Working, with, Wine-Oz, Seminars

The position of Australian wine around the world receives a natural level of respect.

Likewise imported brands now enjoy egalitarian treatment and this segment's share of the market continues to grow, to well above 10 percent.

Australia's oldest family wine company, Yalumba, through its importing arm Negociants Australia, run the biennial trade training seminars Working with Wine.

Prospective attendees actually sit an exam prior to gain acceptance to the program; and the demand is brisk.

Negociants have done much to stimulate the advance of sommelier training and roles in major Australian restaurants-and no doubt their prime imported brands are kept under the sales spotlight.

This year the focus was the wines of North East Italy, namely Alto Adige and Trentino, Veneto, and Fruili-Venezia-Giulia.

Italian wine author Nicolas Belfrage MW led the charge, describing the potted history of Italian wines through the ages and how that applied today.

The Etruscean influence on trellising systems (pergolas) was not lost on the audience with the vine arms shaped towards the heavens in order to gain greater crop.

Today's blog reports on the white wines of Fruili through the brand Lis Nerris.

San Lorenzo's Federica Pecorari from Lis Nerris in Fruili spoke of the family's movements in viticulture since 1980 (where high production, more dilute wine was preferred), transforming from two thousand vines per hectare up to five and six thousand, with production limited to less than 1.5 kilograms per vine.

The region makes mono-varietal wines, essentially whites, and only recent experimentation has led to blending and more "interesting" styles with varied nose and texture.

The local traditions were once influenced heavily as a result of occupation while a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with native varieties of Northern Europe once having a presence.

These have been shed for the modern era with Lis Nerris Pinot Grigio 2008 (AUD $34 / USD $31)  the basic stainless steel-made wine from young vineyards around ten years.

Federica calls these the simple philosophy wines, while the vineyard selections such as Lis Nerris "Gris" Pinot Prigio 2007 (AUD $48 / USD $44) is single vineyard wine, 25 year-old vines, high ripeness (13-14% alcohol). Gris in this instance means "crickets", a local insect inhabiting the grass around the vines.

This wine has high colour (gris can be orange or pink with loose winemaking), plus it is oak aged (500 litre, second and third use barrels), has nose complexity but also nose "heaviness" from heavy-handed working of the grape and pungent palate. The cellar term for the acidity sensation on the finish is "saltiness", a quaint term for the minerality of grigio.

Federica refers to 2007 as "the anticipated vintage" for the "unfolding vines" which ripened between the end of August to the end of September. 

Lis Nerris Fiore di Campo 2008 (AUD $38 / USD $35) is the company's Reserve style white blend, first released in 2003, centred around fruilano (a native grape lingering from Austrian times); 85 percent that grape plus 10 percent sauvignon and five percent riesling.

The wine created good interest-delicate yet musky from the small aromatic grape proportion; very taut, mineral and slatey acidity for longer aging, made I believe for the younger generation of wine drinkers wanting less wine "attitude" and more understated acidity (the sauvignon blanc set).

This main grape was originally named tocai fruilano but under pressure from the Hungarians the "tocai" has been dropped, and in fact it became EU law from April 2008 that wines exported from Italy be simply called fruilano.

Lis Nerris is a progressive northern Italian producer, with 50 percent of its vineyards planted to pinot gris-one of the boom grapes of the moment-and for a few years to come no doubt.

1		1	Hong Kong Wine Show

Up to recent times wine shows are fairly standard affairs; lots of anonymous wines are trotted out in groupings called classes, groups of judges (called panels) who judge individually by allocating scores.

And then a collation takes place by an independent person or a nominee to connect the medal with the entrant, witholding that result from the judging team until a later announcement.

The only food the judges encounter is over a cuppa or during lunch. The wine is on show in all its glory, and if it is an over-the-top example that's fair enough.

Some time ago Warren Mason, owner of the Sydney International Wine Show and Top 100, very much a gastronome himself, re-designed his show into two stages. www.top100wines.com

First was the usual tasting where wines are evaluated in varietal classes, and only the top 15 percent with medals alongside them go to the second stage.

The second is a mandatory food pairing exercise but prior to the tasting all whites and reds are retasted by the chief judge who orders all wine by texture; light body, medium body and full body irrespective of variety.

All the final classes are then served against set food dishes designed by Warren with assistance where the final medals are awarded; usually six-ten wines remain per dish, and the organisation closes off entries at 2000 wines to keep the logistics of serving and judging reasonably contained.

I was quite enthused when the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition announced last year that entries would be judged with food, displaying that dim sum, kung pao chicken and peking duck would be paired, and braised abalone was added later.

Obviously the organisers were unsure how this judging would work when I made inquiries if wines could be entered into classes where the specific dishes were nominated. Nor were there any outlines how the dishes were to be served against the wines entered. This looks like work in progress.

