Anthony Gismondi: B.C. wine for the week of Aug. 4, a bottle to cellar and calendar items

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The Chefs’ Table Society of B.C. and the B.C. Salmon Marketing Council are holding an outdoor evening event to celebrate iconic wild B.C. salmon, our fishers and chefs.

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The date is on Saturday, Aug. 27, and guests will graze through eight food stations while enjoying B.C. wines and beer at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf in Vancouver to celebrate the premium, sustainable seafood that is wild B.C. salmon. During the event, you will interact with some of B.C.’s most talented chefs and learn how they prepare dishes featuring sockeye salmon.

Tickets at Eventbrite are $75 per person (plus tax and service fee) and include eight salmon dishes, samples of B.C. wines and beers, and a confection to end the night. In addition, guests will be entertained by the Don Hardy Quartet.

There is growing interest among wine consumers to explore the notion of sustainability in the vineyard and the wine they drink.

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Farm to Glass Wine Tours connects that crowd with small estate wineries that focus on organic, biodynamic, regenerative and sustainable farming practices. In addition, and of particular interest to parents and guardians, they offer a safe and fun way to explore wine country with one to two children. For more info, go to farmtoglasswinetours.ca/.

B.C. wine of the week

Unsworth Vineyards Pinot Gris Saison Vineyards 2020, Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada 

$26 I 92/100

UPC: 626990320340

Unsworth has worked with Saison Vineyard Pinot Gris since 2010, and its performance has inspired the winery to produce a single vineyard label, and we are all the better for it. The Saison effect is its delicacy. It is primarily fermented in stainless steel with a minor amount of neutral French oak (10 per cent) to take on the rush of minerality. The style is electric with a silky leesy undercurrent to keep it running through the palate. A perfectly chiselled clean finish with a lingering scent of the sea. Impressive. Back up the truck if you love real wine. The regional soils are volcanic in origin, layered with marine sediments and gravel carved and deposited by glaciers. Today, clay-loam grounds lay on top of this gravelly base that sits between the 48th and 50th parallel, only a few kilometres from the current-day ocean long receded from the landscape.

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Wine for the cellar

Bramare Malbec 2019, Luján de Cuyo, Northern Region, Mendoza, Argentina 

$55.99 I 92/100

UPC: 812884010118

From high up in Luján de Cuyo, this malbec grows near 1 000 metres. The rich, full-bodied Malbec shows some of Paul Hobbs’s influence. With a touch of tobacco, blackberries and cherries coat the palate with just enough acidity to keep it fresh for the next sip. It was 18 months in French oak barriques that were one-quarter new. A classic drink now red you can serve with lamb or a T-bone steak for those who love the hedonistic style, or one you can hold for another four to six years and serve fully mature.