Funky flavours, left-field labels, a new vocabulary of terms, and blends you’ve never heard of. If you’ve been to a good bottle shop or a trendy bar recently you’ve probably noticed a number of new wines appearing which look, sound, and taste like nothing you’ve tried before. The world of natural, minimal intervention, and lo-fi wines is steadily finding a foothold in Perth, and to demystify these new styles, techniques and labels we got together with Budburst’s owner and sommelier Rachael Niall along with winemakers Matt of Freehand Wine, Yoko of Brave New Wine and Michael of Yelland & Papps. What is Natural Wine?Natural wines actually follow a specific set of conventions, Rachael told us that "In the most simple way, Natural wine is wine from organic or biodynamic grapes, made in a way where nothing is added and nothing is taken away. This means no chemicals are used in the vineyard, no inoculated yeast is used for fermentation, there is no filtration or fining agents, and absolutely no added sulphur (traces of sulphur will arise naturally). There is not yet a legal definition for natural wines, but I find the 'Charter of Quality' for the RAW Wine Fair to be the best guide on restrictions and allowances ” The resulting wines can be said to have a vitality and a liveliness which can’t be found anywhere else. Matt of Freehand Wine says he saw Biodynamic viticulture as the next step forward in their winemaking back in 2008, and that Natural Winemaking practices followed shortly after. "The main benefit to Natural Wine has to be transparency of process.” Matt told us, "Nothing added means nothing but grape juice. This will always produce fresher, more unique, honest, interesting and seasonal wines (if the fruit is good!). Every Natural Wine is an individual." "The inherent and essential "small batch" nature of NW precludes the economies of scale that larger-batch wineries operate with. We all know handmade looks, feels and tastes better. Wine is no different.” Said Matt. Natural Wine may look like a new fringe movement, but Yoko of Brave New Wine was quick to point out that many of the practices are the original methods and processes for wine, "Nothing we do in the winery is anything new, really. That’s the thing about this move toward lo-fi. Minimum input winemaking is just a return to age-old technique." Natural, Minimal Intervention, Lo-fi, oh my!Since Natural Winemaking follows a pretty strict set of conditions, the term is often used as an umbrella which includes wines which adhere to most but not all of these rules, wines which use biodynamic fruit, wild yeast, and only a small amount of sulphur at the bottling stage can be called Minimal Intervention, Small Batch or Lo-fi wines. "There’s a very blurred line between minimal intervention and natural wines,” Said Rachael "minimal intervention wines follow the process of no additions and nothing taken away, but the winemaker will still add some sulphur at the time of bottling just for preservation. Most of the wines here at Budburst are made in this way.” Of the Winemakers we spoke to, Matt told us that Freehand self-identified as Natural Wine, telling us "Freehand wines are made with zero adds, in small batches from fruit we grew in our vineyard with help from biodynamic preps, picked on fruit days and bottled without any manipulation either minimal or otherwise.” Yoko was more reserved, and whilst many wines from Brave New Wine are often placed amongst Natural Wines in bottle shops and wine lists, they do not use the label: "We sit somewhere in the middle, and have rarely felt comfortable calling ourselves “natural’ wine makers. We prefer the term lo-fi. Some of the vineyards we source from are managed organically, some are handled conventionally, we use some new oak, and we add minimal sulphites to our wines.” Also different but sometimes included under the same umbrella are owner-operator wine labels: Wineries and wines which are singular, personal expressions by winemakers. Michael of Yelland & Papps makes wonderful and highly regarded wines, half of which are made in a minimal intervention style, and half which have added tartaric acid depending on vintage conditions. "We are not pigeon holed into any category,” said Michael, "we just do what is needed to make the style of wines we love.” For Michael, the additions of sulphur and acid to some of their wines has “Minimal cost,” explaining that, “for us, the benefits in using SO2 and Tartaric Acid are to contribute to making clean, balanced wines that are enjoyable to drink now or in 5-10 years time,” Their experimentation with new techniques, varietals and styles is a great example that the growing increase in natural wine production is not an ends in itself, but a larger trend toward high quality, bespoke and interesting wines for everyday consumption. Aversions to SulphurThe most noteworthy and the most contested aspect of Natural winemaking is the addition of Sulphur. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) is a preservative used in winemaking first explicitly mentioned in 1487. Sulphur kills yeasts and bacteria and protects wine from oxidation, and is used extensively in conventional winemaking in order to avoid potential for spoilage. Rachael didn’t tell us that sulphur was expressly a bad thing in wine, "Whilst I prefer lofi wines, I'm not anti-sulphur by any means. If I owned a vineyard and had one time each year to make wine, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to go 100% natural, it's risky." However, she was quick to point out that things can get excessive, “Some companies use sulphur before you even get into the winery, they’ll pick and put all the grapes into big buckets and sprinkle sulphur straight away. Then sulphur can then be added before pressing, after pressing, at the end of fermentation, and at bottling.” Excessive use of sulphur is detectable in the wine, Rachael told us "Anyone who works with wine can smell sulphur straight away, it generally overpowers the fruit, and you'll often hear people say ‘this smells like a headache'.” Other issues are more ideological, Rachael says people often liken natural wine to a living creature, and in using excessive sulphur you’re “Changing the true nature of the wine.” Sulphur is not all bad however, and in small quantities can be useful or even essential in preventing spoilage. Most minimal intervention winemakers will use no sulphur throughout the vinification process, and only add a tiny amount at the point of bottling. This gives the wines a better ageing potential, and lessens the risk of any unwanted flavours or faults developing in the bottle. Redefining Wine ‘Flaws’Alongside using less sulphur, natural winemakers have begun reinterpreting the conventional perceptions toward flaws in winemaking. Flaws including cloudiness and oxidisation, and as far as more challenging flaws like Brettanomyces and Volatile Acidity. Rachael can recall a number of instances