Chateau Coutet Tasting

- Alex 1 Comment

photo by Alister Robertson

date: Thursday 26 April 2012

A week or two ago, Sommeliers Australia played host to Aline Baly, third generation owner of the first growth Sauternes house, Château Coutet. The tasting was held at Press* Food & Wine and we were treated to a vertical tasting of four Château Coutet vintages along with some food from Press*.

Conditions were slightly challenging at the start as we were seated in the restaurant with a rather boisterous table next to us but mid-way through we were able to move to the cosy booths by the bar – which actually proved ideal.

Aline was lovely – she came across as being incredibly genuine, as well as both knowledgeable and passionate about her family’s product. While there are 11 premiers crus in Sauternes and Barsac, Ch Coutet is one of just two in Barsac (the other being Ch Climens). Aline described the difference between Sauternes and Barsac as being one of terroir: the clay and limestone soils of Barsac mean it has a cooler terroir than in Sauternes, where there is more gravel. The gravel captures the heat of the day and releases it in the evening, which keeps the grapes warmer and means that the wines produced tend to be more opulent. The wines of Barsac, on the otherhand, are characterised by crispness, freshness and vivacity.

We tasted the four vintages in order of ‘power’: 2006, 2005, 2007, 1989. Aline told us that Ch Coutet is characterised by ginger, which I didn’t really get at all in the 2006, but it was much more evident in the ’05 and ’07 (the ’07 was my personal favourite). The 2007 had the spice and ginger but also some floral notes and on the palate had amazing acidity, combined with spice, toasted nuts, honey, dried apricots, lime marmalade and even some savoury notes.

Food wise we had gougères*, pâté, croquettes and wrapped up with crème brûlée, which was served with the 1989. The pâté was definitely the best match – unsurprising when Barsac and foie gras is one of the world’s great food pairings! The gougères worked well too but the croquettes were too dominated by Dijon mustard. The crème brûlée, which on paper sounds like a brilliant match, didn’t work so well because it was simply too sweet and rich for the wine. This is always the conundrum with desserts – whatever wine you choose has to be bigger, sweeter, richer, more powerful than the food and with many desserts that is a real challenge.

Aline said that her preferred food match with her family’s wines is lobster. And given the spiciness of the wines, lobster with saffron butter or a saffron hollandaise would be perfect …

Château Coutet is available from the Edinburgh Cellars and Dan Murphys.

UPDATE: read an interview with Aline at Decanter.

*They were described as gougères but as they were fried I’d have called them beignets.

Flagstaff Hotel

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date of visit: Sunday 29 April 2012

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written up a pub meal (the most recent I think is the Victory at Sellicks) and I think it might even have been that long since I’ve eaten in a pub.

Anyway, I’m going to rectify that with two pubs in quick succession. We took the baby for an early Sunday dinner at the Flagstaff Hotel. That’s right – the big, can’t possibly miss 1950s building at the Darlington end of South Road. I guess you could call the Flaggy one of our locals (although certainly not within walking distance).

We’ve only eaten there once before (it was a quick lunch back in 2009) so we thought it was time to give it another try. That, and the fact we had an Entertainment Book voucher!

The dining room at the Flaggy is massive and, depending on where you sit, you can get some impressive views. The website suggests booking – I scoffed at this. We’re going at 5:30pm on a Sunday night! Well, quite – 5:30pm on a Sunday it may have been but there were several large tables booked and by the time we left the place was heaving.

We had a window seat (overlooking the carpark and Flagstaff Road – maybe not the most exciting view ever!) and a spotlessly clean high chair for the baby. One thing to note is that the high chair didn’t have any straps so wouldn’t have been suitable for a very small or very young baby.

The menu is, of course, pub staples but the Flagstaff’s distinguishing feature is its massive salad bar which is included in all main course orders. Salad bar isn’t quite the right term for it – it’s more like a giant fruit and vegetable buffet! You help yourself to bread (loaves of all different types in the bread basket) and there are an array of sauces, hot vegetables and fruit as well as the salads. If you wanted to make an utter pig of yourself, you could.

Food wise both Andy and I went with the seafood basket – reasonably pricey for a pub meal at $26.50. This was a selection of prawns, salt and pepper squid and barramundi (no note of provenance – hopefully it was Australian …), served with chips and salad.

I am not so naive to imagine that this did not come straight to the table via freezer and fryer. Even so, given the price, I will note that the (battered) prawns were tough and utterly tasteless – think fried, slightly salty eraser and I reckon you’re on the money. The barramundi came as two fillets – two very thin fillets so that the fish was completely swamped by the batter. I only ate one of mine and fed the rest to Andy and the baby (minus the batter, in the baby’s case, obviously). The highlight of the plate was definitely the squid which was tender, pretty tasty and not at all greasy.

Andy, who is something of an expert in seafood baskets, rated this one as better cooked than that at the nearby Victoria Hotel, but said that the Vic’s is bigger and overall better.

The chips and salad were pub stand chips and salad.

As the wine list was pedestrian I opted for a beer with my dinner.

All up I’d rate the Flaggy as perfectly adequate for a pub meal, but on the expensive side. For $26.50 you can go to a lot of more upmarket restaurants and be fed something that takes a lot more effort (Andy’s pork belly at Press was the same price). On the upside, the dining area is massive, there is a small play area and the hotel is clearly set up to cater for large groups.

However, for a quick family meal, my vote goes to the Victoria Hotel, further up South Road.

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Ad Hoc Hen and Chicken Chardonnay 2010

- Alex 1 Comment

After last week’s uninspiring Mâcon-Villages, I’m pleased to report that this week’s wine, the Ad Hoc Hen & Chicken Chardonnay 2010 from WA’s Pemberton region, restored my faith that I would be able to find good Chardonnay in my $15-20 price bracket. I picked this wine up from a major national retailer, but the Ad Hoc website notes that the 2010 vintage is sold out.

On the nose the wine had some lemon notes with an obvious, but not overbearing, oak influence. There was some creaminess and the citrus was accompanied by some tropical fruit – think melon and even banana and mango.

All of this flowed through to the palate: plenty of lemon and good acidity mellowed to creaminess and tropical fruit. The best way to describe it was a mixture of pineapple and natural yoghurt. The wine had a lovely weight to it and reasonable length. It did strike me as being ever so slightly warm (the wine is 13.5% abv) but not enough to put me off.

Larry Cherubino, the winemaker, has four brands under his belt: Ad Hoc, The Yard, Cherubino and Laissez-Faire. He started his wine making career with Hardys and then Houghtons before setting up on his own in 2005.

The tasting notes for the 2010 give it a cellaring potential of up to 5 years. I guess we’re about half way through that and the wine is drinking beautifully. At $19 a bottle it puts last week’s effort to shame.