Two Hills Merlot grapes 2010
This vintage is one to forget quickly. The few sales of grapes we had are not worth mentioning. The Merlot grapes looked good though (so did the SB and the Pinot Noir). We have to rethink our business model. But we are in good spirits and optimistic about the future of our undertaking.
Margit and the grapes
1 Comment | 
vineyard management | Tagged: Glenburn, Merlot, Two Hills Vineyard, Victoria | 
Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Enjoying good wines together
It is always a pleasure to visit Gayle and Phillip at their Spingvale farm just outside of Yarra Glen. They served us wonderful wines. A ‘2005 Tappa Pass Shiraz Vineyard Selection’ by Henschke from the Barossa Valley in South Australia and a ‘2008 All Saints Estate Durif’ from All Saints Winery in Rutherglen, Victoria. Both wines are wonderful, lush and full of flavor, the right stuff for a long chat on the lawn. Needless to say, we had a great time.
An afternoon with red wines
The 2005 Henschke Tappa Pass Shiraz
The 2008 All Saints Durif
The Henschke Shiraz with a glass enclosure
When its over: bottles on the ground
Leave a Comment » | wine | Tagged: All Saints Estate, Australian wine, Barossa Valley, Henschke Wines, Rutherglen, South Australia, St Leonards Vineyard, Victoria, Yarra Valley | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Rocky Passes 2006 Syrah
One of our favorite “house wines” is Syrah from Rocky Passes, a winery about an hour north of Two Hills Vineyard. Rocky Passes Estate has received rocking reviews from James Halliday, one of the “popes of wine” from the Yarra Valley. The 2006 vintage received 92 points. Vitto Oles is a jolly good fellow, excellent wine maker and carpenter.
James Halliday wine reviews of Rocky Passes
Liz Mazurek painting
Today the newest art exhibition of Liz Mazurek starts at Rocky Passes. The theme is “The Persistence of Existence”. There is also a three course Spanish dinner available at the opening. If you have not reserved just go for some wine tasting and have a look at the colorful paintings of Liz. Rocky Passes Estate is worth a visit.
Address:
Vitto Oles & Candi Westney
Rocky Passes Estate
1590 Highlands Rd
Whiteheads Creek
Vic 3660
Australia
+61 3 5796 9366
www.rockypasses.com.au
Leave a Comment » | culture, wine | Tagged: Australian wine, Glenburn, James Halliday, Liz Mazurek, Rocky Passes, Syrah, Two Hills Vineyard, Upper Goulburn Winegrowers Association, Victoria, Vitto Oles, Yarra Valley | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
It took me a while to resume blogging. I did not keep my promise to post at least a photo a day. I am sorry about that. My first week of holidays on the farm was very eventful and I had a lot of things to do. But today it is raining and I have some time on my hands. Work can wait.
Yesterday was one of these beautiful autumn days. We decided to go fishing in the dam. Some years ago we had stocked the smaller dam with some silver perch. We took the fishing rods, got some scrubworms and off we went to check out if the cormorants left some fish for us humans.
To cut a long story short, Lucy was the first to catch a silver perch,then came Charlotte and finally Helen, all with their first ever fish. The fourth fish was thrown back into the water. Three beautiful fish should suffice for a hearty country meal. Later Margit pan-fried the perch with a few local herbs and butter. It looked beautiful, but came up a little bit muddy. This was possibly because of the rain and yabby activity. We threw in a couple of yabby nets, which should provide us with a nice lunch in a few days.
Lucy with her first ever fish
The silver perch
Lucy searching for a suitable worm
Charlotte and her first fish
Another silver perch – Lucy, Helen, Charlotte and Michael
Food and local wine at the dam
Of course, we tasted a lot of local wines. I chose a bottle of ‘2003 Kinloch Estate Pinot Meunier’ and a bottle of ‘2004 Two Hills Merlot’. I love the Pinot Meunier Malcolm Kinloch makes. A bottle of our own wine
The fishing party
Beautiful silver perch
Ready to be eaten
Needless to say that we had a wine with the fish. I selected a ‘2009 Sauvignon Blanc cleanskin’ from Steve Sadlier, our friend and vintner. which he had given to me the day before. That was a wonderful choice. The Loire style Sauvignon Blanc from the Yarra Valley complemented the flavour of the white fish perfectly.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Australian wine, Glenburn, Kinloch Wines, Pinot Meunier, Stephen Sadlier, Two Hills Vineyard, Victoria, Yarra Valley | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
When you read this I might be high up in the sky, asleep on the plane and dreaming of my two weeks vacation on the farm in Glenburn, Victoria. Or if you come a bit late to this blog entry, I sit already on our terrace, enjoying the autumn days together with friends and family and we eat and drink, and laugh and have fun.
The wine we’ll drink will be definitively be Two Hills Merlot. We might also drink some of our friends newest releases, cleanskins, or right from the barrel. Or we take a long walk in the vineyard. Or I sit on my brnadnew tractor and slash the grass. Or or or. So many possibilities but one thing is sure: we will have a jolly good time.
I do not know if I will be blogging. I might start a series of short entries such as “a photo a day” or something like it. If you do not see me on The Man from Mosel River for a while do not worry. I will be in heavan drinking great wines in the company of friends. Seeya soon.
1 Comment | general | Tagged: Australia, Glenburn, Two Hills Merlot, Two Hills Vineyard, Victoria | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Beautiful scrimps in garlic and olive oil
In the hot weather of March and April big meals are not very attractive. Alas, Thailand has a lot of choice in seafood and lighter dishes are the go. Some rice with tofu and green vegetables and plenty of scrimps are the right stuff for a light meal. The question is which wine to drink with it?