throughout her career as a sommelier and bar owner where cloudiness has been unjustly perceived as a flaw. In one case, a patron at a restaurant she worked at insisted that a very expensive wine was faulty because it was not clear. The wine tasted perfect, and Rachael knew it was exactly as the winemaker had intended, but the patron could not be convinced. In another instance she saw a wine professional dismiss a local winemaker’s range before anyone had even tasted it. Cloudiness comes from a lack of fining and filtration, processes which strip the wine of insoluble matter. In some times this is helpful and even necessary, but the cost is that flavour and character can be lost in the process. Fining processes such as filtration through egg whites or fish bladders, besides sounding a little unpleasant, can also make the wine unfriendly to vegans. Oxidisation is another redefined flaw which Rachael finds particularly interesting. Oxidisation can come from from the winemaker deciding not to top up the wine in their barrels as it begins to evaporate, or the wine can be forcibly exposed to oxygen. The resulting wines can be citrusy, salty, and even briny. Sherry is made in this way and people often taste ‘sherry characteristics’. "I feel like there’s a bit more leeway for how much oxidisation can be seen as a positive attribute. From a venue point of view, they can stay fresher for longer. Because they’ve already had a bit of exposure to oxygen, they stay at a similar level of freshness and don’t fall over as quickly as wines which are made with a lot of sulphur and fermented in stainless steel. For example, Sam Vincuillo’s wines can be open for three weeks, they’ll change in that time but not in a negative way.” If you’re a slow drinker like us, the prospect of a wine which will last weeks rather than days once opened is a huge selling point. Exciting New Styles"I feel like people have become more confident in their drinking choices over the last few years. Rather than wait for someone to tell them what they “should be drinking” according to a medal in a wine show, or points given by a wine writer, or some preconception (“I don’t drink chardonnay” for eg), they are now happy to try a wine and make their own mind up. Is it fucking delicious? Am I enjoying it? Is this wine inspiring some hearty conversation? If the answer is yes, then the wine is a goer! People will drink unfiltered, chunky wine. People will drink fizzy, funky wine. People will drink whole bunchy, spicy, reds. People will drink skinsy white wines made very much like red wines. IF. They are delicious.” - Yoko Whilst very little in Natural and Lofi Winemaking is truly new, the movement has shone a light on a number of interesting and lesser-known styles, including: Orange Wine “What is orange wine? Orange wine is delicious”, said Rachael. The skin contact wine is like a reverse rose, made by putting white wine through the processes generally reserved for red wine. The extended contact between the grape juice and it’s skins in orange wine gives the wine phenolics, texture, tannin and colour. Think red wine mouthfeel with unmistakable white wine flavours. "Like any method, there are certain levels which you can pull back from,” Said Rachael, You can have skin contact ranging from a few hours to forty days.” Whilst we love a typical, funky orange wine, one of our favourite styles made by natural and minimal intervention winemakers are the white wines with just a small kiss of skin contact, making for a heavier, funkier and overall delicious white wine. Pet Nat Pétillant-naturel is a method for sparkling wine which predates Champagne. Where in champagne a second fermentation is induced by introducing more sugar and yeast to fully fermented wine, Pet Nat is made by bottling wine before the primary fermentation has ended. The yeast continues to create alcohol and carbon dioxide in the pressurised environment of the bottle, and it is up to the winemaker to decide whether to disgorge the residual lees or to leave them in the bottle (Lees are the leftover particles from yeast, they are harmless to drink and can give wine texture and a toasty aroma). Since the fermentation has finished in bottle, Pet Nats are by definition unfined and unfiltered. Despite being older, we think of Pet Nat as a funky younger sibling to Champagne. Losing some points in refinement but making them all up in being bold, fruity, and fun. Look for their trademark crown seal, and drink Pet Nat on the porch on a warm summer’s day. Blends Blending is nothing new in either conventional or minimal intervention winemaking, but smaller winemakers have experimented with new and lesser known blends. Examples include L.A.S Vino’s Albino Pinot, a flip of the 80/20 ratio of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which defines most champagnes, pressed into a clear, rosé style wine and botanical infusions like Brave New Wine's Wonderland and Dreamland botanical rieslings. The Wonderland riesling infused with native West Australian botanicals is exciting, bright and like nothing else in the market, and won them the Danger Zone award for ‘Most Adventurous Wine' at the 2017 Young Gun of Wine Awards. Where to StartIf we’ve piqued your interest, you’re probably wondering where to start. The strong flavours from unfiltered wines may be surprising at first, so we find trying a bunch of wines at once to be a great start. Natural Wines really stand out amongst other wines and each other, so tasting events like the Budburst Wine Parties are a great place to start. We love the whole range from the three producers we’ve featured, but our favourites are the Semillon from Freehand Wine, the 'Pi Oui' Pinot Noir from Brave New Wine, and whilst not a self-identifying minimal intervention wine, we think every wine fan should stock a bottle of Yelland & Papps’ Pinot Blanc, a white wine which suits any company and occasion. Both Freehand and Brave New Wine put out delicious Pet Nats, and Brave New Wine make our favourite orange wine in their ‘Klusterphunk’ Chardonnay. Rachael’s picks for Natural Wines were the ranges from Sam Vincuillo in Margaret River, and from Latta in Victoria. Budburst showcase great Natural and Minimal Intervention wines by the glass and the bottle. We also love picking up wine for home from The Re Store, The Wine Thief, and Mane Liqour. Budburst are located in 406 Oxford St, Mount Hawthorn and open from 4pm until Midnight Tuesday-Saturday. Look for Brave New Wine, Yelland & Papps, and Freehand wine at good bottle shops, bars and restaurants.
