A Drink Perhaps?

Most things in life, even the supposed minutiae and extras like writing a blog, require discipline.  I could say that my various other life strands intervened, but this would negate the fact that I should have just made and set aside time to post and create material.

So at 11:09 in the morning I'll get the ball rolling once more with a wine review from the back catalogue.  Who knows, maybe it will roll through to something else.  The review is published as is; by way of context it was a response to a review of the wine by Cambell Mattinson on The WineFront.


2004 Longview Nebbiolo (tasted May 2009) Adelaide Hills, South Australia.

Well I read this review with interest as I acquired a case of this a while back. I tried a bottle or two but never got round to writing a comment, and thought I’d like to as Nebbiolo intrigues me. I mean when I poured a bit out you look at the wine and have a first whiff, c’mon you say, is that it!

Desperately light is generous when describing the colour and the nose wasn’t giving anything away. Sat it for a bit and things unfold. Is one of the problems with this grape the impact the colour has before tasting? Your thinking thin if your not careful before you start.  Anyway after breathing the wine thickens out; the nose is tarry, resinous and quite intense along with some more delicate herbs, “rose petals” lol. The palate is concentrated, but the fruit restrained, with darker flavours, cherry? as well as the raspberry, hint of grass and a bit of boiled lolly on the end. (I feel like an idiot when I write a tasting note) Tannins are dry, grippy and long, but I quite enjoy that and it pulls it all together balancing out the slight alcohol hit, but as you say I don’t think its a problem. I think I’ll pour another.

89

......

I was interested to read something like this from a while back as it's intriguing how ones writing evolves and stays the same.  I still have some of this wine so it should be educational to try it now or in the near future and see how the wine is travelling.  Nebbiolo is a variety I really like, it's pretty interesting and here in Aus and we are now making a few that are decent drops.  If you like it, worthwhile examples locally are coming from Pizzini and S.C Pannell amongst others.  Of course there are many others and I really urge everyone to give it ago, it's certainly something different.  A quirk perhaps, but the wine I drank that introduced me to Nebbiolo was a 2001 bottle from the Granite Belt in Queensland.  It was a most lovely wine and one of the best examples I can recall, even allowing for those heady days of first love!

The wine (generally) also benefits greatly from bottle age, possibly not on the scale of the benchmark Barolos, but it can be a little austere as a youngster.  I'm expecting this wine to be at a bit of a peak now.

I'm also left to ponder the relative value of stuff by this wine because I picked up a case of 04 and a case of 05 for less than $200.  From that perspective it's some of the best wine and value for money buys I've ever encountered.  In the negative I don't think the producer benefited greatly from my auction win.  Enough of that though, here's to good wine, winemaking and drinking! 

*Not the original label art for the vintage, but this 2007 example is exquisite.  Thankyou to Longview Vineyard for the image.

For Everyman

Over done, error laden, we all have exploits in the kitchen that we are shamed by.  There are other times though where I'm sure fate and chance or whatever you like to call it have been kind.  Even with the acquisition of technical skills I've been saved by fortune, so I thought I'd create a bit of a post taking the piss out of food, showing some of the "unexpected" highlights

Prompting me to this was also some cooking I did that made me ponder what's fashionable, and by default what's considered passe.  How do I put this?  I like to try new things.  I don't feel bound by some ill defined tradition.  Sometimes I fancy myself the best of some narcissist stylists...  Yeah right, who cares!  By way of confession:

Sometimes I like overcooked meat, and this T Bone was F*&k Off good, cooked for 45 mins+ due to a malfunction of the bbq.

Like, yeah!

I've been known to drink excessive amounts of cheap beer and wine. (No one remembered to get a photo)

3am is the best time to demonstrate your kitchen skills.   

What this actually went into I'm unsure, it is believed to be the first stage
of a toasted omlette sandwich.  Unfortunately again, memories are
hazy amongst those who were present...

I take food and wine seriously, it's the best of fun, just look at this next label! To close, a lot of rubbish is written and I may play my small part in this but really a sense of humour and self deprecation must be retained at all times. 

