The Man from Mosel River

Given the traffic chaos in the capital city of Indonesia, it is important to have a ‘watering hole’ somewhere nearby. Today I would like to invite you to the Connoisseur, a small wine bar in a shopping centre in South Jakarta near to my home in Lebak Bulus.

I have lived for more than nine years in Jakarta. Many of my friends assume that Indonesia is a Muslim country and that alcohol must be hard to get. Well, the majority of Indonesian people (about 85% of the population of about 220 million people) are Muslim but in fact Indonesia is a secular state as most other states in the region. Despite the terrorist attacks in Bali and other locations, the Indonesian archipelago is a very peaceful, pluralistic and tolerant place. Wine lovers have the freedom to pursue their hobby and sample fine wines. Various wine societies and circles exist with not only expats as members but with a heavy local contingent.

In 2007, however, it’s been more difficult to get hold of fine wine than in previous years. Rumour has it that there was a problem with the import licenses and that therefore only the duty free outlets have stocks left whereas other wine sellers have run out of the liquid.

However that may be only about 10 minutes from our home is a shopping mall for the lower middle-class called ‘Citos’. This is a place bubbling with people. There are many small shops and many more little restaurants, most of them of the fast food type. On the ground floor is a small wine bar, named ‘Connoisseur’. Though the place could benefit from a renovation (some of the chairs show cigarette holes and other stains), it’s quite cosy and has a very relaxed atmosphere. The range of wines on offer is amazing. Many of the bottles on display do look a bit ‘worn’ tough with some dust accumulated and some of the labels torn. Prices seem to be reasonable. Nibbles and finger food can be ordered from the neighbouring shops and food courts.

The Connoisseur with wine racks

We went for some ‘save’ Australian red, a ‘2002 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz’ (www.wynns.com.au). The estate is located in the famous “terra rossa” strip which produces intensely concentrated flavours. The 2002 vintage was cooler than other years therefore the wines are elegant and show good structure. They are barrel aged (old and new oak) for about 11 months. The bottle looked a bit ‘battered’. Because of the tropical climate conditions in Jakarta one is never sure how wine was handled (sometimes one can find ‘cooked’ wine when containers or bottles spend too much time in the sun and the moist heat). The bottle was reasonably priced for Jakarta conditions (about 320,000 INR which is about 26 EURO). For comparison I tried to find some current Australian prices but I only found the 2003 vintage Shiraz on the internet for about 60 A$.

The wine was deep red. It showed a nose of black peppers and dark berry fruit flavours. It has a good mid palate weight and a strong finish. Margit and I enjoyed a relaxed Friday evening with a good drop of Australian wine. Come and visit us, we’ll take you there.

I would like to share with you some of my culinary experiences in Germany. Below you find a select few of the dishes which I had the great fortune to enjoy recently. Some of the wines I had with the food are less memorable than others, therefore don’t worry about it. I have prepared some photos.

Fish wrapped in bacon/ham

This is a very special combination. When I tasted such dishes for the first time I was quite puzzled. Germans living near the sea know them quite well but since I am a native of the deep South-West, I was rather a novice when it comes to German fish eating habits.

I would like to share an anecdote with you. I once accompanied a group of Muslim politicians to the most northerly state of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). In Kiel, the state capital, we had ordered a filet of plaice (a local flat fish) “Finkenwerder Art”, me not knowing that this white fish is sprinkled with bacon/ham crumbs when served. The order was utterly inappropriate for pious Muslim adhering to halal food prescriptions. That’s when I learned that Germans do eat fish dishes with pork.

Pasta with scrimps (at Rolandseck Restaurant near Bonn)

Alsacian “Flammkuchen” the German way (Weingut Sülz in Oberdollendorf)

Beetroot soup (Feuerbach Inn in Berlin)

In Berlin I tasted beetroot soup with goats cheese and orange slices in an inn called “Feuerbach”. Unfortunately, I started to eat before realising that I should have taken a picture of the delishes meal before digging my spoon into it. I apologize for that but the soup was so delicious that only immortals could have gotten it right. I promise to visit “Feuerbach” again and replace the picture with a “proper” one.