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We’re confident that bees are an important part of our ecosystem, but as consumers, we’re not always sure whether buying honey is helping, or hurting them. We spoke to Blaine Campbell from Honey I’m Home about terroir, sustainability, and honey, in order to find out how to get the best quality produce in a way which was sustainable and delicious. Honey I'm HomeAfter beginning their beekeeping careers in 2010, Blaine and her husband Tristan suddenly found themselves with a huge influx of honey, they had more than they could give away to friends and family, and took a friend’s suggestion to sell at a local market. Seven years later, Blaine has just last month given up their last remaining market space, and is celebrating the second birthday of their Maylands store. Their store showcases West Australian honey from several hives of their own in addition to 5-6 similar sized producers, and 4-5 local retirees who keep their bees as a hobby but in some years still produce more honey than they can give away. One side of the store is dedicated entirely to honey "just as the bees make it", whilst the wall opposite hosts gourmet lines including infused and whipper honeys alongside beeswax products. They even work with a local gelato maker to sell honey gelato in store. Working small and local allows Blaine to be sure that the people they represent in their store have similar values to their own, they can be sure that the apiarists they buy honey from are following similar beekeeping and hive management practices to their own, and that the artisans and producers they collaborate with are using local ingredients wherever possible, and employing sustainable practices. Even the staff at Honey I’m Home are encouraged to live and breathe bees, “You can always talk to a beekeeper in our shop.” said Blaine "We try to get all of our employees into the hives so you can bring your ‘burning bee question’ to the shop at any time.” HoneyAll of the honey at Honey I’m Home is raw and filtered only though mesh bags to remove any large chunks of wax. The resulting honey is nuanced and complex, tasting almost nothing like the honey you’d find at a supermarket. Blaine and the rest of the crew are more than happy to have you taste each of their honeys which vary remarkably from their different locations and flowers. "We’re primary producers, and so we’re dependent on what happened a year ago, even up to a decade ago.” said Blaine, "Things like soil, climate, topography and species variation all contribute to the honey.” As there is no processing applied to the honey from the hives to the store, their honey is more likely than their commercial counterparts to crystallise. Crystallisation is a natural and reversible process which happens to all honey over time as the sucrose content begins to build lattices. Honey has an unlimited shelf life, so Blaine urges consumers not to throw out their honey when they see a few crystals. BeeKeepingThe bees from which honey is harvested are European species which have evolved to create as much surplus honey as possible in the three months of European summer, in order to survive the nine months in which it is too cold, wet and windy to fly. In Australia, we are lucky to have a much longer period of fine weather, and because of this our honey bees are the most productive in the world. "The biological imperative of a honey bee is to make as much honey as they possibly can. When there’s a lot of honey to bring in, they just keep bringing it in, and if they fill up a hive or a tree hollow or your chimney, they split up and make another hive and make more honey. The only way to deprive them is to leave them without enough honey over winter." “We don’t process our honey, so the hard part is getting the bees to the stage where they’re ready to give honey to us.” Blaine told us. The tools and processes of beekeeping have changed remarkably little in hundreds of years, but modern beekeepers are able to use sources like Google Maps and FloraBase where they would previously have to rely solely on local knowledge. “We’re a bit more flexible in that we're farmers without farms,” said Blaine, “If there aren’t any flowers in one place we can move elsewhere.” How We Use HoneySince discovering Honey I’m Home, we’ve found ourselves using more honey than ever before. Their the Maylands store is just 50 metres from The Woodfired Baker, and their honey shows beautifully on a slice of sourdough rye. We’ve taken to stirring honey into our ‘Cure All’ Chai and making a honey syrup for cocktails like the Bee’s Knees. Our favourite use for raw honey has to be putting an open jar or a piece of honeycomb on a cheeseboard, honey gives beautiful floral notes to soft cheese and cuts through the mould notes in blue cheeses.
29/9/2017 0 Comments Grape To Glass #9: LS MerchantsLS MerchantsWe met a lot of winemakers over the course of this Grape To Glass series, and one aspect of winemaking we really came to appreciate the informal and lo-fi approach found in a lot of new boutique winemakers, we found that nobody embodied this aesthetic and philosophy quite like LS Merchants. Started in 2013 and making their official debut in 2015, LS Merchants are a small, young wine label run by winemaker Dylan Arvidson and his partner, marketer and administrator, Taryn Hogan. They put out very small batches, often just a couple of barrels of any release, of wines which are fun, friendly and unpretentious. Dylan and Taryn even set out to bring a little grounding to tasting notes, the poster for unapproachable wine: They brought along a bag filled with produce, spices and herbs, giving the crowd a tangible example of the aromas Dylan believed he found in their wines. Taryn told us that the first instalment of their aroma kit came during a local ‘battle of the winemakers’ competition in Margaret river where winemakers held side-by-side tastings and sold their wines by the glass at the bar. The couple had just made a rose and they handed out strawberry and cream lollies as a trump card. LS Merchant’s branding is immediately striking. Their labels manage to be fairly minimal all the while showcasing local artists in a form of collaboration. The LS logo was drawn unprompted by Taryn one evening, and Dylan reports seeing it and immediately deciding that had to go on a bottle. The ‘Merchants’ in LS Merchants represents their faith in those around them, from their ability to source grapes from all manner of different growers, to their collaborative labelling. Dylan and TarynFriendly, down to earth, and prone to giving their wines names like Red Drank and Da Bois, Dylan and Taryn were lovely and fascinating. When they arrived at Grape to Glass, they had spent the day jumping between bars and wine stores, and had been pleasantly surprised by such a unified positive response, and by having sold half of their entire stock of Malbec already that day. Dylans winemaking journey began as a highschooler in Geelong when he met a winemaker and found himself impressed by the winemaker’s lifestyle. “I thought to myself, I like travel, I like wine.. I like goon”. His ambition was almost cut short however when he snuck his way into a sensory course at seventeen and tried fifteen wines, all of which tasted like lemon and little else. Dylan kept at it, however, travelling