First Lady Gets A Little Fruity

  “It’s All About the Fruit ^TM” Competitive Grants to Promote Nutrition, Sustainability and Volunteerism

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 18, 2010 – Jamba Juice and the National Gardening Association (NGA) today announced a fun, easy way for schools and communities to support nutrition education through gardening and the planting of fruit trees. 

“WE Garden is all about bringing communities together to promote a stronger, healthier California,” said California’s First Lady Maria Shriver.  “This new partnership between Jamba Juice and the National Gardening Association will provide ongoing funding for school gardens and establish grants to plant fruit trees.  I applaud their work to support California’s WE Garden program and help take our message to schools across the nation.”

On average, gardening activity burns between 250 and 500 calories an hour.  For children, there's a great deal of research indicating that gardening also helps them achieve higher test scores; connect to the environment; develop social skills; and improve their attention, focus, and self-esteem.

Sip to Support A Garden^TM:  Schools and garden organizations that sign up and register for the Sip to Support A Garden program will have the ability to earn year-round funding for their gardens through Jamba’s Community Appreciation Card.  Participation is simple:  Sign up a school garden or organization on-line; the organization will receive a Jamba-Kit that includes swipe cards for supporters, program details and other information; Start swiping -- each time a supporter uses the swipe card for purchases at participating Jamba Juice locations, Jamba will donate 12% of the purchase to support gardens.  10% will be donated directly back to the garden organization and 2% will be donated to support school fruit tree grants administered by 

the NGA. 

 

Pictured in Photos: Maria Shriver and Jamba Juice President and CEO James D. White with student launch Jamba Juice Fruit Tree and Garden Program at State Capitol

Jamba Juice President & CEO James D. White with Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond, National Gardening Association CEO Mike Metallo with students from Sacramento schools receiving the first 5 $500 fruit tree grants from Jamba Juice  

It’s All About the Fruit^TM Grants:  Jamba Juice and the NGA are creating the It’s All About the Fruit competitive grants program where schools can apply and compete for $500 fruit tree planting grants to create long-term sustainable solutions and resources for schools and communities.  To kick off the grant program, Jamba and NGA announced that the first grants are being awarded to five schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District: Oak Ridge Elementary School, Bowling Green K-6 School, Leonardo Da Vinci K-8 School, Will C. Wood Middle School, and Rosa Parks Middle School.  Each school will receive a $500 It’s All About the Fruit grant to plant fruit trees on their school campuses.  Superintendent Jonathan Raymond was present at the Sacramento event to accept the grants along with students from the schools.  The first round of grant applications will be accepted in September 2010 with application requirements announced in July. 

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Fort Langley Weekend Afternoon

Summer is the season for exploration and discovery. Often this takes the form of travel and in our desire to see the world, we sometimes forget about what's in our backyard, or the special spots that lay just outside the main destinations.

Fort Langley is bejeweled with boutique wineries and artisan food shops and, what's more, it's a convenient outpost to Seattle, Vancouver, and even Tsawwassen when you're catching one of the BC Ferries to the Gulf Islands or Victoria.
Langley is one of those places where, when you do stop, you are pleasantly surprised by the quality you find and you can't help but reward yourself for being such a savvy traveler – perhaps with a chocolate from Euphoria Chocolates on Glover Rd. or maybe a sweet to accompany afternoon tea from Milsean Shoppe, specializing in traditional Irish sweets.
Planning a little bit ahead can give you a fuller experience. For example, Well Seasoned is both a gourmet food shop and cooking school so when you book in advance, you can spend your afternoon or early evening cooking up the fresh treasures you've found that day on your Farm Gate forage at, say Vista D'Oro Farms and Winery, JD Farms or Krause Berry Farms in Langley.
There's also The Seasonal Experience that offers cooking classes followed by professional wait staff serving you a tasting of the demonstration menu. Their classes are designed to “give you the restaurant experience with the added value of a cooking demonstration.”
On the calendar for June is the Langley Children's Festival and what better than to combine this with a few hours of strawberry picking and a stop at the B.C. Farm Museum?

