Wine Talk

I was lucky enough to head off to Prowein again this year, then to Champagne and Italy. As usual Prowein was nuts, with 6800 wineries showing off their goodies from 64 countries spread out over 71000 square meters... I racked up as much as 14ks a day scooting around to meetings. Plenty of time in Champagne too, catching up with Bernard Remy, Champagne Bouche, Le Mesnil and Roger Brun. Found a spectacular producer in Grand Cru Ambonnay too... stay tuned for more on that front. The big news out of Champagne is the deeply held fear within the region that within 20 years there will be hardly any small producers left... and that perhaps this will also bear out in the Bordeaux, what with the big companies paying up to 7 euros for a kilo of grapes, vineyards now fetching 1-2 million Euros per hectare and recent changes to succession taxes. Now is a very good time to buy small producer champagne...

The annual cycle of a winemaker is certainly a curious one. There's no denying though, that vintage is one of the most exciting times of the year. Organisation of machinery, pickers, transport, staff, barrels, storage, tanks, meals, sleep is key but nothing comes close to the final hours of checking Baumé levels and waiting for the final breath from Mother Nature signalling removal of the wonderful juicy fruit from the vines, often under the cover of darkness. There are those who irrigate and those who don't; those who spray and those who won't, old oak, new oak, French oak, American oak, timing and terroir - and for all of these exciting reasons, each glorious bottle of wine you encounter is different to the one even 100 metres down the road. Where years ago growers would leave the grapes on the vines as long as possible as to yield maximum alcohol and natural sugars from our Australian sun, winemakers are leaning towards fresher, more aromatic blends meaning grapes are lifted

A good chocolate mousse is not only excellent soul food, but it's really simple and quicker than you're probably thinking. [caption id="attachment_2018" align="alignnone" width="300"] Spot the secret ingredient..[/caption] Ingredients: 200gm 70% chocolate 50gm softened butter Pinch of salt 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla essence Teaspoon or two of brandy or cognac (or in this version a teaspoon of Jericho 15 yo Tawny) 5 eggs, separated 1/3 cup of caster sugar 125cl pouring cream Grated rind of an orange (optional)

First Creek have exceptional vineyard resources in the Hunter Valley, Orange and Hilltops regions of NSW. In a roundabout way they began when Greg Silkman bought The Tamburlaine winery in 1986, then went on to acquire Allanmere Wines before buying up even more high quality vineyards. Winemaker Liz has an amazing palate which is evident by her being awarded dux of the prestigious Len Evans tutorial, which James Halliday describes as the most exclusive wine school in the world. She has also been crowned Winemaker of the year at the Hunter Valley Legends awards. We can very happily vouch for their quality, as does James Halliday. Halliday rates First Creek Wines as a 5-red star producer, and offers the following… ‘The quality of the wines has been consistently exemplary, and there is every reason to believe this will continue in the years to come.’

I’ve been a card-carrying member of the aged white cult my entire career. There’s not many of us but we’re there, lurking amongst the shadows at auctions snapping up aged rieslings and semillons well below what they’re worth or fumbling around in quit barrels at independent wine shops or bottloes attached to country pubs. What on Earth drives us? I can’t speak for my brothers and sisters in this bizarre cult except to tell my own story which thankfully started early in my career as a wine merchant in the United Kingdom. On this occasion, I was in Bordeaux for Vin Expo ’93, at the time the world’s biggest gathering of wine producers showing their wares to would be buyers. On the second night, my desperate posse descended on a restaurant at 10pm and I was sent away to the wine shop to nd something “interesting, white, not too expensive but make sure it’s the best thing since...” Yeah, okay, we’ve all had that brief before!