Talented chefs and cooks, dedicated growers and foragers, vineyardists and winemakers have begun to define a home grown wine country gastronomy in the Okanagan valley, cooking by the mantra that good cooks in Italy and France have always understood: what grows together goes together.
What is wine country cooking? You need great wine and people who understand how to make it sing with food. You require a profound understanding of flavours that suit the up-front aromatics and vibrant fruit of Okanagan wine. A view is nice — of vines, or lakes and mountains from a serene terrace, but a well-designed urban space can be just as rewarding. Throw in some local brew and hand made-ciders because it takes a lot of beer to make good wine and good food.
Most of all, you need cooks who want to use the food grown next door, or from across the vines; and growers ready to work with them.
It’s clear that these chefs have close, long-term business relationships with their suppliers, they know them well. Some have their own hands in the dirt as much as they are behind the stoves, and no one is averse to opening the kitchen door to the mushroom man.
Kelowna and Lake Country
- Willi Franz, Chef/Owner, Grapevine Restaurant at Gray Monk Estate Winery
- Rod Butters, Chef/Owner RauDZ Regional Table
- Roger Sleiman, Executive Chef Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate
- Matthew Batey, Executive Winery Chef, Mission Hill Winery
- Bernard Casavant, Executive Chef, Manteo Resort
Central Okanagan/Penticton
- Darin Paterson, Chef/Owner Bogner’s of Penticton and The Pecking Room, Red Rooster Winery
- Dana Ewart and Cameron Smith, Chef/Owners, Joy Road Catering
- Chris Remington, Executive Chef Hooded Merganser, Penticton Lakeside Resort
South Okanagan
- Jeff Van Geest, Executive Chef Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards
- Natasha Schooten, Chef Terrafina at Hester Creek Winery
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By Mary Bailey.
Mary Bailey is the editor of The Tomato and teaches Wine Spirit Education Trust courses in Edmonton.