May Day Parade
The parade on Monday, May 24 will commence at 11:00 AM and will start at Mavis and Glover.  The parade will proceed down Glover Road to 88 Avenue then west on 88th Avenue to Trattle and north on Trattle to the Community Park behind the Fine Arts School.

There are a good many choices for accommodations in the area, but keeping the kids in mind, they are sure to love the two-storey water slide into the heated pool that Langley's Super 8 Motel features. The hot tub, right next to the pool, is an easy place from which to keep your eyes on the kids while you relax away the day's stresses.

Waterslide at Super 8 Langley. Kids love it!

This Super 8 sits right next to a Tim Horton's but the kids might hardly even notice after they've filled up on the Motel's complimentary breakfast of fresh-made waffles, yogurt, fruit and orange juice.

Some of Langley's outstanding wineries include Township 7 Vineyard and Winery, Blackwood Lane Vineyards & Winery to mention only a couple.
If you seek a Zagat-rated Bistro attached to a winery, look no further. Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery's Bacchus Bistro fits the bill. Owners Claude and Inge Violet traversed the wine-growing regions of B.C. when they first migrated from France in the 70's. They chose Langley in which to grow their vineyards because Claude Violet, whose family has been making wine since 1644, found that the area mimicked weather conditions in Northern France. Domaine de Chaberton offers winery tours daily, weather permitting.
For a more complete list of Langley Goodies, contact Tourism Langley www.tourism-langley.ca

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The Wine Spies - Estancia Estate

Mission Codename: The Estancia Estate

Operative: Agent Red

Objective: Send Agent Red to Estancia Estate, one of Monterey County’s premier wineries, in order to secure an ample cache of their 2006 Reserve Meritage

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Estancia Estates

Wine Subject: 2006 Reserve Meritage

Winemaker: Scott Kelley

Backgrounder: Meritage (pronounce like ‘heritage’, no French style accent) wine, blends made in the tradition of the great wines of Bordeaux can only carry the name if the winery is a member of The Meritage Association based in Sonoma County. Most wines made in the US are varietal wines, comprised of over 75% of a single varietal. Unfortunately, this labeling requirement is believed to impair many winemakers from making exceptional blends, since they are often labeled as simply Red Table Wine with the noble grapes of Bordeaux. Thus in 1988 Meritage was born as a way to highlight the winemaker’s art of careful blending and crafting of wines in the tradition of some of Europe’s finest wines.

Today’s selection is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot and 8% Petite Verdot and is aged for 14 months in French and American oak, 40% new.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – This wine shows very dark red, with a darker garnet heart and a vibrant brighter rim of pure ruby. When swirled, the edges of the glass are coated and skinny wine-stained legs move quickly down the glass.

Smell – The bouquet is fruity and has lots of red berries and sweet oak shadings. Pronounced black cherry and cranberry lead the fruits. These are followed by soft chocolate and hints of sagebrush and anise.

Feel – Lush and smooth, but with a distinct Cabernet character that is clearly in charge here. Everything feels round and smooth with ripe soft tannins.

Taste – Loads of fruit and easy textures that showcase the red fruits, polished and easy, but with a real fruit forward style that Estancia is known for, with black cherry, raspberry, currant and plum layers.

Finish – The finish is full and rounded with nice length, with the Cabernet flavors staying on for a long time. The Petit Verdot leaves a pretty spicy element as well that lingers on and on.

Conclusion – Founded in 1986, by Augustin Huneeus, Estancia has been crafting great wines for years. Today’s wine reinforces Estancia’s history of offering clean and well made wines for a fair price. This wine shows all the pleasures that Paso Robles has to offer with lush fruit and easy tannins, making for a perfect wine for novices and wine lovers alike. This juicy Paso Meritage is truly a wine for everyone. Enjoy this wine on its own, or with hard cheeses, game or lamb.

