Joe Fortes s Bud Kanke displays his seafood tower. At around 14 litres a year, Vancouver lays claim to the country s top wine consumption. Even if we re still well behind more notable tipplers like the French who come in at almost three times that figure the surge in wine interest has turned a once non-existent sommelier biz into a growth industry. Wine guru Mark Davidson says enrollment in his Canadian Sommeliers Guild Diploma Program at Dubrulle Institute is hitting record numbers as more food and wine professionals go for certification.
Any serious room has at least one wine pro on staff but few have one for each day of the week.
Except for O Doul s, that is. The Robson Street Listel Hotel eatery, which scooped a couple of respectable bronze medals in the Playhouse wine list awards, seems to have developed an appetite of its own for certified sommeliers, with three on hand and a couple more in the wings. However, Blue Water s claim to introducing New York-styled towers to town is hotly contested by Joe Fortes proprietor Bud Kanke, who insists it was he who first turned Vancouver on to upwardly mobile oysters. And somewhere in the mix, of course, was Circolo. May 10 at the Plaza of Nations Enterprise Hall.