GOLD MEDAL PLATES

Things are about to heat up in Vancouver as the city’s best chefs compete at the Gold Medal Plates Culinary Competition, a gala events to support Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The event will be held Wednesday, November 14 at The Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, 1601 Bayshore Drive. The winning chef will then represent Vancouver at the Canadian Culinary Championships to be held in Toronto in February 2008 over an intense three-day national competition that brings together the winning chefs from each of the participating seven cities.

Gold Medal Plates pairs competing chefs with an Olympic or Paralympic athlete to create their ultimate dish in a challenge of timing, quality and best wine pairing. Each chef’s dish will be rated by a panel of judges, as the attending guests enjoy the creations paired with wines.

The following chefs will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals:

Javier Alarco – Hyatt Regency Vancouver
Robert Belcham – Fuel
Melissa Craig - Bearfoot Bistro, Whistler
Kevin Doucette - The Westin Bayshore
Rob Feenie - Independent
David Hawksworth - West
Scott Jaeger - The Pear Tree
Jay Lynn - Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa
Dale MacKay - Lumiere
Lee Parsons - Wedgewood
Stefan Pimenta - Le Gavroche
Pino Posteraro - Cioppino's
Nico Schuermans – Chambar

Robert Clark of C Restaurant and 2006 Winner of the Vancouver competition will be a guest judge and inducted into the Gold Medal Plates Hall of Fame at the event.

For a complete listing of competing chefs and their respective restaurants in each city visit goldmedalplates.com. To enquire about corporate tables and event tickets for the Vancouver Gold Medal Plates event contact Eileen Bistrisky or Kim Noseworthy at 604-736-6933.

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CELEBRATING 25 YEARS, SELECT WINE MERCHANTS UNVEILS NEW LOOK AND LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE.
(Edited from the press release.)

To reflect its evolution and future changes of the industry Select Wine Merchants is launching a new logo and website that will be introduced on October 24th during its annual portfolio tasting.

Since its inception in 1982, Select Wines – the company that launched Concha y Toro in the mid eighties, the backbone of the Chilean category and the #3 world’s most powerful wine brand [Intangible Business] – has contributed to the constantly evolving wine industry. Successfully dealing with the fast evolving restaurant and retail scenes and ever-changing consumer habits, it has turned itself from a small local importer into a national company that employs 60 people.

The new website will allow trade and consumers to access comprehensive product and price information across Canada, news on the latest trends, releases and deals, as well as essential wine education.

Says Vice-President Werner Schonberger: “It is a rapidly evolving market and we have always aimed to be at the top and to source the best products, which earned us the trust of some of the biggest names, Concha y Toro, Rothschild, St Hallett, Dr Loosen, to name few, and the respect of our local partners. We’ll keep aiming for the top�.

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COMPLIMENTARY TASTING OF CHILEAN WINES AND FOOD


The BCLDB, as part of their October in-store promotion of Wines of Chile, offers the public a chance for another taste.

What:
Taste and explore the wines of Chile
Sample the food of Latin America.
Meet a celebrity: The Best of Food and Wine will be on-location

When:
Saturday, October 20
12:00 – 2:00 pm

Where:
BCLDB Cambie & 39th location, Vancouver

Who:
CFUN 1410 AM radio hosts Kasey Wilson and Anthony Gismondi
Cobre - nuevo latino cuisine will offer samples
Chilean wineries to offer samples: Cremaschi Furlotti, Viu Manent, Carmen, Casablanca, MontGras, Vinedos Organicos Emiliana, Vina Bisquertt, Santa Rita, Errazuriz, Concha Y Toro and Casillero del Diablo

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