Champagne Masterclass

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Champagne
photo by Tiny Tall

date:  31 August 2011

A couple of weeks ago the Champagne Bureau hosted its annual Adelaide masterclass.  Every year, the Bureau runs a series of classes throughout Australia to promote Champagne.  Now, you probably think that Champagne doesn’t really need any promoting but then again, how many times have you heard someone refer to their glass of Champagne when it turns out to be anything from a bargain basement wine to a premium Australian sparkling?

This is actually one of my (many) pet hates.  It sets my teeth on edge.  For a start, if it’s a premium Australian sparkling, we don’t need to gussy it up and call it “Champagne” – it’s good enough to stand on its own, for exactly what it is.  And if it’s a cheapie (and the cheapest I could find on a well known national retailer’s website was around $4 a bottle) then it’s nothing short of devaluing the Champagne brand.

Champagne is sparkling wine that comes from a very particular area of France.  And it’s not just a very particular area – it’s a very particular set of vineyards in that area.  And the wine has to be made in a very particular way.  I’m not going to go into the details – for many people that would be boring, verging on tedious.  Just trust me – if it doesn’t say Champagne on the bottle, it’s not Champagne.

Rant over.

The masterclass was held at Apothecary 1878 on Hindley Street and the speakers for the session were James Smith, Jane Bromley and Dr Patrick Iland, all previous winners of the Vin de Champagne Award.  The ten wines tasted were broken into four brackets:  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Rosés and Rare.

As always, it was really interesting to line up ten different wines and have the opportunity to compare them. Given the expense associated with Champagne, this is a very thing (for me, at least). At my end of the table, the first wine of the Pinot bracket caused plenty of discussion. It was the André Beaufort Grand Cru Ambonnay Brut 2004. It was a very savoury, spicy wine with a lot going on that perhaps you might not typically associate with Champagne. There was debate about whether or not the wine was faulty and whether or not it was best looked at as a wine first, Champagne second or vice versa. I actually really enjoyed the spiciness but certainly recognise that this is atypical and may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The Rosé bracket was also a real eye opener. Rosé Champagnes tend to be more expensive than their white counterparts and I rarely drink them. The Louis Roederer 2006 and Veuve Clicquot 2004 wines were my favourites, with more complexity than the one non vintage rosé that we tried and some very pronounced strawberries and cream type flavours.

We wrapped up with the Mumm Cuvée René Lalou 1999. A subtle wine but with a ton of complexity – which you’d hope for as it had spent 10 years on lees. Of course, if you can find this wine in Australia you can expect to pay in excess of $300 for the privilege …

The sole downer of the night was that the manpower required to pour 10 Champagnes for 30-40 people had been grossly underestimated. The wines were very slow in coming out which really hampered the flow of presentation and discussion. This meant the event ran over time which caused a few participants logistical issues (the lady next to me had to rush off because the car park was closing!).

Wines tasted (in order):
Henriot Blanc de Blancs NV
Pascal Doquet Grand Cru le Mesnil sur Oger Blanc de Blancs NV
André Beaufort Grand Cru Ambonnay Brut 2004
Veuve A Devaux Cuvée D NV
Veuve A Devaux Blanc de Noirs NV
Louis Roederer Rosé 2006
Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé NV
Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé 2004
Pol Roger Brut Rosé 2000
GH Mumm Cuvée R Lalou 1999

Competition: San Remo Diamonds Dinner

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Pasta making

Photo by ClumsyJim.

San Remo is offering three people the chance to take a friend to the Diamond Dinner, to be held in Adelaide on Monday 24 October.

The Australian Diamonds (that’s the national netball team) are taking on the Silver Ferns on Wednesday 26 October and this is the fourth year in a row that San Remo has hosted a pre-match dinner.  The menu has been designed by Adam Swanson, owner and executive chef of Zucca, at Holdfast Shores, and also a San Remo brand ambassador.  With the twin themes of sport and pasta I’m sure it’s likely to be healthy and tasty (well, it will undoubtedly involve pasta so tasty is a given).

If you want to attend, you will need to enter through the San Remo facebook page.  Submit your best pasta recipe by 11:59 am (AEST) on 2 October.  The recipe has to use San Remo pasta AND has to be one you’d serve the Diamonds before a big match (so probably not your richest, creamiest carbonara …).

Not only will you win dinner for two with the Diamonds, you’ll win a year’s supply of pasta, a San Remo cap and apron and a pasta pot.

And, if you don’t live in South Australia … don’t despair, you can still enter because the prize for interstate winners includes airfares and accommodation.

Do you need any more reasons to cook pasta this weekend?

The Victoria Hotel

- Alex 1 Comment

photo(2)

date of visit: Sunday 28 August 2011

Writing a review of a pub can be tricky. If the pub fashions itself as trendy or cutting edge, with a more interesting than average menu then the review is relatively easy – either things have worked or they haven’t. But sometimes, a pub is … just a pub.

The Victoria Hotel, at O’Halloran Hill, is one of those pubs. It’s part of the Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group – a behemoth owning 286 licensed venues across Australia. And this means, as you’d expect, that the menu is standard pub fare, at standard pub prices. As with so many pubs, you do need to have the right attitude as you walk in the door.

We visited on a Sunday evening, small child in tow. The Vic sits on Main South Road almost directly atop O’Halloran Hill. The dining room makes the most of this, its huge windows looking out across Sturt Gorge towards the foothills. The dining area is also massive: it’s divided into two sections and there’s plenty of space around the tables.

Early on a Sunday evening things in the bistro were quiet. We were able to settle ourselves and the baby in without any hassle (spotlessly clean high chair provided by the pub’s friendly staff). Having been to the Vic once before we didn’t need to spend too much time looking at the menu. As well as the usual pub staples, the Vic also offers wood oven pizzas. As you might have guessed, I ordered a chicken parmi and Andy ordered the Ocean Catch which he’d also ordered on our previous visit. The catch is a collection of seafood goodies – a beer battered fillet of fish, crumbed prawns and salt and pepper squid.

In both our cases, I’m sure our dinners went from freezer to deep fat fryer and to the table. But that’s almost exactly what I’d expect. Service was super fast which is what I want when having a pub schnittie.

And both our dinners were completely adequate. Personally, I’d prefer that the salad dressing be served on the side (so I could avoid it) and I do think that the pub could do a LOT better with its bread rolls (sad, tiny, anaemic, doughy in a bad way), but in terms of meeting expectations the Victoria hit the nail on the head.  The schnitzel had a crunchy crumbed exterior without being burnt and the meat was moist.  The topping was the usual ham, tomato based sauce and cheese.  Absolutely nothing to complain about.

A chicken parmi will set you back $17.90 (plain $15.90, with choice of the usual sauces) which is more or less standard. However, Tuesday night is schnitzel night and then a plain schnitzel is only $10.90.

If you want a pub meal with better than average views then you can do a lot worse than the Vic.