The Kamloops Wine Trail will be the featured wine region at the Canadian Culinary Championships this weekend in Kelowna.
National culinary advisor James Chatto calls it the biggest competition for Canadian chefs and includes three culinary competitions over two days.
With Kamloops as the featured wine region, the competition will showcase wines from Monte Creek Ranch Winery, Privato Winery and Harper’s Trail Estate Winery at several receptions and during two of three chef competitions.
“We’re really thrilled. It just gives a whole different level of credibility as an emerging region, where the awareness might not have reached across Canada yet,” said Trish Morelli with the Kamloops Wineries Association.
“It’s a great opportunity to just really increase our awareness and doing so in and amongst a very credible crowd, so it’s all very positive and exciting.”
Morelli said one of the wine experts with the competition toured the Kamloops Wine Trail this summer, which helped put Kamloops on the map.
“He was able to visit our wineries this summer and was able to taste them and was really quite blown away and intrigued with what he experienced,” Morelli said. “The dialogue kind of started and then we just fostered it from there.”
Along with crowning the top chefs, the championships will also award the 2018 Wine of the Year. Judges will select the winning wine from one of the 11 regional finalists that won Best of Show in the individual cities across Canada, as well as from one of the feature Kamloops wines being poured.
Chefs competing at the 2018 Canadian Culinary Championships include:
