As National Seafood Month comes to a close I am thinking about a dinner I attended last month. I was fortunate enough to have a dinner served by Chef Charlotte Langley with wines paired by Nobilo. I really don’t talk about wine and food often enough on this site – but I spend a lot of time thinking about what ends up on my plate. This site focuses largely on Niagara wines – and I think it’s safe to say that farm to table is more than a passing trend at this point.
When you spend a lot of time learning about wine the word sustainability comes up over and over again. So when I had an opportunity to attend a dinner to learn about sustainable seafood I was looking forward to learning more (okay – reality is I was looking forward to having a meal cooked by Chef Charlotte – but education is good too, right?). I do spend a lot of time thinking about the seafood that I buy – but I think like most people price will often trump ethics when it comes to our choices at the grocery store.
The dinner was hosted by MSC – The Marine Stewardship Council. The MSC is a non-profit organization that operates the world’s first and still the only truly global ocean to plate traceability standard for sustainable wild-caught seafood. I have never heard of the organization before – but the thing that stood out for me was that MSC has a logo that we can trust. When you see the MSC blue fish logo, you know the seafood has been correctly labeled, is free from illegal fishing and is traceable to a certified sustainable source. The logo is pretty easy to spot, once you know what to look for, and I even noticed that some of the local grocers identify MSC seafood in the flyers before you even set foot in the store.
Jay Lugar is the MSC Canada Program Director, and he was at the dinner. I had an opportunity to ask him some questions about the program. He told me that there are already many large corporations on board with the program including Loblaws, Whole Foods Market, Ikea, Costco, Walmart, Sobeys, and McDonalds – every filet-o-fish is MSC certified.
As a writer who spends a great deal of time trying to educate my followers about VQA certifications I recognize the challenges with getting knowledge into the hands of the consumer. Especially when so many consumers are budget driven in their choices – but I need to applaud MSC for creating a logo that’s so easy to spot and doesn’t mean a price mark-up while making the best choice for the environment – and I can now look forward to having this inform my buying decisions.
Now onto the dinner itself. Dave Edmonds is the winemaker from Nobilo. Nobilo is a New Zealand winery that focuses on – no surprise – Sauvignon Blanc. Any longtime readers of this website know that I am critical of the style of winemaking that is currently in fashion from New Zealand. So I was stunned when Dave presented two offerings from Nobilo that delivered bright, crisp, and tropical flavours. These wines still offered the essence of what makes New Zealand sauvignon blanc so distinct – but the flavours of red pepper jelly, and gooseberry are well integrated. These wines offer something that is straight up elegant. And it was exciting to see them on the table at this dinner because sauvignon blanc and seafood is always a good deal.
2017 Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc – LCBO 415745 – $16.95 – This was paired with a tropical shrimp ceviche. Slam dunk pairing, and something you will probably find in my house on the regular. Also, if you’re a New Zealand Sauv Blanc skeptic like I am – this is a reason to return to the grape.
2017 Nobilo Icon Sauvignon Blanc – Not currently available at the LCBO this was a real treat to get a little more intensity – and somehow a little more elegant. This was paired with a lobster saffron risotto – another expert pairing as the wine delivered amazing tropical flavours of passion fruit but managed to stay out of the way of subtle flavours from the saffron and lobster.
2017 Nobilo Icon Pinot Noir – Also not currently available at the LCBO (although I really hope it will be) – New Zealand Pinot Noir is a little like the undiscovered country because so much of the spotlight is occupied by Sauvignon Blanc. Rich fruit flavours of dark cherry, damp forest floor – all with rich concentration – but there is racy acidity keeping this light and food friendly. Paired with a roasted cod tomato ricotta tart.
