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Column: Celebrating with flower power and drinking pink

Our youngest daughter recently completed her master’s degree in anthropology. To celebrate this milestone, my wife and I took her along with her sister and two best friends to one of our favourite local restaurants, Blue Canoe.

Our youngest daughter recently completed her master’s degree in anthropology. To celebrate this milestone, my wife and I took her along with her sister and two best friends to one of our favourite local restaurants, Blue Canoe.

As a prelude, we had informal appies at home: mixed olives, Swiss Vacherin Friebourgoise cheese, French bread and veggies and dip. We also served a bubbly, the best wine for celebrating special occasions. I uncorked a Jackson Triggs Methode Classique ($19.99) from the Okanagan.

Made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, two of the classic varieties in Champagne, it also has Riesling, a non-traditional grape that adds a tasty Okanagan flavour to the blend. Like Champagne, the Jackson Triggs is aged in the bottle.

To add a bit of colour to this white sparkling we added some Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup ($10.99), which you can get from Save-on Foods. Originally from Africa, these are hand-picked from Australia and stored in a semi-sweet syrup. The trumpet shaped flowers add a pinkish red tinge to the wine, a tart raspberry-like flavour with a hint of bitterness to add complexity, and a special touch to any event.

If you want to add some sweetness, pour some of the syrup into the glass. Other sparkling wines you could use would be real Champagne such as Louis Roederer Brut ($68.99), Spanish Cava, such as Segura Viudas Brut ($15.99) or Italian Prosecco such as Lamarca ($18.99).

One of my daughter’s friends brought a bottle of Arrowleaf Cellars 2017 Rosé ($18.99) from Lake Country in the north Okanagan. This rosé is producedfrom 85 per cent Pinot Noir and 15 per cent Zweigelt, an Austrian variety that Arrowleaf also vints into a tasty red varietal.

The Arrowleaf Rosé sports a beautiful orange pink hue with delicious notes of strawberry, grapefruit and cranberry, ending with a dry finish. It won the Best Roséin the recent BC Varietal Awards so the industry critics are also impressed with its high quality.

The best rosés, like the fresh and lively Arrowleaf, are made by fermenting the grape juice with the skins. For a rosé with just a hint of colour and flavour, the juice and skins are in contact for a short length of time such as six hours. To make a rosé with a deeper colour and more character, the juice and skins are steeped for a longer time.

Part of the appeal of rosés is that they are not considered to be serious wines, even though they can be delicious and fun to drink. You can let down your guard and don’t have to worry about pretending to be a sophisticated oenophile. Relax and enjoy, like swapping your office attire for shorts.

And because rosés are red wines that also act like a white, they can go with a wide spectrum of foods. For a great food and rosé combination made for summer, try the Arrowleaf with this watermelon and feta with mint salad recipe: toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/watermelon-feta-salad-with-mint/

Eric Hanson is a Richmond wine writer who is learning to love watermelon thanks to rosés.

Ehanson0705@gmail.com