Food and Wine Pairing: Shiraz.

So, today's wine for food pairing is SHIRAZ!

I've chosen to start with the 'King of Reds'.  Shiraz (or Syrah) is pretty much the most popular red wine there is on the Australian market (and Australia is the biggest producer of Shiraz in the world).  And yes, it is pretty darn delicious.  If you're a straight up Shiraz drinker, please don't neglect the other red wine varietals.  Pinot, Merlot and poor old Cabernet Sauvignon get so overlooked, especially with a spike in popularity of European varietals like Tempranillo and Sangiovese.  But never fear, we will get to all of them in due course.  For now we'll start at the very beginning. 

 

So, Shiraz can come in many guises.  It's a versatile grape and depending on where it was grown, cool or warm climate, and how it is made into wine, there is a huge range in flavours and characters that can be produced.  This versatility really helps when looking at food pairing, because essentially you can probably find a Shiraz which will tick any box you need it to; lighter bodied and savoury, or sticky dark fruit flavours with intense tannins.  In general Shiraz is quite a full bodied fruity drop.  There are notes of charred summer fruits, pepper, liquorice, berries, currants and even chocolate.  It is distinctive and delicious.

Shiraz pairs well with beef.  However duck and pork with heavily flavoured savoury sauces also work well (mmmm, Peking Duck!).  Shiraz doesn't really work quite so well with cheeses.  It you really only drink Shiraz (perhaps it's time to expand your horizons a bit!), and want to eat cheese at the same time, try a creamy cheese like Camembert or Brie.  Even a smoked softer cheddar would work well.

I'm a big fan of Shiraz, and we've got loads of it in our organic and preservative free range.  I find it hard to go past the Paxton MV Shiraz for price and excellence, James Halliday gave it 95 points recently, and for a wine at the $20 price point this is nothing short of outstanding, we've also got the amazingly special Paxton Jones Block... so worth a little splurge.  It's no secret that I'm also a fan of the Kalleske Moppa, it's BIG, and impressive, the hearty flavours leave you in no doubt that this is indeed a Shiraz.  Oh, and I couldn't neglect to mention the Bunn Shiraz, it's warming and spicy all wrapped up in rich velvety fruit flavours.  Man, I am so having a bottle of Shiraz tonight.  You can read up on our range on our website, and if you feel so inclined put in an order for a bottle or two.

Now to what I've been eating while sipping shiraz... In my recent food adventures, I've been playing around with Beef Wellington.  Seriously, if you haven't tried this dish, GET ONTO IT.  It is nothing short of amazeballs.  For the uninitiated it is a prime cut of fillet beef, wrapped in pates and prosciutto, surrounded with flaky pastry.  Baked in the oven and served with a rich red wine sauce, wilted greens (or green beans) and creamy-buttery mashed potatoes, it is my 'death row last meal'.  So, so good.  (**Pauses from writing to wipe drool off chin).

I've tried a few different recipes for BW, but one that I really liked, and was pretty simple, is by potty mouthed chef Gordon Ramsay.  I'll include it here, with my own adaptations, plus a recipe for a velvety sauce to go with it.   

 

Gordon Ramsay's Kick A#*@

Beef Wellington.

Ingredients

• 400g flat cap mushrooms, roughly chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil, for cooking
• 750g piece of prime beef fillet
• 1-2 tbsp English mustard
• 6-8 slices of Parma ham
• 500g ready-made puff pastry (or a couple of puff pastry sheets joined up)
• Flour, to dust
• 2 egg yolks, beaten

To keep the pastry light and crisp, I wrap the beef and mushrooms in a layer of prosciutto to keep the pastry free from moisture (sort of, there is always some seepage).  Some people even use thin crepes, but I can't resist the salty parma ham!

