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Table scraps

The winemaker dinner symphony

Dreams do come true: I can now attend my favourite Cornucopia event every night of the festival, with winemaker dinners hosted Thursday, Nov. 8 to Sunday, Nov. 11 in restaurants around Whistler.

The magical evening is orchestrated like a symphony, with all components coming masterfully together to create one harmonious experience.

Restaurateurs conduct this symphony and wines are the stars of the evening. Executive chefs create a set-course menu designed to highlight the wines. A different wine is paired with each course — in some cases, two to three wines accompany a course.

The effect is mesmerizing. A diner can let himself or herself simply be carried away in the orchestration with all menu and pairing decisions left to the masters themselves. They are both audience — as winemakers talk about each of the wines — and participant, as they taste what was explained and how that taste is altered when combining the wine with the food in front of them.

My winemaker dinner experience in F major (as “major-ly” fabulous) will begin on festival opening night at the Elements winemaker dinner showcasing the Penticton wines of Pentage Winery. Like the tapas parlour, Pentage Winery is an intimate affair. The boutique winery is nestled on 23 acres overlooking Skaha Lake in Penticton and is owned and operated by a husband and wife team. Menu highlights from this trendy hideaway, voted Whistler’s Best Tapas Bar in 2006 and Best New Restaurant in 2005, include venison carpaccio, chorizo seafood cioppino and seared duck breast.

Araxi, as always, hosts the Beethoven of dining experiences with a winemaker dinner celebrating the 25th anniversary of Kendall-Jackson. The California winery, which grew from a pear farm to the 12,000-acre vineyard estate it is today, will pull both critically acclaimed labels and rare vintages from their private cellars for this momentous affair.

Executive chef James Walt has quite the challenge ahead of him to capture the subtle nuances of these award-winning wines while at the same time showcasing the equally pristine ingredients of Pemberton Valley Farms and the Pacific Ocean.

Winemaster Randy Ullum from Kendall-Jackson will introduce the wines for each course. Highlights include 2000 Stature Cabernet Sauvignon – Napa Valley; 2004 Highland Estates Cabernet Sauvignon "Hawkeye Mountain" – Alexander Mountain, Sonoma County; and 2003 Highland Estates Syrah "Alisos Hills" – Los Alamos, Santa Barbara.

We will have to wait until the evening itself to discover what creations lay before us, but with the fine dining room voted Best Restaurant in Whistler by Vancouver Magazine for eight consecutive years, diners are in safe hands.

There are no individual international wineries showcased at winemaker dinners this year, although many restaurants have partnered with wine merchants for some worldly flavour.

The winemaker dinner roster is significantly smaller this year. Longtime participant The Bearfoot Bistro closes its doors altogether for the festival and Quattro and Hy’s will only be open for regular dinner service. Some restaurants were upset with Crush expanding to two nights this year, shuffling the majority of winemaker dinners to the Sunday evening.

With seminars all day, after parties and tastings throughout the weekend, it’s hoped guests will pace themselves to make it to the Sunday night winemaker dinner showing.

Other winemaker dinner hosts for the festival include The Mountain Club and best of the northwest, Fifty Two 80 Bistro with DeLille Cellars, Apres with Albert Bichot, Cinnamon Bear Bar and Grille with See Ya Later Ranch, Ric’s Grille with Quail’s Gate and the Fairmont Chateau with Long Shadow.

The winemaker dinner experience is at the heart of Whistler’s biggest food and wine festival. The event unites the talents of chefs, winemakers, staff and restaurants to make one of the most musical dining experiences of the year.

For more information, visit whistlercornucopia.com.

 

A new cooking class without the cooking

Chef Eric Rivkin lives by the words of Hippocrates: “Let food be your medicine, and medicine your food.”

And his medicine doesn’t include an oven, stove top or toaster oven.

The author and educator believes in a diet of raw food — the next step beyond vegan. Rivkin will educate students on the popular health movement at a cooking class called RawFood Expressions on Sunday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Alpine Chalet Inn in Whistler.

For nine years, the Minneapolis chef has “cooked up” raw food health secrets and tips that he says will help students lose weight, sleep well, gain energy, clear the mind, and save money and the environment.

The afternoon class includes discussion about the raw food philosophy, cooking instruction, a full meal and a recipe manual. Recipes for the class include spicy Indian rawsmati rice, tater salad with lemon dill dressing, orange ginger gelato and gone gorilla smoothie.

Rivkin studied the science-guided principles of raw food at the Living Light Culinary Institute nine years ago. Since then, he has taught at health spas, restaurants, retreats, elementary/high schools, seniors centres and in Third-World countries.

He also founded the Viva La Raw Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to worldwide livefoods education, support, nutrition research and planet-healthy adventures. He also wrote To Live For!, which opens the book on 250 live-food recipes.

The three-hour class is $65 per person or $120 per couple.

To register, call Ellen Atkin at 778-552-1299.

 

Study in style with hotel stay and food seminar

Ever wonder what the secret is behind the Fairmont’s delicate finger sandwiches served as part of their afternoon tea service?

Here is your chance as students to study in style at a new sleep and seminar package called the Mountain Mix Up for October and November at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

The package includes one night’s accommodation as well as the choice of one of five seminars covering everything from wine to sweets.

Seminars include Pair Like A Pro, Wild About Mushrooms, Say Cheese, After Dinner Delights and Afternoon Tea, Whistler Style.

The package is $159 with a special rate for locals.

To book, call 1-800-606-8244.

 

Already a sold-out search

Hopefully you were one of the organized 120 patrons who bought their tickets early to the now sold-out Whistler Search and Rescue Society’s eighth annual dinner and auction fundraiser Wine’d Up on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Dusty’s.

Chef Bernard Casavant returns as the host chef for the evening welcoming other executive chefs from the resort, including Vincent Stufano from the Fairmont, Scott Dolbee from the Four Seasons, Grant Cousar from Whistler Cooks Catering, and Steve Bjormark from Whistler-Blackcomb.

Each chef will design one of the five courses, which will be paired with fine wines donated from wineries around B.C.

The dinner raises $30,000 for the Whistler Search and Rescue Team, a volunteer-run organization that helps people in distress in mountainous or difficult terrain, promotes public education on wilderness safety and assists municipal agencies in search, rescue and communications during civil emergencies.