BC Business
Ask an OenophileThe Expert: Milly Sinclair, wine director at Salt Spring Island’s Hastings House
The Dish: Dungeness crab cake with garden greens and wasabi aioli: three-course menu, $65; four-course menu, $80
The Pairing: Garry Oaks Prism, 2008, $40
There are some excellent wines produced here on Salt Spring that pair beautifully with many of our locally sourced menu items. And as our menu revolves around what is fresh, in season and local, it was important for me to complement this dish with a local winery as well.
I’ve chosen a wine from Garry Oaks Winery, their 2008 Prism, to pair with the Dungeness crab cake. The fresh coastal flavours of the wine are a perfect match with the freshly caught Salt Spring Island crab. This aromatic blend of estate-grown Gewürztraminer blended with a touch of Chardonnay is fermented dry, producing crisp acidity and lovely tropical fruit, lime and ginger notes on the palate – a perfect foil to the sweetness of the crab and spicy wasabi aioli.
The well-drained, seven-acre vineyard sits above the valley floor, soaking up the sun and enjoying the mild ocean breezes that moderate the temperature, protecting the vines from frosts early and late in the season. Since the first vintage in 2001, Garry Oaks wines have been routinely winning Canadian and international awards, the 2008 Prism winning a silver medal at the NorthWest Wine Summit.
To me this wine is a wonderful expression of our island fruit and the passionate winemaking and grape-growing skills that produce it. l