NOTE: The Okanagan winery, Quails’ Gate Wines, was chosen as the winery to serve its wines at a dinner party attended by Will and Kate today. Here is the press release from Quails’ Gate Winery.
July 5, 2011 (Vancouver, BC) – Okanagan winery Quails’ Gate is honoured that its wines have been poured at a dinner attended by Will and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The event, which is hosted by Dechinta Bush University in the Northwest Territories on July 5, 2011, featured local food paired exclusively with five Quails’ Gate wines.
Having the visiting Duke and Duchess taste their wines is just the latest coup for the Okanagan winery. In the last three years, Quails’ Gate’s wines have been enjoyed by VIPs such as the Emperor and Empress of Japan, the Queen of England, US President Obama, and the President of Ireland. The distinction is a great measure of success for the small family owned and operated winery.
The Duke and Duchess had their turn to taste the wines when they attend a small, private dinner held on an island at Blachford Lake, 220 km east of Yellowknife. The event was presented by Dechinta Bush University, which is a land-based, university credited educational organization headed by northern leaders, experts, elders and professors. The Duke and Duchess spent the afternoon with students and elders, and then attended a feast featuring ingredients harvested from the surrounding area, including wild foods and foods from the university’s organic gardens and greenhouses.
The menu for the event was as follows:
Wild Rice Salad with Lightly-Grilled Arctic Char
2009 Stewart Family Reserve Chardonnay or 2010 Quails’ Gate Chenin Blanc
Fire-Roasted Caribou over Baby Greens with Tarragon Red Wine Reduction
2006 Stewart Family Reseve Pinot Noir
White Fish in a White Wine Dill Sauce with Baby Greens, Blueberries and a Blueberry Dressing
2010 Quails’ Gate Chenin Blanc
Roasted Moose Meat over Sweet Potato Pancake with Juniper Berry Sauce
2008 Quails’ Gate Old Vines Foch Reserve
5-Hour Herb Garlic Cheese Bun
Bannock made by Mary Louise Drygeese
Wild Fruit Fire Cobbler
2009 TBA Optima
Spruce-tip Infused Chocolate Pot de Crème with Wild Rose
2004 Fortified Vintage Foch
Gran’s Cinnamon Buns
2009 TBA Optima
Coal-Fired Espresso
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