One of the highlights of attending Whistler Cornucopia 2017 was attending the Island Flavours Winery Dinner at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler. The dinner showcased Vancouver Island’s emerging wine regions paired with local ingredients in an intimate gathering in the private dining room of Fairmont Chateau Whistler’s Grill Room. Here’s a recap of the dinner.
To start, we had a Salmon Gravlax with compressed cucumber and seaweed salad, smoked oyster cream, and salmon caviar. This was paired with a Sheringham Distillery Gin.
The second course was a Scotched Hen Egg with truffled cauliflower puree, wagyu beef “Lardo” and shaved truffled paired with Vigneti Zanatta Brut Tradizionale.
I loved the gooey egg-yolkness of the Scotched Hen Egg.
The Alderlea Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc was paired with a Grilled Humboldt Squid which had arugula and pumpkin seed pistou, roasted pumpkin, and lemon caper brown butter.
The fourth course was the Preserved Spiced Cherry Glazed Venison with potato gnocchi, grilled oyster mushrooms, Broccolini, and hunter jus. This was paired with the Averill Creek Vineyard Somenos Pinot Noir.
For dessert, we had a Mini Sweet Bites and Cheese plate with blackberry macaron, 71% Dark Chocolate-Yuzu bonbon blue cheese, raisin bread crostini with fireweed jelly. The pairing was a Saltspring Vineyards Blackberry Port.
Whistler Cornucopia is happening Nov 8 – 18, 2018. For more information, visit www.whistlercornucopia.com.