Tripping ThroughTofino

Add a little fog and a bit of wind and you have a great day for tasting or storm watching. Last week I found myself in Tofino amid the rain and fog and wind and I couldn't wait to do some tasting that included wine and several stops at some highly touted local hotspots.

It's hardly high season in Tofino which only adds to its charm. Quarter-filled ferries, half-deserted resorts and empty beaches can be as alluring as a sunny day and even that came to pass during a long walk on Long Beach. We set up at a comfortable, off the beach, cottage (I thought they were cabins in the West) at Long Beach Lodge. The service was friendly and genuine and impressively professional. Dining in the Great Room was a treat. I had the best prepared piece of sable fish I can ever remember as part of a seared duo of local sablefish and Fraser Valley pork belly and herb and goat cheese gnocchi.

My dinner wine picks from the Northwest were Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2009 sold in private stores and restaurants and the widely available CedarCreek Merlot 2007.

At first glance the Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2009 label looks like a bad Jackie Chan movie - was there ever a good one - but when you taste the wine it's a black belt. The nose is a fresh mix of floral, mineral and pear scents. On the palate the acidity you hope for arrives to freshen up the lime, wet-stone and just off-dry apricot/tangerine flavours. Perfect for spicy dishes, appetizers or serve solo on the deck before dinner.

The CedarCreek Estate Merlot 2007 has improved quite a bit in bottle since last April. Fading coffee, chocolate and oak has reveals more black cherry, tobacco, sausage meat and black olive aromas. The entry is still linear but with a bit more fruit. The finish is dry but softening up, especially with food. It was perfect with steak.

Up the road at the toney Wickaninnish Inn a Saturday-night tasting menu revealed the depth and strength of this restaurant perched on the edge of the Pacific. With the surf endlessly pounding the shore I enjoyed a leisurely dinner under the direction of chef Nicholas Nutting. We sipped South Africa's best white wine Eben Sadie's Palladius (you can only buy it in private wine stores or restaurants) with samplers of dashi braised octopus, Dungeness crab perogies, squid and side stripe shrimp and roasted Tofino halibut with Qualicum scallops. It is serious food prepared in an unfussy manner and served in an equally relaxed style. Kudos to chef Nutting and sous chef Jason Dobbie.

The main courses included two superb dishes Fraser Canyon rabbit three ways and beef tenderloin and barley crusted sweetbreads. My wine pick was a delicious bottle of Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel 2007 - a 71/22/7 blend of zinfandel/petite syrah/carignane. Forget about the zinfandel category, this is the real thing. The palate is fresh with some youthful, gritty tannin and plenty of blackberries, black raspberry jam, peppery, vanilla, flavours. Good fruit and finesse. It is best served with grilled meats.

In the town of Tofino I really enjoyed my stop at the Spotted Bear Bistro. The neat, 26-seat, eatery in the winter expands modestly with a summer patio, but the star is the food: near/local, sophisticated and charming. The wine list is affordable. I loved the pulled pork stroganoff, the ling cod and a killer onion tarte by chef owner Vincent Fraissange. Two super wine bargains Three Winds Syrah and the Paul Mas Viognier topped off the evening.

It was fun to catch up with the Three Winds Syrah 2008 six months down the road from its victory at the Wine Access International Value Wine Awards. It's beginning to spread its wings a bit with bottle age revealing a mix of peppery, meaty, juicy black cherry and liquorice flavours. Still a delicious syrah at a great price.

Varietal viognier remains a struggle for retailers but not because of the Paul Mas Viognier 2008. Jean Claude Mas blends viognier fruit from cool and warm sites using young and old vines and the result is an aromatic, peachy, floral nose with a creamy, lees character. Very serious value here. A small percentage is barrel fermented in new oak but the bulk is only touched by stainless steel tanks to retain maximum freshness and finesse.

My final stop was Shelter Restaurant and Lounge. The funky downtown Tofino spot is a cross between a Margaret River surfer/hippy/ wine geek eatery and a Whistler bar. The portions are generous, but fitting if you have been surfing all day. Given it is January the Shelter salad is superb as is the seafood chowder but my favourite was the yellow Thai curry with Gallo mussels, manila clams, wild salmon, local shrimp, and banana leaf steamed basmati & wild rice. We sipped on a delicious Jean-Marc Brocard 2008 Chablis St Claire reviewed last weekend on these pages and an equally quaffable Saint Cosme 2008 Côtes du Rhone.

The wine list red crowd pleaser is the Clos de los Siete 2007. The Valle de Uco malbec cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend is as easy going as the atmosphere in Shelter. It is also as dark. Surfers must have keen eyesight and clearly a love of round, dry, smooth red wine full of black cherry and plum fruit. I have a feeling this list will remain interesting.