Australian Wine Dinner
by Julian Schultz
julian@oxfordwineroom.com
I was thrice-and-one-time blessed. First blessing: An unfathomable force furthered my feet to the glowing table that was graced by five lovely ladies who oozed personality and pulchritude. Emboldened by their come-hither graciousness, I mused -- might I experience the paradise of pleasure with them? Who knows? At the Webster House Restaurant things remarkable do happen.
Second: Fabulous food, prepared Australian style by Webster House's knights of the kitchen, and generously portioned, piqued our palates and stuffed our stomachs.
Third: Six Australian wines, wondrous of flavor and compassionate of price, were unstintingly poured and avidly consumed; they are available at 20 percent discount prices at O'Hara's Discount Liquors. (All prices listed here reflect the discount.)
The plus one: A seductively sweet Tawny Port -- not from Portugal, expectedly, but from Australia, had us sipping with delight and swooning with euphoria.
With one course, however, I thought it came Passover already. And thereby hangs a tale.
So…to another socko Webster House wine dinner that had everything for some 40-plus salivating sybaritic gourmets who ate away, forgoing inhibition and restraint - I recklessly among them -- disdainful of diet disgrace tonight, oblivious of caloric torment tomorrow.
But first things first. We were poured second and third refills of Clovely Estate Queensland Rosé 2002, $7.99, upon arrival for stand-around socializing prior to dinner. This rosé is not your insipid, anemic, conventional rosé. Blended with 50 percent merlot, 25 grenache and 25 cabernet sauvignon, it offers assertive aromas of tropical fruits and flowers and tastes of cherries, strawberries and peaches; it finishes dry, crisp and refreshing. We enjoyed an awful lot of pleasing wine for an awful little of price tag.
Appetizer: Aussie shrimp on the barbie was perfection with a delectable orange/ginger sauce and scallions in scooped out kiwi bowl. A-plus compatible with the paired Clovely Verdhelho 2002, a steal at $7.99. Aromas of honeysuckle and spice and tastes of zesty citrus, mango, lychee nuts and tropical fruits prompted pens and pencils to order in multiple quantities. Dr. Bob Ouellette, he of black belt palate, ordered multiples after being reassured by fine chef in her own right, wife Lucille, that she would duplicate the delicious shrimp preparation and replicate its tenderness and light smokiness.
First entreé: sauteed skinless boneless chicken breast with kiwi/chardonnay sauce, laced with fresh mushrooms, onions, tarragon, kiwi reduction, and chayote -- the latter a combination of red cabbage, carrots, cucumber and mandarin orange. Shottesbrooke "Fleurieu" Sauvignon Blanc 2000, $12.79, was its proud accompaniment. Move over Cloudy Bay! This wine at almost half your price is your peer. Our taste buds were pleasingly pampered with dry, crisp, citrus and tropical fruits and freshly cut grass intensity. Again, I noted serious scribbling on O'Hara's order form by pleased palateers who recognize price value.
Elated diners elevated the function room's decibel level. So far, we appreciated all things exemplary from the Webster House culinary department.
But now came -- had Passover come early for me? I tasted the grilled yellow fin tuna with black eye peas salsa and prepared with peas, onion, peppers, limejuice, tomatoes and cilantro leaf garnish. So I asked myself the question: "What makes this night different from all other nights?"
I answered myself: "Because the tuna course this night is atypical of all other courses at all other wine dinners at the usual all together Webster House. Moreover, I had already protested its same preparation at the trial dinner."
Without belaboring…err, kicking, if you will, a dead tuna: The tuna dish, except for its excellent accompaniments, reminded me of -- tasted like…Passover matzos! Dry…hard…tasteless. As matzos always do, the tuna gave me heartburn after the trial dinner and now again after the second time around.
The wine riding on the tuna's back, conversely, was spectacular, spectacular, spectacular! Bremerton Langhorne Creek "Selkirk" Shiraz 2000, $15.99. Keep your Australian Hermitages and Magills that sell for considerably more. Sniff and taste Bremerton's intriguing mulberries, varied spices, lush fruit and black pepper that linger long on the palate. It finishes smoothly and its flavors linger even longer in the aftertaste. As good as the other wines were, this Shiraz was my favorite and I enjoyed it as much after my third refill.
All good eating was back to normal with superlative food: barbecued lamb kabobs with lemon/olive pilaf and broccoli; the pilaf was spectacular with flavors of plum, apricot, black olives. Bremerton Langhorne Creek Tamblyn 2000, $15.99, was teamed to the lamb. A blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec, Tamblyn's aromas and tastes of violets and cherries were exquisitely balanced with black pepper and fruit acids; it homesteaded on the palate - like it would remain there forever.
Ah, the lamb. One slice, one taste, one swallow -- perfection! Beautifully prepared medium rare, the shish kabob pieces - sumptuous of portion - were meaty, tender and delicious. Now…I am a take-it-or-leave-it lamb guy, but not this night. On this night, different from all other nights, I was a "take-it-guy"; now I shall eat lamb and I shall love lamb. Hallelujah! I am a born-again lamb lover thanks to the Webster House, which incidentally is famous for its Greek style lamb cooking.
Many in attendance shouted their choice of the Tamblyn over the Shiraz - and I couldn't argue because I thought that maybe I agreed with them. I urge you…unless you hate yourself buy BOTH red wines and enjoy the comparison game.
And now…all hail Helena Liazos, dessert chef par excellence for her Down Under cheesecake with apricot dipped in dark chocolate! Chris' wife never fails to outdo herself with imaginative desserts that simply raise hell with calorie counters and damn dieters, I among them. Aw, I rationalize, live for tonight; tomorrow will take of…well, your bulging belly.