Method

1. Put the mushrooms into a food processor with some seasoning and pulse to a rough paste. Scrape the paste into a pan and cook over a high heat for about 10 mins, tossing frequently, to cook out the moisture from the mushrooms. Cook for longer if you need to.  Spread out on a plate to cool.
2. Heat in a frying pan and add a little olive oil. Season the beef and sear in the hot pan for 30 secs only on each side. (You don't want to cook it at this stage, just colour it.) Remove the beef from the pan and leave to cool, then brush all over with the mustard - I like lots of mustard, and have found that the cooking process seems to mellow the 'hot' flavour, so don't be frightened to go hard.
3. Lay a sheet of cling film on a work surface and arrange the prosciutto slices on it, in slightly overlapping rows. With a palette knife, spread the mushroom paste over the ham, then place the seared beef fillet in the middle. Keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the edge, neatly roll the prosciutto and mushrooms around the beef to form a tight barrel shape. Twit the ends of the cling film to secure. Chill for 15-20 mins minimum to allow the beef to set and keep its shape.  (You could even complete this part of the process the day before).
4. Roll out the puff pastry (or use the shop bought sheets) on a floured surface to a large rectangle, the thickness of a $2 coin. Remove the cling film from the beef, then lay in the centre. Brush the surrounding pastry with egg yolk. Fold the ends over, the wrap the pastry around the beef, cutting off any excess. Turn over, so the seam is underneath, and place on a baking sheet. Brush over all the pastry with egg and chill for about 15 mins to let the pastry rest.
5. Heat the oven to 200ºC.
6. Lightly score the pastry at 1cm intervals and glaze again with beaten egg yolk. Bake for 20 minutes , then lower the oven setting to 180ºC and cook for another 15 mins. Allow to rest for 10-15 mins before slicing and serving with the accompaniments. The beef should still be pink in the centre when you serve it.

For my sauce I started with about 500 mls of BONE BROTH (this is just a super duper version of stock that has been slow cooked for 70 odd hours...sooooooo good!).  I get this boiling away on the stove then add a good slug or two of red wine, SHIRAZ in this instance.  I continue to cook until the sauce is reduced by about half and is quite thick, if it isn't thickening up well enough (or if you've just used regular stock), take out about 3 tablespoons of liquid and mix in 1 tablespoon of plain flour until you've formed a smooth paste, then return to the sauce.  As a final thickener and to add that bit of glossy deliciousness add a good tablespoon of butter.  Taste and then season with salt, pepper, and any other flavour profile you'd like (maybe a hint of chili, or a whack of hot English mustard?).  Basically tinker about with the sauce until you get a consistency, and flavour, that you like.

So, there you have it, what to eat when you've got a cracking Shiraz to drink.  And if you haven't got one on hand, drop by our website and order some!

Happy drinking!

How to make Red Wine Vinegar.

It happens to the best of us... a bottle of red is opened and a glass or two consumed (possible late in the evening, probably after a few too many other bottles), and the drinkers give up and go to bed.  Sadly this bottle is neglected (possibly due to a hangover and the vehement promise to never drink again!!) and over several days later is has lost that freshness and is no longer wanted.  And let's face it, if it was the last bottle at the end of a big night it was probably not your best (or sadly it may have been your best that you grabbed while under the influence and miserably regret not having first up).  Instead of tipping this poor ignored wine down the sink, why not get all frugavore on yourself and make RED WINE VINEGAR!?

I've made Red Wine Vinegar before and seriously it was delicious.  There is not much better than making a dressing, or a meat sauce, with a vinegar that you've lovingly tended to... plus it really does mean that those last few dregs, or forgotten half bottles of wine, don't go to waste. Also, if you're looking to make Christmas gifts for all those distant relatives, colleagues, or random people who all come out of the wood work during the silly season, this vinegar, poured into a nice bottle with your own label is a primo present!

So, to make your own vinegar you have a couple of options...

Option 1.

With this option you've got to get yourself a vinegar 'starter' mother.  Yes, MOTHER.  Making vinegar isn't that far off making kombucha, so you'll fit right in with the Hipsters.  You can get a 'mother' from a brew, or wine making, shop.  I live in the inner north in Melbourne - Italian heartland - so there are a few shops around with all the right gear.  A simple google search of your neighbourhood will point you in the right direction.  Once you got your slimy mother, simply follow the instructions that it comes with.

Instead of adding a purchased mother, you could add 3 tablespoons of 'live' vinegar (Bragg's, or if someone you know makes vinegar, some of their batch, for example) per cup of wine, and follow the steps in option two. 

The mother from a batch of Red Wine Vinegar.

Option 2.

GROW YOUR OWN MOTHER and let the wine do its thang.  I was taught how to do this by a Spanish friend of mine (he really wasn't a big drinker so there was always a glass or two left in the bottom of his bottles), so I like to think it's more 'authentic' and European...

First you have to find a jar, or jug, or a cooking pot, with a wide mouth (the wider the better).  Pour your wine in until the container is about two-thirds full.  Don't be tempted to over fill as you will make spills later in the process.  If you have a good low alcohol wine it's good as is, if you have a higher alcohol wine, mix in a bit of water to dilute it.  The high alcohol content can cause essential bacteria to curl up and die, or at least not grow so well.  I highly recommend you use a no added preservative wine in this process, as sulphites can (rightly so) overly 'preserve' the wine, and inhibit the conversion of alcohol to acetic acid.  

