Taste: Victoria’s Festival of Food and Wine

The first inaugural Taste, Victoria’s Festival of Food and Wine, took place a couple weeks ago at the revamped jewel of a venue known as the Crystal Garden. I attended the main tasting event of this four day festival while vacationing on Vancouver Island recently and I can’t help but reminisce what an excellent day it was touring BC’s capital and exploring some of the great new products being created in our province.

My friend and I arrived in Victoria after a scenic drive from the Cowichan Valley where we stayed at one of the most beautiful bed and breakfast inns I have ever seen, the Villa Marco Polo Inn.

Centrally located in the Rockland neighborhood, just a few minutes from downtown, this Italian renaissance mansion with its surrounding classical European gardens and luxurious antique furnishings was a brilliant change from the typical ‘ultra modern’ accommodations I have become accustomed to.

Keeping with the sophisticated traveler theme, my partner and I decided to go for drinks at the legendary Bengal Lounge in the Fairmont Empress Hotel. We thought it would be prudent to prime our systems first with a couple of cocktails before entering the food and drink arena and engaging in the inevitable and joyous red-lining of our palates.

The grand lounge has an exotic colonial atmosphere, complete with a large tiger skin hanging on the wall. The room, inspired by Queen Victoria’s role as the Empress of India, is well-known for it’s curry buffet and signature martini list. That day the patrons were a menage of European, Asian, and American tourists, along with another food journalist with the same great idea of launching into the Taste event next door from this most excellent bar.

I decided to order my favourite classic cocktail, the Sidecar (twice) and Mr. Tim Pawsey (a.k.a The Hired Belly), the other journalist sitting next to me stuck with his usual pint while we talked shop until time.

Now on to the show! For anyone who hasn’t been inside the Crystal Garden, this is one of Victoria’s most beautiful and historic buildings. Originally designed as a swimming pool and amusement centre by Canadian Pacific Railway in 1925, the structure is a marvel of steel and glass construction from a bygone era.

After falling into disrepair over several memorable decades of use, the building was eventually closed down by the city in the 1970’s where it sat vacant for many years and only after a concentrated effort by a Victoria city councillor named Sam Bawlf, later the Provincial Minister of Recreation and Conservation, did the building open again under new Provincial ownership.

After a $2.75 million dollar revitalization, the building was re-opened as a conservation centre and botanical garden for rare animals. After two more decades of use, the building again began to decline and was closed for the second time in 2004 due to a fading interest in the garden and a lack of reliable funding.

In 2006, at a cost of over $5 million dollars, the 81 year old heritage building was structurally upgraded and the glass roof replaced. The new tennant was the attraction called the ‘BC Experience‘, an ill-conceived project which lasted only three months before declaring bankruptcy. Eventually, the City of Victoria regained ownership of the building where it is now used as an extension to the Victoria Conference Centre located next door.

The main event of Taste was an exhibition of over 60 different vendors from around the province promoting their wares.

Immediately looking for something refreshing, I was very quickly drawn to two of Vancouver Island’s family owned cider producers, Merridale Ciderworks on Cobble Hill and Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse in Saanichton. Drawing on traditional styles and high-quality estate grown apples, both of these artisan cider makers have been working hard to bring this once popular drink back to some of its former glory after alcohol prohibition (1914-1921) virtually extinguised the industry during the first world war.^ Sea Cider’s Bruce Jordan.

Once refreshed, I grabbed a few delicious bites from Spinnaker’s Gastro Brewpub and cranked up the ABV, going straight for the spirits. First up was Victoria Spirits, a premium small-batch producer of gin in Victoria. The distiller, Peter Hunt, uses a wood-fired copper potstill to produce a full-bodied and complex spirit, which gingerly works to balance the flavours of 10 natural and wild-gathered botanicals with local spring water. At roughly $50 a bottle, this gin is not cheap, but after winning a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition recently, combined with the owner Bryan Murray’s mandate to produce the “best-tasting gin in the world”, many people have begun to take notice.

Next, I visited with John Grayson of Island Spirits from Hornby Island, makers of Phrog premium vodka and gin ($50), who told me about their discovery of what causes hangovers. (Too much alcohol, perhaps?) According to their research, it is the is trace amounts of Propanol, Isopentanol, Methyl Butanol and Iso Butanol. Luckily, they have a way of removing the offending compounds. The result? A highly refined and great tasting product definitely worth checking out.

Of course, there was also a lot of great wine being poured from all over BC at the festival too. There was Lastella and Le Vieux Pin from the South Okanagan, Morning Bay Vineyards from Pender Island, and Alderlea Vineyards from the Cowichan Valley to name just a few representing the diversity of regions on display.

From what I saw and experienced, the first Taste, Victoria’s Festival of Food and Wine was a well-executed success and I hope to be invited again next year for another celebration and further exploration of BC’s exciting and continually evolving food and beverage culture. ~ PK