Anthony Gismondi: B.C. wine for the week of Sept. 1, a bottle to cellar and calendar items

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There is still time to summer like an Italian and take a culinary journey through the regions of Italy without leaving town.

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Kitchen Table Restaurants’ Summer Like An Italian passport program runs until Sept. 21. Grab a passport at any of the eight participating restaurants and cafès — Ask For Luigi, Bacaro, Carlino, Di Beppe, Farina a Legna, Giovane Caffè, Motoretta, and Pizzeria Farina — to use as a  guide and collect stamps with each featured dish ordered.

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For more information, menu highlights, and a chance to win over $1,000 in gift card prizes, visit ktrestaurants.com.

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Ruby Blues Winery has a new winemaker. Graham Pierce has joined the Naramata boutique producer bringing some 25 years of Okanagan experience with him.

Pierce spent 10 years at Black Hills Estate Winery and, more recently, Kitsch. In Kelowna.

The Mahrer family says they will be working closely with Pierce to develop a “new tier of small-batch, super-premium wine that will become the future flagship labels at Ruby Blues.”

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B.C. wine of the week

Phantom Creek Estates Pinot Gris 2019, Okanagan Falls, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada

$27.99 I 92/100

UPC: 696852012508

Winemaker Olivier Humbrecht has ventured outside his beloved Alsace appellation to make a Pinot Gris in British Columbia at Phantom Creek. And the humble, legendary winemaker and biodynamic guru are knocking it out of the park. While he patiently waits for the cold, windy, rocky vineyard he has planted in the Similkameen Valley to come to life, he works his magic with purchased fruit. Like Olivier, there aren’t a lot of showy edges to this wine, but its tight, tart fruit, spiked with savoury sagebrush, is complex and persistent from front to back. It is a wine for thinkers and what I like to term ‘wine drinkers.’ An Alsace look-alike, with a touch of wild B.C. Stock up — you can age this one too.

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Wine for the cellar 

Hillside Merlot Hidden Valley Vineyard 2018, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada 

$40 I 92/100

UPC: 00626990115533

The Hidden Valley Vineyard is hidden but not far from the winery: it is tucked into the upper hillside just south of the winery off the main road. This is first-class Merlot from start to finish. The nose is so fragrant and inviting, drawing you toward the glass with its savoury red fruit and mineral notes. It presents layers of flavours shared equally in black and red fruit on the palate. It is warm, rich, and plummy with glossy satin tannins on the long, rich palate, seasoned with tobacco and mint — more Euro than New World, or maybe just mid-valley Naramata Bench. Stock up; the price is right, and this will age effortlessly. Great value too.