Cover the container with a breathable muslin cloth and secure with a rubber band or string.  Nothing worse than spending weeks waiting for awesome vinegar to find that it's full of dog hair, or dust.  

Place your container in a warm place, out of direct sunlight.  

Shake or stir your vinegar (carefully so as not to slop!) a few times a week.  

Over this time you will become the proud creator of a 'mother'.  It is a slimy, blobby thing that sits on top of the wine, eventually sinking to the bottom and allowing a new mother to take its place. 

In anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months, you will have a lovely lot of vinegar (or something not quite vinegar which means tip it out and head back to the drawing board).

Once your brew tastes more like vinegar and less like wine (start tasting at the 2 week mark) you should pour it into bottles or jars that seal (swing top beer bottles, or old wine bottles are great).  Prolonged exposure to the air can spoil your vinegar.

You can pour off your vinegar, and can keep adding fresh wine to the remainder of the brew (mother included).  The newly added wine will be 'vinegarised' much more quickly than your first batch.

Now, if you find yourselves in the position where you don't ever have left over wine (I won't judge you), you might like to grab a bottle of our affordable preservative free cleanskin red as a starter.  You could even, once you got this down pat, try a white wine vinegar, or add herbs and the like for extra flavour. 

No more wasted wine!  Get mixing now to have vinegar in time for Christmas.  

I'd like to say 'Happy drinking', but think that this might not be the best sign off today.  So, Ciao!

New at Organic Wine: Tamburlaine Wines.

We've been on the lookout for some time now for a new Sparkling Wine to add to our arsenal. The Temple Bruer Pure White is a delicious and affordable favourite, but unfortunately stocks have been exhausted and we've been waiting for the next vintage which will be ARRIVING IN LATE OCTOBER.




In the absence of one of our best sellers we've been looking around to be able to provide our customers with something fizzy and delicious.  It's been a hard slog, a lot of tasting (and believe me this isn't always a good thing) but we think we've come up with something that will put a smile on your dial.  Tambulaine are now stocking us with not one but TWO sparkling wines.

Drum roll please!  You've been asking for a preservative free sparkling for years, and finally we've found a wine that fits the bill.  Please, put your hands together and welcome the Tamburlaine Au Natural Premium Cuvee!  It's a preservative free bubbly with all kinds of goodness happening.  It's great to have a preservative free sparkling on offer - don't say we never listen to you.  This one is made from early harvest, cool climate Chardonnay grapes.  The first thing that we noted were apples, apples, apples.  Yep, apples and crisp melon flavours.  Extended lees contact, some secondary fermentation and blending create a delicious rich creaminess.  It's only 13% alcohol, which means you can sneak in that extra half glass before you get a bit silly (but not if you're driving of course!).  At absolutely no stage in the production does sulphur come anywhere near this wine, so if you've got allergies, or like to have a clear head the morning after, these might just be the bubbles for you.


The other sparkling, is the Tamburlaine High and Dry Organic Cuvee.  The chardonnay grapes used to make this wine are grown in the cool climate Orange Wine Region.  The grapes were picked early to capture the light fruit, crisp acidity, elegance and freshness. The wine is alive with aromas of green apples, honeydew melon and vanilla.  To taste, there are green apples, nectarine and pineapple flavours, with a delicate creaminess.

Both of these sparkling wines are affordable (both starting at a measly $16.50), and infinitely tasty.  They make a great party wine, or accompaniment to an Asian feast.  These beauties are up on the website and ready for you to order right now.  They are perfect for any Spring time fizzy kind of event.

Why not include a few in your next order with us?

Happy drinking! 

What to drink with Baked Beans! And confessions of a crush on Andrew McConnell.

Being a left-leaning, middle class, inner city dweller it should come as no surprise that I subscribe to The Saturday Paper, the paper put out by the publishers of The Monthly and The Quarterly Essay.  It is lovely to read a paper that affirms all of my own beliefs, and makes it easy to forget that there are other people out there who don't share them.  But, if I really had to admit why I love The Saturday Paper so much (aside from the quiz), I would confess that I actually have a super foodie crush on Andrew McConnell, and he is their weekly food and recipe columnist.  

For those of you not familiar with Andrew, (SHAME ON YOU!) he is part owner of Cumulus Inc, Cutler and Co, and Super Normal.  His food really ticks all the right boxes for me.  He's moved away from all that 'molecular gastronomy', foams, deconstructed this and that, and makes delicious dishes that are both delicate and hearty at the same time.  The parfait at Cumulus Inc. is like fluffy pate goodness, and is enjoyed with a glass of Prosecco is pretty much the nearest thing to heaven on Flinders Lane.   


