Chablis

I can honestly say that I now have an understanding of Chablis. I always liked the wines, especially the Grand Cru…….. but the difference in climatic conditions and the specific terroir to the region? Well I couldn’t really explain it first hand but folks I am very proud to say, now I can.

After leaving Paris the first stop was Dampt in Chablis and what a wonderful way to start our wine adventure.

The entire 2010 vintage looked amazing. There was an incredible line of purity and freshness with kick ass minerality in pretty much the whole range, most of which were 1er cru. Dampt is made by the two sons, Vincent and Sebastian and they also have Maison Dampt making two Grand Cru wines. The grapes are bought in and are the only two wines not made from their own property. We tasted the Les Clos and it was beyond  incredible.

The 2010 Dampt Les Clos was  the only wine  we tasted that had been  aged in barrell and had 10-12 months on lees. The nose showed wonderful freshness and complex nuttiness and hints of flinty mandarin skin. Beautiful and drink worthy now, but serious aging potential.

Next up is Burgundy, the Mistress in the motherland.

MOV XXX

 

All Content © 2012 Mistress of the Vine

Remembering Pegasus Bay

There are a few things that make a sommelier great, of course you need a great palate that goes without saying. You must read a lot and be up with the ‘trends’ in the wine world. You must also have an opinion and voice your opinion whenever someone will listen and you must have a great memory.

Now I possess most of those traits. I think my palate is pretty good, I certainly read a lot and will bail anyone up in a corner and make them listen to why I think a wine is wonderful or not.

The thing I do not possess is a good memory and it drives me nuts! I do try to remember the difference between this vintage and that vintage.  I certainly try to remember why I don’t like this wine or that wine or why I think this region is better than that region but when it comes to the end of the day if  I don’t write it all down, most of the time I don’t remember. Damn it!

This case was proven on a recent junket to Pegasus Bay in the Waipara Valley in New Zealand.

Before I start rambling about my lack of memory, I would like to say that Pegasus Bay IS an incredible winery. Their wine on the whole is pretty special and the people who make Pegasus Bay what it is are pretty special also. Pegasus Bay is a family owned and operated business, which gets serious respect in my book. It was started in the 70’s by Ivan and Christine Donaldson and these days all the wine is made by their eldest son, Matt and his wife Lynette. The marketing is done by another son, Ed whose wife run’s the highly awarded restaurant and Paul (another son)  is General Manager of the whole operation.

We spent an incredible three days at the winery tasting all the new releases, having lunch and tasting the entire vintage set of their Pinot Noirs, then dinner, then getting up in the morning and tasting the entire vintage set of their Riesling and so on and so on….. I came back to Sydney a mere shell of the human being I was, before I left. Which gets me onto my gripe with my memory.

I am so damn annoyed that I can’t remember the remarkable differences between the wine vintages. I know that the 06 Pinot was bloody outstanding (I have a magnum under my bed to prove it) and I know that I loved pretty much all of the Prima Donna Pinot Range, which was not hard to love.Their Rieslings were slick and sexy with all the components in check and at the risk of sounding like a complete lush, everything was good enough to drink with a hangover.

But to write down, here right now, the differences in climatic conditions between the 07 and the 08 pinotWell I just can’t. So all I can say is, If you ever find yourself with the opportunity to buy and drink an 06 Pegasus Bay Pinot you must do it, it’s mind-blowing. Now here are some pretty pictures of Pegasus Bay; got to love the iPhone – it’s my all time memory saviour.

MOV xx

The Glorious Restaurant

Christine Donaldson’s Garden is worth a visit, even if you are not into wine. Absolutely beautiful and her Conifer collection will blow your mind.

This is the stuff dreams are made of.

One day little MOV,

And before I forget I give the 2006 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 5 xx Kisses from the Mistress.

Till  Next time MOV xx

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

Where are all the women in food and wine??

Recent Wines Tasted by Mistress of the Vine

I have a notebook that I carry with me pretty much everywhere, it contains all sorts of scribbles and ideas and to do lists that unfortunately just don’t ever seem to get completed but it is mainly full of tasting notes from various meetings with reps and trade tastings that I happen to get along to.

These tasting notes always start out very pretty with lovely headings and a format of “Appearance, Nose, Palate” and sometimes even have a  score attached. Then as the tasting goes on they become more and more illegible until it’s a mere scrawl, that even I can’t make out, whether I liked the wine or not!!