extensively throughout his winemaking career and ultimately settling in Margaret River, and exciting prospect not out of the country, but seemingly a world away from his roots back East. Their WinesMade in very small batches, often just a barrel or two, LS Merchant wines are boutique, interesting, and often sell out almost as soon as they are produced. We began our evening with the Da Bois. Dylan had made a successful Fumé Blanc in 2014, but when he returned in 2016 he found the Fumé label had gotten a little catchy. He began looking for another french word for his barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, and stumbled upon ‘Bois’, the french translation for wood. This fun little wine is incredibly light, easy summer drinking, as Dylan said “Take it to the park, take it to a nightclub, its Da Bois, it can go anywhere.” We rounded off the whites with the Vermentino, a similarly smashable, spritsy and citrusy wine, with a little more weight and nuance. The wine had been bottled just two months beforehand, and we couldn’t get enough of the beautiful, crisp wine. Moving onto the reds, we tried their Malbec, a surprisingly deep and chocolatey wine with liquorice notes. Finishing the official tastings with their 'Red Drank’ red blend, a wine Dylan had blended ‘almost entirely by instinct,’ and which ‘just sort of happened.’ The Touriga Nacional forward Red Drank had us craving Italian food to go with its refined, crunchy flavours. Taryn and Dylan brought one last wine, their Mataro, an elegant and delicious wine, so delicious we found we’d finished ours almost before we’d written any notes. Grape To GlassThis Grape To Glass took over the beautiful Young Love Mess Hall, a beautiful little space which floods with natural light during the day, then falls into a cosy warmth during the evening. We took over the entire space, and feasted on delicious cheeses and bites whilst making the most of the charming space with a bunch of lovely people. This beautiful evening was a great way to close out the first series of Grape To Glass. If you’ve come along, we’ve had a great time with you, and if you missed this round, we do hear word of a second series coming along soon. To keep up to date with our friends over at Neighbourhood Events Co. be sure to check out their instagram and facebook.
When a trendy and polished cafe opened in Maylands, we saw the word ‘woodfired’ and were immediately curious. When we tried their immaculate sourdough rye we were sold, but nothing could have prepared us for our chance to see baker and owner Andrew Ritchie’s baking process which involves an enormous century old oven, binfulls of reclaimed jarrah, and absolutely no shortcuts. The Woodfired BakeryAround the year 1920, German baker Georg Rossbach had the oven built by the Australian company Metters Ltd. The oven is an enormous brick structure the size of a small bedroom, it is insulated with sand and closer resembles a brick shed than a contemporary oven. On the outside edge of the oven, metal reinforcing struts have bowed out from years of intense heat expanding the oven. For many years Georg Rossbach and his son baked bread while his wife and daughter became the first women in WA to deliver bread, riding a pushbike throughout Maylands and out as far as Balcatta. The Rossbachs were interned on Rottnest island when the second world war broke out, and leased out the bakery. They returned after the war ended and sold the bakery not long afterward. The bakery was sold several times thereafter and it’s last owner, Ted Aldridge, retired and shut up the bakery in 1967. Experienced in using similar ovens, and disappointed to see more and more wood fired bakeries shut up shop, in late 2010 Andrew Ritchie decided to look for a wood fired oven of his own. He figured a bakery wouldn’t show up too far from an old city centre, and so wouldn’t be far from the train line. Being from Darlington, he followed the Midland line, and after passing a few ovens which had been demolished or repurposed, he eventually stumbled on a cafe which were using their back room as a gallery space. In this gallery space was the oven Andrew had been looking for, and after striking up an agreement with the cafe owners and three months of restoration, Andrew completed his first bake in 2011. The CafeAndrew spent some time baking for farmers markets and direct to wholesalers, he struck up a deal to sell his bread at the cafe which hosted his oven. But the end goal was always to sell out of his own place. This May, some 50 metres away from the bakery, the Woodfired Baker cafe opened. The contemporary fit out of the cafe may be deceptive at first but the staff proudly detail the rustic process. The design of the shop was made possible by Andrew putting his trust into talented people, happening upon a craftsman and designer who both saw eye to eye with his ideals. The history of the bakery is detailed on the back wall of the bakery beside a large sepia tone picture of Andrew using the oven in it’s current state. The biggest seller in the cafe is the bread, but amongst it is a series of beautiful pastries. There are no cronuts or fad foods in sight, but classic, well-considered foods done right. We’d be remiss, too, if we didn’t mention that the coffee, roasted by Pound roastery, was well prepared and delicious. The Process“Anything which is being added by commercial bakeries, is being added to speed things along,” said Andrew. His bread making process involves just four ingredients: Flour, Water, Salt and a wild yeast colony which Andrew has been cultivating since 1998. The process begins with Andrew and his team milling their own West Australian Rye, their traditional stone milling process leaves in many of the fibres and nutrients which are filtered out of commercial breads, resulting bread is not only lighter and more textural, but better for you.
In the early days of the bakery Andrew made everything himself and was “Running around like a yoyo”. Now putting out over 1,500 loaves a week, he’s been able to employ other bakers including Dimitri, his talented patisserie chef. Much like the breads, their desserts and pastries follow traditional methods with no shortcuts. You won’t find any cronuts or sickly sweet fad foods, just simple, rustic desserts done well. In fact, when we asked about fad foods, Andrew’s rebuttal seemed to perfectly sum up everything we loved about the Woodfired Baker, and everything we look for in the producers we seek out: “You don’t need anything highfalutin or gimmicky, If you do things well, people are going to come back.” Ministry of CloudsBernice and Julian are the winemaking duo behind the McLaren Vale label Ministry of Clouds. Having had "No relatives to leave us grapes we didn’t like,” they relish in the freedom to source grapes throughout their home in McLaren Vale, the Clare Valley, and as far as Tasmania. Both self-professed control freaks, the name of their label comes from a