A Gold Medal for Orofino at the Canadian Culinary Championships

Last weekend saw Kelowna host the Gold medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships and what a terrific food and wine event it was! The Gold Medal Plates is a fundraising series of regional culinary competitions that results in a national championship. Winning chefs from 9 different regions across the country battled head to head to see who would win the gold, silver and bronze medals for top chef in the country! For all of the event details including some beautiful photos of some extraordinary plates of food visit http://www.goldmedalplates.com/ccc.html#release2012. Proceeds for these events go towards funding of Olympic athletes.

The big news from our point of view was that our 2009 Syrah was judged as best wine of the weekend topping 29 other wines from across the country! It was quite an honour to recieve the gold medal  as it was judged by some of the best palates in the country. A party broke out after the news broke and lasted until the wee hours of the morning! We'd like to congratulate Murray and Maggie Fonteyne of Scout Vineyards for their terrific work in growing these grapes for us! First crop people!!!! It sure bodes well for future vintages! This is our second win at the Gold Medal Plates as our 2009 Riesling won top wine of the night in the Saskatchewan regional competition held last October.

I should note that the Similkameen wineries Association rocked the VIP reception before the big Gala Dinner as the 8 wineries all poured our best wines for over 300 people showcasing all that we can do. It is a pleasure for Virginia and I to be able to work alongside such great people.