By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
In stark contrast to last year’s rain-drenched event, the 15th annual Pig Out Festival held on Saturday saw blazing sunshine to match the sizzle of the barbecues and popping of the wine corks.
The festival that celebrates all things pork (plus a dash of beef and even chicken this year), along with some of the very best wines of our locale, saw nearly 600 people descend on the spacious greenery of the Cellar Door & More.
The event featured unlimited bites from local and guest chefs, live-fire cooking and butcher demonstrations, wine pairings and live music.
Don Urquhart photo
Jennifer Busmann, executive director of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country (OOWC), the organizer of the event, expressed delight on Saturday morning as the sun shone, and the first-ever VIP event (which starts one hour earlier than the general admission) was in full swing.
“We’re super excited,” she beamed. “This is our 15th Pig Out and the third year that we’ve done it here at Cellar Door and More.”
This year Busman highlighted the addition of a VIP component, which for a small premium on the ticket price VIP guests could indulge in tasting at a handful of wineries and take in a demonstration by BC’s best butcher and also Ronnie Healy from the world butcher team. A blind tasting also enabled participants to enter a prize draw.
Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country (OOWC) photo
Demonstrations continued on through the afternoon and this year was unique as Busmann noted OOWC teamed up with BC Meats for BC Families, North Vancouver’s Two Rivers Meats and Fraser Valley Special Poultry which supplied all the protein that was cooked on Saturday.
In total there were 24 wineries, 13 culinary stations, and two butcher and barbecue stations. This year also featured two breweries (Penticton’s Highway 97 Brewing Co. and Giant’s Head Brewing from Summerland) who showcased not their beverages, but their culinary finesse as part of the culinary stations.
And in a shout-out to Oliver’s Cask and Keg event coming up in late summer the popular beer stein holding contest was held at the event with Chef Ian Stilborn from Wards Wine Country Kitchen winning the Chef Stein Holding Competition.
Don Urquhart photo
Guests also voted for their favourite bite, with Giants Head Brewing taking first place in the People’s Choice Award and Wards Wine Country Kitchen named runner-up.
The weekend opened with a sold-out Guest Chef Dinner held on the patio at Nk’Mip Cellars, with sweeping views over Osoyoos Lake complementing the culinary creations of Chef Shawn Cheer who hosted guest Chef Javier Blanc of Vancouver’s Casa Molina. The collaborative dishes were paired with wines from Culmina Family Estate Winery and Nk’Mip Cellars.
The sold-out Guest Chef Dinner held on the patio at Nk’Mip Cellars on Friday evening.
Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country (OOWC) photo
Busmann also highlighted that the 18th annual Half Corked Marathon is only a few weeks away (weekend of May 28-31) and like the Pig Out, new additions are spicing up the annual event. This year will see the weekend kicked off with a “tailgate party” at Lakeside Cellars in Osoyoos, in a bid to grow the breadth of the event as Busmann notes more people are arriving earlier.
“We saw a lot more people arrive in-market last year on the Thursday so we’re excited to do this and we’re going to have wine being poured from actual tailgates. It will include food trucks and entertainment and “fun that’s open to anybody.” The event will be ticketed at $31.50 per person with Busmann emphasizing it’s open to anybody, not simply Half Corked participants.
Oliver Ambassadors lending the Paella Guys a hand.
Don Urquhart photo
The Primavera Party has been dropped this year, and instead the night-before the race party will be a “Block Party” held amongst the vines (vine blocks) at Nostalgia Wines featuring a progressive evening of food and wine through the block.
And race day will follow the typical pattern with a huge party at the finish line (open to all). This year’s theme is “Super Heroes”. The running portion of the weekend is sold out.
For more information visit oliverosoyoos.com/half-corked-marathon .
