Wine without BS

Learn Tapas... without BS!

A little known fact about myself is that when it came time to pick a career path after high school I actually enrolled into cooking school at TAFE. I've been attending cooking classes since I was around 14 and always enjoyed every part of the cooking process, except the cleaning up afterwards of course!

I never ended up in cooking school and randomly ended up in the finance sector, where I've remained ever since. While I have the utmost respect for chefs, I have to say I don't regret the path I went down at all and would rather be cooking for my friends and family, when I feel like it and at my own pace. A luxury no professional chef really has.

Anyway, enough of the possibly unnecessary intro! My most recent expedition to further my cooking skills was at one of my favourite Sydney restaurants, Mumu Grill, in Crows Nest. The latest cooking class on offer is all about Spanish Tapas as owner, Craig Macindoe, developed a great affection for the small, Mediterranean inspired share plates while living in Spain for six months.

The classes are currently offered most nights of the week, except Saturdays, from 6pm til 9pm and during the course we all had a recipe sheet and worked our way through bread making, several tapas dishes and two different types of Sangria.

There were around 12 people in my class, with 4 people to a table. The tables were complete with the necessary equipment we all needed to work our way through the dishes. It was not at all over crowded but I certainly wouldn't want to be in a class much bigger than this and four people to a table was pretty spot on.

(Craig explains the finer points of making Olive Tapenade to a student)

Craig certainly has a very 'No BS' approach and the content of the course is both informative and use-able with little to no existing skills or knowledge necessary. After starting with a basic bread recipe we made olivetapenade, meatballs in tomato sauce (my personal favourite), cider braised chorizo with prawns, figs wrapped in prosciutto and potato and ricotta tortilla.

(A real highlight is the fact that all dishes are cooked in a wood fired pizza oven!)

While the last few dishes were cooking in the oven we made up a few jugs of sangria and quickly turned the classroom into a dining room were we all sat down to dinner with our tapas creations. 

Wait staff from the restaurant next door were constantly checking in on our beverage requirements so no one went thirsty... something I take fairly seriously as you can see from my line up below.

(White Sangria, water, beer and red wine... I like to have my bases covered when it comes to food and beverage pairing!)

As the night ended there was a certain satisfying end of putting all the dirty cookware and dishware into a container for someone else to wash up! We were all given the recipes we had made and were well feed and had learnt a thing or two in the process. I had a fantastic time and I know everyone on my table said the same.  

I highly recommend this not just as a great cooking class, but a great night out period. If you aren't afraid to get your hands a little dirty, then instead of just going out for dinner why not go out to learn how to cook something new in a fun environment and have something at the end of the evening that is more than just the bill!

 

The cost of the course is $140 per head.... however, you can save yourself a whopping 50% just by becoming a VIP mailing list member HERE

You really would have to be full of BS to not take advantage of this incredibly generous offer as you can then get two people into the course for the cost of one AND free dinner at Mumu Grill during the month of your Birthday as well! 

Islander Estate Vineyards 2009 Shiraz

For the first time ever, my family decided to have Christmas away from home and Kangaroo Island was picked as the venue for a one week Christmas vacation. Unbeknown to me when we made the booking, that Kangaroo Island is in fact a wine region in its own right and boasts around 15 or so wineries with approximately half that number having cellar doors/tasting rooms. Kangaroo Island is a cool climate region that is unique because it never, or extremely rarely, experiences below zero temperatures. 

The Island is much larger than I had imagined and has over 500Km of coastline and driving from one end to the other takes around 2 hours or more. Driving from one winery to another can easily take an hour depending on which two wineries you are travelling between. Red varieties seem to be the most favoured on the Island but I did have some pretty decent Sauvignon Blancs and Islander Estate have some great white wines in their line-up as well, including a Semillon Viognier.

This particular Shiraz from French winemaker, Jacques Lurton, is actually made up just over half Clare Valley fruit at 52% with the remaining 48% coming from his Kangaroo Island vineyards that are located in a central northern part of the island that I am told is referred to as 'the heartland'.

The 2009 Shiraz has a nice cherry red colour with an attractive aroma of berry fruit and oak which carry over in the flavours which show great balance between fruit and oak elements and there is even a hint of spice. This is a very well made wine that is thoroughly enjoyable and I can see why Halliday has placed it in his Top 100 wines this year and why it has sold out. Islander Estate are the clear benchmark for quality wines on the Island and I look forward to seeing more from their wine maker, Jacques Lurton, who has clearly invested heavily in this great facility.

