• Chocolate - one of the 4 main food groups
• discover australia’s most romantic wine region
• from an oak tree to a barrel in 47½ easy steps
• wine tasting 101
• 2007 vintage – the good, the bad, and the interesting
• red bubbles
• sherry for summer

Chocolate - one of the 4 main food groups

At Christmas time, if we’ve been naughty or nice, we may receive chocolate.  So I thought it would be worth while to focus on one of the four main food groups. (Wine being another one, followed by cheese, and something else I can never remember from school.)

Native to South America, cocoa beans first came to Europe in the treasure-laden galleons of the Spanish conquistadors.  It quickly spread throughout Europe and beyond. But long before that, the cocoa bean had been enjoyed by the Maya and the Aztecs. So valued was the cocoa drink that they used it as a sacred offering and even employed cocoa beans as currency!

Chocolate is made from the beans harvested from pods of the cacao tree, grown within 10 degrees north and south of the equator. The best-known beans are the rare, delicate Criollo and Trinitario varieties and the more robust Forastero. The finest quality cocoa beans come from hand-nurtured cacao plants and, like with wine, important factors are the local soil, weather and the grower's expertise. Each of these plays its role in the flavour of the chocolate produced. 

Quality chocolate has up to 75% cocoa content, compared with as little as 20% in cheap products.  Mass-produced chocolate has a gritty texture, more sugar, lower-grade cocoa beans and non-traditional ingredients like dried milk and vegetable oil.

The most skilled chocolatiers learnt their craft in France, Belgium, Italy or Switzerland. First, they select the exact mix of cocoa bean varieties. Well-versed in each variety's special characteristics, chocolatiers create a blend that is balanced, yet with its own uniquely attractive personality.  Gently roasted, these beans are then milled for many hours to produce a very fine cocoa. This is mixed with the only ingredients required for quality chocolate: cocoa butter, sugar, natural vanilla and lecithin. For milk chocolate, fresh milk alone is added.

Chocolate Tasting

Like quality foods the enjoyment of luxury chocolate involves all five senses. These are the characteristics that a true chocolate connoisseur looks for...

• Sight - Look for a shiny, smooth surface of completely blended chocolate, free from any imperfection.
• Sound - Well-tempered chocolate with a high content of pure cocoa makes a distinctive sharp snapping sound when broken.
• Touch - The feel should be satin-smooth,  not grainy like lower-quality chocolate.
• Smell - Like a quality wine, premium chocolate releases a range of aromas.
• Taste - Chocolate should be a savoured delight.  Press it to the roof of your mouth and let it slowly melt around your tastebuds. The velvety flavours gradually translate into a pleasantly lingering after-taste. 

Luxury chocolate can be complex and distinctive, with aromas ranging from citrus, fruity, spice, coffee, smoky, and so forth depending upon the origin of the bean.  So this festive season, enjoy the best!

Sparking Red Wine

So what do you do when as a State you already make some of the best red wines in the world? Make a sparkling red! This underlies the fact that as with any great product a fantastic base product, or ingredient, is essential. By using great fruit, whether that be Shiraz, Cabernet, or Merlot, it is possible to produce outstanding sparkling reds.

Sparkling reds are particularly Australian – despite the fact that they were first produced in France in the mid 1800’s. The first recorded Australian Sparkling Burgundy was produced in 1881, by the Victorian Champagne Company. This was described more as rose coloured, and is still made in Burgundy and Loire regions of France.

A sparkling red was entered into the 1894 Royal Agricultural Society wine show in Melbourne, by Hans Irvine of Great Western, Victoria. They also received a gold medal in the 1895 Bordeaux Exhibition of France to the 1893 Sparkling Burgundy. Hans Irvine & Co later become Seppelt which nowadays is a major producer of long lived Sparkling Shiraz.

Red wine destined for sparkling red typically has common characteristics, packed with primary fruit flavours, rich in texture, but soft and refreshing on the palate. Grapes are often picked at a later stage to get the ripe fruit flavours and intense colour. Generally the wine is made so that they do not extract too many mouth drying tannins. Any oak influence will hopefully be subtle rather than dominant.

