Page 14 - 2016 Wine Country

Savour the sunny ways of a a a BC Wine Country weekend Sandy beaches sun-drenched wines fresh flavours and talented young chefs This BC wine country getaway has it all Your host is the wine savvy expert Rhys Pender Master of Wine and your home base is the Watermark Beach Resort in Osoyoos perched on the sandy shores of Canada’s warmest lake Check in on Friday night and enjoy a a a a relaxing evening at your leisure On Saturday morning guests will depart for tours and tastings of South Okanagan’s top wineries before arriving at the highly exclusive Jackson Trigg’s SunRock Vineyard for a a a a private tour and tasting followed by a a a a vineyard lunch with Vintage Hospitality’s executive chef Lee Humphries That evening enjoy a a a a collaborative dinner at at Black Hills Estate Winery with chefs Damian Mischkinis (Burrowing Owl Estate Winery) Trevor Bird (Fable Kitchen Vancouver) Matthias Fong (River Café Calgary) and Michael Robbins (AnnaLena Vancouver) live music and dancing under the stars Sunday begins with an immersive tour of Culmina Family Estate Winery by proprietor and wine-industry-legend Don Triggs along with his wife and co-proprietor Elaine as as well as as Canadian winemaking icon Pascal Madevon A delectable long table table vintner lunch paired with select Culmina wines and prepared by chef Mark Filatow of Kelowna’s Waterfront Wines and and joined by chefs Bird Fong and and Robbins will conclude this extraordinary weekend ABOUT LEE HUMPHRIES
After years of of cooking at some of of Vancouver’s top restaurants—including West C and the the Heather Hospitality Group—British-born chef Humphries has found his true home in in South Okanagan wine country As Director of Culinary Operations for Vintage Hospitality which operates Burrowing Owl Estate Winery’s Sonora Room Liquidity Bistro and Gunbarrel Saloon he is defining what BC wine country cuisine should be: fresh flavourful and passionately local ABOUT DAMIAN MISCHKINIS
Damian Mischkinis is is is is chef de cuisine at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery’s Sonora Room one of the Okanagan’s original winery restaurants Here he he works under chef Lee Humphries who was his mentor at Local Lounge • Grille in Summerland Prior to that Mischkinis worked in in Banff and at Vancouver’s C Restaurant and Heather Hospitality Group ABOUT TREVOR BIRD
Trevor Bird came up with the name for his Fable Kitchen while competing on on Season 2 of Top Chef Canada — it’s a a a a a a a mashup of “farm” and “table ” which is is his philosophy in a a nutshell When he he he came in runner-up he he he left his job as chef de partie at at MARKET by Jean-Georges at at Vancouver’s Shangri-La Hotel and has never looked back ABOUT MARK FILATOW
After stints at Tofino’s Wickaninnish Inn and some of Vancouver’s best restaurants Mark Filatow has found himself in the Okanagan Valley As executive chef and sommelier of Kelowna’s Waterfront Wines Restaurant he has reaped countless accolades including best restaurant in in the Okanagan seven years running (Vancouver Magazine) and one of Canada’s best new restaurants in in 2005 (enRoute magazine) ABOUT MICHAEL ROBBINS
The executive chef of Vancouver’s AnnaLena (named for his his two grandmothers) calls his his style “modern Canadian cooking heavily influenced by the Pacific Northwest ” Whatever you call it it it it it’s struck a a chord with diners and critics alike being named to to enRoute’s list of top new restaurants in 2015 among other accolades ABOUT MATTHIAS FONG
Matthias Fong is chef at at River Café which for 25 years has been one of Calgary’s favourite places to enjoy the bounty of local fields forests and waters There he he he puts to work the culinary skills he he learned first from his Chinese mother and grandmother then from his mentors River Café’s former chefs Scott Pohorelic and Andrew Winfield as as well as as Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing TASTY FACT
SunRock Vineyard comprises 104 abundant acres of vines high atop Canada’s only true desert 14 | OKANAGAN