 

Islander Estate Vineyards 2009 Shiraz
Price - It was around $18 but has sold out. If you find it, buy it! 
Region - Kangaroo Island, South Australia
Final Sip - A great wine at a fantastic price that shows Kangaroo Island wines are worth taking as seriously as anything on the mainland. While you may find it tricky to get your hands on this Shiraz, the 06 Malbec would be my next pick in their lineup and you can still get some from Islander Estate On-line.

(One of the more unique things I've ever seen at a winery are these open top cement wine fermenters at Islander Estate Vineyards. They were actually sourced from a french tomb maker and what you see in the picture is a modified version of an 8 person tomb!)

Primo Estate Joseph The Fronti V

I owe this wine discovery to a particular cellar hand at Primo Estate who, as I was paying for my order and just about to walk out the door, said 'Did you try the Fronti?'. I had just completed the 'Joseph Experience' tasting at Primo Estate in McLaren Vale and the Fronti V wasn't in the line-up on that occasion, but luckily I was given a quick taste and immediately added two bottles to my order.

This unique wine is a blend of old fortified wines from around Australia, however the base wine is from a 1981 vintage of Frontignan that I am told by Primo Estate insiders was found by accident in a shed years after they pulled up all their Frontignan vines in the mid 1980s. Other wines in the mix come from Rutherglen and Barossa Valley and the average age of the wines used is said to be at least 30 years. 

The wine is a darkish, nutty brown colour and is slightly cloudy. I generally don't waste much time with aroma on fortifieds so let's skip straight to taste. It has the elements I expected, being toffee, sultana/raisins etc but also shows a very slight hint of vanilla and a noticeable, but pleasant, warm alcohol finish. I expected it to be similar to muscat, and while it no doubt has muscat in it, it does have a character all of its own that is unlike any fortified I've tried to date. A truly enjoyable wine that no doubt will appeal to most wine lovers.

Primo Estate 'Joseph' The Front V
Price - $50 from Primo Estate
Region - The base wine is from McLaren Vale, blended wines come from Rutherglen and Barossa Valley.
Final Sip - It's a pretty dangerous wine... because I find myself going through my supply far too quickly!  

(The very cool and modern cellar door at Primo Estate) 

By Jingo Wines 2006 Montepulciano

 

Before I start, I need to confess that I somehow lost my tasting notes for this wine but am pressing ahead anyway as this wine more than deserves a spot on my blog and easily earned its place in my 'Most Memorable Wines of 2011'

Australian made Montepluciano's are few and far between but coincidentally I had recently tried another Aussie Monte's a week or so before trying the By Jingo. It took but one sip of the 06 By Jingo Montepulciano to know I was drinking something pretty bloody awesome. There was definitely a 'wow' moment after sip number two and the bottle didn't last as long after that! It has such a gorgeous flavour that I can't relate back to any other wine I've tried before. It was completely different to the other Montepulciano I had the week before that is also from a South Australian producer. 

Being lucky enough to have a bottle of the 08 also around at the time I took it along to a staff tasting I held for Google Australia, as part of Google Wine Week+. I remember a staff member yelling out to me 'What is this?' pointing to the bottle of By Jingo 08 Montepulciano, then saying 'It's fantastic!'.  I only got a tiny taste of the 2008 vintage before the staff polished it off, but it would seem the reaction to it from several Googlers meant they had just as high an opinion of the 2008 as I do of the 2006. As a result of that tasting I'd also like to ad that this wine is vegan friendly and apologise to the staff member who missed out given I only learnt of this fact the day after the tasting.

I should add that it was actually days after I had tasted it that I learnt it's price and admit to being somewhat surprised to see it was over $100. After pondering the price point for a while I realised that I've had plenty of $100+ wines that I cannot even remember... but I'll remember this one for a long time to come I am sure!

By Jingo 2006 Montepulciano
Price - $120 from By Jingo Wines
Region - Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Final Sip -  Do yourself a favour and try this wine before the 30 cases made have sold out. If the price is still getting in the way then try the 2008 as it is less than half the price! Alternatively keep an eye out for my upcoming Rare and Odd varieties wine dinner, as you can bet your Montepulciano it'll be there!

Chapel Hill 2011 il Vescovo White blend

With summer having just begun many of us will be heading more and more to the fridge to grab our wine and I would like to urge all of you to try more white blends just like this Chapel Hill il Vescovo this season. Many great Australian wine makers are producing more interesting blends of three or more varieties and the more of them I try the more I find myself wanting them regularly in my collection.

