…

Went to Alsace to see Marc Tempe. Arrived and no one was home because of course we hadn’t told them the exact times of our arrival. Fortunately, a neighbour walked past us and came to our aid. She called Marc on his cell and also let us into their house. That night was spent similar to the first time we met them, in their garden, eating at a table next to a wood (or on this night), vine burning barbeque- Anthony was impressed. We had Marc and my choice meat - bbq’d pork. Delish…… and we also learned that Marc and I had something important in common - eating…. eating A LOT. :) We also found out that they are also expecting their first grandchild in August as well. More bootie knitting for Sarah…

The next day was a bit stressful - perhaps unbelievable but true. We woke up early (like every morning thus far) had some french croissants - they had bought fresh from the village, of course there were 6 on the plate because they think I’m a pig… We started with a trip in the vineyards. Anthony realized he wanted to collect soil from the vineyards so we were rationing the one plastic bag into several small parcels and it was becoming my job to tie them shut. Travel home will be interesting for him with soil - no comment… We did a tasting after the tour and he makes a ton of different wines so needless to say, a very large long tasting. Although, I shouldn’t say this, I think he makes some of my favorite in our entire team of wines. They are almost all white and are just unbelievably fruity and fresh with finesse and the perfect amount of sugar plus acidity… easy to drink which means incredibly complex (I’ve been learning a few things… or trying).

We had lunch at la domaine tempe and the grandmother made poulet avec les pommes frites - home made so again… Delish. The stress was the big decision on whether Marc would accompany us to Courbissac - his other winery that he manages and works. It is 5-6 hours south of Alsace and our original plan was that we would stop and visit with another vigneron along the way - Jean David in the Cote de Rhone region. Finally after Marc asking his wife to pack his suitcase for him and driving the poor wife crazy with his indecisiveness, we were off chez Jean David. He was driving - thank goodness and we spent a good 2-3 hrs on Anthony’s Farmstead questions. Ahhh…. the farmstead questions - all you need to know is that Anthony is doing his job well, but for his wife, it isn’t the easiest thing (even with a wine translation book) to translate for 2-3 hrs back and forth dans le francais on questions like "tell me the soil type for each of your parcels of vines" or questions about maceration or fermentation or trelassing or ph etc etc etc. Marc and I also bonded and I told him that I wanted to come back to Alsace to do a castle tour because there are some amazing small castles all over alsace and I have yet to see anything but vines. So - Amy, get ready, hopefully we can search out crevasses and corners.

We arrived at Jean David’s quite late - thank god Marc was driving because, like most of these places, it would have been impossible to find - for me. We met Jean David and his wife Martina.

Courbissac is beautiful - brand new renovated house because the man who provided a lot of the funding for Courbissac is a movie producer - German - but produced movies like Whalerider. So, we did a tour of the vineyards which are numerous and all over the place. We tasted the wines out of the barrels and off we went to dinner in a small town called Minerve. I will show you all the photos of this town because it was amazing. Ok, not easy to get to, mais quand meme - you should all go. Very very pretty. A town that stands on top of soil that has been eroded on both sides 2 rivers so it is now very high up above a canyon only reachable by walking bridge. We had dinner (good but service was lacking) and we returned home to drink more wine. We ended up staying up late and talking about the first topic that I mentioned in the opening. Instead of going into detail - I will only mention one point - Marc was discussing how now a days most people still use chemicals in the vineyards and if their vines are sick, they simply try to add more chemicals to treat them. I asked him " how is it possible that they don’t see that their vines are sick and dying and that your vines - the ones DIRECTLY next to theirs, are the perfect image of health?" He paused and said… "firstly, nowadays people have lost their ability to think (reflechir). They only do what they are told and they can’t think for themselves. Also, instead of thinking of just treating the vines when they are just sick, they forget to think of treating the vines BEFORE they even get sick. Once the vines are sick, like with humans, we just want to treat them with chemicals instead of thinking about what happened in their life before to make them this way and what we could have done to prevent this from happening." For me, it was a moment of awakening (ok - sounds cheesy I know) but really, to me it’s what I think as well about life and Western medicine to some degree. Anyway - I could go on but this is already too long and I am sure this is something that I will discuss with each of you when I return at some point.