Mission Report:

SUBJECT: Scott Kelley, Estancia

PLACE OF BIRTH: Salinas, CA

WINE EDUCATION: UC Davis

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: General Manager and Director of Wine Making-Estancia

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Estancia’s winemaking philosophy continues to be firmly rooted in terroir, with the goal of producing wines that reflect the unique vineyards and appellations in which they are cultivated.

SIGNATURE VARIETAL: Pinot Noir

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: Becoming GM and Director of Winemaking at Estancia.

WINEMAKER QUOTE: “It begins and ends in the Vineyard.”

WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Scott. We are thrilled to be showing your 2006 Estancia Reserve Meritage today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

SCOTT: Thank you very much. Always happy to chat with the Wine Spies!

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

SCOTT: I knew I wanted to do this since I was seventeen. I grew up in agriculture family and had an early interest in chemistry while in high school. I really found winemaking to be the perfect blend of agriculture and chemistry. My older brother was into viticulture as well, so that probably influenced my career direction a bit.

RED: And where did you learn the most about winemaking? SCOTT: Growing up I had a lot of varied interests, not just in oenology but also in food science, so I pursued studies in Fermentation Science at the University of California at Davis. In addition to winemaking, I also explored the principles and science behind distillation, food engineering and even a little cheese-making. Since my brother and I were experimenting with home brewing during the summers, I took the opportunity to study at Davis’ Institute of Brewing Studies, eventually earning a Master Brewers Certificate. After Davis, I joined the Carmel Brewing Company, and eventually assembled a brewpub in Monterey from the ground up, formulating the recipes and brewing all the beer that we would serve on tap. I had always enjoyed the engineering side of things such as fluid dynamics and heat transfer, and working in a small brewpub allowed me to be hands-on throughout the brewing process and use some of the mechanical skills I learned growing up.

Ultimately though, I found that brewing didn’t really fulfill my creative side, and I found myself gravitating back toward winemaking. In 2000, I joined the Robert Mondavi family of wines working on a variety of brands that took me from Australia to Italy. These experiences abroad really shaped my philosophy about wine and winemaking, my travels to Italy clarified the synergy between wine and food, while making wine in Australia introduced me to a new approach with a focus on the details and the idea that you only get one chance to make a wine great.

RED: What is your winemaking style or philosophy?

SCOTT: Winemaking fulfills my artistic side without giving up the innovative hands-on experience that keeps me in touch with my family’s roots in agriculture. I enjoy all of the challenges that each vintage presents in order to shape the style of wines we make at Estancia.. Our winemaking style is one that fully embraces the coastal terroir.

RED: Tell me, what makes the Monterey and the Central Coast region so special?

SCOTT: Born and raised in Monterey County, I have tremendous respect for the climate – the wind and fog and the impact it has on the fruit and wine. Whether it is using less oak in the Chardonnay to protect the tropical characters or fermenting Pinot Noir only in open-top fermenters to respect the silky tannins, I am really passionate about making estate-based wines that have truly have a reason for being.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today

SCOTT: Estancia Meritage is a sophisticated, rich, complex and luscious wine harvested from the distinctive terroir of our Keyes Canyon Ranch and the Paso Robles AVA.. The 2006 Meritage was a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 8% Petite Verdot. This wine has vibrant, dark black cherries with hints of anise, rosemary and sage. Accents of chocolate powder and soft oak. Intense flavors of chocolate dipped black fruit, accompanied by notes of sweet oak. Wonderfully structured ripe tannins lead to a nice long, fruit driven finish.

In 1999, Estancia planted its Keyes Canyon Ranch, covering nearly 700 acres of vineyards in appellation of Paso Robles. This unique appellation is home to more extreme temperature swings than any other wine-growing region in California. During the day, the vines bask in the warm sunshine and at night they are soothed by a cool marine layer from the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the infertile soils and rugged terrain of Keyes Canyon, encourages the vines to yield small fruit clusters with tiny berries packed full of rich berry tones.

