The Man from Mosel River

Hanging Rock China Success

February 21, 2008

In today’s Daily Wine News electronic newsletter I read about the huge success of Hanging Rock wines in China (www.hangingrock.com.au). When we visited the winery in July last year, Andrew, who manned the cellar door at the time, told us about this venture. At that time the order was out but the wine was still in Hanging Rock’s storage. We tasted the Hanging Rock Shiraz wines at that occasion (see my blog entry from September 2007), discussed wine tastes around the world, how they could differ and how difficult the Chinese wine market was.

Hanging Rock winery, Macedon Ranges Wine Region, Victoria

I am delighted to hear therefore that everything went according to the plan. The Daily Wine News cited John Ellis, CEO and chief winemaker of Hanging Rock as follows:

“We believe that this is probably the largest premium wine order ever sold into China by a small Australian producer. Apart from the sheer size, the complexity was mind boggling. We had 5 variations of wine type and vintage plus two bottle sizes, spread across four importers to be identified on their particular selections of the five wines. All in all we had to produce and translate into Mandarin, 36 different back labels. In the process we learnt that there are several ways to write ‘Hanging Rock’ in Mandarin.”

Congratulations John! Great stuff.

Hanging Rock vineyard, in the background the “hanging rock” Photo taken in July 2007

This success is great news for all the small family-owned businesses around Australia. It shows again that also difficult markets can be cracked by boutique vineyards. Hopefully the Olympics will have an additional effect on exports to China and further stimulate the wine industry. Given that stocks of Australian wines are down, the 2008 vintage promising regarding quality but maybe down on volume, we might even expect a price rise for grape prices.

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Giant Steps – Innocent Bystander

February 20, 2008

As promised ealier, here is my log entry about Giant Steps which is also known as Innocent Bystander. It is the most amazing new winery in the Yarra Valley. Wines under the Giant Steps label were released in 2001. But the new winery building was only opened in 2006.

It already earned very favourable critiques and the wines of course won quite a few awards and medals. A select Yarra Valley red wine tasting (all reds except Pinot Noir) late last year – by Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine, December/January edition – (http://gourmettravellerwie.com.au), for instance, ranked the ‘2006 Giant Steps Miller Vineyard Shiraz’ (92 points) and its 2005 Giant Steps Harry’s Monster’ a blend of Cabernet Sav., Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc (89 points) quite highly.

Actually Giant Steps – Innocent Bystander is not only a winery but also a restaurant, café, bakery, meeting place, etc. in the heart of Healesville, the charming rural town about an hour away north east of Melbourne. Phil and Allison Sexton, the owners, deserve great praise for having the courage to establish such an enterprise, the merging of an industrial work place like a winery with the inviting hospitality necessary for a café-bistro.

I had the opportunity to visit it twice during our recent Christmas vacation and had a great time there. First of all, its the only place I could find where I was able to surf the internet wireless with my laptop. Great. Second, the food is very delicious (people seem to love the pizzas) and so are the wines.

The modern interior leaves space for tranquility as well as play. We loved, what Germans call, a “kicker”, a kind of table soccer-machine, which invites for exciting competitions. For me the wireless internet access was such a bonus. Nowhere else could I update my blog in Healesville more easily.

Any time of the day is good to visit. You can have breakfast there from 10h onwards (many young mothers with their babies came) and enjoy the open atmosphere or you might opt for a meal or a drink later in the day. We came for breakfast. The coffee was delicious and the cakes were a culinary delight. But I also tried a ‘2007 Innocent Bystander Pinot Gris’, a very young and refreshing wine, with hints of citrus, dried pear and apple aromas, crisp on the palate with a dry finish.

Prices are reasonable given the location (Yarra Valley and Healesville). The wines under the Innocent Bystander label (sourced mostly from contract vineyards in the vicinity) for instance Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir or Shiraz Viognier sell for 20 A$/bottle. Trophy winners of the Giant Steps label are a bit more expensive (30 – 45 A$/bottle). The grapes for these wines come from single vineyard sites in the Yarra Valley either owned by the Sexton’s themselves or from long-term contracted growers. The winery and its wine maker, Steve Flamsteed, are proud of its new ‘sweat’ wine creation, a ‘2007 Innocent Bystander Pink Moscato’ (375 ml).

The entrance of Giant Steps – Innocent Bystander

The architecture of the place is also stunning. Its housed in an modern-industrial type of building. Its been designed by architect Martyn Hook of Iredale Pedersen Hook. The building consists of a steel structure with blends of wooden slates. There are also a lot of concrete walls. The substantial complex located at the thoroughfare of the small country town is a perfect blend of functionality with hospitality.

