Just Breathe: 8th Annual East Kootenay Wine Festival

Way back in August some very keen girls decided that a weekend away drinking wine would be an awesome idea. So the hotel was booked, the tickets purchased and the waiting began. By the time the weekend arrived you could say there were some very very excited ladies, those ladies Wendy, Shannon, Nat and I were pumped to get on the road early. So on the Friday we dropped the kids of at school and daycare by 8.30am and were on the road by 9am, we called into Cranbrook for a spot of super fast shopping while Wendy had a coffee and read her book and then we headed to Invermere for more window shopping, a spot of lunch and onto the Fairmont Hot Springs hotel to check in and get ready for our first event, a wine pairing dinner and ummmmmmm the wine pairing was yummy! We started with Wild forest mushroom soup and our first wine came with the Roast pepper salad in parmesan cup and it was called Autumn Tryst by Skimmerhorn, a light and fruity blend of Siegerrebe, Ortega and Gewurztraminer .... 2 varieties I haven't even heard of but trust me it was tasty!! Next course was Salmon brulee with apple and maple syrup and that was paired with St Hubertus Dry Riesling. Next Sundried apricot & camembert gelatin of chicken with cumberland sauce and that was paired with a Pinot Rose by Skimmerhorn. By this stage in the night we were enjoying ourselves! Next was the main course, a beef tenderloin and this went really well with the Marechal Foch by Skimmerhorn again. These wines were the winners of the blind tasting event from the previous year. Lastly we had cheese which was again paired with with Marechal Foch and then the divine Cherry Charlotte with Lemon confit with an amazing dessert wine by Rustic Roots, Iced Apple. Saturday, oh Saturday; well this day was huge! out of bed late, a swim in the hot pools and then the blind tasting event and there was a huge array of wines to try! 26 varieties of white wine, 26 varieties of red wine, 12 varieties dessert wine and lastly 6 Rose! and we girls did attempt to try them all! the white wine kicked my butt and i gave up and could totally have gone to bed at 3pm!! But no, there was the actual festival in the evening where they had 35 wineries and about 127 wines available to try!!! and try we did, hillarious fun had by all. All very good and proper to start but when you try to cross off at least one variety from each winery you can imagine it was an eventful evening! By the end of the festival, 9pm I think all four ladies weren't so much ladies anymore! We made friends with a wine rep who supplied us with more wine after the event and contributed to our fun and crazy night where we all let loose and forget we were respectable wives and mothers! For me personally who passed out I don't know what time and thankfully had the sense to put herself to bed before passing out just, isn't sure when she'll be drinking wine like that again. Sunday we slowly, very slowly dragged ourselves out of bed and made the 2 hour trip home with a quick stop to Cranbrook to see the Michael Jackson movie, which I highly recommend. I had forgotten what a pop icon he was and how I knew all his songs and the happy memories that those songs bought back. Here are a few shots from the weekend and I'll add a few more soon. In order, the first picture of the evening, a martini to begin the night and then the salad in the parmesan cup and the sundried apricot chicken.