The 2006 harvest was compact due to a wet spring, cooler than average summer, and then a record blast of heat at veraison. September 26th marked the beginning of harvest which continued through October 26th.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

SCOTT: I think this wine is very versatile, but it would marry particularly well with steak or nicely grilled rack of lamb.

RED: Please share one thing about yourself that few people know

SCOTT: When I am not making wine, my fiancée Dena and I try to find time to pursue one of our many hobbies. We golf, cook, hunt, scuba diving and we go fly fishing for Steelhead in Oregon.

RED: What is your favorite ‘everyday’ or table wine?

SCOTT: It’s tough to pick a “favorite” as it really depends on what time of year it is or what we might be enjoying for dinner. Pinot Noir is always a favorite, and I have to say that that the more we play around with the Grenache fruit that we have on some of our Estate properties the more excited I am getting about that varietal.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and about your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

SCOTT: Thanks, this has been a lot of fun. I hope everyone enjoys the Meritage…it’s one of my favorite wines to make each year.

Wine Spies Winery Check:

The location of the Estancia Winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

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Si Se Puede! White House Goes Mexican

Rick Bayless has been asked to prepare the elegantly balanced, many layered Mexican food for which he has become famous at the [White House State] dinner on May 19 that will honor President Felipe Calderón of Mexico.- NY Times, May 11, 2010

So why Bayless? and what's his relationship to Mole'?

Here's a couple of interesting things we dug up on Local Food afficianado, Chicago Chef Rick Bayless:

For six seasons, the critically acclaimed series Mexico – One Plate at a Time has brought to life the foods, the flavors, the stories and the fun of Mexico for public television viewers. In each episode, beloved chef,  and culinary adventurer, Rick Bayless, effortlessly tosses together cooking demonstrations, cultural musings, exotic locations, ideas for home entertaining and a generous helping of off-the-wall surprises to create a whole new kind of cooking show that mirrors the thrilling diversity and depth of Mexico. Now, Frontera Media Productions proudly announces Season 7— Mexico City Live!  *Editor's Note, this premiered September 2009

Mole' and Bayless

There’s a magical Mojo de Ajo sauce that’s culinary gold on everything from popcorn to pasta; a luxury guacamole bar that offers a whole new do-it-yourself way to entertain; an authentic, made-ahead Chicken in Mole for a crowd, and much more.

Rick's world-renowned restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, are where he and his chefs reinvent classic Mexican dishes in fresh new ways. He makes a signature sous-vide Carnitas and a dazzlingly decadent Pan-Seared Lobster with Truffles and Pata Negra Ham.

We hear that Topolobampo is a very popular Chicago eatery.  It's also Green!

Frontera Grill & Topolobampo awarded 3 Star Certification by Green Restaurant Association

"Rick Bayless has long been a supporter of The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op (GCRC.) As part of their "Guaranteed Green" program Frontera Grill and Topolobampo became certified as a Green operating restaurant. Using their transparent certification standards, the Green Restaurant Association assessed our food purchasing, waste management, energy use and efficiency, water conservation practices, cleaning chemicals, and more to determine how our environmental accomplishments measured up within their program." 

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Simpatico

Bravante Vineyards 2003 Howell Mountain Simpatico Meritage

•     *    Varietal: Meritage       *      Region: California: Howell Mountain (Napa)

SUPERIOR WINE ALERT
    Today’s wine is a fantastic Meritage blend that is so good that we issued this special alert. We only feature wines that we love, but issue these alerts when we spy a really stand out wine for you.

Current Winery: Bravante Vineyards

Wine Subject:  2003 Simpatico Meritage

Winemaker: Duane Dappen

Backgrounder: Today we return to Bravante Vineyard, a true sleeper hit among our Operatives.  Today, Agent Red returns from the Bravante library with a small handful of cases of their ultra-rare 2003 Simpatico Meritage, a fantastic wine that is layered and delicious.  Read Agent Red’s tasting notes, below. 