Quite a waste of time really.

So I thought it would be a good idea to get the tasting notes that I can read, out of the book and into the world!!

Here is a collection of what has passed my lips the last few weeks!

2009 Domaine des Espiers Sablet Cotes du Rhone

This is a recent addition to Bloodwood’s Biodynamic/Organic Wine List. This wine  made by Philippe Cartoux, in the Southern Rhone village of Sablet  is right next to Gigondas and produces wine of a slightly  more elegant quality than its neighbor.

A blend of Grenache (80%) and Syrah (20%) I have found that this wine really needs decanting as there is a certain musty almost brett like quality on the first nose that does blow off with some air contact. After that the nose shows dried herbs and potpourri like dried rose petals with some red fruit hiding there also.

The palate is beautifully balanced with a nice line of acidity and up front tannin structure, I also found black pepper spice and fleshy red fruit!!

A beautiful Cotes du Rhone and I gave it 4 x Kiss from the Mistress xxxx

2009  Marchand and Burch Chardonnay

Tyrone from Howard Park brought this interesting little number around the other day, a joint venture between  Jeff Burch and Burgundian wine maker Pascal Marchand. Marchand is a Biodynamic ambassador with over 26 years experience making and growing Pinot Noir in Burgundy and Burch, as we all know is responsible for the Howard Park and Madfish range of wines.

The 09 Marchand and Burch Chardonnay I found to be a very elegant wine with a nose full of cashew nuttiness and hints of lemon rind. The oak was nicely integrated  with a generous and creamy mouthfeel  and I give it 3 1/2 kisses from the Mistress. Very good indeed.

With the weather starting to get really damn cold all I yearn for at the moment is a big busty Shiraz, so it was quite fitting that on the first day  of winter the lovely Nina from Moortangi Estate popped by with her beautiful Heathcote Shiraz. Heathcote in my opinion is a wonderful region for Shiraz. I love the spicy characters that are so prevalent on the nose…. black and white pepper. Yum!!

2005 Moortangi Estate Cambrian Shiraz, Heathcote 

It really is great to see a recent release that has some bottle age. I feel that all I ever see these days are 2010 vintage wines, which is fine don’t get me wrong, I just have to comment on a company taking the time to age their wines, just a touch, (to get them to where they want them to be) before selling. I find it pleasing.

The nose of the Moortangi  Shiraz came complete with that Heathcote spice that I like so much. Black peppercorns and Cassia bark with some well-rounded dark fruit characters also. The palate showed  spice, medium acidity and nice length. It could have been a little more balanced, I found the tannins a little lacking for the amount of acidity but it didn’t worry me too much I still really enjoyed it and have listed it on my wine list and I give it 3 1/2 kisses.

Being a Sommelier, one of the best things about my job is food and wine matching… I love the way it makes you look at wine, the way it makes you de-construct it and look at the individual flavours. It’s also nice to spend time just thinking about food and wine matching. I don’t get to do it enough these days!!

I am planning a Biodynamic Wine dinner at Bloodwood Restaurant in Sydney, in September with the Wine Maker from Higher Plane in Margaret River, Western Australia; so on Friday I sat with Chef Jo Ward and Chris from Vinous and we had a look at the entire range of their wines. Some were OK and some were great. There wasn’t a lot of middle ground with these wines. I either loved it or didn’t.

We started with –

2009 Higher Plane South  by South West Semillon Sauvignon Blanc

The nose showed raw almond, citrus and white petals. It kept making me think of ruby grapefruit segments both on the nose and on the palate.

I found lemongrass on the palate with really balanced acidity and nice weight. For the price this is an excellent wine and one of my favourite examples (of this  varietal blend) that I have seen for a while. 4 x  kisses from the Mistress

2010 Higher Plane Estate Sauvignon Blanc

It is probably not really fair to review this wine yet as it is not released or on the Vinous price list as yet.  To be honest I think that is probably a good thing as I didn’t feel this wine was ready at all. I really think it needs a little more time in bottle before we start sticking our noses into it!!

But what I did find was a potential for a fume style Sauvignon Blanc hiding in there. More of a smokey nutty quality than a fruit driven style. At the moment the wine was looking quite bitter, hopefully that will settle down with time.

