Sandhill Wines becomes the “official wine sponsor” of Gung Haggis Fat Choy
The multiple award winning Sandhill Wines
was the first BC wine to win a gold medal at the Chardonnay du Monde in
France (1999) and a silver medal in 2002. “There were only 2
golds given to Canadian Chard for the first time that year,” says
Sandhills creator and winemaker Howard Soon, “and only 14 Gold out of a total of about 800 wines entered around the world”.
Howard Soon, is the first Chinese-Canadian winemaker
and while admitting he is a humble man, he is also very
creative. He is also the first winemaker to invite an opera
singer (Heather Pawsey) to
perform beside giant 100,000 gallon wine tanks. How fitting that
Sandhill be the first wine sponsor for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish
McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.
Sandhill
Wines is pleased to be a sponsor for our event, and appreciated that we
are promoting BC's Scottish and Chinese heritage. There will be a
display banner of Sandhill wines, and there will be a bottle each of
red and white wine on each Premium table. There will also be
wines included in our evening's raffle prize draw, which will also
include a grand prize of tickets to the Vancouver Opera's Magic Flute
production featuring First Nations heritage and culture.
Last
year we decided to select BC wines to pair with the haggis and Chinese
banquet at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. One reason is that we
were disappointed in the wine selection at the restaurant.
Chinese restaurants generally do not serve a lot of wines with dinner,
nor do they stock good selections of wine. The second reason is that
this was a great way to continue the Gung Haggis spirit by not only
recognizing BC history, arts, culture and food, but to also extend it
to wine! I was delighted that we could find quality wine with
Sandhill at a reasonable price, and recognize the achievements of
fellow Chinese-Canadian Howard Soon. The third reason… my
girlfriend and I like nice BC wines.
For the 2005 Gung Haggis
Fat Choy dinner, we chose wines from Sandhill, Arrow Leaf and Red
Rooster wineries and put a bottle of red and a bottle of white on each
of the premium priced tables. It was still the tail end of the
Year of the Rooster for last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, so we
thought it was a nice touch to recognize the Chinese New Year zodiac
I
actually met Howard at the inaugural Okanagan Summer Wine Festival held
outside Vernon BC, at Silver Star Mountain Resort in August 2003.
It was a small wine festival outdoor in the Silver Star Village. We had
a nice chat, and I shared with him that I had been working with explorAsian Festival and I thought he should be listed in the Asian North America Timeline Project.
1) Kathryn Cernauskas, Heather Pawsey, Karen
Shumka and Master Winemaker Howard Soon. 2) peformance in the wine
cellar next to barrels of wine. 3) performance next to the 100,000
gallon wine tanks.
Here is an article about opera singer Heather Pawsey singing in a wine vat, at the invitation by Howard Soon:
Vancouver Courier – “Tasting Notes”
Here are some articles about Howard Soon and Sandhill Wines:
| Howard Soon believes that the 2003 vintage of that wine, which sells for $12.99, is a better wine. That victory in competition was not a one-off event. … |
Calgary Herald: Not Soon forgotten Howard
Soon dreams of a winery that will house his wines, some of the most …
who work with Soon on a daily basis to grow the perfect grapes for his
wine.
Howard Soon Interview by John Schreiner
An interview with Sandhill Master Winemaker, Howard Soon: ''When a guy buys a bottle of wine, it is an expression of a place.“