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:
Look – Deep mulberry or garnet, with a glinting rim of finest ruby. After swirling this wine, skinny wine-stained tears run slowly down the edge of the glass.

Smell – Bold cherry, blackberry, plum and bramble lead the way. These are accompanied by softer blueberry, roasted purple fig and a hint of soft eucalyptus.

Feel – Velvet entry, leading to a medium body. Soft minerality and fine grained tannins give way to a elegant dryness.

Taste – Sweet cherry juice yields quickly to darker flavors of blackberry, plum, tart boysenberry, cooked fig and soft oak, with hints of anise, cinnamon and pepper.

Finish – Long and elegant, with lingering black cherry and soft spice notes with a soft mineral dryness.

Conclusion – This is a serious wine with a elegance that makes it a sheer delight to imbibe. Deeply aromatic with balanced flavors on the palate that show off big dark fruit, tempered against bright red fruit and fine tannins.  This wine paired beautifully with grilled tri-tip and grilled artichokes, and we can’t wait to pair it up with stuffed peppers or pulled pork.  Enjoy this great wine now, or cellar some bottles for the next few years.
  
Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Duane. We are thrilled to be showing your 2006 Trio today. Thanks so much for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

DUANE:  You’re welcome.  I am excited to be working with you spies and I promise to not reveal your true names.

RED: We appreciate that! Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

DUANE: As I was growing up in El Dorado County, I worked with a friend’s father making home wine in their cave that was an abandoned gold mine.  I actually did a 4-H project of winemaking.  We entered our wines in the El Dorado County Fair and won ‘Best of Show’ for our Wild Blackberry wine.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

DUANE: I have worked with many winemakers and have influences from several, so there is not any to really single out. Working here in the Napa Valley for 25 years has allowed me to work with and try many wines.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

DUANE: I make it for the ladies.  Wine sales many times ultimately come down to whether chicks dig it or not?

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

DUANE: Our Simpatico is a blend of the best wines from the vintage.  I blend this to be rich and elegant, with good complexity.  The name is from the grapes and the owners being in simpatico

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

DUANE: I love this wine with a nice dry aged steak,  or a rich risotto with veal stock and some mushrooms.

RED: Yummy! In your opinion, what makes the Howell Mountain region so special?

DUANE: The Howell Mountain is a place where the soils and microclimate help produce grapes that have intensity and complexity.  They have great structure that works with the complexity to produce elegance.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

DUANE: I am racking the last vintage wines and preparing the  prior vintage blends for bottling later this year.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general? 

DUANE: They should get some good friends and loved ones have some of our tasty Howell Mountain wines and good food and enjoy themselves.  The main thing anyone needs to know about wine is what they like!
  
RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

DUANE: Come check out the new winery and enjoy the beautiful Howell Mountain countryside.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!
   
Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Bravante Vineyards winery can be seen in this satellite photo.

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Wine And Herbs

By: The Wine Ladies

With spring in full swing, this week we’ll explore how the fresh herbs from your garden can influence the perfect food and wine pairing. Our in studio guests from beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, will be our guides sampling select herb-inspired appetizers and wine combinations, courtesy of participating wineries at the “Wine and Herb Touring” weekends taking place throughout the month of May.

On today’s show Jana Bonifero with the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival who will lead us through the wonderful up and coming events that taking place in this stunning wine region as well as Executive Chef David Penny of Jackson-Triggs Vintners who is in charge of the food component bringing with him some wonderful fresh-herb inspired appetizers with wines to match.

And finally, navigating Niagara wine country whether on foot, on two wheels or four, Lance Patten, Proprietor of Niagara Wine Tours International will be with us to share a variety of tours to suit your every need.

