One of our most popular events of the year was held at Mark Taylor's CRU Restaurant in Vancouver, where Chef Alana Peckham paired her delicious cuisine with the wines of South Africa. We filled the boutique restaurant as we enjoyed our canapés with a glass of Graham Back Brut sparkling wine, a delicious blend of pinot noir and chardonnay, before sitting down for dinner.
Our first course was a Baked Goat Cheese Flan with fresh fennel, citrus salad and crispy fried capers paired with a very quaffable 2009 Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc followed by Pan Seared Local Salmon with creamed curried leeks and cilantro crushed Yukon Gold potatoes, an incredible combination paired beautifully with a very fine 2008 Bellingham Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc.
The Crispy Braised Pork Belly was accompanied by caramelized onions, dried cherry and apple chutney, and roasted garlic foam with a sturdy 2009 Porcupine Ridge Syrah and a 2006 Bellingham Dragon's Lair red blend. For our main course, we enjoyed Oven Roasted Lamb Loin with sauté of organic faro, kalamatas, eggplant, zucchini and oven dried tomatoes and grainy Dijon jus with a 2005 Glen Carlou Tortoise Hill and a 2007 Alto Cabernet Sauvignon.
Warm Apple Spice Cake with caramel sauce and vanilla bean sour cream mousse provided a delicious sweet finish to our meal, followed by a tot of KWV Paarl Five Star Brandy.
We thank Mark Taylor and Chef Alana Peckham and their teams for excellent food and service and especially thank Wines of South Africa and member Dana Harris for their kind assistance in organizing such an excellent evening. Thanks also, to Dana for her comments on the wines, and to member Bob Rothwell for his insightful accolade.
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