So far so good you might say but what did he drink with all these dishes? Well, mostly white wines from Germany but not entirely. I drank an Ahr Riesling of the winehouse Meyer-Näkel with the fish in bacon, had an 2005 Heimersheimer Pinot Noir with the seafood pasta, and since at vintage time Germans love to drink “Federweisser”, freshly fermented grape juice (see photo below), I tried some of this rather young and sweatish drink with the Alsacian Flammkuchen.

A bottle of “Federweisser”, not a drink common in Australia.

Our car had broken down and therefore we had time for some holiday activity and therefore we had lunch at the Yarra Valley Dairy. The Dairy (www.yvd.com.au) is just outside the country town of Yarra Glen between Yering and Coldstream. It’s a great place to visit. Works are under way to extend it. Apart from various cheeses, all made on the premises with locally produced milk, there is a wide range of products on offer such as marmelades, relishes, condiments and country kitchen ware. The Dairy also houses the Wine Hub about which I am going to write another day.

The inside of the Yarra Valley Dairy

Anyway, we were stranded so to say and hungry. We ordered two cheese platters and the adults among us had a glas of an earthy Yarra Valley Pinot Noir. Doesn’t the platter look delicious? We had a selection of breads with it. Needless to say that we bought some of the delicacies for home consumption. If you visit the Yarra Valley, the Dairy is a “must visit/must see” item on your itinerary.

One of the cheese platters

Vintage wine, vintage cars and vintage cigars may be in vogue right now but also other products are coming in a vintage fashion nowadays. When earlier this year my friend Jim Riddel from Minnesota visited Jakarta he brought with him a whole stack of chocolate bars from his favourite producer, Michel Cluizel and his vintage chocolate produced on small farms under controlled conditions. It’s a chocolate for adults with a fantastic unadulterated taste, many of the younger generation, used to industrially produced chocolate, does not yet appeal. Michel Cluizel (www.cluizel.com) is an artisan chocolate producer since 1948. His mission is to produce the best chocolate by vigorously selecting the best cocoa beans to produce the finest chocolate of exceptional quality. He and his four children work in the family enterprise.

In 1997 he created the single plantation chocolate series -1ers Crue de Plantation – which sounds like the denomination of any fine wine from France. In fact the concept for this product includes to find the best cocoa beans and to establish fair and long term relations with the planters. The chocolates are to be enjoyed and compared like fine wines.

We tasted the two single plantation chocolates below, the Los Ancones from Santo Domingo and the Maralumi from Papua New Guinea. From Michel Cluizel’s website I got the following descriptions of the plantation and the tasting notes:

Los Ancones – Dark Chocolate 67% cocoa

“I discovered this plantation in a splendid environment to the north east of the island of Santo Domingo, at the heart of the Caribbean where the family Rizek has produced, since 1903, exquisite cocoa beans.”

“Lengthily worked, the beans release in this chocolate their aromas of liquorice wood, then red berries and green olives with a lingering flavour of currants and apricots.”

Maralumi – Dark Chocolate 64% cocoa

“The island of Papua – New Guinea, off the coast of Australia, is an unusual origin for cocoa. A superb Maralumi plantation lies close to the East coast producing refined beans that greatly appealed to me.”

“The beans give this mellow chocolate slightly roasted and spicy flavours, fresh notes of green bananas and acidulates flavours of red currants prolonged by charming aromas of Havana tobacco leaves.”

Cocoa, the fatty seeds from the cocoa tree (Carolus Linnaeus), is the base of which chocolate is made. Cocoa trees are very “individual” which means that they are not suitable for large scale plantations but rather small tree gardens tended to by individual farmers. The trees are usually grown together with other useful trees, either for fruit or firewood. The tree is a native to Latin America but Indonesia is one of the major producers (third after Ivory Coast and Ghana) and blending centres for chocolate. Production worldwide has increased steeply in the last couple of years. Leading consumer of chocolate is Belgium, leading processor is The Netherlands. Chocolate tasting is organised similarly to wine tasting. After a beautiful meal I usually drink a strong espresso and relax with a piece of chocolate, if possible from Michel Cluizel.