motto and their own ‘life lesson'. Ministry represents the control they demand in their joint 30 years of winemaking and marketing experience. Control which is even more present when making wine under their own names. Clouds, which are ever evolving, represent the risk, their future, and freedom, and remind them that even under the most stringent conditions, grapes are always a bit of a gamble. The name Ministry of Clouds is their resolution to keep the certain and the uncertain in check with one and other, and "at the end of the day, to just have a glass of wine and relax.” The Ministry of Clouds label came out in 2012 with six wines, a surprisingly large range owed to their decision to make a clean break and never have to divide their attention between working their own label and working for others. Bernice and JulianFriendly, camera shy, and hilarious. Bernice and Julian were the life of the party. Julian introduced their wines by saying that “Everything we show you tonight is funded by a mortgage on our house," and, "Our dog back at home hopes you love it.” We did. Bernice told us that before working together, she and Julian had made “Quite fierce competitors,” in the wine industry. The two were frank about a lot of debate going on in the process of their winemaking together, all in order to ultimately come out with the sort of wines they are proud to sell and love to drink. Something which both Bernice and Julian stressed was the relationship between wine and sense of place, they spoke about the soils, climate and elevation of the numerous vineyards from which they sourced their grapes, and found themselves fond of the tendency for old world winemakers to celebrate not who made their wines, but where the wines were made. Their WinesWhile their grapes come from different locations, their wines all show a similar desire and direction and each of the wines we tasted were acid-forward, light, complex and dry enough that each sip had us ready for the next. They stood in stark opposition to the number of blubbery, ‘shapeless' wines which can come to dominate Australian wine stores. This Grape To Glass kicked off with their Riesling, a punchy, citrusy number which we couldn't get enough of. Julian told us that riesling was a very transparent grape which shows you where it’s been grown. Because of this they are sure to only pick as high quality fruit as they can get, and from vineyards they are very proud of. In this case this includes one very old and high grown Clare Valley vineyard they are particularly proud of, and from which they take the entire crop. Moving onto their reds, we began with the Grenache, "Grenache delivers what Pinot promises" said Bernice, before adding "I have to be careful saying that in Victoria, because they do some amazing Pinots." We found the Grenache full of refined berry flavours, both was subtle and beautiful. We followed with their Tempranillo Grenache, a light, chuggable blend which we could see ourselves drinking all night. Bernice told us that they often work backwards from wines that they love, and this particular blend was born of a holiday in Europe and one particular night of drinking gin and red wine until the early morning. We finished the night with their Shiraz. Unexpectedly refined and subtle, we were taken back to when fellow South Australian Winemaker David Bowley of the Adelaide Hills distinguished his wine as "Not your dad's shiraz," and indeed this too had none of the boisterousness which has come to define so many run-of-the-mill shiraz wines. A portion of the grapes which form this wine were grown in the couple's own recently acquired vineyard, the dry grown, low yield, high intensity vines are from their acquisition which they "Couldn't make it taste juicy and ripe even if we wanted to," are blended with Blewitt Springs Mataro grapes which sit in a deep sand and provide fragrance and lift. Grape To GlassWe spent this Grape To Glass event in the laneway whiskey bar Helvetica. We've always loved the brilliant Scotch selections and the dim, moody lighting at Helvetica, and were delighted to be taking over the upstairs area for an intimate wine tasting. The staff were lovely to us, and the food delicious. We had nothing but good times. This was the penultimate instalment of this round of Neighbourhood Event Co.'s Grape To Glass series. We finish off with LS Merchants at Young Love Mess Hall on September 21st. We hope to see you there!
See the rest of our coverage of Grape To Glass. 30/8/2017 0 Comments Grape to Glass #7: Walsh & SonsWalsh & SonsWhen I asked Ryan Walsh whether he was Walsh or Sons, he told me it wasn’t quite that simple. Ryan has a few sons of his own, several brothers, and he sources his fruit from a vineyard planted and worked by his father and another owned by his wife’s family. It's perhaps better to think of it as Walsh & Family, but the lines blur even then. Growing up in a farm, Ryan was exposed first hand to the same manner of organic agriculture which would come to define his winemaking and viticulture. The combination of seeing organic, low intervention farming alongside the growing Walsh family caused Ryan to realise, “The wines I was producing were as interesting as the personalities growing up around me.” A sentiment he pays homage to by naming his wines after his children, nieces and nephews. Ryan WalshRyan’s family had moved from farming to "vines and olives" in 1994 and Ryan, now more than a little familiar with grapes and wines, set off to travel and study viticulture and winemaking, picking up different philosophies as he went. The Walsh & Sons label would first came out in 2013 with a Syrah, followed by his first Red Blend in 2014. The label has sold primarily direct to wholesale as Ryan does not find himself up in the city all that often. A fact which made our chance to meet him and try his wines all the more special. We found Ryan to be unassuming and lovely. We asked if he subscribed to minimal intervention winemaking and he joked “Yes, but that might just be me being lazy”. His WinesThe Walsh & Sons wines were subtle and delicious. We were amazed at the butteriness of the first wine of the night, the Little Poppet semillon chardonnay blend, Ryan told us the butteriness came from the reduction of skin contact with the grape juice during fermentation. With this in mind we were even more surprised to find the full Burnside Chardonnay to be so subtle and refined. The chardonnay definitely stole the night for us, which Ryan suggested was, “Crisp enough to cut through the butter,” and we couldn’t have agreed more. Onto reds, we tasted the Felix Syrah. Syrah is the name which Shiraz grapes go by throughout the rest of the world, and some contemporary winemakers have eschewed the Australia specific ’Shiraz’ in order to reflect a lower alcohol, subtler and more acidic style of wine. Ryan told us that “Finding the most possible texture at the lowest possible alcohol is the struggle for