A well-constructed cheeseboard can become the eye candy of any event.
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Read moreIt's time to get your roasting game seriously sharpened up! This roast chook recipe is quite simple and will really help lift the flavour ratings on Christmas Day. Ingredients: 1 chook for roasting Olive oil Butter, cold and cut into two finger size pieces 4 anchovies, chopped 1 lemon, quartered 2 garlic cloves, crushed Sage, thyme and parsley, chopped roughly 4 Tblspn Verjuice or white wine Salt and pepper [caption id="attachment_1982" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Festive Roast Chook. Get your roasting game on..[/caption]
Method:
Sit your chook on the bench and make a small slit just under the skin at the base of each breast. Place a finger of butter inside the skin. This will help retain moisture inside
Sweet, sour, spicy, fresh. There are countless cuisines around the globe that have this idea together. Often we think of Asian recipes (Tom Yum Soup, Vietnamese/Thai Salads to name a few), however my favourite iteration of this is more in the Cuban/South American department. This salsa idea pays homage to the Cuban 'Mojo' sauce, but combining a few elements from something Mexican like a Pico de Gallo. It's great for any sort of BBQ'd meat or seafood for some added zing upon serving. [caption id="attachment_1977" align="alignnone" width="255"]Read more
You'll be putting this salsa on your brekky in no time..[/caption]
Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic, crushed and chopped
Juice of one orange
Juice of two limes
Oregano (flakes or fresh - fresh is
Read moreTo aerate or decant - that is the question! I have been asked by a number of people recently, so here's my take on it.
Read moreSantiago, Chile. It's exciting, textural and mysteriously sexy. Distinctly European, with heavy Northern American influence, it's one of those big cities that can be compacted into a CBD with a number of different and interesting 'barrios' or neighbourhoods.
Barrio Italia spawns off 'Avenida Italia' (Italy Avenue), where one can find designer furniture shops, craft and garden stores and cheeky boutiques with architecture to match - for example. Around the corner from Santiago's ritzy 'The Singular' hotel and the Centre for Contemporary Art, you'll find artists and jewellers sporting their wares and a smattering of people looking for somewhere to satisfy their desires. Our destination was Bocanariz, Santiago's most awarded wine bar. [caption id="attachment_1913" align="aligncenter" width="499"]
Barrio La Starria, Santiago.[/caption]
Read moreIn 1977, an Italian restaurateur and his Australian wife purchased a vineyard in the hopes of establishing an early retirement. Instead, they continued to build it into an impressive piece that the Victorian Tourism industry proudly hangs its hat on.
Away in Ballarat for a week of work whilst my other half was adjudicating the famed South Street Eisteddfod, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and explore the Pyrenees wine region. With nearly thirty wineries in the vicinity of Avoca (approx. 1 hour from Ballarat), there are a handful that are considered authoritative stalwarts of the area; one of these is Warrenmang Vineyard & Resort. More than just a humble cellar door, Warrenmang boasts 60 year old vines, an award winning restaurant, conference centre, a plethora of accommodation options, tennis court and lets not forget, an impressive array of red and white wines all encompassed in this Victorian hideaway. Luigi Bazzani (OAM) and his wife Athalie first purchased
Read moreMy journey with wine began with a trip to the Barossa with my olds when I was a poor uni student.
Read moreFrom time to time we all need a small break from the hustle and bustle of life, as hard as that is to accept for someone like myself - a full time professional musician. As a self professed workaholic, I often fill every bit of down time with some sort of career busy-work. However, as my partner had a few days work interstate, we decided to make use of my 'musician's weekend' and spend Monday through to Wednesday morning in Melbourne, being sure to return to Adelaide just in time to continue the working week in the orchestra for a matinee performance of 'Matilda the Musical'.
Melbourne. It's a great city.
Many of us Adelaideans share a strong affiliation for this neighbouring capital city. With its distinct artistic vibrancy, multiculturalism and ever-evolving food and drink culture, there's always an adventure to be had in some way or another. As musicians, Sally and I have individually spent large amounts of time here working on
We packed Matt off to Prowein and Champagne again this year to hunt down some quality reds from Europe and perhaps another Champagne producer or 2 to add to the 3 awesome producers we already import... Click here to see the Champagne houses we currently import and you can check out some articles on our previous expeditions via this search query. Prowein was especially nuts this year, with 6,500 exhibitors from over 60 countries showing their wares (that’s around 4,000 more producers than there are in Australia) and about 60,000 trade visitors tasting and buying.Read more
Read moreWe were all pretty excited about this Vic Cab when it first appeared on the tasting bench... we had another quick look at it the other day and it still stacks up... a properly exceptional cool climate Cabernet that at 5 years old tastes like it has only just left the winery. It's black and taut and definitely deserves its three Gold Medals to date. Superb quality French oak on show, along with exceptional depth of fruit - blue and blacks meeting violet, liquorice and fine grained tannins. This is a tight and muscular powerhouse which should be incredible in 10 years time if you've got the will power to tuck some away... Grab yours here now!
We launched the 2016 Official Royal Adelaide Wine Show Dozen on the 29th October 2016 at the National Wine Centre. This year's Wine Show Dozens are the best we have curated to date - every single wine, at a minimum, scored a Gold Medal with a few picking up Trophies as well. Thanks to those that shared a glass and had a chat with us - it was great putting some faces to names!. Here's the wrap.Read more
To celebrate International Grenache Day this year we opted to hold a bit of a Masterclass on what is quite possibly our favourite variety. We invited a few of our regulars along and figured we may as well get old mate, winemaker extraordinaire, Mike Farmilo (ex-Grange winemaker and 2 x Jimmy Watson winner) along to walk us through a few vintages of Willunga 100 Grenache in its various guises: their 'regular' Grenache - sour cherries,raspberries, savouriness and persistent length (in fact, I'm enjoying one right now as I type); their 'The Hundred' Grenache - completely unoaked, allowing the grape's natural sweetness and spice to shine through; and their 'The Tithing' Grenache - a premium offering which is lush and velvety. While we were setting up we had a quick chat to both Mike and Willunga 100's Sales Marketing Manager and all-round good fella, Nathan Hughes.Read more
