Summer time, summer wine: Mayer Vineyard Rosé

January 14, 2011

If you see the pictures of the Queensland and New South Wales floods, it is hard to believe that we in Victoria had perfect weather conditions and enjoyed two beautiful weeks of a mild, but enjoyable summer over the Christmas break.

It is also hard to imagine that the area affected by the floods covers the size of France and Germany combined. The tragic loss of many lives makes me sad. The individual stories are heartbreaking. It is to be hoped that further losses and damage can be avoided in the future.

But Summer calls for summer wines, Rosé being one of them. Timo Mayer, winemaker and owner of the Mayer Vineyard in the Yarra Valley produces just one such wine. His ‘2010 Bloody Hill Rosé’ made in the traditional way out of Pinot Noir grapes, is a just wonderful; it is delicate, complex and refined.

I also love its colour. I wish we had more bottles of it but so is life.

Summer lunch with Timo Mayer Rosé

2010 Bloody Hill Rosé

We enjoyed the wine with an Italian main course consisting of gnocchi with a side salad.

Address
The Mayer Vineyard
Timo Mayer, Miller Road,
Healesville, Victoria
Tel.:+61-3-5967 3779
e-mail: timomayer@bigpond.com.au
http://www.timomayer.com.au

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Red snapper with Sevenhill Inigo Riesling

January 5, 2011

What a beautiful red snapper

My friend Brett Travis had given us the above red snapper before leaving on a fishing trip to Samoa. This was a wonderful opportunity for another wonderful lunch at our vineyard. We prepared the fish for a six persons meal.

Yummy veggies

It was a beautiful summers day. The fish was “crying” for a white wine too. We took the opportunity to open one of the recently acquired bottles from Sevenhill Cellars in the Clare Valley in South Australia where our mate Neville Rowe is the general manager.

The ‘2009 Inigo Riesling’ is a typical Clare Valley wine. It is young and fresh and lively. Of course I prefer German Riesling wines, and it is my view that Australian Riesling cannot reach that ultimate Riesling level which I love so much.

Sevenhill Cellars is the oldest wineries in the Clare Valley. It was founded by Jesuits in 1851 to produce sacramental wines. We enjoyed the “sacrament” with the delicious fish, and thank all our benefactors. Cheers mate.

2009 Inigo Riesling by Sevenhill, Clare Valley

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Happy New Year from the Man from Mosel River

December 31, 2010

Greetings from Two Hills Vineyard in Glenburn, Victoria, Australia. Today, the year 2010 is coming to an end. As usual it was another busy year, a year which made us mothball our small family vineyard and wait for better times of the Australian wine industry. We are not giving up at this point in time.

Blogging has been fun and a great learning experience. Although my day job does not leave me much time for my food and wine passion, I was able to turn our a few pieces.

To all my friends, readers and followers: thank you very much for supporting me and my blog by your visits, comments and suggestions during the last year.

You folks keep me going; now that I will be entering the fifth year of “my life as a food and wine blogger”.

I wish you and your beloved ones all the best for the festive season at the turn to the new year. May you enjoy life, health and togetherness and, of course, a glass of wine here and there.

I have another poem by Jelalludin Rumi for you.

This We Have Now

This we have now
is not imagination.

This is not
grief or joy.

Not a judging state,
or an elation,
or sadness.

Those come
and go.

This is the presence
that doesn’t.

What else could humans want?

When grapes turn to wine,
they’re wanting this.

—————————
Happy New Year. Have a good start into 2011.

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On the farm

December 30, 2010

Goodness me how the time passes. The year is almost over. Before coming to Glenburn, I thought that I could find the time to post every day a picture at least. And now I have not touched my beloved blog for a couple of days.

Christmas was wonderful. We celebrated with family and friends and it went on for three days. I got a new camera for Christmas, a Nikon Coolpix, and I have been playing with it. The photos below come from this new toy.

Our two dams are full after all this rain

The sky is blue with beautiful clouds

And in the evening the clouds turn red

And the night sky is just fantastic

Needless to say, we drink a lot of Two Hills Merlot these days. The days are warm and the nights are cool. The air is crisp and clean. It is very quiet here, especially in the night. This is paradise, heaven on a stick so to say. More soon.

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Top Australian Riesling wines

December 21, 2010

Riesling grape

I admit that as a German Riesling aficionado I have my problems with Australian Riesling wines. I try them again and again but, and to my great chagrin, I have not found what I am looking for.

Australian Riesling wines from the Adelaide Hills, the Clare Valley, the Eden Valley, Tasmania, Canberra District and from Great Southern in Western Australia enjoy a good reputation.

Also our own wine region, the Upper Goulburn Wine Region, produces some beautiful Riesling wines.

The September/October issue of the Australian and New Zealand Wine Industry Journal summarised the tasting of 26 Australian Riesling wines. All of them were under crew caps! Impossible in my native Germany.

Only one of them came from Victoria (Paradigm Hill 2009 Riesling from the Mornington Peninsula). The price range was from A$ 22 to A$ 45 (16.75 to 34.2 EURO). The four top rates wines were:

– 2010 Jacob’s Creek “Steingarten” Riesling (it is German for “stone garden”), a tank sample, Barossa Valley, South Australia

– 2009 “The Florita” Riesling by Jim Barry Wines, Clare Valley, South Australia

– 2009 Premium Riesling by Helm Wines, Canberra District, New South Wales

– 2009 Riesling by Plantagenet Wines, Mount Barker, Western Australia

The magazine carried also a photo of the vineyard where the Jacob’s Creek “Steingarten” Riesling is produced. It reminded me of my home region along the Mosel and Saar river. Here every vine has a single “stick” and is “wrapped” around it with no wire between the posts, nothing.