A simple “Chinese set” meal
There is a lot of choice actually. As far as white wines are concerned one could choose a Chenin Blanc from Gran Monte, Thailand, for instance. Or one could have a Pinot Grigio from Italy or Germany. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are other possible choices.
If the dish is spicy, and the above one was, the ‘Grande Signature de Rapatel’ by Gérard Eyraud, France, a blend of Roussanne and Bourboulenc, is a great choice. The wine is oily and thick and full of apricot flavour. It balances the spicyness of the food in a wonderful way. I never thought that a Roussanne could be such a good complement to Asian food. My tip of the day: try it.
PS: You can get bottles of this wine in Bangkok from Lake House and Comte de Sibour.
1 Comment | food, wine | Tagged: Asian Food, Bangkok, Chenin Blanc, Comte de Sibour, Domaine de Rapatel, French wine, Gérard Eyraud, Gran Monte, Lake House, Rapatel, Thai food | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Last Friday we went to a wine tasting at Lake House. Four wines were on offer, two came from California and two from South Africa. The Californian producer was Bliss Family Vineyards, which is a third generation family business in Mendocino County. The South African producer was Darling Cellars. Both producers are not small entities.
From each producer we tasted a Merlot and a Sauvignon Blanc. I do not want to bore you with tasting notes. The clear “winner”, the wine I liked best, was the Merlot from Darling Cellar, a ‘2007 Six Tonner Merlot’. I did not like the wines from California. Both Sauvignon Blancs tasted very unusal but did not hold my attention for very long.
The atmosphere at the Lake House tasting was, as always, great. We met so many interesting people, from Argentina, India and the USA. Dan and Dan, two of three partners of the Lake House venture were also there and we had a good chat about life and the universe.
Leave a Comment » | wine | Tagged: Bliss Family Vineyard, California, Darling Cellars, Lake House, South Africa | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
This is the time of the year when the thermometer shows already 32 degrees Celsius at 6:30 in the morning. In mid April it may reach 40-44 Celsius at noon. Alcoholic drinks are not ideal under such conditions. However, a glass of wine with lunch is still something desirable. So what to drink?
Well, my first choice is obviously white wine, maybe a rose, but the wine needs to be chilled. Gran Monte Estate, one of the nine Thai wineries, is located in the Khao Yai region, a two hours drive north of Bangkok, and offers both, white and rose.
Today I talk about their ‘2009 Spring Chenin Blanc’, a fresh and vibrant young wine, very well made with tropical fruit aromas. The grape variety is not my preferred choice when it comes to white wine but for the Gran Monte I make an exception. This Chenin Blanc is perfect for hot days and goes well with Italian and Asian dishes. The alcohol is 12.5% only which makes it also easy to drink in hot weather.
If you live in Thailand or visit Bangkok, try it out. It is worth the odd 500 Thai Bath you pay for the bottle if you purchase directly from the Gran Monte Bangkok shop.
PS: Gran Monte offers also a Syrah rose (the Sakuna rose) in a half bottle which I have tried as well. More about this wine another time.
Address in Bangkok:
Granmonte Co,Ltd.
17 / 8 Soi Sukhumvit 6, Sukhumvit Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : 02-653-1522
Marketing@granmonte.com
Leave a Comment » | wine | Tagged: Bangkok, Chenin Blanc, Gran Monte, Gran Monte Estate, Khao Yai region, New Latitude Wines, Thai wine, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Unfortunately, during my recent visit to Hanoi and Saigon I had no opportunity to check out the various culinary highlights of these fabulous places. I was part of a large delegation and had no choice regarding the food, or almost no choice. Not that we had to eat bad food. However, I could not explore the local cuisine. There are some truly extraordinary places to be found, from traditional Vietnamese cuisine to all kinds of fusion cooking.
“The Songs of Sapa” is the title of a Vietnamese cookery book which is most amazing. Luke Nguyen an Australian from Sydney whose parents came as boat people and refugees, has produced a marvelous book summarizing his various travels to Vietnam. He collected many recipes and reproduced them in this book. The pictures are outstanding, really.
Luke is very well known in Australia. He runs Red Lantern, a Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney. I would love to taste his cooking. For the time being I have to be content with the cookery book and because it is so magic, it will do for me here in Bangkok.
1 Comment | food | Tagged: Asian Food, Luke Nguyen, Red Lantern, Red Lantern Restaurant, Sydney, The Songs of Sapa, Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
There are plenty of good restaurants and fancy dining in Hua Hin, this seaside town about 3 hours south of Bangkok, which has become such a very popular destination for Bangkonians to spend the weekend.
During our recent workshop in Hua Hin we ate out a couple of times. I report about a not so famous place, called Pom Pom, where you can eat for very little money home cooked dishes. Some of the food is announced as “Italian”. The place was an insiders tip, which we could not refuse.
The participants of this dinner where divided as regards the quality of the food. Some thought it was awesome, other were appalled. There were few guests that night, a weekday, but the staff was very friendly and we remained seating and drinking wine for a couple of hours after the meal had ended.
We consumed many bottles of wine. Nothing fancy. Some of the wines were re-bottled and re-blended as the label in full honesty proclaimed. We drank “our way up price’wise” and did not regret it: We woke up the next morning without hangover. We had a jolly good time.
Leave a Comment » | food, wine | Tagged: Bangkok, Hua Hin, Thailand, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The Man from Mosel River
The Man from Mosel River 