Wines

Grape vs Grain

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I picked up a copy of Grape vs. Grain at a Clouston and Hall sale here in Adelaide.

The book purports to take the reader on an exploration of the cultural and technological differences between wine and beer. Charles Bamforth, the author, is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California, Davis – and while he is up front about this, this does rather give you an idea about the bias the book might, and indeed, does, take.

I consider myself enthusiastic about both beer and wine: I run a wine education business, and while studying the Professional Certificate in Gastronomy wrote my final essay on stout and porter. When I lived in England I could often be found at beer (of the real ale type) festivals or in one of my locals, usually trying out something new. So I was really hoping for an even handed and relatively detailed investigation.

Unfortunately, this was not to be found and I suspect that my open minded approach to the book was lost on page xi (that’s right – in the preface): “… the decline of locally traditional values in a proud industry (the dearth of cask ale in London) …”. Bamforth arrives at this conclusion after a single day in London and a visit to two pubs. At the time this book was published (2008) I was still in the position of making relatively frequent trips to London and at no point did I struggle to find a decent selection of beers, or, indeed, a decent pint. Obviously, I was not wandering into any old High Street chain pub (although Wetherspoons are generally reliable for a good selection of well kept ales) but I was not doing any more research than I would do were I looking for a good restaurant for dinner.

It’s a shame that this type of glibness really pervades much of the book. There are sections which show potential: the chapter “The Healthfulness* of Wine and Beer” could have been really interesting but lacked the rigour and objectivity such an important subject needs and deserves.

Overall, I was disappointed by this book. I’m glad I read it (it’s not long!) but I did think it could have offered so much more.

* I loathe this word with a passion.

Kay Brothers Wine Dinner 17 August

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For quite a while now I’ve been meaning to get an event calendar up and running and I’ve finally done it!

The first event listed is a Kay Brothers wine dinner coming up at Jam the Bistro on Wednesday 17 August, from 6:30pm.  The dinner costs $95 a head which is inclusive of 4 courses paired with Kay Brothers wines.  If carpaccio of venison served with Grenache, or wild goat moussaka with a Cabernet Merlot appeals then this dinner could be your thing.  The evening will be hosted by Colin Kay, the winemaker, so it’s also a good opportunity to get any questions answered.

You need to make your booking through the restaurant – either phone them on 08 8231 7411 or call in (112-114 Wright Street, Adelaide). A deposit of $15 per person is required.

And if you have an event you’d like listed in the calendar, please let me know. I’m on a ridiculous number of mailing lists but that doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to pick up and make note of every event going!

Kersbrook Hill Shiraz 2005

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Kersbrook Hill Shiraz
Kersbrook Hill Shiraz

Our household has been submerged in a fug of early winter colds for about 3 weeks – at one point, all three of us were ill at the same time which was fun. Needless to say, this put a significant dampener on our enthusiasm for eating out, cooking and drinking. I kid you not but at one point I felt so rough that I didn’t even eat any of the chocolate cake that was in the house!

So, yesterday, I was quite thrilled to come across a random piece of paper with a tasting note on it …

Our local bottle shop is a pretty stock standard affair: there’s plenty of cask wines, a walk in beer fridge, a range of cheap wines (usually on some kind of deal) in the west facing window (don’t get me started on how wrong that is) … Fortunately, the staff are enthusiastic, friendly and helpful and the shop stocks a tiny selection of wines from boutique South Australian wineries. I picked up the Kersbrook Hill Shiraz because I had been impressed by their Riesling and the wine was marked down from $24.99 a bottle to $16.

Kersbrook Hill, which describes itself as an “ultra premium five star winery” makes use of the contract wine making services of Ben Jeanneret, of Jeanneret in Clare. So that explains why the Riesling is so good. I’m not sure whether it was him or Harry Dickinson who made this single vineyard Shiraz – but whoever made it clearly knew what they were doing.

The wine still looks young and there’s very concentrated, almost preserved, black fruit aromas accompanied by black pepper and even star anise. On the palate the wine is a lot spicier again, with black pepper dominant and plenty of ripe, full black fruit. The wine has lovely weight, with very soft tannins and some acidity. I did feel that the wine was just the slightest bit too hot, suggesting that the alcohol was just a tiny bit unbalanced – but that’s also a very common criticism of mine, so I wouldn’t give that too much weight.

The Kersbrook Hill tasting notes suggest drinking with with veal or white meat. I think you’d want to be careful taking this route – ensure you have some reasonably big flavours in your sauce because the wine could swamp a delicate dish. We drank some last night with spaghetti bolognese – the wine having made an appearance in the sauce – and it was a good match.

Even if I’d paid $25 for this wine I would have been happy, so $16 represents something of a bargain. Of course, now I’ve paid $16 for it, I’d probably blanch at paying full tote odds. But that’s just me!