Taste of WA

This week I had the pleasure of tasting some of the best wines from WA at the Taste of Western Australia run by the Wine Industry Association of WA at the Sofitel hotel, Sydney.

The evening began with a bit of an expo of 17 of WA's best wineries from around the region, followed by a Cabernet master class with host and wine writer, Mike Bennie.

My partner in crime and I made our way around the room, tasting as many of the wines as we could while nibbling on some lovely cheese and crackers. As we were sampling prior to a Cabernet master class, I chose to stick with whites for most of the tastings.

Favourites of the evening for me were the 2010 Forest Hill Estate Chardonnay; 2008 Plantagenet Chardonnay (a wine I first tried and fell in love with at the Chardonnay Day dinner); and the 2010 Jamie&Charli's Choice Fusion Blanc. What I found interesting about the last wine was not just the fact that they had seemlessly blended five white varietals to create this exciting wine (Riesling, Chardonnay, Sav Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Viognier), but also the very cool and hip branding that really caught my eye (see picture), featuring mug shot-style images of the Danish owners.

After the tastings we stepped into a side room for a WA Cabernet masterclass with Mike Bennie. What I liked most about Mike's style of teaching was that it was very informal and he took the time to ask everyone in the room their thoughts on each wine, no matter how basic or different to his point of view.

Being a big SA Cabernet drinker, I was surprised at how different these WA wines were. I found a lot of the eight wines that we tasted (four Cab Merlot, four Cab Sav) to be a lot drier and 'greener' tasting than the rich, full bodied wines that I'm used to drinking.

Mike explained that the very dry soil of WA, in particular the Margaret River region, and the big differences between night and day temperatures combined with a proximity to the ocean, led to an almost cool climate development of the grapes. All of these factors lead to a very different style of Cabernet.

Of the eight wines that we tasted, the two that really stood out for me were the 2007 Fonty's Pool Cabernet Merlot from Pemberton that had a rounded palette and slightly oaky taste and the 2008 Xabregas Cabernet Sauvignon from Mount Barker which was oaky, full bodied and very easy to drink. Winemaker for Xabregas, Martin Cooper, was also in the room to talk us through his wine, which was a nice addition to the class.

All in all, I was intrigued to learn about a completly different style of Cabernet to that which I have previously experienced and will be broadening my horizons away from just SA from now on!

Helen

Save it for a rainy day?

I was at dinner recently and as the restaurant was BYO, decided to take a bottle of 2007 Saint Clementin Chateauneuf du Pape that I'd had sitting in my wine rack for the last couple of years gathering dust.

It wasn't an expensive bottle, not as much as it would have cost in Australia at any rate, as I bought it on a trip to Brittany, France a few years ago in a local supermarket for something like $30. A bargain really for what I consider to be a great wine.

The bottle had been sitting in my wine rack since then as I wanted to wait for a 'special occassion' to drink it. But the thing is that whenever I go out for a special meal, its usually not BYO, and I didn't want to just drink it in the house on a Wednesday night. So I made the decision to take it out for a nice dinner on a Saturday night and finally crack it open.

When the waitress came over to open the wine, she looked at me and the fella with a cheeky grin and said: "Ooh, what's the special occassion?" I said that there wasn't one, apart from the fact that we were going to have a nice bottle of French with our dinner. She then asked us several times throughout the meal what the wine tasted like and at the end asked me if I wanted to take the empty bottle home!

Now don't get me wrong, she was a lovely waitress who was just very interested in what we were drinking, but it made me think...should I have kept this wine for a better occassion, like a birthday or anniversary, or was I right to just crack it open and enjoy it when I felt like it?

Is there any point in keeping something nice waiting for a rainy day?

H

Chardonnay Day

Last week I celebrated my first ever Chardonnay Day. Yes, that's right, a whole day dedicated to drinking, talking and tweeting about Chardonnay.

I'm not the biggest Chardonnay fan, but I put this down to past experience of bad bottles and Kath and Kim's Cardonnay references sticking in my head. So the special Chardonnay master class dinner, hosted by Peter Bourne at Coast restaurant at Cockle Bay Wharf, was a very pleasant surprise.

The dinner followed a two hour taste and tweet up to celebrate the international day. Ten carefully selected wines were chosen to be matched with food, which was to be honest pretty thin on the ground, as the growing number of inebriated guests proved.

Peter Bourne made for a great host, talking through each wine at the beginning of each course. He was joined by Andrew Spinaze from Tyrrell's Wines and David Bicknell from Oakridge Wines who also added their own commentary.

Favourite Chardies from the night included the 2009 Freycinet Chardonnay from Tasmania, a crisp, dry and fresh wine that could have almost been mistaken for a Riesling, and the 2009 Philip Shaw No.11 Chardonnay from Orange which had a much more traditional Chardonnay taste which was warm, soft and oaky and went beautifully with the Scallop with celery, apple and walnut salad.