This particular example from Chapel Hill is a unique blend of Savagnin, Verdelho and Roussanne. It has a very light, almost clear colour showing just hints of pale lemon/lime colours. There is citrus in the aroma mixed in with other elements that I failed to place... probably because I am not a botanist like so many other wine writers appear to be. I also didn't want to waste too much time sniffing at the stuff as it drinks too well to stay in my glass all that long. This was a real joy to drink and I really cannot fault it at all.

Chapil Hill il Vescovo 2011 White Wine
Price - $22 from Chapel Hill Wines and assorted retailers
Region - McLaren Vale, South Australia
Final Sip - One of the most enjoyable and well priced white wines I've had in recent times, blend or no blend!

Lowe Wines 2009 Zinfandel

Zinfandel is hardly a common variety in Australia and many wineries that make it cannot boast about doing it all that well in my opinion. Amongst other consumers here in Australia I hear everything from 'Zin is a Sin', to 'You have to try the one by XYZ wines... theirs is different!'. It is a totally different story over in California though as Zinfandel is made by hundreds of wineries and your local supermarket will feature whole shelves of the stuff where even a reasonably priced drop is likely to fare well against our best attempts.

However, David Lowe, from Lowe wines in Mudgee, can boast that not only does he make a great Zinfandel, but he has a stack of medals for his latest release and that the vast majority of critics and consumers that try it give it rave reviews, myself included. No suprises then that David spent time during his career in the heart of Californian Zin country, Sonoma County, just next door to Napa.

The 2009 Lowe Zindandel has a lovely aroma of stewed fruits and even licorice becomes noticeable after a bit of time in the glass. As soon as you start drinking this wine it becomes an experience. It is 'full-on' in its flavours and creates a warm sensation on the back of the throat. The tannin creates what I wrote in my notes as a bit of a 'Mr Ed' effect, as your gums dry instantly and you lift your lips up and down to re-moisturise them. After a glass or two I noticed a really pleasant fruit cake like after taste building on the palate and it wasn't too long before I found myself with an empty bottle and wanting more. The price point is likely to stop many over indulging in this drop and as much as I wish you could grab two bottles for $100 or less, David talked me through the vast efforts he goes to in the vineyard for this varietal and any comparisons to Californian Zinfandel prices are simply unfair if you consider our much higher minimum wages in Australia and sheer economies of scale when California alone has a population of 35 million.

 

Lowe Wines 2009 Zinfandel
Price - $75 from Lowe Wines
Region - Mudgee, NSW
Final Sip - I really enjoyed this wine as it is exactly what I find myself looking for these days when I look upon a wine rack full of predictable Shiraz's, Cabernets and Chardonnays. Something different!

Did you know? Zinfandel is the genetic equivalent to the variety grown in Italy known as Primitivo and Crljenak Kaštelanski in Croatia.

Logan Wines 2010 Sauvignon Blanc

When I go to buy a white wine for myself I rarely by Sauvignon Blanc. Nothing against it at all, it is just that there are a number of white varietals I prefer ahead of it. However, when I first visited the Orange wine region in NSW a few years ago my opinion on Sauvignon Blanc started to change dramatically. Without  a doubt the best Sauvignon Blancs I've tried to date have all come from Orange producers and while Logan Wines is a Mudgee winery, their Sauvignon Blanc grapes come from Orange.

I won't muck about here because this wine is as close to, as makes no difference, the best Sauvignon Blanc I've tried. Big call many may say but I am simply saying that while I've had a few that I have enjoyed as much, I cannot recall any particular one that I can honestly say I would prefer over this one. For those of you dying to read some tasting notes it has a light pale colour and a nice strong aroma of tropical fruits and flavours of passionfruit, pineapple, lemon and lime with a citrusy after taste.

Logan Wines 2010 Sauvignon Blanc
Price - $22 rrp available from Logan Wines and Dan Murphy's
Region - Made in Mudgee with grapes grown in Orange, NSW.
Final Sip - I wish I had brought more of it and you should stop reading about it and go and try it for yourself!

 

 

Oak Works 2008 Tinta Molle

Now here is a grape that I had never heard of, let alone tried until I recently visited Wine Odyssey in Sydney. It turns out Tinta Molle is a Portuguese variety that is often used for making port but a handful of wineries in Australia are now using it to make full bodied, dry red wines. Oak Works seem to specialise in rare varietals with a range of wines including a number of grape varieties I haven't yet come across.

This wine has colours of cherry red and plum purple with a rich and pleasant aroma of jam like fruit. It is also a lovely wine to drink, definitely a full bodied wine with big flavours of dark fruits and finishes with just the faintest hint of sweetness. The wine reminds me of some Grenache and even GSM wines I have had from South Australia and I was thoroughly impressed!