Last November the 2009 results were announced with sets of medals and trophies. I left it at that. However on March 24 this year out comes a release that a host of wines have received gold, silver and bronze, including a trophy when matched against the four mentioned dishes. www.asiasbestwinesandspirits.com

It appears that the all-Asian judging panels must have nominated specific wines to be re-tested against specific dishes on the way through the judging. That's not a bad system as it allows what can be a cumbersome process to be very simply achieved while the main tasting competition progresses.

The is the process used in the annual Cairns Wine Show: all classes are judged normally but as there is a trophy for the Best wine to be consumed in the Tropics across all classes, judges make notations of wines to be put on a short list for a later judge-off. In 2009 a rose won the trophy just pipping a sparkling pink rose. www.cairnsshow.com.au

So the Braised Abalone dish, essentially Cantonese cuisine highlighted a trophy to Jacob's Creek Sparkling Rose NV (AUD 9) as the best match for a mild-flavoured dish; salty, low sugar, low bitterness, low sourness, low spiciness, high umami from the long braising time.

Close with golds came Oregon riesling (light body, high acidity, medium alcohol), New Zealand sauvignon blanc (light body, highest acidity, medium plus alcohol) and New Zealand pinot noir (light body, high acidity, high alcohol).

With the dim sum range of tastes, Cantonese cuisine, the trophy went to a slightly fuller white, Wairau River Pinot Gris 2009 (AUD 23), medium body, high acidity, high alcohol) to essentially match with mild plus dishes; salty, slight sugar, low bitterness, low sourness, low to average umami depending on the ingredients. No other golds were awarded.

With the Kung Pao chicken, Sichuan cuisine, the gold went to a Californian, Martin and Weyrich Moscato Allegro 2007 (USD 7); salty, low sugar, medium bitterness, high sourness, high spiciness (chilli and Sichuan pepper), medium umami. This classical dish demands wine flavours which sate the palate; light body, low acidity, high sugar (100 g/L), low CO2 and low slcohol.

Other golds went to other suitable matches: Eden Valley Shiraz (medium plus body, low acidity, low sugar, medium plus alcohol, moderate tannin), Languedoc Viognier (medium body, low acidity, low sugar, medium plus alcohol, medium tannin) and Mosel riesling spaetlese (light body, high acidity, medium sugar, low alcohol, no tannin).

These are certainly non-challenging wines with a soothing component (sweetness, low alcohol) which does not fight with chilli. Clearly there were wine styles which failed to match fiery dishes.

With Peking duck, northern Chinese cuisine, the trophy wine was Argentinian malbec, Judas 2006 (USD 70), the dish being salty, medium sugar, low bitterness, low sourness, medium spiciness, medium umami.

This match is medium-full body, low acidity, low sugar, medium alcohol, medium-high tannin, meaning that not only simple, soft wines will suit this form of duck. This most widely-publicised form of a match is pinot noir.

Other golds went to another Argentinian malbec, a cool area Orange shiraz viognier and New Zealand sauvignon (the latter probably a better wine as a sauvignon than any reasonable match for duck, and is an unconsequential result.

As a piece of advice, organisers probably now need two chief judges; one highly technically skilled on the wine side, and a chef/sommelier expert with great experience on the food construction, flavour profiling aspect so that the erroneous Peking duck-sauvignon blanc result does not sneek through.

			PMs cellar, wine, australian wine

This article appeared in The Week That Was on March 26, 2010.

STOCKING THE PM’S CELLAR—UPDATE FROM NICK STOCK

Well over 100 wineries have pledged their top kit to the cause and the combined value is running at well over $30,000—quite a nice start, but we need to dig deeper, Australia. Henschke have tipped in six bottles of Hill of Grace and many wineries have offered museum stock and seriously precious bottles. Vanya Cullen has pledged half a dozen of her Kevin 07 Chardonnay, no more fitting wine for the current Prime Minister. Here’s some recent comments:

“As a fifth generation Eden Valley winemaker, celebrating over 140 years of family winemaking, it would give me the greatest Aussie pride to know that our Prime Minister highlights to the world leaders that our wine industry has the oldest Shiraz vines, oldest soils and some of the oldest wine families, with none better than Australia’s most famous single vineyard wine, the Henschke Hill of Grace.: 6 x 2005 Henschke Hill of Grace.” —Stephen Henschke.

“The beauty, individuality and quality of the best Australian wine needs to be appreciated and shared with world leaders at the PM’s table.” —Vanya Cullen.

“What a bloody good idea, what with all of us kicking into the wind both here and abroad, it would be great to see our highest office showcasing Australia’s finest!” —Julian Forwood, Wirra Wirra.

• To help ‘Restock the PM’s Cellar’ email nickstock@bigpond.com.