Throughout the event, a screen at the side of the room showed the hundreds of wine lovers and enthusiasts tweeting away about their Chardonnay Day experiences and favourite bottles. It was certainly an experience and a great learning curve for someone who had almost written off this great varietal.

Next stop, Cabernet Day!

H

A Little Golden wine list

Q: What can you do to make a simple wine list look fun and inviting?

A: Put it inside a children's book!

Last night I checked out the Hunky Dory Social Club in Darlinghurst. The funkily-designed venue has two levels of bars and an Italian restaurant, Bruno's, on the ground floor.

While waiting for our table for dinner, we popped up to the top floor bar terrace where we found a very Melbourne-esque space with exposed brick walls, squishy old couches and hanging lanterns. We went to the bar to order our drinks and having asked for the wine list, I was presented with a children's book....one of the Little Golden Books of our youth (am I showing my age here?!). 

Opening it up I found the original kids book with a wine list inside. How fun, a wine list and an entertaining read all at once! I picked the 2008 Sensi Cupido Sangiovese which was a beautifully soft, velvety, rounded red that was the perfect accompaniment to a chilly May evening.

We sank a few of these and then proceeded downstairs to Bruno's for dinner, where we were given another Little Golden book - Make way for the highway - and ordered another couple of glasses. Very cute idea. Love it.

H

More cheese please!

Me and my lovely work colleagues received a very special treat last week.....a cheese and wine tasting class. What a perfect way to end the working day!

The very knowledgable Claudia Bowman from McIntosh & Bowman gave me and the girls an insight into the wonderful world of cheese with a tasting of 6 cheeses (French and Australian), matched with 3 French wines.

We were taught about the different types of cheese from fresh to bloomy, washed to blue veined, and learnt about the variety of milks used including goat and cow's. My favourites on the tasting plate were the silky smooth, award-winning Holy Goat from Sutton Grance, VIC and the stinky, gooey Livarot from Normandy, France.

Claudia talked us through each cheese and allowed us to sample each wine to see which we thought worked with which cheese, rather than telling us which one to match with what.

I started with the Les Petites Vignettes Pinot Noir Chardonnay from Burgundy which perfectly suited the bloomy, soft cheeses. Next I cracked into the Domaine Pichot Coteau de la Biche Vouvray, which was a delightfully light and fruity wine and went perfectly with the strong, smelly cheeses, cutting through the fatty texture. I then finished with the Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais, which isn't a favourite variety of mine, however it did work well in that its dry finish cleansed the palette after all the rich flavours.

I managed to finish off all of my cheese plate, and most of the other girls', then went home fat and full! I would highly recommend the class to anyone. Details on the website.

Cheesy goodness!

H

Roadtrip to Raleigh

A trip to the Mid-North Coast this Easter long weekend wouldn't have been complete without a trip to a local winery, so of course I found time to squeeze one in!

The winery of choice was a little place called Raleigh Vineyard and Winery in the Bellinger Valley, 15 minutes south of Coffs Harbour. Its quite a small winery situated on the Bellinger river which is a gorgeous spot to stop and have a cheese platter and a bottle of vino.

We were greeted by the very friendly hostess and worked our way through each of the wines, my favourite of which was the semi sweet Rose, which had a mourish cherry-like flavour. Once through the wines and port, we were treated to the most exciting bottle of all....the Raleigh Brandy Cremes.

I'm not a huge fan of Baileys or other cream liquors, but this was amazing! The instant we tasted it we ordered a bottle each and asked for the order form for more! The creme is thick, sweet and creamy with a hint of brandy flavour that is perfect on its own or in coffee or dessert.

Needless to say, I don't think the bottle will last long and I'm already planning to put it into an Eaton Mess to eat while watching the Royal Wedding on Friday night. Yum!

Helen

A new take on BYO

Last night a good friend and I ventured to House, the new Thai restaurant on Elizabeth Street in Surry Hills.

The food was spicy, spicy Northern Thai and absolutely delicious, but one thing that really caught my interest was the BYO situation.

Most Thai restuarants in Sydney including Spice I Am, House's big brother up the road, take BYO, but House has a clever new concept. Rather than bringing a bottle, you are invited to walk into the pub next door through an adjoining corridor to buy your wine where they have a special 'House BYO' wine list. You can purchase wine by the bottle to take back to the restaurant or buy any other drink you like and walk it back through.

I like this idea as its just like eating in a pub restaurant, but with the benefit of sitting in a beautiful outdoor restaurant setting away from the hussle and bustle. The drinks were also incredibly reasonable with a glass of house Sem Sav Blanc costing just $4.50. Bargain!

Bye for now and happy Easter!

Helen