Celebrating food and wine! How much better can it get?

It seems that we picked the absolute right time to be in the Similkameen Valley, Canada!

This weekend Keremeos proudly presented a Vineyard and BBQ competition called „The BBQ Kings“ (or alternatively „BBQ Queens“ how our host so nicely put it. :-))

The concept is simple: Each vineyard pares with a Chef. The Chefs all get the same ingredients and create a dish out of them. This year they got shortribs, shallots, zucchini, blueberry basil and apricots. The vineyard then chooses one of their wines to go with the dish. Then several judges as well as all of the guests try every combination and decide, which one they liked most.

The event took place at The Grist Mill and Gardens, which is an old flour mill in the midst of a park like area. Lots of tents were set up around the trees and flowers and at 5 pm the event started with a wine tasting, where all 10 wineries presented 3 or 4 of their wines. You got a glass and could go from one winery to the other, to try all wines and talk to the winemakers. Some appetizers (which we missed unfortunately - must have been too absorbed with all the wine around :-D), cheese and fresh bread were served to keep people from falling over.

At 6 pm the bridge over the little river was opened. We got cutlery, a napkin and a fancy plate, where you could hang in your glass, and were lead to a second garden. Around the lawn the chefs were grilling their dishes in tents and an incredible smell wafted out of every single tent. You would then go from one place to the other and try the chef's food creation accompanied by a glass of wine from the pairing winery. 10 vineyards, 10 Chefs, 10 dishes, 10 glasses of wine. What a delicious challenge…

What I really liked was, that everyone was friendly and easy going. We chatted with so many people while waiting in line, sitting or eating and shared many laughs. Behind the scenes, although competitors in normal life, everyone was helping each other and just tried to make the event an extraordinary experience for everyone. Well done, Similkameen Valley, this was really fantastic!!! <3