STOP PRESS FROM NICK STOCK—“We’ve nudged through $40,000 of great Australian wines pledged to the PM’s cellar. The Barossa is leading the charge and, with great Australians like Charlie Melton tipping in, it’s going to put some serious glow in some very important cheeks. Charlie says, ‘I indeed support your initiative for getting national leaders to represent their countries vinous offerings and we will offer up some fine red—6 bottles of 2006 Voice of Angels Shiraz. Since getting your email I have been pondering the contents of George W’s cellar. God forbid!’ Wonder what Obama found under the Whitehouse when he took office? Apple Jack? Matt Gant and John Retsas have pledged six bottles of their Minchia Montepulciano—‘in case Berlusconi heads Down Under!’ We need to balance it with more great Victorian and Western Australian wine!”

On March 30 I wrote to Queensland producers inviting pledges with assisted co-ordination. The aim is to reach a AUD 10,000 wine selection.

As of April 22  the pledges (AUD 5019) are:

Boireann Winery 6 x 2005 Shiraz Viognier @ AUD 330 "We are happy to add to Kevin's cellar-Peter Stark"

Jimbour Wines 6 x 2003 Jimbour Shiraz @ AUD 360 "I wish to contribute-David Russell QC"

Settlers Rise 6 x 2005 Reserve Shiraz @ AUD 210 "OK Shiraz it is-I pledge six-Simon Murray Manager"

Ridgemill Vineyard 6 x 2008 Cabernet Malbec Merlot @ AUD 150

Heritage Estate 6 x 2007 Reserve Chardonnay @ AUD 330

Hidden Creek 6 x 2007 Tempranillo @ AUD 150 "the Granite Belt is making great strides with this Iberian variety-Andrew Corrigan MW"

Symphony Hill 6 x 2003 Reserve Shiraz @ AUD 600 "highest scoring shiraz at 2005 Sydney Royal Show-Ewen McPherson"

Clovely Estate 6 x 2006 Double Pruned Shiraz @ AUD 360 "I salute your request to fill the PM's cellar-Luke Firzpatrick CEO"

Sirromet Wines 6 x 2007 St Judes Cabernet sauvignon @ AUD 1800 " Sirromet will give their finest red since opening-Adam Chapman Chief Winemaker"

Ballandean Estate 6 x 2009 Family Viognier @ AUD 150 "good things are happening with Granite Belt viognier- Leeanne Puglisi-Gangemi, Client Relations"

Warrego Wines 6 x 2006 Scarlet O'Bubbles Tempranillo  @ AUD 153 "fabulous for celebrating any occasion-Kevin Watson CEO"

Preston Peak 6 x 2008 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Carmeniere @ AUD 198 "the first release with this intriguing old World variety"

Kominos Wines 6 x 2005 Reserve Merlot @ AUD 228 " my best trophy merlot says - owner Tony Comino"

			Wine Spectator, Top 100 wines, best Australian wines

As the dust settles on the Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2009 announced November 20 last year the Australian finalists need some recognition.

Ten brands made the cut (no Penfolds Grange) but four wines from the Barossa Valley. And you think that means the tasters are biased towards big, buxom wines.

That does not appear to be the case. Four wines are entry level shiraz and another two, viognier and viognier-pinot gris are entry level whites.

Nineteen Italian wines made the list; the greatest representation of any exporting country whilst Bordeaux managed four wines at Number 40, 64,84 and 96.

The top wine last year was a Washington State Cabernet from Colombia Crest, a 2005 (USD 27).

Number 14 and the first Australian is Two Hands Bella's Garden Shiraz 2007 (94); USD 60 one of their many super-premium shiraz from the Barossa Valley.

Number 24 is Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2005 995); USD 65, a South Australian blend.

Number 39 is Yalumba Eden Valley Viognier 2008 (92); USD 19, a lovely textured white made by the virtual inventors of this style in Australia.

Number 43 is Schild Shiraz 2007 (92); USD 20, an entry level wine from the Barossa Valley.

Number 51 is Shoofly Shiraz 2007 (91); USD 14, is primarily an export wine made by Ben Riggs using Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale shiraz.

Number 54 is Peter Lehmann Shiraz 2006 (91); USD 16, the standard and very well made Barossa offering of this stalwart winery.

Number 59 is Thorne-Clark Shotfire Shiraz 2006 (92); USD 33, is the company's standard Barossa shiraz named after descendent James Goddard.

Number 68 is Heartland Viognier Pinot Gris 2007 (91); USD 16, Ben Glaetzer-made, 68%/32%, Langhorne Creek (80%), Limestone Coast (20%).

Number 73 is Jacob's Creek Reserve Riesling 2008 (90); USD 13, a terrific Eden/Clare Valley blend with great aromatic character.

