A real Summer warmer - Romate Don José Oloroso Sherry Jerez Spain

What else would you want to be drinking while we freeze through another December week in Melbourne – Romate Don José Oloroso Sherry from Jerez Spain. Sinister and dark looking in the glass this little beauty is all seduction and is quite possibly on level terms with champagne as a no-brainer as an aperitif. Almost peanut brittle like on the nose, the palate jumps from earthiness, mushroom, almonds, and then truffles and so much other stuff that escapes me. Quite simply gorgeous!

Drink with truffle risotto
Drink now
98
Quality cork 18%v/v $38-$42 at all god wine stores

Desert Island Wines on a rainy Brunswick Saturday morning....

At about 6.40am this morning, I was abruptly pulled away from my game of beach cricket with Sanath Jayasuria and Ian Healy; I do not know why these two cricketers were there, but I do know that Jayasuria is a bad sport, and for about $150 an hour someone will be able to explain the meaning of this dream. For now though, I will have to just let this one go through to the keeper you might say.

And it is now while I sitting in the kitchen looking out the back window and listening to the hum of the heater that my mind wanders back to the game of beach cricket. Not just content with the outcome of said game, I try to imagine what refreshments were available in the blurry distance, and it is here my mind again wanders further down the beach and tries to envisage what would comprise my desert island wine cellar.

Now like all good desert island wish lists, this one has a limit. I stopped it at four wines; aperitif, white, red and dessert. But four may not do the trick with the island menu changing with the seasons, so island management have allowed two of each.

So to kick it off we have two aperitifs:

Ruinart Rosé NV, Reims Champagne. Rosé is my favourite style of Champagne. There is so much to like about this wine with its big flavour, simultaneously showing restraint and elegance. The longer in the glass this wine offers subtle roundness with a lick of spice at the end. Enjoy this with oysters freshly shucked in a chilli and ginger dressing (all produce available on the island of course).
Romate Don José Oloroso, Jerez Spain. A sherry that can be either consumed sitting on the beach waiting to be rescued or with the fish stew that is bubbling away in your Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Lovely warmth and alcohol with a gamey end and the famous Oloroso mid palate disappearing trick.

I was a bit torn with my decision here. Yes I do love Chardonnay, but surely there is something else out there in white world that is befitting my island cellar. There wasn’t, so it is two Chardonnay’s, one new world, one old world.

Domaine Ramonet Montrachet, Burgundy France. You may be wondering, ‘why not the DRC Tim?’, and this is a good question, but the DRC to me is too tight and takes far too long to open up. Yes I know there isn’t much to do on the island, but the fresh whiting that is sizzling on the hot plate needs that citrus and liquorice powder straight away.
Giaconda Chardonnay, Beechworth Victoria. Australia’s King of Chardonnay – simple. To be enjoyed with braised Rockling in the cooler months when the Celsius gets down to as low as 28!!

The reds for me were a no brainer; one Pinot Noir and one Barolo.

Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir, Macedon Ranges Victoria. It was inconceivable of me not to have any Bindi in the beach cellar, and Block 5 I think is the obvious choice. This wine consistently brings finesse and perfume to the glass with longevity one of its strong suits. Drink with pheasant or duck from the north side of the island (hey, it’s my island dream OK).
Vietti Rocche Barolo, Piemontese Italy. This wine is going to take a while to open up, so it is lucky I have plenty of Block 5. An exquisite wine with achingly gorgeous violet and tar held up with intense acid and savoury appeal. Have with the wild boar hunted from the islands interior.

To complete the cellar I have chose one fortified sherry and one Botrytis.

McWilliams Botrytis Semillon, Riverina NSW. A wine that has graced this blog already. A gorgeous wine to sip in front of the fire on the beach while enjoying orange and coconut crumble.
Romate Pedro Ximenez Sacrista Sherry, Jerez Spain. If it all gets too much being on your own and you just want to have a good cry, have a sip of this belter and you will quickly realise this is far too good to share. Super stuff!!