Thanks to Jamie Goode's wine blog for the photo.  d'Arenberg have excelled themselves.

The Old And The New

Finally I got round to writing up a few wine notes, seriously you have to watch it, else you're surrounded by small scraps of paper with illegibly scrawled adjectives.  Happily for now crisis has been averted, or atleast stalled for a while.  I've popped these up together as one spurred me to tidy up the notes and both of these made me think about things a bit.  Anyhow make of it what you will and I hope it's slightly less bland than some esoteric naked tasting notes.

These two bottles are worlds apart, literally, but I think that's good in both the drinking and in terms of discussion.  Depending on what part of the world you source most of your wine familiarity with either locales will vary accordingly, though each region hardly needs an introduction.  The Gigondas appellation is in the southern Rhone region of France and the Tyrrell's comes from the Hunter Valley in Australia. 

Domaine De Longue Toque Gigondas 2008

Hailing from the Rhone, the wine is a GSM blend though I'm unsure of the exact breakdown of the various components.  Deep ruby purple hue.  Tight perfumed nose with hints of rose, spice, red fruit and meatiness, also a vegetal and flinty mineral note.  Firm in the mouth, but with some generosity, there’s red fruit and herbal note of rosemary to accompany the initial features.  A hint of violet, then flintiness comes through towards the back of the palate with firm but svelte tannins which frame the wine nicely.  Medium bodied, savoury with some persistence, interesting and structured.  89-90.

Tyrrell’s Vat 11 Shiraz  1995 Hunter Valley NSW

 On opening a little flat, smelt like old shiraz (well duh!) but it came alive after being open for an hour or so.  The intensity surprised me, lovely ripe fruit and strength came through over the elegant aged characteristics of dusty shiraz spice with straw, leather and earth.  The overwhelming thing in the mouth was how blended and harmonious all these features were along with the tannins, oak and acidity of the wine; the complexity was pleasantly challenging. To elaborate, all the features were nice, but you wouldn’t say for example there was a distinct red or dark fruit component such as blackberry and raspberry, rather they were there and so subtly integrated that you were grappling in your mind (in the best possible way, struggling!) to identify and separate different elements, rather like in a fine perfume.  Rich texture in the mouth and tasty savoury qualities with fine but present tannin and acidity driving the tremendous length.  Fine stuff in the bottle and pretty classic Hunter Valley.  I didn't want to score it. 

The exciting thing about a wine like the Tyrrell's is how ephemeral an experience it can be.  One moment not much is happening and then the wine blossoms, delivering a moment in time and beauty as a heady flash, but then gone just as rapidly.    



 These two wines also got me thinking about wine and the differences between places and approaches to vinification.  Both of these wines are pretty high quality, but I suppose my next point is looking at the lower end of the market for the obvious differences these days.  The Rhone wine, whilst still having fruit presence is enjoyable for it's secondary characteristics being more to the fore than similar Australian wines.  While I think there's a lot of cross pollination and changes in winemaking the world over, this is indicative of one of the main differences in appoach between Australian and Old world wines.  Many Australian wines are driven by primary fruit and often fresh and bright, but perhaps lacking the savoury quality aimed for in the french example.  Let me be clear I'm not saying one is inherently better than the other or that either place confound what I've just said and produce an opposite sort of wine to the stereotype I've mentioned.  If only it were that simple, but I do rather like the fact that there is this stylistic difference and obviously individuals enjoy different wines just as different occasions and situation demand diverse wine styles.  The contradictory factor to this as well is at the higher end of the market here in Australia, (I think) now having surpassed much of the world market in the way we have the complexity, but with the beautiful fruit quality integrated.  Simultaneously there has been a move to a less austere style from the French, so perhaps we're all learning from each other.

Of course I feel slightly silly writing all of that because to me it would seem pretty obvious that, stylistic considerations aside, you want both qualities of fruit and secondary characteristics in your wine.  The Tyrrell's really embodied that for me and set off that little rant... 

