Wines of Sicily

- Alex Leave a comment

photo by Alister Robertson

I’ve been lucky enough to attend two interesting, but very different, wine tastings recently.

The first of these was held at The Manse and organised by Alessandro Ragazzo, The Manse’s sommelier, and Sommeliers Australia.

The session focussed on the wines of Sicily (the island which is the football to Italy’s boot!). Italy is a happy hunting ground if you’re after the weird and the wonderful in terms of wine. Allegedly the country is home to over 1000 different wine producing grape varieties – so I was confident it wasn’t going to be an afternoon of Chardonnay or Shiraz.

Alessandro had put together 3 flights of 4 different wines: the white and red brackets were followed by a dessert wine and Marsala bracket. We also had a comprehensive handout which covered the history of wine in Sicily, with a few maps and plenty of interesting facts. For example, Sicily is about a third the size of Tasmania and yet annually produces 5 million hL of wine. Australia’s entire output is 11 million hL annually.*

Of the whites my favourite was the Benanti Pietramarina DOC Etna 2007 which is made from Carricante. I happen to have Tom Stevenson’s The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia sitting next to me and apparently the Etna DOC is the same wine on which the Cyclops got drunk (thanks to Ulysses). Stevenson is somewhat dismissive of the whites: “… a soft but bland dry white” although the Pietramarina is worthy of individual note. My own notes indicate that while the nose wasn’t massively pronounced there were some herbal notes, anise and fennel, while the palate was less herbal but showed rich, ripe citrus fruit with a good seam of acidity. I was undecided if it was marmalade-y or preserved lemon.

Unfortunately (for me), it looks like this wine retails for around $100 a bottle.

I won’t talk about the reds too much (if you’re interested, you can read about the Duca Enrico Duca di Salaparuta 1996). I was struck by how they all really felt as though they needed food. Of the four, the COS Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG 2009 struck me as being the most approachable with a good balance of acidity and tannins and a spicy, red cherry palate.

The dessert wines and Marsala bracket I found really interesting. Like (I suspect) most people, I don’t drink very much sweet wine and I drink even less fortified wine so I love the opportunity to try something new. We started with a Benanti Passito di Pantelleria. It was a 2005 and the bit of age showed in the glass: the wine was really quite amber in colour. The wine’s aroma was dominated by dried apricots with other dried fruits thrown in for good measure. The palate matched this and was suitably pronounced with pelnty of dried apricot, sultana, fig, honey and almost a note of maple syrup.

The concentrated flavours in Passito come about because the grapes are left to dry out before crushing. Traditionally, they’re left on straw mats in the sun. Pantelleria is a small volcanic island off the south west coast of Sicily. And the wine is made from the Muscat of Alexandria grape. Got that straight?

We wrapped up with two Marsalas from Vito Curatolo – a Superiore Secco and a Superiore Riserva. Marsala is made in a manner similar to Sherry and the mass production of the wine is actually thanks to a late eighteenth century Englishman, John Woodhouse, who thought the wine would be popular in England and began large scale production and export. Marsala has something of a poor reputation – which, on the basis of the two wines we tried, is rather undeserved.

The Superiore (aged for a minimum of 2 years) was very Christmas cakey, with plenty of coffee, coffee and cream and a nutty finish. The Superiore Riserva (aged for a minimum of 4 years) was a lot more savoury, with some Fino Sherry like characteristics and plenty of nuts, but none of the coffee.

I won’t be rushing out and buying up all the stocks of Marsala in Adelaide – for me, it will be an acquired taste. However, I think it’s a shame that it doesn’t have a higher profile and that there isn’t more of an opportunity for consumers to try good quality examples.

This was a great tasting: things moved at a good pace, it was well organised and (most importantly!) the wines were all really interesting. Apparently Alessandro hopes to run some more sessions like this in future – I’m looking forward to them already!

* This is taken from my notes and I haven’t independently verified it so please feel free to correct me!

East Terrace Continental – etc

- Alex Leave a comment

East Terrace Continental

photo by bram_souffreau

date of visit: Sunday 26 February 2012

I was in charge of organising a weekend brunch/lunch for about 10 people. Our challenging group included at least 2 babies (and possibly more), one vegetarian and a varied collection of tastes. I was nervous when I chose East Terrace Continental as reviews on the internet were mixed.

Still, we were a group of old friends, we used to go to etc when we were at uni, and one of us was visiting from New York. I figured that things could really foul up and I’d be forgiven.

Things didn’t get off to an awesome start … I turned up and I could see no large table set up and ready with high chairs. And at midday on a Sunday you don’t turn up to etc with a big group and expect to wing it. Now etc had done the smart thing and rung me the day before to confirm (I’d had to ring back and leave a message) but I suspect I was looking pretty nervous and ticked off when the guest of honour arrived. After a fair bit of faffing around my booking was found, some customers were moved and our table was pulled together. I don’t know the extent to which this was good planning or good luck on the part of etc, but I commend the staff for their can-do attitude in sorting things out.