The “Steingarten” vineyard is entirely worked by hand because of it’s steepness. Also this reminds me of the Mosel with its ultra-steep slopes. The stones are of red colour, though, whereas the Mosel has blue and grey slate.

And believe me these Australian wine producers are not modest. At the recent International Riesling Challenge in Canberra they gave the top wine the title: Best Riesling in the World. Can you imagine. Modesty used to be a virtue which must have jumped out of the window down under.

The trophy was given to a ‘2005 Pauletts Aged Release Polish Hill Riesling’ from Polish Hill in the Clare valley, South Australia by Paulett Wines.

I cannot even try this wine because it is sold out. My search continues. I keep you posted.

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Dr Mayer Riesling – fine wine from the Remstal, Germany

December 1, 2010

‘2009 Dr. Mayer Riesling’, Remstal, Wuerttemberg, Germany

We were lucky that Timo Mayer, vintner and wine-maker of the Mayer Vineyard in the Yarra Valley, Victoria, carried with him a bottle of the ‘2009 Dr. Mayer Riesling’ with him when he dropped by recently here in Bangkok.

Timo came back from a wine making and wine selling visit to Germany where he had also made his ‘2009 Dr. Mayer Riesling’ from fruit sourced from his native Remstal (to be precise from a village called Grossheppach) in Wuerttemberg.

The dry Riesling has 12.5% alcohol

The wine is under a glass enclosure which gives it a very elegant appearance. It’s a beautiful dry Riesling, elegant and fruity with a good structure and a long and intensive finish, in short a treasure of a wine.

Mussels and clams with chorizo sausage

We saved the bottle for a special occasion, and surprise, surprise, the occasion should arrive very, very soon: a beautiful tropical Saturday afternoon lent itself for a delicious meal consisting of mussels, clams with chorizo sausages. This is a yummy dish and ideal light lunch.

The bad news is, one cannot buy this wine in Germany, the motherland of Riesling wines.

The good news is one can buy it from Timo Mayer in the Yarra Valley and the outlets carrying his wines in Victoria.

Timo got only about a pallet, so you have to be quick. Better rush.

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Two Hills Vineyard in November

November 16, 2010

The mothballed Sauvignon Blanc block

Today, my brother in law, Michael, send me some photos from our vineyard. The above one depicts our 2 1/2 acres of Sauvignon Blanc which have been mothballed for the coming season. It look a bit wild. I will slash the grass in a few weeks.

Michael also met a snake in the grass. Is it a black or a tiger snake? Anyway, they are all poisenous.

Thanks Michael for the great photos.

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Rinaldi 2008 Barbera d’Alba – the real stuff

October 5, 2010

2008 Barbera d’Asti by Rinaldi

To have an experienced wine-maker staying over at ones home is a blessing. I always learn so much about different wine styles and different wines. When Timo Mayer, owner and wine maker of The Mayer Vineyard in the Yarra Valley, visited us in Bangkok recently, we had the chance to catch up with the world of wine-making.

He brought a bottle of ‘2008 Barbera d’Asti’ of Giuseppe Rinaldi from Piemont, Italy. He had visited the winery on a study tour to Italy and wanted to share this treasure with us. Rinaldi makes his wines “the good old way”, using no barriques, no destemming, no filtration etc. He is one of only about a handful of wine-makers left who are not producing heavy (oaked) wines for the American market.

One bottle is just the beginning

The results of this traditional style wine-making are wonderful. The wine is fruity with a good structure, the acids are remarkable, the tannins are fine and delicate. You taste the earth the grapes were grown on and not the oak they were exposed to. This is Barbera d’Asti of the best. If you have a chance to indulge in it, my suggestions: do it.

Address:
Rinaldi Giuseppe Az. Agr.
Via Monforte, 3
12060 Barolo (Cn)
Tel.: +39-173-56156
Fax: +39-173-56156
Year founded: 1890
Owner: Rinaldi Giuseppe

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Three treasures and my new knife

September 26, 2010

Three treasures

I just got back from a business trip to Mongolia where I had a great time (but none for blogging). Unfortunately, I had no time to look for a Mongolian herdsman’s knife.

However, I bought a new knife during our summer holidays in Italy. I just love the knives produced by Scarperia Consigli near Florence. I choose a fisherman’ knife, called Anconetano typical of the central Adriatic coast.

So what are the three treasures? Well, in the photo above you can see my new knife from Scarperia Consigli, a DIAM cork used by the Mayer Vineyard (coming a chardonnay recently) and a my favorite cigar from Nicaragua.

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Wild pig from Schoden, Saar

September 15, 2010

I am afraid some of you might not like this post and the pictures which I present today. But meat comes from animals and they have to die so that we can enjoy the meals we make from it. Wild pigs are a real pest in Germany theses days, and very difficult to hunt and kill. My friend Heinz shot the little boar in Schoden, Saar.

My mother prepared a wonderful Sunday lunch with the best parts of the meat. We enjoyed it together with a bottle of our Merlot (2004 Two Hills Merlot), and I tell you that was just heaven on a stick, as we say in Australia.

Wild piglet hide

The carcass

…from a different side.

The butchered boar meat

…and in the pan

…and finally on the plate

How tender is this?

My favorite Australian Merlot

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