This week Andrew's column was a recipe for Baked Beans with ham hock.  Now, I've made baked beans from scratch several times, but these ones seemed just too easy!  Limited ingredients, using time and care to make them taste amazeballs.  Off I trotted to get the ingredients and after a day of boiling a hock, lovingly soaking beans and preparing an uber tasty tomato sauce the beans were served.  SERIOUSLY GOOD.  I doubled the quantity, which means we've been eating beans all week in various guises.  These babies were plump, soft, yet still in shape, and nothing at all like the mush that comes from a can.  

I served them a number of ways:

1.  As a dinner, straight up with chunks of toasted ciabatta.
2.  As lunch, with pan fried mushrooms and spinach.
3.  As dinner, with a couple of poached eggs and some crumbled fetta cheese. 

I've still got some left, and am debating whether or not to experiment with freezing a container full, I'm unsure if the beans will survive a defrost...  




What did I drink with these beans I hear you ask?  Well, on the first night, I had slaved over these beans, and felt they were worthy of a kicking big red, so I cracked open a Paxton MV Shiraz. It was recently awarded 95 points by James Halliday.  James say on his website: 'The grapes come from four estate biodynamic vineyards, plus two contract biodynamic vineyards; separately fermented and matured in new and used American oak. Deep, dark crimson... with waves of sultry black fruits and bitter chocolate, the oak not blunting the delicious savoury nature of the wine...'  

I love this wine.  David Paxton really knows his stuff, which is why we stock quite a range of his wines.  You can buy it now on our website!

More thought into food and wine matching lead me to Tempranillo for subsequent meals.  This savoury drop goes well with spicy, tomatoey food - especially Spanish food.  We've written a 101 lesson about Tempranillo on our website.  Basically, it is a champion with food.  Four Tempranillo (or tempranillo blends) are currently gracing our shelves.  You can peruse them here.   I opened a Vicente Gandia Tempranillo from Spain.  It's as cheap as chips, and really tasty.  It's often my fall back wine for quaffing, or with a thrown together meal.  It's full of the intense aromas of cassis combined with black currant.  To taste there are liquorice and black currant notes.  It is a well balanced wine, and stands up to rustic food flavours.  Perfect with my beans!  

I'll include Andrew's winning recipe below.  I only made minor changes (I doubled the herbs and added 4 anchovies to the tomato sauce for a bit of extra zing).

Andrew's Baked Beans.

Ingredients:

1 smoked ham hock
1 cup dried white beans (soaked overnight).  Andrew recommends cannellini beans - the smallest you can find.
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, sliced (I used more)
2 tbsp grapeseed oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp brandy (I used Armagnac)
100 mls white wine
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used more because I have an awesome thyme bush)
1 Bay leaf (I used more for the same reason as above) 
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp red wine vinegar



Method:

Place ham hock in a large saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring the water to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer the hock until it is tender (about an hour and a half).

Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.

Cover your drained beans in cold water and bring to the boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes and drain.  

In an ovenproof saucepan gentle saute onion and garlic in the oil.  Once soft add the praprika and sugar and fry for one minute.  Add brandy and reduce by half.  Add wine and reduce by half again.  Add drained beans, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme sprigs, bay lead and enough ham stock to just cover the beans.  I added the anchovies at this point.

Bring beans to a simmer, cover with a tight fitting lid and put in the over.  While they are cooking (for about an hour), pick the ham from the bone and shred.  Once the beans are meltingly tender, but not disintegrating, pull them out, stir through ham and cook for a further 5 minutes.  

I needed to add extra ham stock during the baking process, so keep an eye on the pot!

Season with salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.  Serve as you like (see suggestions above).

Happy drinking!
 

Food and Wine Pairing: Rosé

It seems that if you put 'food and wine pairing' into a search engine these days you will be completely inundated with blog posts and web pages galore telling you which drop goes best with what dish.  It's a complicated business. In the interests of making things a bit simpler, and a bit more hands on, I've decided to do some regular posts on the topic, and I might even add in the occasional recipe to try along with some suggested wine matches.

I absolutely love cooking, it's totally my 'down time' thing.  In my younger years (not all that long ago, I might add), I would spend days preparing special dishes for dinner parties.  I held an Indian dinner party for 16 people once, there were 5 curries, all prepared from scratch.  I don't get the chance to do as much of it as I used to (thanks kids!!), but I still get to salivate over recipe books, and occasionally there is a special dinner party, or a romantic evening planned, where I can try out something a bit more complicated than pasta and meat sauce (again, thanks kids...). Anyway, matching the food I cook to the perfect beverage is also a passion.  There is nothing worse than sitting down to a cracking good meal, and taking a sip of completely the wrong wine.  There can be a massive clash of flavours in your mouth, spoiling what could have been a marriage made in heaven.

