Thursday, 4 September, 2008, 16:33 AEST

Top of the class

Congratulations to Sydney sommelier Ben Moechtar who was dux of the class at the prestigious Certified Sommeliers Exams, which were run by the Court of Master Sommeliers in Sydney and Melbourne over the past week. Ben, who runs Delicado in North Sydney (featured on p15 of our current issue) and is the Joint President of Sommeliers Australia, is now well on his way to achieving the world’s most highly regarded accreditation of Master Sommelier.
 
The program was conducted by visiting Master sommeliers Brian Juylan (UK) and Darius Allyn and Tim Gaiser (USA) who put 150 wine types from some of Sydney and Melbourne’s best-known restaurants through the hoops. Twenty-three sommeliers from Sydney and 24 from Melbourne were awarded their Certified Sommeliers certificates and pins, and the top 11 students have been invited to attempt the Advanced Certificate next year in the UK or the US.

They include Ben Edwards (Joint President, Sommeliers Australia), Ben Knight (Vue du Monde), David Lawler (Rockpool), Liam O’Brien (Circa, The Prince), Kim Bickley (Glass), Andrew Cullen (Bilson’s), Peter Healy (Marque), Franck Moreau (The Ivy, Ash St Cellars), Tilak Sinha (Auberge du Soleil) and James Erskine (Auge) from Adelaide. - JUDY SARRIS

Friday, 29 August, 2008, 10:22 AEST

Wine in focus

Last week, members of the Gourmet Traveller WINE team trooped down to Wine Focus held at the MCA in Sydney to taste a range of wines, mainly from smaller producers, who'd scored 4 stars or more in the latest edition of James Halliday Australian Wine Companion. We were very taken with Beechworth winemaker Keppell Smith's 2006 Savaterre Chardonnay ($75), plus his 2006 Pinot Noir ($75) should be a cracker in a couple years time. If you can't wait that long, decant for a couple of hours before drinking. Visit www.savaterre.com.  - JUDY SARRIS

Thursday, 7 August, 2008, 10:00 AEST

Wine List of the Year Awards event

It’s official, Australia’s best wine list is to be found at Victorian restaurant Taxi Dining, perched high over Federation Square, and Lincoln Riley of Taxi has been named the Judy Hirst Sommelier of the Year. These awards, as well as awards for State and Category winners were announced at Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards, presented at the Art Gallery of NSW by Gourmet Traveller Wine and Fine Wine Partners. Fittingly, guests sipped on an exceptional selection of wines from Petaluma, Brokenwood, Henschke and more, out of Riedel glassware, and were kept well-hydrated by sponsor Acqua Panna. After the event, swarms of sommeliers from around Australia hit some of Sydney’s favourite wine venues, including the newly opened Ash Street Cellars in Angel Place and old favourite Longrain on Commonwealth St, Surry Hills. For the rest of the Award results, check out our online Wine List of the Year feature. - JUDY SARRIS

Tuesday, 10 June, 2008, 09:23 AEST

French wine goes au naturel

A quiet revolution is underway in French winemaking. Vignerons throughout the country now realise the damage that chemical sprays and artificial fertilisers have caused to their soil and are moving to organic and biodynamic farming methods. And this philosophy is also being extended to the production of wines using minimal intervention and use of additives.

Wine bars and cave á manger (wine shops that also serve food) are opening up everywhere in Paris promoting the virtues of 'natural' wines, many having their entire selection devoted to the cause.

Natural wines mean different things to different people but some features are beyond dispute. The vines must be tended organically and, preferably, biodynamically. Many of the proponents work the land by hand, maybe with the help of horses to plough the soil. No chemicals and no artificial fertilizers are ever used. In the winemaking process itself, the wines are left to ferment to completion using only natural yeasts, never commercial yeasts. And, most controversially, natural winemakers use little or no sulphites to stabilise the wines.

The end result is often a surprisingly lively wine with amazing freshness and deep concentrated flavour that fully expresses the nature of the fruit from which it was made.

Because the wines don't travel easily, the best way to discover them is to come to Paris and visit wine shops and wine bars that specialise in natural wines. One of the best is Racines, the new home of Pierre Jancou, who combines a wine shop with a small café where only natural wines are teamed with some of the finest organic and biodynamic foods (vegetables from Alain Passard's biodynamic garden, Lardo di Colonnata by Fausto Guadagni and dairy products from Jean-Yves Bordier).

At Racines, we tried wines by Claude Courtois and Eric Pfifferling. In the Solonge region of the Loire Valley, Courtois has rescued a tract of land that was regarded as dead from overuse to produce white and red wines using natural processes. His white wine Quartz is always available by the glass at Racines and is the perfect introduction to the potential of natural winemaking. Courtois' difficult to find Petit Coin de Paradis, a slightly sweet white Vin de Table made from the obscure Menu Pineau grape, is also on the list at Racines. Eric Pfifferling makes wine at his Mas de l'Anglore estate in Tavel, in the southern Rhone, a region better known for its rosé. We drank a vibrant red Vin de Table called Terre d'Ombre, made mainly from Grenache.

