By Sherani Theophilus, Times Chronicle
The Pig Out Festival Guest Chef Dinner was held amidst the beautiful vineyards of Kismet Estate Winery on May 2. Beginning in the garden, surrounded by vines displaying the anxiously awaited bud-break, guests were served Indian street-style appetizers while sipping wine.
A multi-course feast of sprouted lentil salad, masala pulled pork naan, and chicken and saffron egg biryani was served family style. Wine pairings were pulled from the cellars of Kismet, River Stone Estate Winery, and Domaine Artema Winery.
The myth that wines do not pair well with Indian food was put to rest, as the dishes were spiced delicately and layered in a way that balanced well with the wines.
Neelam Dhaliwal is the manager of Kismet Estate Winery, which operates Manzil, a South Asian restaurant which hosted the dinner. “We’ve tried to do a couple of things that still showcase the spicy flavour, it can be complicated to do.”
A real treat was having Anju Bedi, a highly trained sitarist brought from Vancouver, performing all evening as the proverbial icing on the cake or in this case, the syrup on the gulab jamun.
Sherani Theophilus photo
Each of the three winemakers spoke to the guests, sharing the story of their wineries and the actual wines being served. Ted Kane, owner and winemaker at Riverstone Estate Winery, spoke of trying a Malbec Rosé in France in 2004 and experimenting with that grape here. He said the season is “off to a great start.”
Kane noted that bud break has never failed to happen in the last 14 years he has been involved in the industry, except for last year. “We were super excited to see it happening this year. It came on as it normally does, right around the 20th of April, right on time,” he said.
Domaine Artema opened a year ago, taking over an existing winery. Stefanie Dylla, winemaker, spoke of their focus on Chardonnay and Gamay grapes. “Unfortunately, we did have to pull out some vines, now we are freeing up space for what we want to focus on, some sparkling, rose and gamay.”
Manpreet Dhaliwal (Neelam’s sister) has become known for being Canada’s only South Asian female winemaker. Kismet is a family-run entity. Her father and brother emigrated to Canada as farmers and started growing grapes for established wineries.
Sherani Theophilus photos
“Today, we are actually one of the largest independent farmers in the Okanagan Valley. We have 68 vineyards from the border all the way to West Kelowna. We keep about ten per cent of the crops for Kismet.”
“I took over winemaking in 2023, after learning about the process in previous years. In September, I released my first wine, and that actually won a double-gold medal at the All Canadian Wine Championships.” The 2023 Kismer Pinot Grigio was made unconventionally, lighter and with a slight effervescence.
Neelam brought out the culinary team with their newest addition, Bena Dheensaw, who has come from her previous role at My Shanti by Vikram Vij to manage Manzil. “She creates the concept, and the team executes all the flavour profiles. We are so fortunate to have her. ”
This article was first published in print in the Times Chronicle weekly newspaper.