I’m not going to kiss the Estate Sauvignon as I wouldn’t recommend it just yet.

2010 Higher Plane South by Southwest Chardonnay

The first thing I noticed on the nose was Golden Syrup, rose petals and sea salt. This would go great with food, as the palate really needed some extra flavours to pull what was already there. I found the nose really up front and the palate quite reserved. I would like to match this with Salt Cod Brandade.

The Higher Plane reds were also quite outstanding. I shall write about them soon.

OK kids… that’s enough for today!! I’m going to go find some wine to stick my nose in!!

Kisses MOV xx

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

bloodwood restaurant and bar

Natural Anarchy

As a Sommelier I very rarely get a Saturday evening off, generally I am swanning around a restaurant – getting you all drunk on a Saturday night, however this week it was the Mistresses time to shine and I spent it in wine heaven!

There is something quite exciting happening on the Sydney wine scene at the moment something very left of centre, something truly different. The something goes by the name of Natural Selection Theory and it is all about natural wine.

Made up of four men – Sam Hughes, Anton Von Klopper, James Erskine and Tom Shobbrook, a mix of ex Sommeliers and wine makers who are really shaking up the wine industry. I truly love this.

They are changing the way we view wine, everything is natural. Natural beautiful grapes that turn into natural beautiful wine.  They are letting the grapes speak for themselves and in turn are changing the way we see wine,in a literal sense.

The labels are handmade  or sometimes there is no label, just a black marker writing the name of the wine on the bottle. The bottles are not perfect, in fact sometimes there is no bottle just a demi- john (or massive flagon) made for pouring into a carafe or there is a ceramic egg shaped object…

They are showing us that the packaging does not make the wine, the juice inside the packaging is what really matters and for that I applaud them.

But back to my Saturday night. I was invited to a tasting of the natural selection boys’ recent releases at a warehouse in Rozelle- We sat at a makeshift table with mismatched plastic chairs drinking some crazy wonderful wine.

There was a Prosecco made my Sam Hughes under the label Dandy in the clos – that really pushed the boundaries. Firstly it was not a sparkling wine but a still wine. It showed none of the pear characters so obvious in sparkling Prosecco but showed dominate mineral characteristics. Think of licking a wet rock whilst swimming in a flowing stream and you have this wine. Crazy but brilliant and I loved it so much it will be on my wine list next week. There were beautiful floral Grenache’s and really funky ciders.

We tasted these wines whilst trying some lovely morsels from the Feather and Bone suppliers, that all in all made for an incredible experience.

Little did I know that the best was yet to come.

After the tasting we were blindfolded and lead into a room full of egg-shaped barrels full of fermenting Semillon and to the sounds of beating drums we proceeded to shout words that included “love” at the wine. I found this part to be incredibly confronting but thoroughly enjoyable and I added it to my list of “never done before”.

I then headed into the ‘Summer of Riesling ‘ laneway party. If you have not heard of the summer of Riesling then I suggest you check out the site (there are loads of events and free tastings happening around town).  Started by a few industry professionals and all round Riesling lovers their aim is to re-invigorate the noble grape that is Riesling.

Riesling has had a hard time of late, with the general public seeming only to remember the sickly sweet variety that was on the market many moons ago. The love of Sauvignon Blanc particularly Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand has truly taken over what many  drink when it comes to white wine. People, there is so much more out there and Riesling is certainly a variety that deserves more recognition. I am a lover of Riesling and to me and many sommeliers out there Riesling is king. I even found a sign that backed up my statement.

So I challenge you all to buy a bottle of Riesling tonight. Try it and love it. Join the Riesling anarchy but even better yet – live, love and enjoy the Summer of Riesling.

MOV xx

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

Castro Martin Albariño

I always enjoy my taxi ride home in the evening…. It’s always good for a laugh or an interesting conversation or at least 5 swear words muttered under my breath. This evening I spent a whole 7 minutes  with a man who has never in his 48 years of life had a single drop of alcohol pass his lips. What different lives we both lead…

I on the other hand spent an hour this afternoon tasting some absolutely wonderful Albariño….

Today I was lucky enough to meet the glorious and incredibly charming winemaker Angela Martin   from Castro Martin in Rías Baixas Spain and she was so  goddamn lovely I kind of wanted to squish her cheeks as she spoke to me, her passion was intoxicating and her wines were even better.