every winemaker”. We found the Syrah chalky, subtle, and vibrant. We finished the official tasting with the Roi Cabernet Sauvignon, a warm and beautiful wine named after Ryan’s oldest son. As is becoming Grape to Glass tradition, Ryan brought a fifth wine for sampling, this time the Lola Red Blend, a beautiful blend of syrah, cabernet and grenache which we found lovely and left us hungry for something to eat alongside it. Grape To GlassWe love the Gordon Street Garage and it was lovely to be there for a Grape To Glass. We took over the upstairs function area which made for a lovely little tuck-away. By now there are a few familiar faces amongst the many new ones, and we were delighted to have a chance to drink fine wine with lovely people, and to have Ryan right there with us to help us fall even more in love with the wines. Next in Neighbourhood Event Co.'s Grape To Glass series is Ministry of Clouts at Helvetica on August 31st followed by LS Merchants at Young Love Mess Hall on September 21st. See the rest of our coverage of Grape To Glass. Read More:16/8/2017 0 Comments Grape To Glass #6: DormilonaDormilonaJosephine Perry was managing a winery in Spain and made a habit of waking up early to go surfing, snowboarding and "being generally Australian". Only to arrive home once the remainder of her workplace were rising from their siesta. Finding her always exhausted at night, her coworkers nicknamed her Lazy Bones, Sleepy Head or in Spanish Dormilona. Josephine came back home to Margaret River after having her first child and started her winemaking consultancy company Perryscope and her winery Dormilona. Despite early instalment difficulties: being warned against using a skull and cross bones in her marketing, and enduring having her business referred to as ‘Jo’s hobby’, Dormilona wines now stand amongst the most highly lauded in Margaret River. They earned Josephine an award as the Young Gun of Wine for 2016, and have helped put West Australian natural wines on the map. Josephine PerryJo was thoroughly engaging, and clever and informal enough to elicit a lot of laughter from the crowd. She called her house wines “Light, fruity, in and out wines to just smash every day”. She also credits the beginning of her winemaking journey to her Grandfather, a brewer at Swan Brewery, asking her to write down what she wanted out of life, and discerning that winemaker was the position which best suited her desires for freedom, travel and spontaneity. Jo’s grandfather hit the nail on the head, and after an encouraging start fermenting a successful and swiftly confiscated apricot wine as a high school science project, She began her wine journey. Josephine studied by correspondence, sitting exams in Paris, Milan, Sicily and San Francisco. Her studies followed by a long international tenure which included California, New Zealand, Germany, France and then seven years managing wineries in the Canary Islands before her return home to Western Australia. Her WinesWe were just amazed by the wines we tasted from Dormilona, they were bold but refined, clever, easy, and just funky enough for us to find them really exciting. We began with the Rosato Rose, bottled only a month ago. The tempranillo rose made with hand picked whole bunches was not intended to be ongoing, but production has continued upon her husband's insistence. “I make it in magnums because he just knocks it back,” said Josephine. We’re on side with Josephine’s husband, it is indeed delicious. We moved onto the Blanco and Tinto, Dormilona’s low alcohol, easy drinking house wines. The wines certainly punched above their weight. In the Blanco we tasted a melony brightness which was exciting and moreish. In the Tinto we found a warmth like a throw rug. In both we tasted a bright acidic tickle at the start followed by a pleasant ashiness. We moved onto her Chardonnay and to Josephine, the love of her life: "Chardonnay is something you can build or something you can let it do its thing.” Said Josephine, who rather than constructing this wine, has tried to capture the fruit and "just let it shine." We loved the Chardonnay which was crisp and beautiful. We finished the official wines for this Grape To Glass with the Cabernet Sauvignon. We’d had a bit of wine at this point— being a Chardonnay drinker occasionally means the responsibility of finishing your friends’ glasses— and after drinking the Cabarnet Sauvignon, we loved it so much that we stopped taking notes, assuming that we would vividly remember the taste by the time of writing this article,. We didn’t. But we do recall loving this wine, which was not a major deviation from a quintessential Margaret River cabernet, but was as beautiful and delicious as the best we've had. In addition to her five wines, Josephine brought her ‘Clayface’ wines, a magnum each of the Chardonnay and Cabernet, this time aged in amphorae. Amphorae are clay pots which are buried in the ground. Clay breathes in a way similar to an oak barrel but doesn't impart oak flavours on the wine. Josephine “truly respects it,” and her process involves using organic fruit with no additions. Tasting the Clayface manifestations of wines we had tried previously made for a fascinating comparison, and we fell in love immediately with these beautiful wines made in an old world style. Grape To GlassHunkered down in the converted cellar event space of Young George, the dim lights and jovial atmosphere made this Grape to Glass event feel timeless and whimsical. Jo, Josh from Neighbourhood Events roamed around filling glasses as the lovely Young George staff offered bites to eat, making the small, friendly space feel warm and wonderful. Next in Neighbourhood Event Co.'s Grape To Glass series is Walsh & Sons at Gordon St Garage on August 24th followed by Ministry of Clouts at Helvetica on August 31st See the rest of our coverage of Grape To Glass. Read More:Every morning at 6am Carly comes into their laboratory, prepares a large vat of crème anglaise, and loads batches into a machine which churns and freezes. All the while she adds fruit purees she has prepared, cookies she has made and produce she has sourced from around WA. She’s a Pharmacist by background, which has been useful in her role as the ‘architect' for their flavours. Everything which can be made from scratch, has been made from scratch, and she weighs out ingredients, melts and crushes in a blender, and prepares flavours until just before 12pm when the unassuming little gelato store opens for trade. Carly is one half of the couple behind Chicho, Northbridge’s first artisan gelato store. Carly and her husband Chez champion a local, produce driven and constantly in-motion approach to traditional gelato. What’s the Difference Between Gelato and Ice-cream?When I asked Chez what the difference was between gelato and ice cream, he wanted to explain the difference not only between the two, but between the bulk of the gelato Perth had seen before, and their own