Wines

Prawn and White Wine Masterclass

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

10 January 2012

The second Cellar Door Festival is taking place in Adelaide from 24 – 26 February and this year the masterclass schedule will be extended to include an SA King Prawn and White Wine Showcase Masterclass.   Chef Simon Bryant, formerly of the Hilton and also of The Cook and The Chef fame, will be joined by students from Le Cordon Bleu and will create a selection of prawn tasting dishes.  The dishes, cooked using Marine Stewardship Council certified Spencer Gulf King Prawns, will be paired with a selection of South Australia’s finest white wines.

Simon Bryant will be joined by Aaron Brasher of Wine Australia.

There will be just 60 tickets available for the two masterclasses – one held at 1pm on the Saturday and the other at 2:30pm on the Sunday.  The tickets are $40 per person and are available through the Cellar Door website.

Wines for Christmas

- Alex Leave a comment

 

 

Disclaimer:  I was sent the four wines by Wine Selectors.

When Wine Selectors got in touch and asked me if I’d like to try some of their wines they didn’t really have to ask twice!  This was particularly the case because NOT ONE of the wines they offered to send was a Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc.  Not that I have anything against Kiwi Savvie B but I really don’t understand why Australians drink so much of it when they should be supporting local products.

So, if you’re guilty of always reaching for the NZ Sav Blanc – PLEASE READ ON!

And if you’re not, please read on anyway, and we’ll have a chat about wine and food and Christmas.

Let’s begin with a wine that needs no food at all – but, as far as Christmas goes, if you must do food, think breakfast.  I was sent the Peterson’s Sparkling White NV.  This wine was very pale and, on the palate, it was crisp with some good acidity and TONS of citrus.  It’s not a particularly complex wine (and let’s be reasonable – if you buy a case it’s $9 a bottle) so I wouldn’t try pairing it with food.  Keep it as an aperitif but it would also be perfect for breakfasts and brunches and anyone who wants a Bucks Fizz.

Next up we had the Sauvignon Blanc replacements:  The Lions Den Barossa Valley Babylon Block Riesling 2010 and the Jackson’s Hill The Under Block 2011 Semillon from the Hunter Valley.

Both wines were citrussy – the Riesling lemon and the Semillon lime.  In terms of acidity, the Riesling outshone the Semillon, making it a better partner for any richer Christmas dishes.  Have the Semillon with your oysters and prawns and save the Riesling for your baked ham or roast pork, or even your Boxing Day fish and chips.  I’d also opt for pairing the Riesling with roast turkey, if you’re having one and really want to drink white.

The final wine was the Brokenwood The Bentley’s Boot 2010 Pinot Noir.  While this wine showed the raspberry aromas and flavours that are pretty typical of Australian Pinot Noir it also had a substantial green component – think raspberry or strawberry leaf.  There was a bit of spice on the palate and some reasonably grippy tannins.  We had this with confit duck legs (yes, I know – pairing duck with Pinot Noir shows such imagination …) and this wine would work really well with your turkey.  There’s also no reason why you couldn’t drink it with ham or pork, but I do think there the Riesling would be the better option.

So there’s some ideas for your Christmas drinking … hope you find them helpful!

Cabernet Day

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photo thanks to the Great Wine Adventure

date: Thurs 1 Sept 2011

You may remember that late last year I attended the launch of the Qwoff Boys’ Great South Australian Wine Adventure. It’s obviously been a successful year for Justin & Andre because the wine adventure has gone national … that’s right, it’s now the Great Wine Adventure.

They used Cabernet Day (1 Sept, didn’t you know?) as the launch day and a party was duly held at Qwoff HQ. To drink, Cabernets and to eat, Burger Theory burgers. The Spring weather meant it was even mild enough to spend time outside!

The range of Cabernets out for tasting was really impressive (I think I heard the number 200 bandied about) and Riedel Australia supplied Cabernet Vinum glasses for us all to get the most out of the experience.

I tasted 10 wines – taking the opportunity to sample wines I’d heard of but not had the chance to try. It’s unsurprising, to me, that the wines I rated most highly typically had some age on them, such as the Zema Estate Family Selection 2005, the Reschke Empyrean 2004 and the Jim Barry Benbournie 2004. Unfortunately, you do also rather pay for that bit of age on your bottle of Cabernet …

However, it wasn’t all silly priced wines. The very last wine I tried (at the suggestion of someone else, so I wasn’t the only one enjoying it!) was the Oliver’s Taranga 2009 Cabernet – which you can pick up at the cellar door only for around $30*. This wine more than held its own against company that was often both illustrious and considerably more expensive.

As always, a fab evening, with lovely wines and a great opportunity to catch up with quite a few Adelaide twitter buddies!

* This coming Sunday (18 Sept) Oliver’s Taranga hosts the Sagrantino Sessions, complete with wood oven pizzas and the opportunity to taste more than just the Cabernet.  Get yourself down to McLaren Vale!