Whine and Cheese

On one of those rare occasions that I can steal Nahleen away from the kennel, we decided to head for the hills of Gaspereau and try out Pete Lucketts newest venture The Cellar Door Restaurant at his vineyard and do a tour of the new Petes in Wolfville for some fancy food and groceries!
Since the kennel was going to be minded by employee of the month Julie, JC was able to accompany us and hopefully play driver if we decided to make it a liquid lunch. Our first stop at the Petes was trying to find parking in a very tiny lot. We were there on a Wednesday and I can only imagine the fight for a spot on a Saturday. While the layout is different than the other two locations it is basically the same but on a much smaller scale. Not quite as many cheeses and less frozen fun vegetarian things but basically great if you are in need of a fancy oil or imported fruit and veg. At cash we were offered a discount card that turned out to be totally crap but oh well, I really don't need an excuse to shop there. Filling the trunk with polenta, cheese, baby eggplants, sun dried tomatoes, pumpkin seed oil, cherry coke, and some great ideas for market items we took off for the vineyard.
You know, if this mink thing takes over the Valley I just may have to move up to Gaspereau. What a stunning view. The peace and quiet and rolling hills, Minas Basin and acres of true farmland are pretty appealing right now.
Pulling up to the restaurant, JC manages to park as far away as possible and insists on us entering through the loading dock. We gently steer him toward the front, which also looks like a loading dock, and enter the winery.
Huge steels casks of wine, a beautifully laid out retail and counter area and it looks like we are about to have our first sample of the day. Sadly it is a fruit wine and having sampled wayyyyyy tooo many Nova Scotia fruit wine offerings......the worst is that BeaverCreek syrupy moldy fruit slop.....I think about declining but what the hell I have a driver today! Light, crisp, cranberryesque.....delicious..

...hmmmmm, I may have a new vice. All around we agree it is quite delightful and we wouldn't be ashamed to give or receive this as a gift.

 We were a bit hesitant for lunch as the restaurant is actually an outdoor patio looking over the vineyard and the fog was quite heavy and damp that day. Stepping onto the stone floor we saw himself, the Pete, chatting to an employee and made our introductions. He is such a charming and down to earth man. He made us quite comfortable as we pulled our seats under the expansive awning and started up a giant heater right next to our table.
Our server came and took drink orders, Nahleen choosing the Triumphe, a medium bodied red, myself the light bodied Phone Box ...maybe Phone Booth....and JC, wimping out in his new fruity palate choose the white Ortega. We had previously tried the other red they carry and not anyone liked it and I do believe Donald called to complain.
 It tasted like...well....arse....literally....don't ask.
The menu had a number of vegetarian choices, of course I scoped out the menu beforehand, and we sampled each one.

JC had the red pepper, artichoke, mushroom and asparagus sandwich with a cup of the red pepper and tomato soup. The sandwich was a good size with lovely roasted veg but kinda boring and the soup was nice.

 I am a bit of soup snob...can you believe it....but my tomato soup is fantastic

.Nahleen got the thai sesame noodles with veg and ponzu dressing. I found the noodles a bit too al dente and was quite overwhelmed by sesame but it was good and and she ate every last bite!

I went for the cheese plate which had some smoked applewood cheddar, havarti and fennel, brie and a cambozola.....mmmmmm, blue cheeses. There was also some fresh fruit, blueberries, olives, yucky....nectarines and bread, artisanal crackers and a chutney that was much debated over with JC insisting that it was mango, he could in fact see bits of mango and the overwhelming flavour of mango was making his mouth  say the word mango and then putting up $10 bucks for his discerning and what he hoped would be correct palate. I think the white wine went to his head. It ended up being everything but mango. Apples, peach, cranberry and spices. Nice try though JC. I also had the roasted Mediterranean vegetable salad with goat cheese. You can never have enough cheese. That was fabulous.

 

 Sometimes I refuse to get the salad on a menu because it just seems like a cop out for us veggies. However done right and not just a green alternative afterthought it can be better than your meal. As we all shared in good conversation...we tried to stay away from mink but it kept creeping in there....we dipped into the cheese plate, slicing and spreading on crackers and bread, scooping chutney and fruit and having a delicious ol' time until I got a an olive brine soaked nectarine and then a blueberry. Nothing ruins the flavour in your mouth quite like arsey olive juice. It reminds me of dog anal glands and salt and beached whales and car oil on the driveway.....feel ill yet? I did. As Nah and JC kept popping those horrendous little globes in their mouths I had to admire them. Maybe one day I will have a taste for olives......but I doubt it. In the meantime I will happily swap the icing off Nahleen's cake and maraschino cherries in JC's fruity drinks for  the olives in my martinis and off my cheese plate. It seems like a good deal to me.