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If you missed last week’s TV show not a problem, watch The Wine Ladies TV podcasts and archived shows on www.thatchannel.com/TheWineLadies from anywhere and anytime.
Today we explore the Languedoc, often referred to as the largest vineyard in the world, producing some of the best value wines out there, including a very hot wine that has just hit the LCBO here in Ontario. Introducing JUST Chardonnay and JUST Cabernet Sauvignon. Joining us in studio to tell us all about it, Tom Noitsis, President of Eurovintage Wines and Spirits. Also while discovering this fabulous region and sipping on these wonderful wines today, we will be working up an appetite as always as joining us too, sommelier and chef, as well as Director of Vintages for Eurovintage Wine and Spirits, Deana Folco Robles.
And until May 22nd when you purchase either a JUST Chardonnay or a JUST Cabernet Sauvignon at just $9.95 per bottle you will receive a bonus mini bottle of the other wine varietal just in case you want to try that too! It’s just that simple.

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Up-coming events in May not to be missed

Terroir Wine Celebration in Prince Edward County May 29th,2010
This year 5 new county wineries will open their doors, bringing the total number of wineries in the county to over 20. Come taste their wines first at Terroir, Sat. May 29, 2010 from Noon – 5:00pm.Wineries will be serving their own unique county-produced wines, featuring the new spring releases. Crystal Palace Fairgrounds, Picton, ON $20.00 pre-purchased ~ $25.00 at the door (cash only) Please note that attendance is restricted to those 19 years and over. Wheelchair accessible. Click here for Tickets.
Wine and Herb Weekends in Niagara-On-The-Lake, May 2010
Niagara-on-the-Lake’s casual spring celebration of great wine and fresh herbs! Spend a weekend in May exploring our neighbourhood of 22 wineries with your Wine & Herb touring pass. As you tour, each stop will feature a different herb-themed food pairing matched to a premium Niagara VQA wine selected to highlight the flavour and aroma of the herb. Your touring pass may be used any weekend in May. Touring pass $43.00. Passes can be purchased online at www.niagaraonthelake.com

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Queen's Wine, Made In New York

Queen’s Wine, New York (?!)

The Queens County Farm Museum  (http://www.queensfarm.org/) in New York is making and selling its own wine, which goes on sale this month. The AP’s Warren Levinson check’s out New York’s new brew.

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Chef Roland St. Pierre, Locals Restaurant

Chef Roland St. Pierre, Comox Valley

Chef Ronald St. Pierre, Locals' "Pride and Joy"

A stay in Comox Valley, Vancouver Island would feel black and white, gray even, without dining out at least one meal - if not daily - at Locals Restaurant in Courtenay. Where the colors of nature greet you at every turn, this is a Valley bursting with vibrancy. If there's one thing nature loves, it's color: The eye-popping yellows and purples of Spring flowers, the deep greens of leafy vegetables, the dark reds of vine-ripened tomatoes, even the fleshy pinks of fresh salmon.

Comox Valley's Pride And Joy

“Locals – Food From The Heart of the Island” is the pride and joy of Chef Ronald St. Pierre who, with his wife, have created a dining experience that represents the culinary best of Vancouver Island's Comox Valley. To walk through Locals' doors is like walking into an Island Chefs Collaborative Farmers Market turned restaurant.

The exterior is humble enough. In fact, the praises that were sung about the restaurant and Chef St. Pierre, his philosophy and his passion for fresh, local ingredients did not prepare me for finding the restaurant to be the cornerstone in a Courtenay strip mall. As a first-time visitor to the Island, at every turn I was struck by the quaintness and charm of old farms, wooden buildings, even Courtenay itself is a picturesque little town entirely walkable with cheerful cafes and shops that line 5^th Street, its downtown core and the center of Comox Valley. But now I know why people had failed to mention the restaurant's exterior – once you've eaten there, what's outside doesn't matter. The restaurant's interior is tastefully appointed, with a second room that has large booths for a private dining experience. But truly, the only thing you remember is how good the food is!