approach. In short, gelato is churned slower and warmer than ice-cream, and with a lower cream content. The result is that gelato has less air than ice cream, so a scoop of gelato will weigh more than a scoop of ice cream. It is also easier to discern complex flavours in gelato, as it is not so cold as to shock the tongue. New Wave GelatoThe differences between ‘Commercial Gelato' and the 'New Wave Gelato' which Chez and Carly make at Chicho are just as significant: “You can buy ‘gelato flavour pastes and semi-finished products’, where you just read the recipe and throw it all in.” Says Chez, “But I think the purer you can make it, the better”. Alongside their commitment to make everything they can from whole, local ingredients, Chez and Carly do not add colour or preservatives to their gelato. The practice necessitates storing their gelato in traditional stainless steel tubs, which do not allow either the staff or customer to see their gelato until it is being scooped. Chez and his staff navigate these tubs entirely by memory, learning the placement of their ever changing flavours each night. That their gelato, usually a very visual product, cannot be seen from the street level, they combat using their social media presence and the aesthetic of the store. Chez and Carly have stuck to their guns and continue to pursue the best product they can produce, and this distinction has resonated with their customers, “We were worried about people not getting it, not seeing the product was a bold move, which nobody else has done in Perth. Even in italy it is rare to find the pozzetti except in the north.” But their approach has resonated with the people in Perth, and they’re one of few ice-cream places which can claim to have regulars. “The feedback we get is that our product is quite light, it doesn’t leave you feeling stuffed because there’s a realness to it” Says Chez. Constantly Changing FlavoursThe new wave gelato at Chicho is in constant flux and draws inspiration from seasonal produce and from collaborations with local Chefs. “During the chef collabs a chef tells us what flavours they want, and we provide the skill set.” Says Carly. “Everyone who’s done it so far has really enjoyed it” When I mentioned to Carly that, for all my love of what they were doing, I was really a die hard vanilla fan, she was quick to mention that they were in no way above the staples, “you’ve got to make sure that your vanilla is great. If your vanilla isn’t right, nothing is going to be right.” "There are a few obligatory flavours like vanilla and chocolate, but we always want to keep it fresh and new.” Says Carly, "some of the flavours we started with are still there, we’ll never get rid of the malted milk cornflake, we can’t take it off. Popcorn too. So many people come in for it.” ChichoThe spark of inspiration which became Chicho came to Chez as the couple were living in East London, Chez was working a corporate job and Carly as a pharmacist. “The East London food scene has gone crazy over the last five years with owner-operators, young entrepreneurs, and Chefs coming over from Europe for the better economic conditions…We were living and breathing the food scene every day and I was pretty despondent in a corporate position. We decided that food, being our passion, could be an avenue for a brand, and a business idea” The couple had always intended to come back home to Perth, and decided to come home via Italy and the Americas. Chez had found out about a gelato course in Bologna and thought the worst which could come of it was a new education for himself and Carly. The course resonated with the couple, and encouraged them to continue their travels "collecting ideas along the way” Carly and Chez came home to Perth after six months of travels. Setting up a commercial kitchen in their garage and bringing their product to farmers markets around Perth in a gelato cart. They named their business Chicho after the term "eh ciccio!”, an Italian term of endearment meaning ‘Cheeky Kid’. The couple slowly dialed their jobs back as they spent more and more time on their gelato business and in January of 2016 established their William Street store. When I asked what was next for Chicho, and for Carly and Chez, they laughed and replied “A holiday. Ask us after that.” They had mentioned previously that a semblance of work-life balance was the next mountain for the couple to summit. “If you’re here 24/7, it’s easy to lose passion for what you’re doing. The first two years in any business are always a challenge, but we’re trying to keep people on long term so we can challenge them and bring out the best in them" They are intent on holding everything they do to their own high standards, and although they mention plans for pop-up ventures and expansions, they won’t do so until they can be certain that they can continue using the best ingredients and practices. Chicho are open at 180 William Street, from 12-10pm Sun-Wed and 12-11pm Thurs-Sat. Check them out on Facebook and Instagram Read More:The Pawn Wine Co.After a tenure growing grapes and selling to commercial winemakers, Tom Keelan found himself disenfranchised to see his efforts blended down into uninspiring wines bearing no reference to the Adelaide Hills on their labels. This dissatisfaction culminated in Tom and vigneron David Blows making their own wine as a ‘one off’ in 2002. The wine struck a chord with Tom and David as well as the community surrounding them, and they have been producing small batch wine using their estate grown grapes and old world methods ever since. The name The Pawn Wine Co. came from a cellar hand writing ‘Pawn Star’ across each of the barrels of their first vintage. The idea of the pawn as the overlooked piece in a chess board, but the one which, unified with the other pawns, can turn the tide of the game, resonated with Tom. The resulting company celebrates being small, accessible, and free spirited, and believe that boutique winemakers are pawns of their own game: often overlooked by bigger producers but as a unified force, powerful and able to turn the tide of the game. The Pawn Wine Co. grow the grapes for every wine that they make, a process which allows them to start their winemaking "in the vineyard". Tom freely admits to additives of sulphur and small amounts of acid in his wines, but still he will only pick grapes which he knows will make for excellent wine. Tom told us that he recently went to a larger winery and was able to taste ten years of vintages of a certain variety “I can’t do that,” he said, “If the grapes won’t make for a vintage I’m proud of, I have no trouble leaving them.” Tom KeelanWhen I mentioned to Tom that his wines were surprisingly cheap considering their circumstances, he confidently replied that he "has been told often that his wines are too cheap, but never that they are too expensive" and that his current prices are "enough to sustain me and my family, but low enough that anybody who