A sucker for a good gala

I’m always a sucker for a gala, so when Open Road Audi invited me to preview their 2009 cars last Thursday via a wine tasting, I was in.

What I wasn’t expecting was the full-on Hollywood star treatment that I and the other 500+ guests received: 14 different courses of a tasing meal with wines to match, a 3-location, 2-storey circus performance, plus young men painted to match Audi’s new line, writhing to a great DJ atop sales desks. All this was topped off with personalised chocolate desserts being prepared by the charming Thomas Haas himself to the oohs and aahs of women queued up for a bite.
The standout surprise of the evening, however, was the wine pairing for the main course from Blue Water Café.  A delicate miso-glazed sablefish with a vegetable misto was prepared on the Audi sales floor, while a representative from Prospect Winery  offered up two wines to try with the meal.

Both wines were light and fruity, and paired well with the subtle flavours of the fish. The Pinot Grigio was crisp and redolent of citrus, which matched well with the miso. The finish was clean and, while the wine was not oaked or sweet, it presented a resounding richness that reflected the buttery sablefish. The slightly lighter-tasting Pinot Blanc had a backdrop of pineapple that was also an elegant companion to the fish. But the award-winning  Pinot Grigio, with its ending notes of vanilla and pear, was my hands-down favourite of the seven different BC wines I tried that evening.

Although I spend a lot of time in the Okanagan Valley trying out new wines, I hadn’t stumbled upon Prospect Winery until this event. I’ve since found out that it’s an offshoot of the venerable Mission Hill family, and it’s winning accolades worldwide. I’m sure that its prices will soon rise to match but I’m glad for the introduction. I only wish I had won Audi’s door prize of 52 bottles – one for each week of the year.

This is a guest postfrom the fantastic Lisa Thomas-Tench. She writes regularly at the Kommonwealth blog and you can find her always entertaining Twitter stream here. She’s also the photographer of the l