Vancouver, BC hosts one of the largest consumer wine festivals in North America, The Vancouver International Wine Festival, aka Van Winefest.

So, it’s the perfect place for opportunities to meet wine makers and taste some incredible wines from around the world.

And every year, I do just that – taste and taste and taste. I also attend some of the seminars they offer to the trade and regular folk to learn about styles of wine, vineyards around the world and even up and coming trends in wine. But it’s not everyday that I get a chance to sit down and eat dinner with one of the wine makers. So, when this opportunity presented itself, I said YES!

The dinner which was called ‘Fog & Fahrenheit’ took place at a local Vancouver restaurant called Black + Blue, where 6 courses were served alongside 6 Rodney Strong wines from California. It is one of the best ways to understand a wine and the food – when you pair them together. You sip, you take a bite and that brings out this, this brings out that, you begin an inner dialogue of whats happening bite after bite, sip after sip.

But when the winemaker is sitting right across from you at the table, the conversation is all-encompassing. Rick Sayre, the winemaker at Rodney Strong Vineyards has been with the winery for 38 years…

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