Toast of the Wine World

By Jennifer Feinberg, Chilliwack Progress
Apr 19 2005

The people behind Bravo Restaurant and Lounge have made a point of incorporating some exciting yet reasonably priced wines into their eclectic wine list.
Someone must be paying attention, since the effort has netted them a 2005 Green Glass award for great value from a Vancouver-based wine festival.
"It's perhaps because we're first and foremost wine lovers, not wine experts," says Bravo owner Damian du Plessis, "and there's a difference."
Their goal from the start has been to provide a varied menu of West Coast comfort food, complemented with a high-quality yet accessible wine list.
"Our tastes tend to be pretty similar to that of our average clientele, and our selection reflects that. It's also why we support people who love good wine," he says. "We feel it's important to make wine accessible to people, to take away the intimidation factor and make it less pretentious."
Since opening last summer on Yale Road, just east of Five Corners, Bravo management has slowly introduced a few lesser-known wines to the Chilliwack community, ranging from Wishing Tree Shiraz from eastern Australia, to Township 7 from Langley.
It's the first time a Chilliwack establishment has ever won an award from the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, Mr. du Plessis says.
The 2005 wine list competition lists the Yale Road business as one of seven western restaurateurs recognized in the Green Glass category for providing an enjoyable and affordable food-and-wine experience for their customers.
"As the diversity of wine list styles continues to broaden, this competition pays tribute to the skill, creativity and effort that go into producing a wine list that complements the unique menu and concept, and a wine program that supports it," reads the preamble to the list of 2005 wine festival winners.
For the guys at Bravo, half the fun is trying and choosing new wines for their regular customers who are big fans of the grape.
"What I think is really interesting is then pairing those wines with the various items on our constantly shifting menu," Mr. du Plessis says.
Increasingly, people are looking for good B.C. wines and the West Coast winemakers are starting to gear their wines to suit tastes and trends, he says.
"The tannins of some B.C. reds are getting smoother, and the whites are getting some weight to them," he notes. "The Fraser Valley is really on the cusp of gaining some positive acknowledgment."
Take the Township 7 red as an example, says Bravo partner Louie De Jaeger.
He says it's a charming little wine that highlights some new interest and activity in Fraser Valley wineries.
"It was one of our customer who said we should try it," he remembers. "We really liked the cabernet sauvignon. It really had to be something that went wonderfully with our menu and it fit the bill."
The development of Bravo's ever-changing wine list will continue, the owners promise.