The side view of Giant Steps: winery side from the parking lot

The name! Of course, I forgot. It comes from the John Coltrane jazz album and stands for the ‘giant step’ the owners took in selling their successful vineyards in Margaret River, Western Australia and moving to the Yarra Valley in Victoria to start all over again.

Hope you have a chance to check this place out.

Address:
Giant Steps – Innocent Bystander
336 Maroondah Highway,
Healesville, Victoria
Ph.: 03-59626111

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Posted by themanfrommoselriver

Torrontés – white grapes from Argentina

February 17, 2008

The other day when I decided to buy a dozen bottles from Trivento (Concha y Toro), I did not only pick up the Grand Reserva Malbec and other Malbecs, but also some whites, a chardonnay and a grape variety I had never heard of, Torrentés.

Through my encounter in Kuala Lumpur the other day, I was stimulated to venture into new territory. So I started to discover the wines of Latin America. Since I do not command any knowledge whatsoever about wines from this part of the earth, I am like a “clean slate” to write (or better to drink) on. Frankly, I am in the process to educate myself and to learn more about wines from Argentina.

There are of course many different wine regions but more about them later. My friend Max Sandelowsky from Salta province may forgive me that I delay writing about his wonderful region to a later date.

So, when I held this bottle from Trivento in my hand and read Torrontés on the label, I had no clue what this wine would taste like. Now I know.

Torrontés is a very typical white wine of Argentina. The grape variety comes in three variations,

– Torrontés Riojano,
– Torrontés Sanjuanino
– Torrontés Mendocino

It is said that Torrontés is the most distinctive wine of Argentina, grown nowhere else in the world.

Tasting notes vary. It’s often describes as earthy, fine aromatic reminiscent of Muscatel (wines made from Muscat grapes). Some say its strikingly similar to Viognier with hints of peach, flowers and orange citrus fruit. It has structure and fine acidity. Its delicate flavours entice you to have another sip/ That was true in our case, we had another bottle the next day with a seafood pasta. I can only recommend it to you. Try it, its a great experience.

Source: http://www.torrontes.com

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Bloggo ergo sum – a note from the sidelines

February 16, 2008

Blogging has become quite addictive to me. But its not just writing and producing new blog entries (and researching new topics!). The discovery and the reading of other peoples blogs is as exciting as working on you own. Ronald Meinardus (http://myliberaltimes.com), the work colleague of mine, who got me into writing and maintaining a blog, always stressed 1) the importance of having a good concept, a kind of strategic vision and 2) the dedication, the engagement, and of course the participation in the work and life of others.

As the numbers of your visitors go up and the network you grow into becomes more familiar, the more, and thats my experience, I withdraw into the “bloggossphere”. And there is so much to discover. I took my time, needed more than six months until I finally had a conrete idea what I wanted to do. Now I’m in my fourteenth month and cannot believe how much joy the writing has given to me.

However, by looking around I also know that I am an amateurish beginner still. There is so much to learn for me. There are wonderful engaging and sophisticated blogs and bloggers out there. Ever since I read Chris Anderson’s book “The long tail”, I am not so much worried about my lack of professionalism. After all I have a day job, and quite an interesting and demanding one as well. The community I grew into, is fascinating too, interesting, engaging and very friendly. Incidentally I learned about wine, wine tastings, wine regions, vineyards, vine cultivation, grapes and what one can do with them, food, the culture around wine production and wine consumption, and many more things.

And when calling out for me in the house does not produce an immediate response my children know, papa is blogging.

Cheers.

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Posted by themanfrommoselriver

Coriole Vineyards – McLaren Vale, South Australia

February 15, 2008

Why do I write about Coriole Vineyards (www.coriole.com)? First of all because I visited this most beautiful winery in the McLaren Vale some years ago. Second, I had found a rather negative review of one of its wines recently.

A “wine rally cum-wine-tasting” last year in Germany, found that the ‘Coriole 2004 Contour 4, Sangiovese Shiraz’ tasted musty and stale, reminiscent of cough syrup (see: http://myexperience4u.blogspot.com and http://hausmannskost.blogg.de).

The very same wine (though the 2005 vintage), however, was listed among the Top 100 at the Sydney International Wine Competition. Well, either the tasters must have picked the’ odd bottle’ or the wine did just not meet the German taste. However that may be, it stimulated my curiosity. Therefore, if I can lay my hands on a bottle here in Jakarta, I will try this wine.