Table sorted, our group filtered in in dribs and drabs. etc is very casual which makes it perfect for a large group. You order and pay at the counter. This is perfect if you have people on different schedules (we did) and also if you have people who are money sensitive in any way (ahem).

Also, the café runs a very sensible policy on breakfast – it’s served until 3:30pm (they close at 4pm). This meant that I was able to indulge in a huge smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, with asparagus, while those around me ate a proper lunch, or a sandwich, or whatever they fancied.

I certainly wouldn’t go as far to say my breakfast was the best I’ve ever had – I like my scrambled eggs really soft and these weren’t, and the asparagus was a tad under cooked, and the silly (large) size of the portion meant that everything didn’t stay as hot as might have been ideal. But really – why quibble? The feed set me back $14.50 and I would go back and order the same thing in flash. Or would I? Because there are quite a few things on the breakfast menu I fancy trying. Around me plates were cleared so I guess everyone else was happy too.

Most importantly, the coffee at etc is good!

So decent food, good coffee, not too expensive and a sizeable range of vegetarian options. We ended up staying for about 3 hours and at no point did we ever feel like they wanted to move us on (maybe we drink a lot of coffee …). Yes, etc is noisy and buzzy (and busy) but I think that’s exactly why people go there.

Ignore the internet and give it a whirl!

 

 

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Eden Dining Room and Bar

- Alex 2 Comments

date of visit: Monday 6 February 2012

There’s been a great deal of chat on both twitter and foursquare about Eden Dining Room and Bar*, a relatively new … dining room and bar, down at Glenelg.

I’ve been wanting to try it out for a while and found an opportunity to drag my parents along for a Monday lunch. It wasn’t a very organised trip – I rang and booked about an hour before we turned up. My dad complained because the restaurant we had originally planned on going to had had sweetbreads on the menu and he was most displeased to have his lunch plans changed on him!

It’s hardly surprising that on a Monday lunch Eden was hardly packed. When dad first ducked in (to let them know we’d be a bit late for our reservation) he reported the place was empty. When our party was complete there were only a couple of other tables with diners. I understand that this is very much NOT the case on a Friday evening … reservations required!

Eden faces onto the marina at Holdfast Shores and you can sit outside and look at the big boats while you eat or drink. Or you can sit inside – where the space is divided into two. The bar area is super stylish with a gorgeous white tiled bar, limited booth seating and some sofas. The restaurant area is all marine plywood and very pale cream and brown. I think it’s best described as inoffensive.

As usual, I had the baby in tow and his high chair was all set up and ready to go, Always though of getting a hanging egg chair. The table height was perfect so we were able to tuck the high chair in – I daresay he felt like a proper grown up! The staff were lovely with him too – but I would say that if you are going to take the smaller members of your family along to Eden choose your times wisely. Monday lunch – perfect. A busy evening, or weekend lunch – probably not such a good idea. Eden’s a little bit on the noisy side and I can imagine that by the time the bar is in full swing and the restaurant busy “baby friendly” is not an apt descriptor.

Settled at our table, our waiter ran through the menu and specials. She lacked a bit of confidence but knew enough to get the message across. Mum and I chose to have two entrées while dad did entrée and main, but requested a main portion of an entrée. Yep – restaurants must really love us turning up.

I started with the woodfired octopus – this arrived as pieces of octopus, served on slices of kipfler potatoes with tapenade. The plate also had (white) anchovies and rocket. Not only did it look very pretty but it was also delicious. Octopus and tapenade isn’t a combination I’d necessarily think of but it definitely worked. The octopus was tender and my only crticism would be … more anchovies!

For my second course I had the sweetbread special (dad ordered a main size portion of this too). The sweetbreads were cooked perfectly, with an every so slightly sweet glaze on them. At the end of the meal I was chatting to one of the staff who said that the sweetbreads had only just come on the menu and that they’d already sold 6 portions. She also said that they always try to have at least one offal dish on the menu. Very good to know if you are in my family.

Mum started with the crispy fried zucchini flowers and followed that with the pressed pork, while dad started with the Woodside goats cheese.

We washed all of this down with a bottle of Dandelion Riesling but Eden also offers the novelty of a blending room, where you can make up your own wine to go with your meal. You don’t really need to go to that effort though because the wine list offers plenty of by the glass options, as well as a reasonable selection of (mostly) South Australian wines. Although you could criticise the wine list for being too SA focussed it’s commendable that it doesn’t feature the same old-same olds that you find everywhere else. Someone has put some thought into it.

Eden isn’t cheap – we spent $120 on our lunch which we thought was quite reasonable for three people, given the quality and presentation of the food. I did find aspects of the service a little uneven – our first waiter (who knocked off part way through our meal) really needs to brush up her confidence with the menu and specials.

But that is just a minor quibble. I will definitely head back.

* The website is just a holding page – there’s more information on Eden’s Facebook page but don’t even attempt to read the menu there on a mobile device!

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