La Dolce Vita

Sweet Orange Cake

Cakes and sweet baking are not something I do all that often, indeed this may in fact be the first post in that genre.  Rectifying that imbalance I thought I might put this recipe up.  Originally coming from a newspaper clipping, my mother raves about this recipe and makes it often; I’d be fibbing if I told you I wasn’t a convert! 

Apart from being a deliciously moist cake it has a few points which make it a good one to have in the repertoire; very easy to make, particularly if you have a food processor, versatile enough to serve with coffee or as a dessert, also is gluten free.  The gluten free part is also one of the strengths even if you can eat it. The absence of gluten makes such a delicate recipe!  Having friends and family who are intolerant and ceoliac, it’s great to have wonderful recipes to share with them.

No doubt the recipe owes more than a little to the masters of sweet aromatic delicacies in the middle east,  I actually added a tiny tweak to the recipe in that vein this first time I made it.  I have a few further suggestions for variations, but to the recipe…

Ingredients

CAKE

Roughly shot in a hurry, but you get the idea, YUM!

2 oranges, washed

250g slivered almonds

8 dried Apricots, chopped

1 cup caster sugar

5 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

SYRUP

1 orange

½ cup caster sugar

A few drops of rose water essence

Preheat the oven to 150 C.  Put the oranges in a freezer bag loosely sealed and microwave on high for 12 minutes, I’d also pop that in a bowl to avoid leaks! Set them aside for a few minutes to cool.  Grease a 22cm round cake tin and line it with baking paper.  This cake is a big softy so make sure you line with the paper or getting it out may be a hard ask!  Open the oranges up and get any seeds out, also remove any stem remnants.  Pulse the almonds a few times in the food processor to roughly chop, throw in the torn apart whole oranges and apricots and give these a whizz to finely chop and combine.  Caster sugar can be added now and mixed through, finally add the eggs and baking powder and mix for 10-20 secs to combine.  Pour out into the baking tin and bake for 1hr, or until deep golden brown and a skewer comes out cleanly.

For the syrup, take the zest off then juice the orange, combine these and add the sugar in a saucepan, stir vigorously, bring it to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes without stirring.  Take it off the heat and let it cool down.  My tweak from the original was to add the rosewater essence once the syrup was cool, I think it lifts the citrus aroma and flavour and adds such a lovely note to the cake.  

Now at this point the original recipe says to pour over the syrup at serving with cream, ice cream, thick yogurt etc.  This is absolutely fine, however (thanks again mum!) I think the cake is even better if you pour over the still warm syrup and leave it to soak into the cake, and it gets better over a day or two.  Obviously it can still be served with ice cream etc.

As for other variations in the recipe, think about dried figs (possibly soaked in liqueur of some sort) with or instead of the apricots, a little cinnamon in cake or syrup, nutmeg and possibly slivered pistachios over the top with the syrup. Mmm!    

photo of a photo aka "serving suggeston" thanks to the Daily Telegraph.

Pour Yourself A Glass

Lowe Reserve Shiraz 2006, Mudgee NSW



Pulled from an overnight holiday in the fridge



Interesting little wine this, and should develop over time.  It’s really the antithesis of the big aussie Shiraz that many may be familiar with, which is no bad thing.  In terms of the winemaking process, a third of the fruit was wild fermented; the rest was inoculated with a Rhone yeast and whole bunch fermented.  The wine was matured in both old and new French oak and is 100% organic.  Of course the main point here is how has this shaped the wine?  With some wines, for all the label babble you don’t really get much of it happening in the wine.  Happily this wine bucks that trend.

So a bit of a note…

Bright ruby red colour with a similarly bright nose, predominantly red fruit initially, then a hint of flowers and minerality, followed by a touch of violet and plum.  Palate has the red fruit along with some shiraz spice and funk, darker notes peek through temptingly.  Tannins provide shape and backbone, being firm but supple they finish this nicely.  Well structured.  90.