Our visit of Coriole Vineyards happend some years ago. We had visited South Australia to meet some of Margit’s old friends from university days. Sylvan (Elhay) took us on a beautiful drive to McLaren Vale, the wine region less than an hour away from the state capital Adelaide (about 35 km).

Coriole Cellar Door

For me it was the very first visit of this well known wine region. Sylvan was driving, therefore we could taste a few wines and drink some as well. First, we went to see d’Arenberg (more in a separate blog entry later) were we tasted some of their Grenache blend (among others ‘The Stump Jump Grenache Shiraz Mourvedre’) and bought also a bottle of fortified.

Then we went on to Coriole Vineyards. Sylvan had played at the winery some time ago (I think it was some jazz in the vineyard). The Coriole Vineyard was established by the Lloyd family in 1967. The oldest parcels date back to about 1919/1920. The old house and barn were built around 1860. They have a slate roof and slate slab floors typical for that period.

The views from the winery and the vineyards are spectacular. It is surrounded by a most beautiful cottage garden dating from the 1860’s. there is also an olive grove. On a clear day one can see the ocean in a distance. Due to the influence of the sea, frost and droughts rarely occur. The climate is Mediterranean with hot dry summers and a long ripening period with warm days and cool nights. Winter rains provide between 560 and 700 mm precipitation per year.

The Coriole garden restaurant

We were hungry and ordered a (very tasty) vintners lunch, as you can see from the picture below. We drank the flagship of Coriole Vineyards, a ‘Chenin Blanc’. The first Chenin Blanc was planted in 1977. The wine has a fresh and aromatic style with a bouquet of grapefruit, melon, passionfruit and other tropical flavours. The 2004 vintage benefited from a long ripening period after a cool spring and a wet winter. The grapes were harvested in near perfect conditions. As far as I remember, we did enjoy the wine very much, which also applied to the whole visit.

Later Sylvan took us to the house to meet Mark Lloyd and Libby Raupach, the owners of the place. We had a great chat in a relaxed atmosphere. Coriole Vineyards and McLaren Vale in general are definitely worth a visit.

The vintners lunch at Coriole

Address:
Coriole Vineyards
Mclaren vale,
South Australia
Ph: +61 8 83238305

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Posted by themanfrommoselriver

The Gourmet Garage – Jakarta

February 12, 2008

For a change we decided to have lunch at the Gourmet Garage in Kemang, a suburb about 20 minutes from our home in Lebak Bulus. Gourmet Garage is a large barn (or garage) full of different gourmet foods, an oyster bar, a wine cellar, a bakery, a supermarket and various food court type outlets where you can sit down and order food from three menus. It has Japanese, Italian and “continental” types of cuisine. One could call it a successful merger of an Asian food court with a modern Western gourmet supermarket.

Inside the Garage, second floor

The Gourmet garage has become a favourite dining location for many in South Jakarta and although we have known about it for a while, we’ve never had lunch there. This Saturday was a perfect day for a visit. Margit did not feel like cooking and the girls came back from a soccer game (they won 5:0) and were hungry like wolves.

We found the parking lot full of cars. Fortunately, the garage is huge and we had no problem finding a table for four upstairs. My women folk went for Japanese food, I chose ‘Aussie Blue’ a hamburger type dish. Margit had a glass of unwooded Chardonnay, I stayed with a draft ‘Bintang’ beer.

Sashimi set

Japanese Tempura and Udon Noodles

Traditional Burger with Blue Cheese

We gave Gourmet Garage a very good rating. The service was friendly, efficient and fast. The quality of the ingredients was very good, so was the taste of the dishes. We loved the atmosphere and ended our day with a shopping tour in its supermarket.

We did not have sufficient time to check out the wine cellar, but it looked promising. The facility seemed to be a work in progress though. As wine drinkers we welcome any new outlet in town giving us more choice when selecting fine wines.

The wine cellar in the making

Address:
The Gourmet Garage
Jalan Kemang Raya, No. 66
Jakarta, Indonesia
Ph: +62-21-7197161

Postscript: From the internet I learned that there is also a Gourmet Garage in New York City.

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Posted by themanfrommoselriver

Grape Grazing in the Yarra Valley

February 10, 2008

Yesterday marked the start of the 21st Yarra Valley Grape Grazing Festival. Until 18th February various festival events are going to take place in different locations around the Yarra Valley.

For program details please visit www.grapegrazing.com.au.

Today for instance a Tempranillo and Tapas event is being organised at Sutherland Estate (www.sutherlandestate.com.au). I wrote about this vineyard before, beautifully located. You should taste their Tempranillo wine (released only recently) but also their other reds (Shiraz). On a hot day, the whites and the rose make the right drink.