So there you have it. It is now raining harder in my backyard and Henry is in need of a nappy change. I think it only fitting that I put ‘Weezer’ on my iPod and listen to ‘Island in the Sun’

‘on an island in the sun, we’ll be playing and having fun,
and it makes me feel so fine I can’t control my brain...’


Cue end credits.

Erin's 40th at Esposito@toofeys - part 2

So where were we....

The big day had finally arrived and all that was needed to do was to get frocked up and then pick the cake up from French Lettuce in Carlton; job done.

On arrival Erin and I had our first drink for the day, a glass Prosecco, and got down to opening and checking the wines with Erin organising the place settings; done, done and done.

Our guests started arriving, and all I asked of Erin was not to hang around the door of the restaurant – you know how easy bottle-necks form. So after we broke up the first bottle-neck the mingling started, and before you knew it, everyone who needed to be there were happily sipping their aperitifs and chatting about whatever they were chatting about. So with everyone there, we got started.

Now one of the main reasons for doing a dego was that Erin was always banging on about how she had never seen me in action, doing the sommelier thing and all, and also not seen me work a group, something that I would do on almost a nightly basis at The Point. This day I was responsible for the food and wine matches and also the introduction and explanation of the food and wine – for Erin and our family and friends. This was not a garden variety group let me tell you.

So, on with matches.

The amuse of Tathra oyster and Manzanilla worked because both flavours are essentially palate cleansers – the salty glycerol of the oyster and again salty, yeasty texture of the sherry.

The first savoury course I think is always the most important. Degustation events are all about savouring and catching the attention of your taste buds. If you don’t achieve this in the first course, it’s going to be a tough trick to bag it after the first. This is why I went with two wines with two different flavour spectrums. So, in having two different flavours in the glass, you need two different flavours on the plate, and this was achieved with the abalone and chicken consommé.

The Bual Madeira is a wine that grabs your attention straight away; a massive spice hit on the nose followed by that brandy spirit hit. In the mouth, the wine deceives the nose by being soft and rich, with an almost fragrant feel. The longer in the mouth, the wine builds in flavour and mouth feel, becoming warmer and warmer with a toffee finish. The Bindi Sparkling was courteous of my friend Michael Dhillon from Bindi. With only 100 magnums produced, the two bottles of the 1994 Blanc de Blanc could not have been fresher with lovely citrus and bready notes in both nose and palate. The idea was the Madeira with the consommé to break through the oiliness and the sparkling with the abalone, with the sparkling lifting the saltiness of the abalone.

Next we had the mud crab with a wine that I just love, the Chateau Jolys Jurançon. This is a style of wine that I dearly hope will one day challenge the Savvy B domination in this country. This wine has an elegant white floral nose that is further pronounced in the palate along with citrus and soft acid, something that I wanted when matched with mud crab. This match was for the wine to accompany the flavour of the crab, not compete with it.

What dego would be worth its salt if there were not game there. What game you say? Barramundi I say! Barramundi is the game of the deep, with almost earthy texture about it, followed by a long clean flavour of sea and salt. With a fish like this, you need a wine that is a stand out amongst its peers. The Tapanappa ‘Tiers’ 2007 Chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills may be a new label, but it is sourced from possibly the best Chardonnay vineyard in Australia.

The ‘Tiers’ Chardonnay had belonged to Petaluma until recently, with Petaluma having recently belonged to Brian Croser, possibly the most respected winemaker in Australia. The Tapanappa label is a partnership with Lynch-Bages of Bordeaux and The Bollinger family in Champagne – a handy alliance you might say. This wine is all white Burgundy, citrus, grapefruit, stonefruit, liquorice and custard, and thats just the nose. The palate is similar with flavours that just seem to go on forever, and yes, the liquorice powder hit at the end was sexy sexy sexy. I think this wine was easily the favourite amongst the group. This whole match was just down to savouring two gorgeous flavours simultaneously. This was a no brainer.

Three courses to go, stay tuned....