Chef Roland St. Pierre is a pioneer in translating “locavorism” into the driving philosophy behind a successful restaurant. Mind you, on Vancouver Island, locavorism is the common mind-set and to do otherwise is, well, frankly absurd. The Comox Valley especially is an abundant bread, fruit, cheese, meat and seafood basket. It could easily be named “Valley of Plenty” so abundant is all the fresh quality fare within arm's reach. The Locals' website explains their philosophy and reasoning, such as, "Buying habits are shifting with 'food currently tied with health as our 4th top spending priority.'” It's definitely worth reading if you at all consider yourself a foodie. Or a greenie.

So Chef Roland and his wife got to talking with local farmers and growers and saw what could be directly sourced for their table. They create their seasonal menus around the ingredients available. Pattison Farms, for example, supplies their fresh greens such as baby spinach, heirloom tomatoes and spicy mustard greens. Beaufort Vineyards supplies them with wine, as do other local vineyards like Chase & Warren Estate Winery and Cabrea Vineyard & Winery as well as the many vineyards just a bit south in the Cowichan Valley.

As part decoration and as part tribute, Chef St. Pierre hangs his walls with portraits of the farm-to-table suppliers he sources his fresh, local ingredients from. If you are keen to do a tour of the Valley's prime growers for ingredients ranging from pork to duck, tomatoes to broccoli florets, goat cheese to mussels to ancient method balsamic vinegars, take a look at Locals' walls, jot down the names and then work your way down the “wall.” With this itinerary, curated by Locals' Restaurateurs Chef and Mrs. St. Pierre, you are guaranteed to enjoy a thoroughly fresh and authentic introduction to some of the Island's star growers and local farmers.

Local's Market Sheet Menu

The price points are also exceedingly reasonable. More often than not Locals' has a Prix-Fixe or Market Sheet menu to order from. Depending on the season, for $35 you can have a seared duck “prosciutto” appetizer, a main-course of Bison (or fresh caught salmon) and a medley of desserts including fresh off-the-farm raspberry mousse. Or you can order a' la carte from the menu. Either way, you'll leave exceedingly, freshly satisfied.

Reservations suggested.  384 8th Street  Courtenay, BC Canada Reservations 250-338-6493

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Grapes, Wine And Climate Change

From The Climate Desk / Apr. 26, 2010/ Grapes Of Wrath

How much trouble does climate change mean for agriculture? Just ask the wine industry.

By Mark Hertsgaard

JOHN WILLIAMS has been making wine in California's Napa Valley for nearly 30 years, and he farms so ecologically that his peers call him Mr. Green. But if you ask him how climate change will affect Napa's world famous wines, he gets irritated, almost insulted. "You know, I've been getting that question a lot recently, and I feel we need to keep this issue in perspective," he told me. "When I hear about global warming in the news, I hear that it's going to melt the Arctic, inundate coastal cities, displace millions and millions of people, spread tropical diseases and bring lots of other horrible effects. Then I get calls from wine writers and all they want to know is, 'How is the character of cabernet sauvignon going to change under global warming?' I worry about global warming, but I worry about it at the humanity scale, not the vineyard scale."

Williams is the founder of Frog's Leap, one of the most ecologically minded wineries in Napa and, for that matter, the world. Electricity for the operation comes from 1,000 solar panels erected along the Merlot vines; the heating and cooling are supplied by a geothermal system that taps into the earth's heat. The vineyards are 100 percent organic and—most radical of all, considering Napa's dry summers—there is no irrigation.

Yet despite his environmental fervor, Williams dismisses questions about preparing Frog's Leap for the impacts of climate change. "We have no idea what effects global warming will have on the conditions that affect Napa Valley wines, so to prepare for those changes seems to me to be whistling past the cemetery," he says, a note of irritation in his voice. "All I know is, there are things I can do to stop, or at least slow down, global warming, and those are things I should do."

