Early days in Noosa

by Martin Field

Fauna and flora
I've been off the air for a while - not least of all due to months of house selling and buying, household removal and acclimatising to the sub tropics. We’ve moved from a house a few kilometres from Melbourne’s city centre to sixty acres of eucalyptus bush in the hinterland of Noosa, Queensland. Our temporary accommodation comes complete with lace monitors (big lizards), scrub turkeys, carpet snakes, feathertail gliders and paralysis ticks. Oh, and a lot more sunshine than we’re used to.

Not just Hastings Street
Getting acclimatised means getting around and checking out the local scene. One thing you learn quickly after visiting the local eateries is that Noosa is not just glitzy Hastings Street.

For example, the restaurant strip in and off Gympie Terrace, Noosaville, is first class. For starters, check out the Italian style cuisine at Pilu Ristorante E Bar, at 2/257 Gympie Terrace. We dined there a few weeks back and I went there again for a Noosa Long Weekend tasting of Barambah Wines.

Barambah is made in Queensland’s South Burnett region by winemeister Peter Scudamore-Smith. His Barambah First Grid Verdelho 2007 is a stunner. Water pale, with a fragrant kiwifruit and fresh cut cucumber nose, it displays a lively palate of fruit salad cut with citric tang. Could be the region’s answer to NZ Sauvignon blanc. About $19 – order via the website (www.barambah.com.au)or email manda@barambah.com.au.

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Posted by Martin Field at 08:05 AM
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Travelling Blues

by Martin Field

Someone once alleged that the journey rather than the arrival was ninety percent of the fun of travelling – he or she must have always travelled first class. Moving the household from Melbourne to Noosa entailed driving twice up the Newell and Bruce highways – some 1900 kilometres each time. We stayed at various inns, hostelries and motels and it was like a trip into the past. Quality control and modern amenities appear to be very low on the accommodation industry priority list. Here are a few items that annoyed me 20 years ago, and still do.

Slimy shower curtains that cling to legs like glad wrap
Mini fridges where the freezer is fully occupied by impenetrable permafrost
Bathroom vanity basins that hover adjacent to or just above the toilet bowl – be careful with your toothbrush, specs and dentures
Threadbare bath towels the size of large handkerchiefs
Sachets of instant tea dust and instant coffee that taste of mud – or nothing
Nano-serves of milk, butter, jam, honey and tomato sauce in plastic squeezy things
Absence of individual bedside reading lamps or, worse, bedside lamps that could light up the MCG
Polyester blankets and sheets
Filthy toilets at service stations and municipal rest stops
Electric hand dryers – your hands are still wet after five minutes of gesticulating wildly under tepid zephyrs
Beds with sheets and blankets tucked in by sadists
Tablets of soap that smell like Bangkok Bordello Number 5, so small they are in constant danger of inadvertently disappearing into various orifices.

I should add however, that the standards of accommodation associated with travelling in Australia are a joy compared with those I have experienced in Europe.

Posted by Martin Field at 08:02 AM
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Spitbucket Drinking

by Martin Field

Scarborough White Label Semillon 2006 - $22 \_/\_/\_/
Hunter Valley, New South Wales. Pale, youthful greenish tints. Unwooded, dry, steely, typically Hunter style of lemon, lime and lemongrass structured over lip-smacking acidity. Great aperitif. Will cellar gracefully to 2017.

d’Arenberg The Noble Riesling 2006 – 375ml bottle $25 \_/\_/\_/
Golden yellow. Aromatic nose of Seville orange marmalade, honey and pears. Luscious palate of orange peel and honey and cleansing tangy acid.

Claymore Déjà vu Rose 2006 - $15 \_/\_/
Grenache and Malbec blend from the Clare Valley, South Australia. Pale, rose petal pink. Fresh fruity nose with a hint of strawberries on the palate and some grapey sweetness. Easy drinking style.

Pfeiffer Gamay 2006 - $16.50 \_/\_/
Light cherry hues. Sweet, almost fruit pastille nose with a hint of Turkish Delight. The palate showing a touch of maraschino cherry with some firmness at the finish.

Kangarilla Road Sangiovese 2005 – up to $17 \_/\_/\_/
Ruby appearance with a slight russet edge. Liquorice, new oak and mulberries on the nose. The palate shows substantial berry fruit and assertive tannins. Would suit pizza nicely.

Terra Felix Shiraz Viognier 2006 – up to $15 \_/\_/
Crimson hues. Restrained blackberry and vanilla oak nose. Medium-weighted dryish style with continuing blackberries on the palate and a hint of dark chocolate.

Lou Miranda Estate Old Vine Shiraz Mourvedre 2005 - up to $30 \_/\_/\_/
Black cherry hues. Generous bouquet of berries, vanilla and a touch of coconut. Palate is softish with flavours of ‘fruits of the forest’ conserve underlaid with hints of mint and eucalypt. Very approachable style.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2003 - $70 to $80 \_/\_/\_/\_/
St Henri is surely the most European of Australia’s classic reds in that it doesn’t depend for its classiness upon lashings of new oak and jamminess. Rather it is a wine of beautiful structure: long lean and sinewy, with elements of plums, aniseed, cigar leaf, bitter chocolate and the subtlest oak sub-strata. Cellar to 2027.

Spitbucket rating system
Five gold spitbuckets \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ - brilliant
\_/\_/\_/\_/ - classy
\_/\_/\_/ - first-rate
\_/\_/ - good stuff
\_/ - spit it!
An added $ or two denotes excellent value for money.

Posted by Martin Field at 07:51 AM
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Flavours of Slovenia

Traveling for work is much more enjoyable if you can fit in some gastronomic discoveries. This week in Slovenia I took my friends Harry and Vondelle to the Gostilna Pri Danilu, in Reteče near Škofja Loka, close to Ljubljana. I had written a few notes on my last visit there about a year ago on this blog. This time my friend Tomaž Sršen was away in Munich where he was attending a concert, so while enjoying my dinner he sent me an SMS from Munich: “Aerosmith rocks!”.

I am not sure if going to a place twice qualifies one as a “regular”, but that is certainly the way I felt when the Čarman family greeted us at the door. The new sommelier, Gregor, took care of us expertly as we navigated through the excellent gastronomic menu, theoretically a 5 course meal, but in fact three extra smaller dishes complete this generous panorama of traditional Slovenian cooking reinterpreted in a contemporary key. Of course, each dish is accompanied by a glass of Slovenian wine.

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Posted by Mike Tommasi at 05:44 PM
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TGV Meeting 2007

What is TGV Meeting? It is the annual wine fair in Liguria of TigullioVino, with 90 winemakers, mostly italian, invited to participate on the basis of decisions of the tasting committee of this leading italian wine portal. What a concept : the wine must be good ! This means that you will find both very small vignerons as well as larger wine companies, with many different kinds of winemaking, but a common thread of very high quality.

( Bloggers Giampiero, Maria Grazia, Terry, Laura, Mirco )

This Meeting is also the occasion to meet the movers and shakers of the enoblogosphere. The day before I had already met Giampiero Nadali (AKA Aristide), Mirco Mariotti (alias Blog&Wine) who actually makes wine near Ferrara, and Terry Hughes (alias Mondosapore) who had just arrived from New York.

...continue reading "TGV Meeting 2007"

Posted by Mike Tommasi at 12:29 PM
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