Oak Works 2008 Tinta Molle
Price - $20 if ordered from winemaker, Peter Rogers, via email by clicking here or $26 at Wine Odyssey (while stocks last)
Region - Renmark, South Australia
Final Sip - If GSM and Grenache are your thing then it is rather safe to say you stand a great chance of enjoying this too. Just don't go around saying Tinta Molle is your favourite variety as you'd then sound like a total wine wanker!

Xabregas 2009 Mount Barker Shiraz

Keen to show that Mount Barker is capable of producing very high quality cool climate shiraz that would rival the likes of the highly prized and scored examples coming out of areas like Canberra Districts, I was contacted by the Xabregas (pronounced ZAR-BREE-GAS) Vigneron, Paul Hogan, to check  out their new release. This is the second vintage of the Xabregas Mount Barker Shiraz I have tried, yet this time around Xabregas have a new winemaker, Martin Cooper, who said he had a new found appreciation of wine bloggers after comments I made on the winery's 2007 vintage back in 2010.

The 2009 release is a very deep, rich purple colour that is almost the 'classic' colour for young, cool climate shiraz. The aroma was one I had trouble pinning down. The label suggests half the kitchen sink will be in there somewhere but, with a bit of time and more persistence on the nose than I suggest many will bother with, I can report that I picked up on the sweet plum fruit and at times could smell faint white pepper.

It is a lovely, balanced wine to drink with elements of fruit, spice, pepper and oak on the palate with no single element over powering the others. It is a totally different wine in all the ways I'd hoped over the 2007 and goes to show that you can never judge a winery on just one wine.

 

Xabregas Wines 2009 Mount Barker Shiraz
Price - $23 from Xabregas online
Region - Mount Barker, WA
Final Sip - A great wine and from what I hear, just the beginning, as I believe the Xabregas line up will soon include 4 Shiraz wines at different price points. I certainly look forward to trying them all but i'm more than happy with this drop for its price!

Kenneth Volk's Heirloom red varieties

 

I recently took a road trip up to Santa Barbara county from Los Angeles and stayed in the Santa Ynez Valley where many of the wineries that had been recommended to me were located. While I went to a lot of lovely wineries and tried many great wines, it was what was referred to as the 'heirloom' varieties by Kenneth Volk that became a highlight of this trip.

These four varieties, that I had never seen or tasted before, were Negrette, Aglianico, Touriga and Cabernet Pfeffer. All are red grape varieties with varied origins based within or near the Mediterranean. In the case of Cabernet Pfeffer, information is scarce but it seems to be a name born out of California for a variety that was not recognised in the United States, known in France and Argentina as Gros Verdot. If anyone has further information to share on the origins of Cabernet Pfeffer please leave a comment.

I purchased one bottle of each variety and over the course of a week tried each wine on at least two separate occasions. My thoughts on each variety are below.

Negrette 08 - A lighter bodied red wine that is said to have properties of both Pinot Noir and Syrah/Shiraz. It is purple in colour with perhaps a dash of raspberry-like red that had fruit and herb like aromas, fruit driven flavours and just the slightest hint of sweetness left on the palate upon finish.
Price - $24

Aglianico 08 - Light blood red in colour with a tiny hint of purple to the edges. The aroma was full of red berry fruit and had a small touch of oak/wood. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that the Italian variety is full bodied, highly tanic and perhaps not the most enjoyable variety on its own at this age. My least favourite of the four wines but throw in a fatty piece of meat or give it ten years and it is likely to be a much more enjoyable experience.
Price - $28

Touriga 09 - Cherry red in colour with a hint of purple with an aroma that was not all that alluring and came across as 'dusty' for lack of something more descriptive. The flavour was rather unique but some more familiar juicy fruit flavours did come through and I found the after taste of the wine very pleasant and reminiscent of a candy I loved as child known as Hooley Dooleys, which Skittles seemed to replace.
Price - $36

Cabernet Pfeffer 07 - A rather light, but attractive scarlet like red in colour with a floral aroma and noticeable red berry fruit and a touch of pepper. On the palate it was mainly those red berry fruit flavours and a bit of spice that remained but it was all well balanced. There was a rather subtle but odd salty aftertaste that I found unusual but not overly unpleasant.
$34

NOTE: The Cabernet Pfeffer and Negrette are grown in San Benito County while the Touriga and Aglianico are grown in Paso Robles.

I would like to give a more than an honourable mention to the fact that the Tempranillo, Mouvedre and Zinfandel from Kenneth Volk. All were also fantastic wines that I highly recommend and show that red varieties are clearly Kenneth's strength and probable preference.