But there are many more natural wines to hunt out and places to hunt for them. Try the Arbois Pupillin by winemaker Pierre Overnoy for something very different. In the glass, this pale, limpid red wine looks fragile but it has structure and complexity that belies its shy appearance. If you are still hard to convince then one sip of the amazing, velvet-like Cote du Py Morgon by Jean Foillard will make you a life long convert to natural wines.

Racines, 8 Passage des Panoramas, Paris 75002. Tel. +33 1 4013 0641  - SUE DYSON AND ROGER MCSHANE

Thursday, 15 May, 2008, 11:05 AEST

Raising the bar

Interested in trying Champagne by the flight to compare nuances of different house styles? It's not what you'd expect in downtown Denver, but the revitalised LoDo district is the new arbiter of cool - in which Champagne bar Corridor 44 (1433 Larimer Street, ph: 303 893 0044) is playing a major part. Since opening two years ago, owner Brian Siffermann came upon the idea for Champagne flights to encourage more vigorous consumption of more Champagne brands, offering three pours of French brut for $US20, rosé styles or US sparklings for $US18, or a "varietal flight" (Louis Bouillot Perle d'Ivoire/blanc de blanc, Gruet Blanc de Noir and Il Faggeto Prosecco) for $US16. Not surprisingly, they are proving very popular, and stimulating increased bottle sales. Beyond this, the bar staff serve 18 sparkling options by the glass, more than 80 choices by the bottle - from tiny, obscure houses (Moncuit, Alfred Gratien, Philipponnat) to Dom Perignon and Krug with quality Spanish Cava, Californian sparkling and Australian sparkling shiraz rounding out the mix. The décor is as elegant as the wine list, with baroque mirrors, gold embossed wallpaper and studded white leather banquettes, while the bar name is derived from a 44ft-long corridor separating the front bar from a very exclusive function room at the rear. - DAVID SLY

Friday, 9 May, 2008, 15:58 AEST

Chateau Palmer dinner at Catalina

Château Palmer is regarded as one of Bordeaux's 'super second' growths and a favourite among Australian wine collectors. So when Bernard de Laage de Meux and Laurent Delassus from Château Palmer made a rare visit to Australia,  Gourmet Traveller WINE met up with them for a mini vertical tasting organised by Andrew Caillard, MW at Catalina, Rose Bay. As Caillard says, Château Palmer is ranked second in Margaux behind first growth Château Margaux, although many observers believe that the property deserves First Growth status along with Château Léoville Las Cases. Those who attended the dinner weren't disappointed whilst tasting the 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2003 vintages with the 1995 scoring best with most guests. The 2001 and 2004 vintages of Château Palmer's second label Alter Ego also received a positive response. Wines can be purchased at auction. - JUDY SARRIS

Thursday, 10 April, 2008, 11:53 AEST

Greek wines

The Gourmet Traveller WINE crew stumbled across some interesting wines at a tasting held at Perama, our favourite Greek restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Petersham. Wines from Kir-Yianni are being distributed by Douglas Lamb Wines (1300 667 812) and include: Akakies, a rosé from Amyndeon, one of the most promising AOC zones in north-western Greece; Tesseris Limnes, a blend of chardonnay and gewürztraminer; a couple of xinomavros from AOC Naoussa, including Ramnista; and the super-blend Dyo Elies. - JUDY SARRIS

Wednesday, 19 March, 2008, 08:21 AEST

WINE mag goes to Mad Cow

Last night, Gourmet Traveller WINE popped into Mad Cow, the new steak house recently opened by Justin Hemmes at his new Ivy complex at 330 George St in Sydney. The 500 gram, dry-aged strip loin was delicious - especially washed down with a spot of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The menu created by Peter Doyle also provides plentiful choices for non-meat eaters, and we were more than pleased with the reasonable price of the Gosset NV Grand Rose we sipped on before dinner. - JUDY SARRIS

Monday, 18 February, 2008, 10:20 AEST

Best New Wine Writer

The winner of Gourmet Traveller WINE's New Writer Award was announced at the Wine Press Club Macquarie Bank Sydney Royal Wine Show Trophy Winner's Lunch held on Friday, February 15 at Star City Pyrmont. Congratulations to winemaker Tim Shand who, although he recently spent time working vintage at Chateau Margaux, opted to write about the attributes of cask wine. His story will be published in the April/May issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE, on sale April 14, 2008. - JUDY SARRIS

Monday, 18 February, 2008, 10:00 AEST

A Taste of New Zealand

Lovers of Kiwi wines should make a bee line for New Zealand in A Glass 2008 to be held this week in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. There will be more than 100 different producers showcasing around 400 wines from 9 top NZ wine regions. It's an event not to be missed. - JUDY SARRIS

Tuesday, 12 February, 2008, 15:14 AEST

Sydney Royal Wine Show Gongs

A few of Gourmet Traveller WINE's regular contributors have, recently,  been incommunicado while judging at the Sydney Royal Wine Show. The results of all the swirling, sniffing and spitting will be revealed at the 2008 Macquarie Bank Sydney Royal Wine Show Awards Dinner to be held on Thursday night.  Gourmet Traveller WINE will attend the awards, and you can be among the first to discover who got the gongs by logging onto www.sydneyroyalshows.com.au from 9am on Friday, February 15. - JUDY SARRIS