The big ripe fruit flavours from Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale can easily fulfil these needs. Rockford Black Shiraz is definitely a favourite. But in the Barossa more readily available sparkling red’s come from Charles Melton, Peter Lehman Wines, St Hallett, and Langmeil. All of which are producers Rich & Lingering support on our tours.  

Sherry for Summer

Sherry is disappearing, not evaporating, it is just not being purchased by consumers.  The super sweet sherry which Great Aunt Nora used to consume from the early afternoon onwards doesn't really count.  

True sherry takes its name from the town of Jerez de la Frontera, which is on the southern tip of Spain.  Typically it is made from Pedro Ximenez (or PX to his friends) or Palomino grape varieties.  Sherry is usually classified as flor (or fino), amontillado, or oloroso.  The latter being older and sweeter. 

To confuse consumers even more the name sherry (and port, and tokay) will begin to be phased out in the near future, following a trade agreement with the European Union.  This follows similar off-limit names as Champagne, Burgundy, and Chablis.

A fino sherry is typically light in colour (eg pale straw), clean and dry on the palate, and generally they are consumed young.  Fino sherry acquires its distinctive aroma and flavour from the flor yeast which grows  in the barrel on top of the finished wine.  This produces delicate nutty and salty characters, combined with refreshing acidity.  For this very reason it is a fantastic drink for a summer’s afternoon, accompanied with olives, sardines, or chorizo, over looking the sea. 

In South Australia one very fine example of a fino sherry comes from Seppelt in Barossa Valley.  The Seppelt Fino DP 117, is light delicate, and very dry.  It shows the beautiful characters of the flor on the aroma and the palate, which lasts for ever. 

In Mildura (in Victoria) the local Slow Food group is proposing to have it classified as an endangered food and trying to included it in the international Ark of Taste.  By including it in the Ark of Taste, Slow Food may work with local producers to promote the products and establishing quality and authenticity standards.  In Mildura fino sherry has been made since 1888, using techniques appropriate for the Australian climate.

So this summer what better drink to enjoy with our Mediterranean climate than a refreshing and food friendly fino.

from an oak tree to a barrel in 47½ easy steps - by Scott Zrna (Fox Creek)

In a recent trip to Europe I was lucky enough to be shown around by the staff at Boutes, one of our best barrel suppliers, visiting some French oak forests and their Cooperage in Bordeaux, France.

For those unfamiliar with barrel production a Cooper is a person who makes barrels and a Cooperage is the building especially set up with the necessary equipment to build and toast the barrels.

First up they took me to see some trees being felled in a forest they bought at auction several months before. The lumberjack sharpened the blade of his chainsaw, started it up, hung it off his belt then proceeded to scale the trunk of the tree - secured only by a rope and the spikes on the inside edge of his boots. Only the middle section of the trunk is suitable for barrel production so he cut off the top and any branches from the tree, then climbed part-way back down the tree and very carefully felled the centre section.  Returning to ground level the lumberjack cuts around the base of the tree and uses wedges and a sledge hammer to fell the remaining section of trunk which is then sold for furniture production.

There is something awe-inspiring about the creak of the cut trunk as it starts to move, the whoosh as it plummets earthward, and the ground trembling thump as it crashes into the underbrush. The silence following the impact was eerie – not one sound of any forest creature as some small tribute to the falling of a 180 year old giant.

We then moved from this age old art of felling trees, to the cooperage where modern technology has been applied to the other age old art of barrel making. Machines are used to prepare the staves, sand the barrels, cut the bung and laser etch the brand and barrel origin onto the barrel’s head. The important and complex steps are still done by hand – assembling the staves into a barrel shape, hammering on the metal rings to hold the staves tightly together, toasting the barrels and installing the barrel heads is back breaking work in a hot and sometimes uncomfortable environment.

The three things that have the most impact on the oak flavour contributed by a barrel to the wine are the origin of the oak, how long and where that oak has been seasoned by leaving it out in the weather to leach out the harsh bitter tannin and how the barrel is toasted.

