Whether you're playing host or are simply looking for that perfect bottle of wine to give as a gift, it helps to know about wine characteristics and how to match to your food. Here are some hints to make your choices easier. Check out these suggestions and find the match you like best.
CHARDONNAY
Flavour: Apple, baked apple, pear, lemon-lime, pineapple, tropical fruit. If barrel fermented and /or oak aged, also butter, butterscotch, toast, fig, vanilla, hazelnut, nutmeg, clove.
Intensity: Restrained to assertive
Texture: Firm and crisp if stainless-steel fermented; round, full-bodied if oak treated
Sweetness: Dry
Chardonnay's rich elegance find its match in foods that are equally stylish. Bolder examples show especially well with strongly herbed dishes, while more restrained versions shine in the company of luxurious cream and butter sauces and mellow, earthy flavours such as mustard and mushrooms.
PINOT GRIS
Flavour: Dried apricot, vanilla, almond, spice, smoke
Intensity: Assertive
Texture: Medium to full-bodied, firm, mouth filling.
Sweetness: Dry
Proving to be a brilliant performer in Canada, the best examples of Pinot Gris are distinctive, complex and incomparably appealing. Vinified with or without oak, bone-dry and well structured, they're a match for elegant Canadian and Inter-Continental cuisines including fresh B.C. salmon.
SAUVIGNON BLANC
Flavour: Grass, herbs, gooseberry, sometimes smoky, blackcurrant, melon
Intensity: Moderate to assertive, distinctive aromatics
Texture: Light to medium-bodied, usually crisp
Sweetness: Dry
Sauvignon Blanc is crisp, refreshing, high-acid wine for summer sipping, on its own or as an aperitif. It is excellent with shellfish or light, subtle dishes, in its oak-aged versions, with richer fare.
GEWURZTRAMINER
Flavour: Clove, rose, grapefruit, fruit salad; drier styles also mineral, earth, pepper and citrus. Over ripe fruit can produce aromas of fatty bacon
Intensity: Highly aromatic, assertive
Texture: Medium-light to full bodied, lively
Sweetness: Dry to semi-sweet
Gewürztraminer is one of our more popular varietals, and for good reason; it is intense with exotic aromas and flavours. Ideally suited to spicy cuisines from China to Thailand to India and stands up well to salsas and the grilled or barbecued flavours of contemporary North American cuisines.
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