Strawberries and rhubarb grow all over British Columbia, make great jam for pretty gifts, and are very popular in pies. I love pie. When I lived in England pie was a rare treat. I discovered blueberry pie on the dessert list at a pub once and I got very excited. What a surprise, a taste of my west coast childhood! Perhaps pie is a peculiarly North American dessert. My daughter’s school even raised money with a pie sale recently. To my surprise, ‘apple’ was the biggest seller, but strawberry-rhubarb didn’t do too badly either.
During my wine-tasting experience at Westham Island Winery strawberry-rhubarb was one of the flavours on offer, so I had to try it, just to be patriotic to my provincial heritage. Strawberry-rhubarb is so B.C. I could have stared at my glass for a long time, so pretty was the colour. A floral or fruity wine charm at its base would have been displayed here to good effect. Slightly darker than a rosé, its shade really advertised the fruit inside. Or vegetable. What is rhubarb anyway?
The smell of strawberry overwhelmed the rhubarb, but not in a sickly way. This was a mellow wine rated 1.5, medium sweet, and only 11.5%. A quick taste revealed mostly strawberry, but not when I let the liquid sit on my tongue for a little while. Rhubarb emerged in a tangy undertone to support the sweetness of its partner. Of all the wines I tasted that afternoon at Westham Island, this was my favourite. The whole experience of this glass made me wish for spring, my small patch of strawberries bearing fruit. Autumn was all around me with its pumpkins and Halloween decorations and I knew we would be heading back to the much colder, soon-to-be-snowy Interior. Oh well, there’s always pie to keep up our spirits.
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