Toasting is done in the cooperage by placing a headless barrel over a small brazier fired on oak off-cuts. The idea behind this delicate art is to char the inside surface of the barrel without setting it on fire (in much the same way as you adjust the dial on your pop up toaster at home to get the level of browning just how you like it without incinerating the toast and setting off the smoke alarm). Different levels of toasting impart different flavours to the wine stored in the barrels, and we select the toasting level to match our wine batches and produce the smooth rich, balanced flavours evident in our wines.

My thanks to all at Boutes cooperage for their hospitality and for the insight into how the barrels we love so much are produced.

wine tasting 101

Wine tasting is rigorous gruelling work!  When you do it for a job, you sometimes forget that what you now do as second nature had to be learned in order to get the most from the experiences.  So here’s a quick introductory lesson on maximising your vinous pleasure.

Swirl

Swirl a small amount of wine in the glass. This releases the aromas, and provides an opportunity for visual inspection. Look at its intensity and its clarity - whether the wine is brilliant, or cloudy with particles.  Swirling also prepares the wine for the next step, the olfactory examination.

Sniff

Agitating the wine vaporizes it, and the thin sheet of liquid on the sides of the glass evaporates rapidly; the result is an intensification of the aromas.  Stick your nose right into the glass and inhale. Generally your sense of smell is your most powerful.  This is where I normally detect the most attributes and come up with all the wonderful descriptors which people use to try to explain the wine, and bore their friends. Complexity of aromas is a sign of a better wine.

Slurp

There's a huge distinction between swallowing and tasting.  First, as you hold the wine in your mouth, purse your lips and inhale gently through them. This accelerates vaporization, intensifying the aromas.  I find making a slurping noise usually helps, and it stops the wine dribbling down your chin. 

Second, “chew” the wine vigorously to draw every last nuance of flavour from the wine.  Roll the wine all around your mouth, bringing it into contact with every part.  This is where you will pickup a lot of the flavours of the wine, which may or may not be consistent with the aroma.  Also look at the persistence of the flavours — it’s no good if they are gone in a second.

The mouth-feel of the wine is very important.  The drying feeling of tannins is most perceptible on the inner cheeks and gums; some tannins can be smooth and silky, while others are like licking sandpaper. 

Spit - if you must

If you are tasting a large number of wines it’s recommended to spit them out.  This is mainly to ensure you can continue to enjoy the other wines, but also to ensure that you can remain upright.

After you swallow, exhale gently and slowly through both your nose and mouth to release more aromas of the wine.  You'll find that the better the wine, the more complex and long-lasting these residual aromas can be.

Be promiscuous

The best piece of wine advice I have ever received is to drink promiscuously! Not necessarily a lot, just try different styles and varieties and see what you enjoy.  No one can tell you what you like, it’s your mouth, it’s a very personal thing. 

2007 vintage – the good, the bad, and the interesting

The good news with this years vintage was that most areas had rest over Easter.  The fruit was picked and in the winery a good three or four weeks early in most regions.  Volumes were down significantly, down to almost a third of the average.  It was tough work hunting for the berries in the vineyard, so we deserved an early break.

Across the country the vineyards succumbed to drought, frost, bushfire taint, and in some areas January rains.  All this resulted in a 30 year low yield with a total production down 33% from last year.  This affected reds more than white varieties.

In the Barossa Valley, the average was for volumes to be down by between 40-60%.  But the fruit seems to be quite variable, with some reports indicating average quality with poor vine canopies leading to sunburnt fruit.  However, there are some wine makers who have reported that the drought reduced the berry size.  This leads to very good intense flavours, with great colour, and acid.

In McLaren Vale, the average volumes were down by between 50 to 80%.  In the winery it appears that the fruit quality is showing good potential, with great colour, and flavour intensity.  But they are not showing the same length of flavour as the 2004 and 2005 vintages.

In contrast the Adelaide Hills appeared to have a very good vintage, with warm days and cool nights helping with flavour development and acid retention.  Across the region quantity will be slightly below average.  Some winemakers are expecting some of the best ever fruit quality from this vintage.

Ask any winemaker what the best vintage is, and they will generally reply the one they are currently selling.  The 2007 vintage will be interesting; with some fantastic wine already being released - if you can find them!

Contact us to discuss how we can provide you with an unforgettable tailor made tour experience to gratify the senses. For personal assistance email us or telephone (+61) 1300 707 000.

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