A Day with Trius Wines Part 2: All About the Food

The plates just before serving (left); Smoke filled bell jars ready to be served (center) ;
My final plate just waiting to be gobbled up (right)

Our day down at the Hillebrand estate with Trius Wines was alot about the wine, alot.  But there was so much fabulous food that I thought it deserved a post all it's own.  We started the day in the sparkling wine cellar with copious amounts of Trius Brut.  As we all gathered and enjoyed our glasses of sparkling wine we watched as Chef Frank Dodd plated our starters.  I was drawn into the gorgeous oyster and then noticed the salmon that sat under a little bell jar, that I soon learned was used to lightly smoke each piece of salmon.

Before I go too deeply into the food though, this day was as much about learning about Trius wines, but for me it was as much about learning how to cook with wine. Though we weren't specifically given a cooking class, each dish we had inspired me in some way to think of ways I could incorporate wine more into my cooking, as is evidenced by the fact that I came up with a recipe  go along with this post. Chef Dodd uses wine in such a thoughtful way in each dish.  It's inspiring.  I do cook with wine, it's in every tomato sauce I make and I use it often when roasting chicken too, but beyond that I don't think about it  other than as something to drink while I'm cooking.  This day and this event changed that for me.

A Day with Trius Wines Part 1: All About the Wine

Even covered in snow it's still beautiful

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited out to the Hillebrand Estate to spend the day learning about Trius Wines along side Winemaker Craig McDonald as well as eat some delicious local food from Chef Frank Dodd.  When I first received the invitation which came via messenger with a gorgeous Trius box filled with an empty 1.5L bottle.  I have to admit I felt quite fancy to receive such an invite.  When I learned that the invite was to learn about the Art of the Blend and blend our own wine AND that the event was taking place on my father's birthday I knew I had to ask if there was any way I could bring him along.  Lucky for me Melissa, my contact with Trius' PR company, was more than happy to accommodate.  And Dad was so excited at the prospect of the day that he did all he could to make sure he got up to Toronto for the day.

Friday morning rolled around and we waited excitedly, unsure what the day would hold.  My dad is a planner so he must have asked me 4 times if I had an itinerary for the day or knew anything about what was going on.  It never occurred to me to ask because I knew there'd be food and wine and they were picking us up so no need to worry about driving, for me that's all I needed to know.  Plus it made for a better birthday surprise for him.