Its always great when you catch up with an old friend after many years and its as if hardly a day has gone by. You still find yourselves on the exact same page, with the same ability to share stories with limitless enthusiasm, crack each other up and so on. This happened to me just last week.
Kiley Hendriks and I worked together as servers at West Vancouvers Beachside Café in the late-90s, which included the opportunity to crack some pretty awesome bottles for guests and social hoists of wine and beer a-plenty. He was one of the most charismatic servers Ive ever worked with. He was always curious and inspired by anything around him, whether food and wine on the table, music coming out the speakers, a perfectly balmy night, anything.
He retired from the industry in full-time pursuit his musical ambitions of rapping. While many might roll their eyes at what could be seen a preposterous idea, Hendricks became popularly known as Prevail of hip-hops Swollen Members. A slew of Juno Awards, a zillion sold-out shows and gold records later, no one could scoff at that move.
All these years later hes still going strong musically, but keeps close to his roots by being a fixture in Vancouvers dining scene, only now as a constant patron and fan of local restaurants and the world of wine, devouring every last drop of culture offered here and around the world. Along with a few contributors, he compiles all that inspires him on his website PrevailPrevail.com. Do check it out.
As we caught up, I asked him to recommend wines for readers since the guys always had a great palate. The first is something readily available that hes eager for people to try; the second is a wine he sees as a holy grail for your table, regardless of price. Heres Prevail in his own words:
Kanazawa 2011 Nomu Viognier-Semillon | Okanagan Valley, BC | $20-23 | Private Stores or KanazawaWines.com
My friend, [Hys Canada beverage director] Brett Kawaguchi, turned me onto this awesome BC white and it has been a staple of my summer ever since. A great nose of white stone fruit with a crisp balance of green apple on the palate along with fresh acidity makes this an easy go-to for me.
Penfolds 1998 Grange | South Australia | (Current 2008 Vintage at BC Liquor Stores: $599.99)
On a trip to Australia many years ago, some friends and I toured the Penfolds winery, seeing the entire collection of the legendary Grange Shiraz from its inception onward. In the gift shop, we were tempted by a museum release of the 98 vintage. We actually purchased the bottle in hopes re-selling it in Vancouver would help pay for a portion of our trip. We got home shocked to find that our long-travelled bottle would actually fetch us less than what we paid on premise. After years of keeping it in my collection, we eventually decided to sell it and I have yet to taste that particular vintage. Now that bottles always on my mind.
A tragic story, really. On the upside, Prevail (or you) could always grab the Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz ($69.99, BC Liquor Stores) thats often referred to as Poor Mans Grange; a killer dark chocolate, blueberry and mint-laden wine, partially aged in old Grange barrels at less than an eighth the cost of the delicious, but pricey classic.
As always, if youre having trouble tracking something down or just want to say hi, find me via KurtisKolt.com or Tweet me @KurtisKolt.
