Quick Note of Thanks to Larry Stein re Vancouver

[kirk wallace]

Larry, based as I recall on the advise of Cory C., sent me to Salt Tasting Room in Blood Alley in Vancouver (Gastown). great place, super fund and sweet staff. Thank you Larry (and Cory).

I tried a few wines there and 3 BC wines were worth drinking again:
Van Westen -- 2008 (or was it 09?) "Vivacious"- a pinot gris-pinot blanc blend; nice balance, sappy without being shrill.

Joie Farm -- 2009 pinot/gamay rose -- I'd drink this any warm afternoon, and in fact pretty much anytime it was in reach. (Later at the Irish Heather, another YVR eatery, with same ownership as Salt, i had the Joie Farm 2009 Riesling, which was also perfectly good; very much in the Boxler vein.)

Orofino pinot noir 2008 -- like a decent marsannay i thought

I see I also scribbled a note to avoid Pentage gamay. It was a heavy, monolithic, unpleasant glass of wine.

Finally, there is a guy named Jake (according to the interwebz, last name is Skakun) who apparently worked for a short time at Terroir (SF) who now runs the wine program at a newish Gastown resto called
L'Abattoir.

If you find yourself in Vancouver, go have dinner at his restaurant. The food is excellent, sort of David Chang gutsyness with Pacific Northwest ingredients and style. The wine list is fun, in a town where it is really hard to find a good list because of the provincial liquor board's control over all wine purchases. I enjoyed (immensely) the '09 Tissot Poulsard VV sans soufre ajoute -- happily we had time to let it sit in the decanter about 30 minutes before diving in. Serious cocktail mixing going on too.

 

[fillay]

I was in the Okanagan for a week in July and stayed just down the road from the Van Westen farm. Their reds were disappointing but the Vivacious and a pinot gris were very attractive. We also drank a lot of Joie while we there - their "Noble Blend" edelzwicker is particularly tasty.

I didn't have the chance to try the Pentage gamay, but an '04 meritage was perfectly fine. For gamay, I think Blue Mountain are the standard-bearers in the valley. They're one of the few producers working with wild yeast.

 

[mlawton]

We loved the Salt Tasting room as well, we went there for lunch earlier this summer. We particularly the cured meats from Oyama Sausage Co. We liked them so much that we made a quick dash across town to Granville to pick up a bunch of samples. Their Duck Proscuitto was fantastic. Really fantastic. I have never tasted such diversity and quality across the board from any US producer. Too bad they aren't imported.

 

[kirk wallace]

originally posted by mlawton:
We loved the Salt Tasting room as well, we went there for lunch earlier this summer. We particularly the cured meats from Oyama Sausage Co. We liked them so much that we made a quick dash across town to Granville to pick up a bunch of samples. Their Duck Proscuitto was fantastic. Really fantastic. I have never tasted such diversity and quality across the board from any US producer. Too bad they aren't imported.

Agree. Oyama totally rocked.

 

[Larry Stein]

Kirk, you're welcome!

Even though Sandi and I were in Vancouver for only 4 days with a lot of dining choices, we didn't at all hesitate in going to Salt a second time.

 

[Dan McQ]

I visited Salt last weekend with several friends while in town for a conference. We were relegated to the Salt Cellar, which turned out to be great for people watching as they were having a birthday party. I got along just fine with our server/sommelier and asked her to pair wines, preferably local, with my food orders. The shaved fennel / comte salad went swimmingly with a Brokenwood Semillon '08 (Hunter Valley, Australia) that had grass and lemon on the nose coupled with plenty of acidity. My tasting plate coupled Ash Camembert with local Bosc pear slices and a Tantalus Riesling '08 (Okanagan Valley, BC) that started out bitter on the nose and palate but fleshed out into nice apple and citrus, again with great acidity. Next up was Oyama Rosette de Lyon accompanied by Piccalilli relish (spicy!) and Pentge Ros '08 (another Okanagan Valley wine), a gamay with cherry and cranberry notes and a dry finish (I avoided the regular gamay based on the original note above). Finally, Iberico paired with Guinness Mustard and Nichol Vineyard Syrah '08 (Naramata, BC) - dark fruit with a northern Rhone bent. Both meats were a great contrast, the Iberico was fantastic. Dessert was a pairing of blue cheese cheesecake (graham craker crust and apricot topping) and De Bortili Noble One Botrytis Semillon '06 (NSW, Australia) - the cheesecake was fabulous; the semillon was very sweet but not overly so and had apricot and honey flavors that echoed those of the cheesecake and brought out the understated blue cheese in the cheesecake, good acidity despite being quite sweet and viscous.

Cellphone picture of the wine and meat storage chamber in the Salt Cellar (the left window reflects everything out of view along the right wall).

Sadly no free time to get over to Oyama Sausage Company. Next visit.