I tried this with food and then again the next day when I wrote an actual note about it.  Certainly this will age well and this would bring out further dimensions in the wine, perhaps along the” darker notes” which are hiding a little bit.  On opening it really is quite lean and bright, I‘d say you could mix this up with a Cotes du Rhone or similar GSM style wine if you tasted this blind.  The next day though the wine was overall darker and more “shiraz” if that makes sense; the floral had dissipated, more black fruit was present and there was more of a classic shiraz nose.  It suggests to me a wine which would really be great in five or even ten years.

***A little update, I left the wine in the fridge and tried it again 3-4 days after opening, only about a third left in the bottle.  Even better, and it made me think my 90 was stingy, seriously!  Thus I'm tempted to go 92+  Sometimes it's nice to be a little off the mark.  Comments are along the lines of the 2nd day tasting, things really opened up even more, multi dimensioned, depth and really integrated.

A high quality producer, well worth checking out so have a look Lowe Family Wine   

  

Countryside Adventures

So here's another post coming to you from the Mid North Coast of New South Wales; I was charged with minding the dog for a few days as others embarked on a few side trips and this is a dish I cooked up to amuse myself and the dog.  He enjoyed it in rather more of a raw form it must be said!  I like this style of cooking the meat and have made this quite a few times with variations in the marinade.  This edition, I guess because of the Sumac, preserved lemon and general spice profile, takes some inspiration from North Africa via the South of Italy.  Quite Australian in it’s multicultural mixture of influences.  You can also use a dash of sweet vermouth in a marinade as variation.   


 

Preserved Grapefruit, an in house product,
but as you won't find that at the shops I suggest lemon!

Seared Kangaroo Fillets



Kangaroo Fillet (roughly two medium sized pieces per person)

Marinade

Garlic, 2 large cloves crushed and diced

Olive Oil, 50ml

White wine, 50 ml

Balsamic Vinegar, 1 dash

Sumac, large tsp

The Kangaroo, Sizzling along in the pan, prior to the oven

Dash of finely diced chilli

Lemon thyme, 3-4 sprigs

Bay leaves, 2 fresh

Preserved lemon, 2-3 pieces, finely sliced

Cumin, ½ tsp

Cardamom. A pinch

 Salt

Black Pepper

White Pepper

Throw all the marinade ingredients together and give it a good mix.  To this, add the kangaroo and make sure all the meat has a good covering of the liquid.  This can all be prepared the day before if you want, or on the day you cook it.  If you do it earlier, cover and throw it in the fridge but give the meat a turn every now and then.  Make sure you get it out of the fridge to get it up to room temperature prior to cooking.  Prepared a few hours before cooking it can just be left out of the fridge, but again give it a mix and stir occasionally.

To cook, remove the meat from the marinade and get rid of any big lumps of garlic, herb etc from the meat.  Reserve the marinade and set an oven to 220C, also heat a pan with a little oil until very hot.  Sear the meat until coloured and browned on all sides.  This might be 30 seconds or so per side, but use your judgement.  Place the meat into a baking dish and pour over the marinade.  Cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes.  The aim is to keep the meat rare in the middle but combine the lovely flavours of the marinade, so don’t overdo it!  If you do like the meat a little more well done, bake for 5-10 minutes longer but at about 180 C.  (Though I think  Kangaroo is at it’s best rare to medium rare!)

Give the meat a rest under foil for 10-15 minutes then serve with a Salad or your favourite roasted vegetables.  Here I’ve done some oven roasted potatoes and a tomato, avocado and cucumber salad.    We enjoyed this with a delicate and lighter Cabernet, but a rich and spicy Shiraz or the classic game companion of a Pinot would also work.

Refreshing Jelly Madness

Rosé Jellies

This is a take on that in between of courses, the palate cleanser.  I was doing a few other things in the kitchen pre Christmas and had a few bottles of wine about the place.  So by way of experimentation I came up with these wobbly imaginings.  Spritely and refreshing, this would work as a chilled aperitif with some nibbles, interlude between heavier courses or in the role of zippy closer to a meal.  What more could you want in the warmer weather, it even has a little alcohol kick!   