Spectacular views from Sutherland cellar door

If you are in for live Motown music you have to go to Yering Farm (www.yeringfarmwines.com). Alan Johns and his crew will serve you their hand-crafted and award-winning wines. Try the premium Yering Farm Wines series, especially the award winning 2003 Chardonnay.

Charming rustic cellar door at Yering Farm

Today you can participate in a picnic for the palate (On the Palate Summer Festival) at Healesville Racecourse where about 15 wineries show their finest wines and were you can enjoy regional food (www.onthepalate.com.au). The lawns of the local country race track are a fabulous spot for a picnic under old oak trees. You can meet the wine makers there and the chefs of some of the best local restaurants will offer you their food.

If you are in the vicinity check it out. If you plan to visit Victoria in the near and not so near future make it your destination.

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Trivento – Wine from Argentina

February 9, 2008

You might remember that the other day in Kuala Lumpur I could not taste the wine on the menu, a ‘2005 Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec’ of the Maredo Restaurant because it was sold out.

Guess what? I found the brand in Vin +, a small wine shop in Kemang, Jakarta. I bought one bottle only to try it out.

The Trivento 2005 Golden Reserve Malbec

You might wonder about the results?

Today I went again and bought a whole case of it. It is a most delicious wine and retails for about 235,000 Indonesian Rupiah which is equivalent to about 17 € or 28 A$.

It is a deep, red, ruby wine with a wonderful nose displaying aromas of mint, cherries and chocolate. The wine was matured in new French oak for a year and was aged for another year in the bottle before its release. Its a pity that Malbec has this short, dry finish but the aromas compensate you for that. However, for non-Malbec lovers there are Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon wines on offer as well.

Moreover, I also bought from the Trivento product range a ‘2006 Reserve Chardonnay’, a ‘2006 Tribu Torrontes’ and a ‘2005 Reserve Malbec’. More about these wines later.

Trivento Bodegas Y Vinedos (www.banfivintners.com) was founded in 1996 and is located in Mendoza, Argentina. Most of its vineyards are to be found on high altitude in the best zones of Mendoza (up to 1100 meters above sea level). Trivento Vineyards possess a modern winery with a capaity of about 27 million litres of wine. It has all the modern equipment used nowadays to make wine. The winery is surrounded by about 10 ha of vineyards.

Tomas Larrain holding a degree in agricultural economics from the Catholic University of Chile is the general manager and Federico Galdeano, a native of Mendoza with extensive experience in the Napa Valley/California and Tuscany/Italy, is the wine maker.

By the way I now found out that the rumour – that the Argentineans drink their best wines themselves and export only the rest – is false. They do export some of their good wines!

Leave a Comment » | vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Argentinian wines, Federico Galdeano, French oak, Malbec, Napa Valley, Tomas Larrain, Trivento, Trivento Bodegas, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver

Hail to the Poet of the Scots

February 8, 2008

Another year has passed and again we celebrated the life and the work of the great Scots poet. Last Saturday about 100 Scots and their friends got together for a memorable Robert Burns supper. As always its great to celebrate with my fellow Celts though I hardly understand their language. Our Chieftain, Mrs Alexandra Faulds, presided over the ceremony when she gave the address to the haggis.

The Haggis, neeps and tatties

The Supper

“Ye Pow’rs wha mak mankind your care,
and dish them out their bill o’fare,
auld Scotland wants nae skinkink ware,
that jaups in luggies: but, if ye wish gratefu’ prayer,
gie her a haggies!”

Thats what Robert Burns wrote.

I do not want to repeat the whole program here, please allow me to draw attention to some selected highlight. As last year, Christ Tait had come as a Robert Burns impersonator and he did a great job. The highlight for me was Julie Mobbs and her presentation of songs of Burns. She has a great voice and sang like an angel. Even for non-Scots the address to a toothache though difficult to understand, was a further delight. Pipe music was provided by the Edinburgh Chevaliers. Interesting speeches entertained the crowd.

Chris Tait as Robert Burns

We drank wine from Argentina and whiskey from Scotland (which made me forget what wine we drank). I would like to end with another quote from Robert Burns:

“Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the
happiness of others, this is my criterion of goodness;
and whatever injures society at large, or an individual in it,
this is my measure of iniquity.”

Hail the great Poet of the Scots and to another successful, prosperous and happy year.

Congratulations to the Java St Andrew Society, its chieftain and its members for organizing this wonderful evening.

Postscript: When we get home after a Robert Burns Supper, we usually put on the music of Eddie Reader who “Sings the songs of Robert Burns” which is a great collection of marvelous music. I can only recommend it.

