Flaxman's Valley Under the Stars

All this talk about a global financial crisis makes me feel like a glass or two of wine. I am sure that I am not alone, and to make us even more fragile, it has now been recommended that women only drink one alcoholic drink per day and men two. Whilst it may be good for us (I think it may be slight overkill but anyway..) at that rate I will need to live to about 250 years of age to get through my own favourites in our cellar and that is not including if I buy any new bottles in the meantime! So it was just as well that last night, on a global scale in its own way, I did my part in emptying the world of its excess wine whilst only going slightly, well maybe a little more than slightly, over my recommended daily intake of a single glass.

As I sat at the end of the large rustic table in our stable, my belly full of the most amazing pork that I had ever tasted (thanks Terence and Theodore!) and divine wines to match, I realised what a wonderful multi-cultural country Australia is. Around the table from my left were in actual order, Theodore, Chris, James, Dennis, Tibo, Fleur and Terence. If you were to put our guests in a list of country of origin, it would have been Singapore, New Zealand, Germany (well, six generations ago!), United States, France, France and Singapore. The very special thing is that all of our guests, although born and bred in other countries, had for one reason or another, ended up in Oz. To top it off we were drinking various exquisite Australian wines, another from Argentina and one from Italy.

I have mentioned our favourite Melbournian friend Terence (www.terencepang.com) on at least a few occasions in my wine blogs. We always have a great time when he comes to visit. This year he brought his brother Theodore, friend Dennis (New York, New York! ah, that's a bit of a private joke) and two other friends, Tibo and Fleur who are ex-Parisians. We had met Dennis before (read my blog entry of 15th September 2008 Melbournians and Mooncakes) and Theodore even earlier (13th April 2008 Toast and Honey on an Autumn afternoon) but it was the first time that Tibo and Fleur had visited the Barossa so we wanted to make sure that they enjoyed the evening, and from the photo of Tibo smiling on the drums at the end of the night/early morning, you can see that they did. What a lovely couple they are.

Then of course there is our great neighbour Chris Ringland. Chris pops down the hill to visit us sometimes for a few wines and a bbq and as we knew that Terence would like to meet Chris, we thought it would be a terrific surprise to introduce them. And so we did. I must mention that besides having exceptionally impressive wine skills (and being the very generous man that he is, he often brings us a taste of his fine wares), Chris is also a whiz on the food front and last night he amazed us all with an impromptu simple yet delicious dessert. I don't think any of us would have needed breakfast this morning after such a terrific dinner.

In fact, thinking about that, what exactly is it about some people in the wine world who have not only amazing skills with wine but also with food?? Philip White is another who springs to my mind - he too is simply a sensational cook! I guess that as I am the main cook in the house, it is always much appreciated to watch and taste someone else's creations, and not meaning to be sexist, I am always most impressed by the male genders efforts.

Next weekend may well be the famous "Barossa Under the Stars" but last night a great time was had by all under the stars of Flaxmans Valley. And we do have a spectacular view of the night sky in this pristine non-polluted area. Perfect place, perfect wines and food, and perfect company. Global financial crisis - what was that about again..?

Melbournians and Mooncakes

Spring is here and what a magnificent weekend it was, in every way. Our favourite Melbournian friend, Terence (www.terencepang.com) came for another visit. We had not seen him since April so it was a long time between visits. Terence brought two friends with him, Moses (from Singapore) and Dennis (an ex-pat American who resides in Australia and works with Terence in Melbourne).

Terence, Moses and Dennis had flown into Adelaide the night before to meet up and travel from Adelaide to the Barossa for the annual Artisans of the Barossa tasting held at the Angaston Institute. Terence makes his trips from Melbourne to the Barossa as crammed full of all things vinous as possible but always makes time to visit us. He is definitely one of our favourite visitors and we always enjoy the time spent with him immensely.

We opened up a bottle of our 2005 Eden Valley Riesling, a 2005 Bullfrog Flat Shiraz, a 2008 Eden Valley Riesling (not released yet) and a non-vintage Sparkling Shiraz - a collaboration between us, our neighbours, Colin & Fiona Sheppard of Flaxman Wines and one of their friends, Nathan. Sitting in the old red-gum stable, sharing mooncakes - a lovely gift to us from Terence - (see below for information on these treats), cheese, crackers and wines, life could not have been any better!

We ended up sitting around our kitchen table sharing fabulous Roaring Fordie's pizza til quite late in the evening. It was a terrific night and we hope to have the company of Terence, Moses and Dennis again sooner rather than later.

MOONCAKES - During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each mooncake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival the rebels attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this event.

You can read more about mooncakes here: http://www.chinatown.com.au/eng/article.asp?masterid=155&articleid=743

Toast & Honey on an Autumn afternoon: C1999 Eden Valley Rizza

The weekend has come and gone but what a pleasant one it was. Firstly, our favourite Melbournian friend Terence (www.terencepang.com) visited with some of his family again. Despite having a sick teenager (bronchitis) and a large pot of home-made chicken noodle soup cooking (for said sick son!) I did manage to sit and chat with our guests for a little while, and even have the occasional sip of shiraz with them over a platter of Maggie Beer pate', cabernet paste, cheese and crackers.

Prior to Terence's arrival, during a short husband/wife/business partner discussion, James decided to open one of our 1999 Eden Valley Rieslings (not made under Karra Yerta Wines, but during our "hobby" days). It was superb!!! I am not usually a fan of aged rieslings (I prefer them young) but what a surprise I received on the first mouthful. As we only have one case (12 bottles) left, it is a rare event indeed that we open any of our rieslings from that era. I expected something that had a kero aspect to it, and it did oh so slightly, but I was very surprised at the first sip - it was one of the smoothest textured rieslings I have ever tasted.

The clarity was impressive - still very clear, not the least bit murky like other aged rieslings I have seen and the colour itself was still relatively pale, although there was some yellowing as to be expected from a riesling of this age. The flavours of toast and honey were amazing. Very slight notes of grapefruit and straw (cannot quite work that one out!) and a lovely acidity still even after eight years. The bottle was our last vintage sealed under cork and the cork itself was in excellent condition still. For dinner we had fried rice, satay steak, stir fried vegetables, and honey-soy chicken pieces and the riesling went very well with it indeed.

Amazingly we did not finish the bottle; I specifically asked James to leave some for me to try today to see how it opened up: tonight it presented just as beautifully as last night - it is just so smooth, almost silky.. the toast and honey is there; just as predominant and yet a little different, more depth/length perhaps..? It makes me even more optimistic about what our allocated museum stocks will turn into over the next five to ten years. It just goes to show that riesling is truly one of the best varieties to cellar long term; the rewards are certainly worth the wait!