wants them can access them— I don’t need much more than that” Whilst his wines are sophisticated and thoughtful, Tom does not shy away from informality, calling his Desperado red blend an attempt to make a “great pizza wine,” and having started his desperado range in 2011 when terrible weather meant only a Rosé came up to his standards. The name Desperado comes from a chess move which involves sacrificing your remaining pieces in a last ditch effort to win the game. His WinesTom called his wines "true to their variety”, and indeed there were no wild diversions or esoteric winemaking terminologies but rather straight-forward and delicious, approachable wines. Our night began with his Austraian Attack Grüner Veltliner, a lesser known but fascinating variety. The Grüner is an Austrian grape, the original climate of which very closely resembles that of the Adelaide Hills. The Pawn Wine Co. were amongst the first three wineries in the Adelaide Hills to plant the increasingly popular grape. Now planted in over 30 wineries. Tom suggests the variety is unique in flavour hitting you not as a pinpoint but as a wide splash. We drank the aforementioned Desperado Rosé, which employed a neat trick of technology: showing in the label a rose when kept at the right temperature, fading into a skull when too warm or too cold. Following the Rosé, we drank The Gambit Sangiovese, a light but warm wine, and one of the original plantings from the vineyard. Finishing the event on a bold and luxurious En Passant Tempranillo which Tom called "like a chesterfield lounge”. Tom brought one last, bonus wine, the Desperado red blend. Tom was quick to pre-emptively dismiss accusations that blends were made from inferior grapes, and said that this was always the first wine of the vintage. The “get home from work” wine was comfortable, homey, and deep. Grape To GlassThis week Grape To Glass took over the Rockefeller Deli, a midcentury inspired diner serving beautiful food, and great coffee until late into the night. We were delighted by the great service and friendly staff, and loved sitting amongst groovy, comfy retro upholstery and sipping The Pawn Wine Co.’s wines. Complete with a brief geography lesson on South Australia’s wine regions, the chance to drink wine in the presence of the winemaker left a special impression on the wines and brought out the best in both the wine and the night. Next in Neighbourhood Event Co.'s Grape To Glass series is Dormilona at Young George on August 10th followed by Walsh & Sons at Gordon St Garage on August 24th. See the rest of our coverage of Grape To Glass. Read More:2/8/2017 0 Comments Grape To Glass #4: VinteloperWe’re featuring the Neighbourhood Event Co. roaming winemaker series Grape To Glass, a series of pop up cellar doors in a ton of different small bars and restaurants around Perth and Fremantle. The series runs every Thursday from the start of July until the end of August and last Thursday saw us at The Shorehouse with amazing wine by the Adelaide Hills winery, Vinteloper. VinteloperWith the French word for wine prefixed over the word interloper. The Vinteloper brand is a pledge to stand out from everything pretentious and inaccessible about the world of wine. Following the motto ‘Fun on the outside, serious in the bottle.’ Vinteloper’s founder and winemaker David Bowley and his wife Sharon Fong have built a winery which is as much about the situations and people drinking as it is about the wine, which so happens to be brilliant. Besides its labels, which are beautiful hand drawn illustrations by Sharon, Vinteloper is perhaps most famous for their yearly Urban Winery Project. The project sees David bringing fermenters, a basket press, and a load of barrels into the city for a community driven winemaking adventure. The project runs every year during the harvest, “probably the most difficult time it could happen,” but David says the reason they run the project is because “After being a part of making the wine, for those two hundred people. every glass they drink for the rest of their lives tastes a little bit better." David BowleyAfter a tenure in commercial winemaking David began working for Wine Australia, and was able to drink “Thousands of wines, from almost every winery in Australia.” In tasting so many wines from so many different regions, David discovered that the region which most resonated with him was that from the Adelaide Hills, the area he grew up in. He eventually began Vinterloper in 2008, and while still working at Wine Australia, steadily grew until "The biggest risk would have been not taking the risk" and left his job in order to put all of his facilities into his brand. David is quick to reject any pretentiousness or inaccessibility related to wine, and for him this includes wordy tasting notes, Instead choosing to introduce his wines with vivid imagery and experiences. He likened his Pinot Gris to the moment of throwing your head under the water at the beach on the first day of summer, an experience, he asserts, we’ve all had before. When one attendee at Grape To Glass complimented the Pinot Gris, saying it was very good, he replied ‘what do you like about it?’ and throughout the night he emphasised that he didn’t want to tell people what they want, he wanted to ask people what they wanted. David tells us that in addition to the grapes he grows himself he buys from the same growers each vintage, saying that in everything he does he is forever trying to improve just a little bit from last time. His WinesDavid’s wines are refined and intricate, but there is nothing daunting about them. Treated delicately throughout his winemaking process, Vinteloper wines perfectly embody the convivial atmosphere they hope to facilitate. Our tastings began with a Pinot Gris, usually not a personal favourite, but this particular one was moreish, with a crisp and lemony finish, which David said "leaves you wanting just a little bit more”. We progressed immediately onto reds, with an elegant Pinot Noir which David likened to having “The same analogue warmth of a vinyl record”. We moved on to a remarkable, refined Shiraz which David believed had been “turned down from 11 compared to most shiraz”, and a Touriga Nacional. Touriga, the primary grape in Port, is a bit of a rarity in Australia. It made for a huge, powerful wine, a bit like a starburst in drinkable form. We finished the night with a lovely red from the most recent Urban Winery Project. Grape To GlassWith ominous clouds rolling in over the beach, we could think of no better time to be indoors drinking wine. Even in stormy weather the staff of the Shorehouse were lovely, and between the jovial atmosphere and beautiful wines we had no problem forgetting the dreariness outside. Next in Neighbourhood Event Co.'s Grape To Glass series is The Pawn Wine Co. at Rockefeller Deli on August 3rd. followed by Dormolina at Young George on August 10th.
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