Williams has a point about keeping things in perspective. At a time when climate change is already making it harder for people in Bangladesh to find enough drinking water, it seems callous to fret about what might happen to premium wines. But there is much more to the question of wine and climate change than the character of pinot noir. Because wine grapes are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature, the industry amounts to an early-warning system for problems that all food crops—and all industries—will confront as global warming intensifies. In vino veritas, the Romans said: In wine there is truth. The truth now is that the earth's climate is changing much faster than the wine business, and virtually every other business on earth, is preparing for.

All crops need favorable climates, but few are as vulnerable to temperature and other extremes as wine grapes. "There is a fifteenfold difference in the price of cabernet sauvignon grapes that are grown in Napa Valley and cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in Fresno" in California's hot Central Valley, says Kim Cahill, a consultant to the Napa Valley Vintners' Association. "Cab grapes grown in Napa sold [in 2006] for $4,100 a ton. In Fresno the price was $260 a ton. The difference in average temperature between Napa and Fresno was 5 degrees Fahrenheit."

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Organic Farming In Africa

Organic Farming can help feed Africa's population

Organic Farming In Africa

By ■ Stephanie Dearing

[Re-posted from Digital Journal]

Nairobi - The 'green' revolution is underway in Africa, meeting widespread support from farmers and consumers. Unlike the biotech green revolution envisioned by many, this one is environmentally friendly.

This green revolution is a return to more natural methods of cultivation, with a preference for organic techniques. A recent Food and Climate Change workshop hosted by Media21 in Nairobi brought renewed attention to Africa's organic movement. The theme of the workshop, held April 12th to 16th, was How will Africa feed her Children? Convened just for journalists, the workshop aimed to train journalists on sustainable food systems and nutrition. Research presented at the workshop stressed the importance of small-hold farmers in filling Africa's food needs. Some African nations see organic agriculture as a method that will open up new global markets. The United Nations sees organic food production as a way for Africa to feed itself while creating more valuable agricultural products, saying it is

"... a sustainable and environmentally friendly production system that offers African and other developing countries a wide range of economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits."

Most African farmers are subsistence farmers, barely able to produce enough food for their own needs. To be successful, agricultural production in Africa has make it past a large number of hurdles, such as pests, soil health, lack of access to good seed, and climate change. Biotech crops have been touted as the next green revolution for Africa, but the fact that the first green revolution failed Africa for more than a few years demonstrates the major weakness of relying on biotech to provide the solutions to Africa's hunger problems. Still, some people, like Bill Gates insist that biotech can enhance food security in Africa.

“We have to develop crops that can grow in a drought; that can survive in a flood; that can resist pests and disease. We need higher yields on the same land in harsher weather. And we will never get it without a continuous and urgent science-based search to increase productivity.”

Mozambique was one of the first countries to take up idea of implementing the biotech green revolution. Although the country implemented a plan to use biotech to reduce the need for imported food, supporters have cautioned

“This is a program that will take 10 years, 20 years to bear fruit.”

Proponents of the biotech green revolution say the new agriculture can save Africans from hunger and provide income for farmers through increased productivity. However, world grain production is higher than ever, thanks largely to biotechnology, but there are still massive numbers of people experiencing hunger in Africa. The difficulties facing successful agricultural production in Africa are multiple, and the answers will never be simple. that said, organic production techniques, combined with traditional growing methods are resulting in some notable increases in yield, proving natural green farming is just as promising as biotech. One outstanding organic success stories is that of Tigray, Ethiopia; a story that highlights the importance of diversity in the success of agricultural practices for the continent. The ten year experiment in Tigray not only reversed damaged soil, crop yields were increased through the practice of composting.

A recent programme offered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization and Germany saw 5,000 small scale African farmers receive guidance on growing organically, as well as other training and supports, ultimately resulting in many of those farmers able to sell their organic crops on international markets. The Food and Agriculture Organization anticipates that international markets for fair trade and organic food products will increase by at least 5% over the next three years, and the industry reflects that confidence, saying it expects slower, but steady growth into the near future. There are approximately 800 million Africans suffering from hunger, a statistic that translates to 1 in every 3 people lacking food.

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