Number 82 is d'Arenberg The Stump Jump Grenache, Shiraz Mourvedre 2008 (90); USD 11, from old oak, a wonderful mouthful of spice and supple tannins

 More info: http://www.winespectator.com/contentimage/wso/pdf/Top100list2009.pdf

		2	Asian Palate, Jeannie Cho Lee

Much has been written about the Asian palate and its new-found love of embracing high value wine brands.

And often come reports of pairing such high brow drops with soft drinks.

So I was much relieved to recently read Asian Palate, Korean-born Hong Kong-based Jeannie Cho Lee MW's scoop of the best wine pairings with Cantonese, Shanghainese, Northern Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean, Central Thai, Peranakan, Singaporean, West Indian, Punjabi and South Indian cuisines.

This style of book writing has been a glaring omission from any East Asian sommeliers' bookshelf and has now systematically detailed how wine styles dovetail into the enjoyment of a wide range of cultural flavours.

Future food lecturing in Asian restaurants about how to select, pair and harmonise our table wines is going to be somewhat easier.

Jeannie unlocks the first aspect of gridlock that Caucasians encounter among the Chinese culture - that of a profound liking for red wine. In fact she underlines the translation of "wine" to mean "putaojiu" or grape alcohol which we would see as brandy or cognac etc, spirit at 40 percent alcohol. Funnily enough Chinese usage does not capture this as grape origin wine either!

A better translation is "honhjiu" or "red alcohol" which explains even more the preference to drink red wine even before the health experts proclaimed the cardiovascular protection from the red grape or its wine.

This author establishes the Asian food building blocks of taste as the five s's: sweet, sour, salty (the basic tastes) plus spicy and smoky, also suggesting that these are the fundamental s's challenging each Asian at meal time.

She then goes on to address the four fundamentals of everybody's taste; sweet, sour, salty, bitter then added that elusive but texture-grabbing sensation of umami (in food technical terms an amino acid -glutamic acid, the ingredient in stocks.)  This makes many of us salivate when very hungry as we commence to eat.

As Asian cultures are more likely grab some green tea or a beer as a more familiar digestive or palate soother, some easily recalled suggestions about wine groups to drink from is applaudable, and is provided very clearly in this  book.

For each origin cuisine there is a detailed taste Checklist: zero to five in intensity for salt, sweet, bitter, sour, spice, umami and flavour intensity.

Next in the Checklist is the wine taste scale; zero to five in intensity for sweet (sugar), sour (acidity), tannin (drying sensation), body (texture), flavour intensity, and finish (impression).

Jeannie is inviting hosts, chefs, sommeliers or whoever to make two easy but fundamental decisions about how and what wine they serve.

First analyse your food tastes from Asian Palate table, page 26 for Cantonese flavours, all dishes you serve.

Second use some palate dissection of suitable wines, again using Asian Plate table page 26, and "voila" make some decisions about a pairing.

If unsure, I'd suggest choosing two wines, a little diverse from each other, say one red, one white to learn from the process.

For more information www.asianpalate.com ; Asian Palate USD 98 from Asset Publishing HK.

			Masterclass, Weekend-come, Brisbane, July

Yesterday Hilton Brisbane general manager Martin Kendall announced the programme for the 2010 Hilton Brisbane Masterclass weekend held July 24-25. www.qldmasterclass.com

This is one of Australia's longest running chef and winemaker featured events (since 1995) centred in one hotel where participants eat and drink exactly what the presenters demonstrate.

The hands-on weekend has previously invited many stars - Gordon Ramsey, Charlie Trotter, Michel Roux, Michel Richard, Antonio Carluccio and at the last event, Newcastle-born Brett Graham who has added his third UK Michelin star since visiting Brisbane.

Stars for 2010 amongst 41 presenters are Californian baker Peter Reinhart, Swiss Lindt Master Chocolatier Thomas Schnetzler, Susur Lee from Toronto, and for the first time ever a sliver of Hilton greatness with chefs from Beijing Wangfujing (Yu Xiang Gu), Kuala Lumpur (Latchumanan Supramanian), Auckland (Cristiano de Martin), Cairns (Jimmy Shu) and Sydney (mixologist Grant Collins).

Despite many past Masterclasses the Hilton chefs have supported the back of house plating the thousands of recipe morsels concurrently demonstrated by the glamour chefs. This is the first time ever to see some Pacific Rim Hilton stars on parade at a weekend a little Asian focussed.

So come to Brisbane for this, but book early if you wish to climb the lift to stay in the hotel, rooms sell quickly. brisbane@hilton.com

The headline wine event will be Brokenwood's vertical of Graveyard Shiraz (AUD 100) celebrating 40 years of production in the Hunter Valley.

I will focus on more chefs and winemakers in further blogs. meanwhile I must finish reading Jeannie Cho Lee MW's definitive and award winning wine and Asian food matching tome Asian Palate to be prepared for the Weekend. www.asianpalate.com