Eagle Ranch Golf Resort held its first in a series of wine tasting and food events on February 26. Guests packed the showcase room, where they were treated to a selection of over 14 hors d’oeuvres and 13 wines from B.C. wineries.
“This is the first of a series of wine events,” said Spencer Buck, assistant clubhouse manager at Eagle Ranch. “We’re going to go into almost a tour around the world; for this one it’s focusing on B.C. wineries. It’s kind of a tour around B.C. wineries, showcasing some wines that generally some people wouldn’t be able to have or try, so it’s giving them the opportunity to do that.”
The hors d’oeuvres selection was created by Marc LeBlanc, Eagle Ranch chef, through collaboration with the sommelier, Lynn Sorenson from WineMates present at the event.
“I chatted with the sommelier, and the two of us went along the same path,” said LeBlanc about the dishes for the evening. “I wanted to bring out a lot of flavours and different textures, so people can say ‘Oh I’ve never really had this with this wine’, because people always associate white wine with fish and stuff like that, but what we would like to do tonight is have a bunch of different things with the wine.”
The goal of a food and wine mix is to enhance the flavour of the wine and the food itself. Guest reviews at the event, whether seated and eating with friends, or roaming around the display room and centerpiece table, confirmed successful mixtures with positive feedback.
A butler-style service was in effect, with hosts and hostesses offering dishes to guests and explaining what they were, and what wine they may have been best suited for. LeBlanc also had a live station, where guests could watch him cook.
“We’re also going to have food and dishes at my station, so I can interact with the guests as well, so if they have any questions I can talk about it,” said LeBlanc. “It is a learning experience for myself as well. There were times when I and the sommelier would just be chatting about rosé and sparklings, and that you could have it with anything, it’s sort of like the ‘safe’ wine to have. I’m getting educated as well.”
“B.C. wineries in the last five to 10 years have really made an impact on the world wine scene, and the wines we are having tonight are spectacular and really, really good,” said LeBlanc. “And it might entice people to travel throughout B.C. as well, so if they have a glass of Desert Hills they may say, ‘Whereabouts is that?’ and maybe they’ll go to that destination. It’s good for all aspects then.The wine makers are really, really good. They’re really structured at these wineries. They’re back to the old traditional, like when they’re doing the Bordeaux style wines, they’ve studied in Bordeaux for 10 years, so when they say you’re getting a Bordeaux style you are getting it rather than a faux-Bordeaux.”
“We’re wanting to have these events throughout the whole year, but it gets a little tricky during the golfing season just because of the golfing traffic,” said Buck. “But we’re going to try to do a series with different wines. European, French, Spanish, then we’re going to do Australian and New Zealand, and South American, then we’re going to wrap up with American.”
Eagle Ranch is hoping to have their next wine tasting night in August or September, at the end of the golfing season.