Dry Rosé, 1 bottle

15g gelatine

Herbs

Lemon juice

Brown sugar

Dissolve the gelatine in 50 ml of boiling water with a little sugar and lemon.  The amount depends on how dry/sweet the wine and your taste, it can even be omitted.  I only use it to cover off the gelatine flavour so the rule of thumb is as little as possible.

Combine with the wine whilst stirring vigorously. Pour into small moulds and add decorative and aromatic herbs of choice.  (Fresh Bay leaves, Thyme, Basil, Mint, Rosemary could be used, for example).  Place in fridge to set.

Remove from the mould to serve, perhaps with a mint leaf and apple wafer.

The gelatine needs to be at about 2% in the solution to set, so this sits at 20g/L.  Obviously you can vary the volumes to suit the quantity of jelly needed.  This quantity makes about 8-10 small jellies.  Depending on the use of the dish you might also vary the type of rosé, ie a sweeter wine if you were using it at the end of a meal.

A Glass Of Riesling

Miramar Riesling 2010 Mudgee, NSW.

I'm quite a fan of Miramar wines and their winemaker, Ian MacRae.  Some really first rate wines are produced across a range of styles: Shiraz, Cabernet and merlot in the reds and Riesling, Chardonnay, Semillon and Sauvignon blanc in the whites.  This wine is a great example of the white wine style and flair from this producer.  Miramar are well worth a visit if your in the area.   

Pale colour lemon/lime and candlestick on the nose.  Lovely minerality.  Firm mouth feel follows with rich citrus and floral notes, even hint of lemon curd.  Leaness and zesty acidity give great structure and nice length to this elegant wine.  90+

This is great to drink now but will no doubt age well over the next 5-10 years.  Nice with a spot of seafood such as a pan fried fish or seared scallops. 

Festive Delectables

Christmas is often a time of excess for many, which some of the time is a great thing.  Many dishes of rich food, sauced and puddinged to death, it's very clear it's the festive season.  So sometimes it's nice to enjoy the very simplest of foods beautifully prepared.  This dish certainly fits the bill and has the added bonus of being super easy but impressive; equally at home as a casual dinner or main course whilst entertaining.

Rare Seared Beef Fillet

Whole eye fillet

Thyme

Oregano

Rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 onion

Garlic, 2 cloves

Beef stock 100ml

White wine 100ml

Olive oil

Black Pepper

White Pepper

The Beef is prepared in two stages, first seared in a pan then finished in a very slow oven.  A sauce is rubbed and poured over the beef before baking.

For the sauce fry the crushed garlic and finely diced onion in a little oil until slightly coloured.  Throw in the herbs, stir and then add the stock, wine and seasoning.  Simmer briefly to combine all the elements and reduce the liquid slightly.  Set aside.

Rub the beef with a little salt and sear the beef in a very hot pan with a little oil, ideally you would like as much colour as possible, but a rough guide might be 1-2 minutes per side.  Once this is done place the beef in a baking tray and pour over the sauce, if your pan is oven proof you could just use that.

Bake the beef in the oven at about 100-110 degs for 30 min, the point being to gently finish the cooking process and retain the beautiful delicacy and flavour of the meat.

To serve, slice the meat and arrange on a platter.  It can be enjoyed with an array of sides, but simplicity is possibly appropriate as it allows the beef flavour to shine.  Suggestion; Oven roasted Kipflers, or steamed chats alongside some green beans (How about the courgette and bean salad) or leafy salad.    

Tasting the delights outside the Paris of the south... (Or a short segue to the Yarra Valley) Part 2.

Underwhelming photo of Medhurst, twas good though!

Apologies for the delay!...  If you would like to read part 1.

As I listened to the broadcast of Australia playing New Zealand at the Gabba, the Victorian James Pattinson wreaking destruction upon the black caps; here was a reminder that I needed to complete part II of my short tale of the Yarra Valley. It seems many good things come from Victoria.