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Posted by themanfrommoselriver

8. Wine Rally

February 7, 2008

Through my various blogger contacts, in this case it was Swetlana Kittke, who writes about food and wine and resides in Berlin (http://myexperience4u.blogspot.com), I was made aware of an interesting undertaking, called the wine rally.

I watched it from the sidelines for a while and finally decided to participate. In Jakarta I am six hours ahead of the European crowd. Except for morning wine drinkers or people who have an early lunch, I should be the first to open a bottle and enjoy it with a meal. However, as I cannot as easily go to a wine shop as my European colleagues, I decided instead to pay a visit to my own wine cellar and select from there the bottle with the most beautiful label for tonights dinner. Of course I excluded my own label of Two Hills Vineyard though I like it also very much.

But let me explain. The rumor is that the recent shipments of wine to Indonesia faced some kind of legal problems (related to licensing). Customs withheld the containers containing the wine and they were left for too long in the open and got too hot. Therefore, almost all wine that you currently can buy at the open market in Jakarta is off. This drop is not even good for cooking wine thats how bad it is. This is the reason why I restricted myself to existing stocks and went to my own ‘cellar’ only. I hope you can forgive me. I also wanted to write in two languages (English and German) but then time ran out. it is now 5 minutes to midnight and I have to load up the piece.

The theme of the 8th wine rally is “the label”, and is based on the question “is it alright to buy a wine just because we like the beauty of the label”? Of course beauty is in the eyes of the beholder but all of us might have bought wine because we liked the label, or at least the design of the label might have played a bigger part in the selection of the wine than other criteria. Thats how I understood the task.

Ok, so here I start.

I selected a bottle from Rees Miller Estate (www.reesmiller.com) in the Upper Goulburn Wine Region (www.uppergoulburnwine.org.au). It has the most beautiful wine label in my collection. It consists of an almost abstract painting of an Australian landscape as you can find in Central Victoria where the vineyard is located. If I am not mistaken the origin of the painting was explained in an earlier version of Rees Miller website. The original is displayed in their cellar door.

Sylke Rees and David Miller are certified biodynamic, organic grape growers and wine makers. Needless to say, their wines are superb! Their family-owned vineyard is located in the Upper Goulburn Wine Region, about three kilometers east of the charming country town of Yea, Victoria (about 1 1/2/ hours northeast of Melbourne).

Rees Miller ‘2004 Cotton’s Pinch Merlot’

We had in fact two bottles with our dinner and made this Wednesday so to speak to a Rees Miller day. Since tomorrow we are celebrating the Chinese spring festival (which is an official holiday in Indonesia) and the advent of the New Year (the year of the rat), one could argue that the last day of the year would deserve a special treat anyway.

Apart from the Rees Miller Estate ‘2004 Cotton’s Pinch Merlot’, we also tasted the ‘2006 Thousand Hills Reserve Shiraz’. I briefly describes the ‘Cooton’s Pinch Merlot’ in an earlier blog entry. Its a well rounded wine, dark red the colour and displays the typical aromas of blackberry and other forest fruit, mulberry and some spicy chocolate. The wine shows well balanced tannins and a good structure, its deep and complex and displays a long finish. Its alcohol is 14.4%.

The 2006 Shiraz has a little less alcohol (14% alc/Vol.) but what a firework of different aromas when you open the bottle. Flavours of licorice, blackberry, mocha, spice and leather hit your tastbuds. The colour is deep red. The wine is smooth and complex. Many wine critiques in Australia laud the distinctly European style which displays great elegance. The long finish is wonderful. I love the wine lingering on and on and on.

The 2004 vintage of this wine is holding position 19 on the list of the best Shiraz wines in the world. The 2006 vintage is not under cork anymore but the bottle comes with a stelvin cap.

The good news for all the Germans is that you can obtain Rees Miller wines from a wine distributer there. Please visit the website of Shiraz und Co (www.shiraz-und-co.de).

Address:
Rees Miller Estate
5355 Goulburn Valley Highway
Yea, Victoria 3717
Tel.: +631 5797 2101
info@reesmiller.com

3 Comments | food and wine, wine regions | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver

The Man from Mosel River

Hanging Rock China Success

Giant Steps – Innocent Bystander

Torrontés – white grapes from Argentina

Bloggo ergo sum – a note from the sidelines

Coriole Vineyards – McLaren Vale, South Australia

The Gourmet Garage – Jakarta

Grape Grazing in the Yarra Valley

Trivento – Wine from Argentina

Hail to the Poet of the Scots

8. Wine Rally

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