We looked at 3 vintages of her Albariño, the 2007, 2008 and 2009, though not tasted in that order…We started with the 2008 – which was outstanding and slightly surprising as the acidity and richness of the wine took my breath away. The nose was oh so pretty with hints of ripe pear and a wonderful white flower character that reminded me of ripping petals off daisy’s when I was a child, just outstanding.

The 2009 was good also but I noticed a hint of  alcohol on the nose which although  on the bottle stated it was only 12% …. this kind of ruined it for me… the 09 also lacked some of the length and texture of the 08; however to be fair I did stick a white anchovy and 3 olives in my mouth whilst tasting this wine, so that may of had something to do with it ( for the record it went better with the green olive than the black).

The 2007 was quite interesting. It had a very distinct oyster character, not oyster shell but oyster, Oyster flesh. An oyster covered in lemon. Weird huh and something I have not ever picked up in any wine before. I liked it though and could really have spent the whole afternoon with my nose stuck in the glass! Who needs real food when you could just have that!!

I would love to be able to list the 2008 Castro Martin Albariño on my current wine list but seeing as my list is wholly organic and biodynamic and Castro Martin being neither then I’m just going to have to wait till the next list…. but I say to you all out there.

TRY this wine!! its great and gets 4 x kisses from  Mistress of the Vine.

http://www.bodegascastromartin.com/bodega.htm

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

Floodlight Dinner 31st January 2011

It has been a while since Mistress of the Vine has stepped into a fine dining restaurant and not been there to eat.. The world of the 2 hatter is far from how I roll at the moment, so as you can imagine it was a slight shock to the system when I arrived at Rockpool restaurant last night to help out  for the Floodlight dinner.

To give you a bit of background, last month Queensland was hit by the most  devastating floods Australia has seen since the seventies. Thirty people died  and at one stage over 500 people were missing. Most were found though, at the last count 9 people were still unaccounted for. Over 21, 000 homes had some form of flood damage, with 3, 600 homes evacuated. The damage bill for the QLD floods has been estimated at over 5.6 billion dollars which is devastating, when you think we have gone straight from a global financial crisis  into a natural disaster; brings a tear to your eye doesn’t it.

So last night the hospitality industry in Sydney rallied around to do our bit. The brainchild of Colin Fassnidge from the Four in Hand Restaurant and Phil Wood of Sydney’s Rockpool Restaurant, which from my understanding came about from an afternoon at the pub and twitter!! The evening was a who’s who of the Sydney restaurant scene. There was Alex Hubert from Bird Cow Fish who organized all the prizes and auction items, James Johnston from World Wine Estates who organised the wine for the event; chefs from Pendolino, Balzac and Lucios. Sommeliers from Cotton Duck, Quay,Bilsons and Love Tilly Devine and  Owners and Restaurant managers from Tabou, Buzo and the Four in Hand and of course little old me representing well… me and of course bloodwood.

The evening was Mced by Simon Thompson and Simon Marnie, who did a great job by spurring all that attended to spend a fortune; we ended up raising over $70, 000 dollars and as the evening was entirely sponsored –  Neil Perry donated Rockpool, all the food was donated and  as we all donated our time, every single cent of that $70,ooo heads straight up north to help our fellow countrymen and women in need.

A very enjoyable night for a  worthy cause and big well done and pat on the back for all who made it possible. I feel very proud to be a part of my industry today.

Kisses MOV xx

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

Classic

On an evening out that doesn’t include a meal I can  more often than not  be found with a Sidecar in my hand or a Negroni or an Old-Fashioned…..sometimes even a Gin Martini extra dry with 3 olives will be between my fingers. Now that’s all very well and good as I like a cocktail or 2 but the thing I find so goddamn frustrating is the lack of knowledge of everyday bartenders when it comes to making “the classics”. Sure anyone can stick a shot of vodka in a glass of tomato juice and call it a Bloody Mary but my friends this does not make you a bartender. It makes you just a douchebag who happens to be standing in the vicinity of a bar with a bottle of vodka in your hand…

So now that I have that particular rant out-of-the-way I shall give you some recipes and methods for making a decent cocktail. It doesn’t have to be fancy you don’t need a blender and ten bottles of different wildly coloured spirits you just need a few basics that should be a part of any working bar and will be a welcome addition to your kitchen cupboard.