So I believe we were heading over to Medhurst for more wine and lunch, it was a chance decision that turned out to be a highlight of the day. The drive up to the cellar door was was pretty and the weather fickle as ever with cloud and showers scudding through, quite beautiful, as long as your in the car or at the bar. Medhurst has a new and impressive tasting room/restaurant which is quite an architectural statement which commands some fine views. This theme of growth and development is continued with construction nearly complete on their own winery on-site. The wines on offer come in two tiers, with the Red Shed label at about the $20 mark and the The main range, for around $25. Whilst this still gives a considerable choice to try, I like the fact that there aren't seemingly endless wines at different price points. It can seem a bit ridiculous with some producers when they have endless wines which can all often be similar shades of grey, better to make fewer wines but have quality and distinction in all of them.

The Red Shed offerings were all good quality wines, straight forward but tasty and good value. This high quality was reflected in the main range. Sauvignon Blanc was pleasant and in a restrained style I enjoy rather than having excess tropical fruit and gooseberry. Rosé was again in a very fine, restrained style, pale colour. It was very subtle but tasty. I can't tell you about the Chardonnay as they appeared to have run out though I'm sure judging by the other offerings that it's ok... Similarly all the reds were lovely wines: Pinot was good, though didn't stand out for me, I felt the pick of the reds and all the wines, were the Cabernet and Shiraz. On the day the Shiraz really impressed me, but a later tasting of the Cabernet was equally impressive. Without writing a tasting note, both of these wines were fantastic in there balance, sophistication and restrained power. No doubt they also both benefit from a little bit of time in the bottle with the current release being 2006.

Interestingly the Shiraz and Cabernet are bottled under cork which is more the exception to Stelvin these days. I really don't have a problem with cork, providing it's high quality, but one does have to ask why would you when SC is almost foolproof, but then I'm being provocative, think about it... The argument from this producer goes something along the lines of allowing variation between the bottles in a good way, make of that what you will but I rather like the idea. So to soak up some of the booze we had a great platter of antipasto, Anthony being designated driver had a coffee or two and I admit to having a glass of the shiraz. It could not be helped! On we went, but I watch this producer with interest and will definitely have to make a return trip.

This time of the afternoon is a difficult one when your tasting, you've just had lunch, a few wineries ticked off, so a bit of palate and mental fatigue can kick in. I'd be interested to know what others do to rejuvenate and energise, we just pushed on. You can chomp all the raw cashew and apple you like, but there is a limit, it's tough man! On we went, next stop Coldstream Hills.

Now Medhurst was stylish, and so was Coldstream Hills, if a little cold. I have to preface this next bit with a disclaimer of sorts; I have every respect for James Halliday, he knows what he's on about, likes wine, writes the odd review and so on, I even make the odd joke about him, which for those who know me is a token of my esteem. What I dislike is all that being blasted at me at every opportunity, you know what I'm on about, this or that wine being given 95 points by the man, 5 star wineries and all that... Anyway Halliday was one of the original owners here, though don't take it from me, if you visit the cellar door you will get told this 47 times. Signed copies of the next decades wine guides will be available, because you have to face facts sooner or later and check what's rated 5 stars, who would visit a winery otherwise?

You cannot complain about the view from Coldstream Hills...

I may have been a little stuffed from lunch, the view was lovely, the wines were all very high quality, some probably sublime. Great. However the approach to it all was lame and the experience exemplifies what I'm on about. Our barman, expert, taste guide or whatever we title them was disinterested and run off his feet, scampering between 4 different groups. The cellar door has a nitrogen injection system in place, so as the tasting bottles are exhausted, the wine doesn't oxidise, or the process is at least slowed. In theory this is good; didn't work with two of the wines I tried, but of course I had to effectively argue with the poor guy behind the bar and then accept profound apologies when he actually tried what he was offering. All rather tiresome, the high point was watching some of the AFL Grand Final as the TV was perched on the bar.

In short, very good wine but a totally underwhelming experience.

The weather was on the improve as Anthony and I rolled down the path to the car and headed to our final pairing of the day, Allinda and De bortoli. I told you we were dedicated!

Stay tuned for part III as it's taking a bit longer than I thought, bear with me!