We've got a few Rosés up on our website, and just this week we introduced a great new Preservative Free Rosé from Temple Bruer in stock at the moment.  It's seriously awesome, and has inspired me to write about this 'Pink Drink' that is often scorned by those who 'think' they know a thing or two about wine.  Now, rose has been given a bad wrap over the years.  It has serious associations with 1970s dinner parties, women in platform shoes, gold one piece jump suits, glossy lipstick and overly sweet PINK wine.  I'm here to tell you that it's time to put aside old prejudices and look at that pink vino with new eyes.  It's versatile to the max, and I'm sure that there will be a style that is bound to float your boat. 






The Temple Bruer 2014 Preservative Free Rosé, is a real beauty.  It is awash with flavours of cherry, watermelon and citrus. The crisp palate shows tropical fruit and citrus, fresh pineapple and lime characters. There is a little hint of chalky tannins on the finish and a cleansing gentle acidity. It's a wine of medium weight (and only 12% alcohol!) and is well suited to many Asian foods.  I served it up with a curry last night and all were suitably impressed.  We've got this for sale from $18.50 on our website.  Seriously, do yourself a favour and try it.  One word:  YUM.




So the upshot is, Rosé is not necessarily sweet.  In fact, you'd have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed the sheer number of different kinds of Rosés available at your local bottle-o.  Just to give you a mini 101 lesson on the kinds of Rosé available, as well as the kinds of food you might serve with them...read on!

Light dry Rosé - 

This style is generally made with Pinot Noir grapes.  The closest comparison would be to a crisp dry white like a Pinot Gris.  It pairs amazingly well with light meals, salads, a light pasta or rice dish, goats cheese, seafood, shellfish.  Basically it is great for summer time drinking.

Light off-dry Rosé - 

This style is similar that above, but with a touch of sweetness.  It is more in line with a traditional rosé from Portugal (Mateus).  This pairs well with the same foods are above, but also lightly spiced dishes, like an Indian curry or Asian foods.  If you're keen to try this style, we've got a lovely Knight's Templar Rose.

Medium dry Rosé - 

Zinfandel or sparkling zin.  This kind of rosé is often called 'Blush' .  And you guessed it, it pairs well with the above foods including the spicy foods.  It also kicks as a dessert wine, provided the dessert isn't overly sweetened.

Medium bodied dry Rosé -

 This style is in line with rose from the Spanish Rioja region.  It is very accommodating in terms of food matching.  It's not overly sweet, and It can stand up to some punchy flavours, like olives, garlic, anchovies, etc.  It goes well with a good paella, grilled meats, a charcuterie plate, tapas, pre-dinner nibbles of pate or rillettes.  It's a winner.

Elegant, Fruity Rosé - 

Often Melot based, this is a rosé with many of the same qualities as a good Pinot Noir.  It should be drunk with big ticket dinner items like rare lamb, duck, salmon, tuna, or if you're feeling flush, LOBSTER!

Full bodied fruity Rosé - 

You'll find lots of these in Australia.  And in line with our obsession with Shiraz and flavours that are bold, big and obvious, this Rosé is all that.  It's heavy handed with the fruit flavours.  It's often served chilled and goes well with curries, Asian food, a barbeque or the like.  

Sparkling Rosé - 

These are lots of these on the Australian market, and for good reason.  They're fun and tasty!  They are a great social drink, and can range from dry to medium dry.  They are great with nibbles (cheese, nuts, smoked salmon, etc), or can be served with sweet treats like cakes and sweet tarts.  We've got a lovely Rosnay Sparkling Vintage Rose for a good price.

Rosé Champagne - 

For really impressing someone!  Again, these can vary between lighter and more full bodied flavours and levels of sweetness.  This style usually suits canapes, like Blinis and such.  A more serious vintage number would go well with game birds.

I hope this little post has helped clarify matters for you.  Normally I'll include a recipe to match the wine varietal that I'm food pairing with, but there is such a huge variation in styles of Rosé that I could be blogging for hours.  I think the info I've given you should be sufficient to lead you in the right direction when it comes to preparing a suitable meal to go with any Rosé.  And should you want to try a good Organic or Preservative Free Rosé, please check out our website.  Good wine, good value!


Happy drinking!