Your “must haves” when it comes to spirits is fairly straight forward. Get yourself a good bottle of vodka and gin firstly. I really like 42 Below vodka from New Zealand and Tanqueray  for your gin (its nice to have a bottle of Hendricks gin on hand also but can be a touch too floral for your classic martini lovers)

Then you will need:

• Campari
• Bourban
• Dry and Sweet Vermouth
• White and dark rum
• Cachaca
• Whiskey
• Cointreau
• Cognac

Keep a bottle of soda water, oranges, mint and lemons on hand and you have yourself a working cocktail bar.

All you really need to win over the Mistress of the Vine is the ability to make a decent Negroni. To do this you combine equal parts (all 20ml) of Campari, Tanqueray Gin and Sweet Vermouth( which is the red one never the white guys!!) add all three spirits to a tumbler 3/4 full with ice and stir in a clockwise motion about 12 times. Add some orange rind slightly squeezing the rind so the oil is released into the glass then hand that brilliant drink over this a way.!!

Another that I feel you all must know and this has nothing to do with me getting very cranky at a bartender in a certain restaurant the other day for his inability to make this classic cocktail is the Old Fashioned.

For this you will need (please note I pinched this recipe from Nicks Wine Merchants)

1/2 Orange Slice

1 cube of sugar

2 dashes of Angostura Bitters

60ml rye or bourbon whiskeyMethod: Muddle orange, sugar, bitters together until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Fill glass with ice, then add the whiskey. Garnish with a marachino cherry, and perhaps an additional orange slice. Serve with a swizzle stick and/or straw. This recipe doesn’t call for stirring but I think giving it a couple of turns before you serve it will help the final result ( I also sometimes replace the bourbon with  dark rum and it’s just as delicious).

For a complete list of recipes check out this site I found which has a comprehensive list of the classics and many more.

Nicks Wine Merchants. Apart from being really helpful its a damn good read and I can not suggest enough that all aspiring and working bartenders read this and anything you can get your hands on.

Let the serious drinking begin.

Kisses

MOV xx

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine

The Life and Times of Mistress of the Vine

Yeeehaaaa. Happy New Year to you all!! I hope everybody is feeling as refreshed as I am  and ready to do some serious drinking in 2011.

To give you all a quick insight into a Mistress Christmas… the family and I spent the day on the beach drinking Raventos  Cava with the traditional christmas fare such as turkey, ham and the odd prawn or 2.

I am seriously in love with  my christmas wine-the 2007 Raventos I Blanc ‘ L Herero Reserva Brut’ from the Penedes region in Spain. It fits everything i want to see in a sparkling wine. Nice  young green apple fruit on the nose, really crisp and very dry. Delicious!!

I then grabbed the captain and my little sister and headed to Melbourne for New Years Eve – As we all were desperate to get out of Sydney for a break. I adore Melbourne. So many beautiful restaurants and bars I could get lost here!!

New Years Eve was spent on the 47th floor in a beautiful apartment drinking a Negroni, watching fireworks and talking each others ears off!! Very sophisticated and thoroughly enjoyable.

A big shout out to Ricardo Amare for hosting such a great New Years Eve!!!

Beautiful people, beautiful place, beautiful end to 2010

New years day was also a cracker spent on the water in St Kilda dancing away at the Riva party to Mr Ron Carroll. Awsome is all I have to say!!

Put your hands up in the air!!!!

Riva St Kilda is a great venue….Their website will tell you all about how amazing they are.

Put your hands up Sister.

Zoe Badwi finished the evening off and by this time we all had our hands in the air!!

The last weekend of my holiday was spent in Portsea.. at the Polo. Absolutely amazing. We were in the Stellar Artois Murdoch Marquee drinking Champagne all day.. Actually it was cheap sparkling wine but champagne just sounds better!!

the Captain, The Mistress and the Mexican

Thank you again Kyla for organizing such a top notch weekend, You are an amazing woman.

Cheers Captain and cheers to you all. Mistress of the Vine will be back with a vengeance as of tomorrow…. But for now seeing as its my last day of holidays and my last day in Melbourne I am going to go enjoy what this town does best and go out for lunch… I’ll let you know what I drink!!

Kisses xxx

Mistress of the Vine.

All Content © 2011 Mistress of the Vine