Foxtrot Winemaker Gustav Allander and Boulevard Chef Alex Chen and his team after their big wine at Gold Medal Plates Victoria
Foxtrot Vineyards and Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar swept the podium at Gold Medal Plates in Victoria. The 2012 Foxtrot Vineyards Henricsson Vineyard Pinot Noir took Best Wine of show and Boulevard’s Chef Alex Chen won for best dish. The dish was a warm local heritage “Head to Tail” pork terrine with chestnuts, foie gras, truffles and Umami jus. Paired with our Pinot Noir, the pairing was described as “near perfect” and a favourite of the Gold Medal Plates Attendees. Judge David Lawrason remarked “The gorgeously appointed Foxtrot Vineyards 2012 Henricsson Vineyard Pinot Noir placed in the top two of all five judges, sporting wonderful cherry fragrance beautifully integrated with oak accents. On top of which it showed great depth of flavour. It stole the thunder in a very strong line-up of wines.”
The 2012 Foxtrot Vineyards Henricsson Vineyard Pinot Noir (formerly Erickson vineyard) were the last grapes to be harvested while the Vineyard was still under the ownership of Arnold Erickson. Originally planted by “Arnie” in 1990 his hard work in the vineyard during the 2012 vintage gave Foxtrot’s winemaker Gustav Allander beautiful fruit to work with in the cellar. The finished wine beautifully shows off the vineyards stony terroir with great acidity and expression of bright red fruits. It was these qualities that paired so beautifully with the earthy richness of Chef Alex Chen’s dish.
The “Head to tail” pork dish was five months in the making with Chef Alex Chen first contacting Foxtrot’s winemaker Gustav Allander in late June with his preliminary idea for the dish. Gustav then travelled to Vancouver to meet with Chef and his culinary team to sample the dish and choose the best Foxtrot wine for the pairing. Initially it was thought the the Foxtrot Vineyard Pinot Noir would be the consensus choice for the dish. The flavours however were too similar to those found in the dish and it was decided that the Henricsson Vineyard Pinot Noir provided a better contrast to the dish. Leading up to the Gold Medal Plates Chef Alex Chen continued to fine tune the dish and in the end all the hard work paid off.
Foxtrot Winemaker Gustav Allander said of the experience “Working with Chef Alex Chen and his team at Boulevard was a pleasure. Chef Alex put in a tremendous amount of work, dedication and attention to detail into his dish leaving nothing to chance. It reminded me of our philosophy at Foxtrot where we work tirelessly throughout the year in both our vineyards and cellar to create the best wines possible. It was this attention to detail and pride in our work that brought both of us the win.”
Chef Alex will now be representing British Columbia at the Canadian Culinary Championships in Kelowna this February. The Foxtrot Family wishes him all the success and hopes for another big win by him.