Escorting the cheesecake was Shottesbrooke "Bernesh Bray" Tawny Port $22.99. The five ladies of loveliness at the table, seemingly enthralled with all the good food and wine, were doubly - nay, triply -- enthralled with the Port. They asked questions about the Tawny Port, which led to answers about Ruby Port, Late Bottle Vintage Port, Single Vineyard Port, and Vintage Port.
Never reluctant to listen to myself, I lectured them on this great after dinner dessert wine that goes best with Stilton or green/blue veined cheese, walnuts and sliced pears:
My introduction to Port: Brrr! The cold, blustery, Gander, Newfoundland, 1946 winter weather outside had chilled my bones. Inside, I poured three ounces of Croft 1935 Vintage Port. As its warmth coursed comfort through my frosty limbs, thoughts of my brush with death were suppressed.
How it snowed that morning, coming home from Egypt in World War II! The winter winds had swirled gusts of dense snowflakes, making visibility on the airstrip almost zero. Next day, we should not have tried to fly out in such abominable weather.
Our plane took off and ran into a wide, deep ditch that was concealed by snow. The plane went in vertical, tail straight up. The pilot committed an unpardonable sin: He did not turn off the engines.
The plane likely would have exploded had not an Air Corps inspector general on board rushed into the cockpit and screamed to the pilot, "Shut down those goddamned engines!" The pilot was devastated upon being told that his lapse of safety precaution would be reported to Air Corps headquarters. I believe, however, his entreaties for mercy may have been successful.
We were stuck in Gander for a week, waiting for a plane to be flown up from Presque Isle, Maine. During the week the inspector general, the pilot and I, -- I invited because I was a graduate of the Inspector General Officer Candidate School -- drank Port. It was the only wine available, so it was Port and more Port as the inspector general and the pilot studied the plane's blueprints and mechanicals. Frequently they clinked glasses and laughed together. That experience was my introduction to Port and to wine.
From mid-December through mid-March, Port in its varieties is my winter garment of content, and I recommend Port for cold weather sipping. I forswear the rich desserts of other months and opt for Portuguese Ports with walnuts, fruit and piquant Stilton or green/blue veined cheese.
Port is a luscious sweet wine, fortified with 25 percent brandy distilled from wine of its own grapes. When fermentation is halted with addition of the brandy, the alcohol level is raised to between 19 and 21 percent and the wine's sweetness is completed at 8 or 9 percent residual sugar.
The greatest Port - and the most expensive - is Vintage Port that is "declared" about three times in a decade: The shipper will declare a Vintage Port if growing conditions are perfect and, if after two years aging in casks, the wine shows superior qualities. Only about 2 percent of wine produced in a declared year is made into Vintage Port. The wine usually requires 10 to 30 years bottle aging before it reaches its prime. And what a prime it is!
Vintage Ports are robust, rich, intense and complex with sweet flavors reminiscent of chocolate, cherries, coffee, spices, raisins, toasted nuts and, sometimes, violets. They have enough alcohol, tannin and tart fruit acids to neutralize cloying.
Port fanciers likewise prize 10- and 20 year old Tawny Ports. They are lighter bodied, more velvety and more amiable than Vintage Port; they mature after many years aging in barrels. Color is orange/brownish/red from extended wood contact and some barrel oxidation. They are sweet, although drier, and less expensive than Vintage Port and generally smell and taste of walnuts, spices, smoke and musty dried fruit. They are immediately drinkable because aging is completed in the cask.
The best Port values are Late Bottled Vintage (LBV on some labels) and Single Vineyard Ports. LBV spends longer time in the cask than Vintage Port and must be bottle by the sixth year after harvest. Single Vineyard Ports are bottled after two years in wood and released after two years bottle. Both wines are drinkable upon purchase.
Ruby Port is the most available and the least expensive Port. Blended with young fresh wines, it is packed with straightforward sweet fruit but it lacks the complexity and silkiness of aged Vintage and Tawny Ports. It is bottled young, consumed young and pleasing to newcomers to Port.
A word about the aforementioned cheeses: With Stilton, the Port develops additional flavors butterscotch, caramel and vanilla where none had existed. And continuing to sip with the cheese, different flavor emerge…and emerge. Try it!
Relaxed now, sipping the heady Tawny Port, I wanted to show off with my famous Port quotation and charm the lovely ladies, but a passerby wanted my attention. So the lovely ladies didn't get to hear the quotation, which I always deliver with dramatic and impressive (I think) thespian intonation:
"When I depart this earth/ to appear before my beloved Lord/ to account for all my sins/ which indeed have been many and scarlet/ I shall say to Him: 'Lord, I cannot remember the name of the village/ I do not even recollect the name of the girl /but the wine…ah, the wine, dear Lord/ was…Vintage Port!' "
Wine Pick: Stephen Ross Wine Cellars "Bien Nacido Vineyard" Pinot Noir 2001, $39.99. Here's Burgundy come to Central Massachusetts at considerably less than the price of the so-called "real" Pinot Noir. Sniff and taste cherries, raspberries, spices, toasty briarwood, white pepper. Other tasters detected game, leather and cinnamon. Recommended highly.
Wine Pick: (The New) Woodbridge Select Vineyard Series Fish Net Creek Old Vines Zinfandel 2000, around $11. Blended with Barbera, Syrah and Carignane, this zin has it all! Find luscious aromas and flavors of raspberries, blackberries, varied dried spices with balancing black pepper and added oak complexity from 15 months barrel aging. Buy it and enjoy the flavor and price.
Wine Pick: Reynolds Vineyards Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2002, $15. Complexity from added Semillon and Verdelho, this beauty confirms Australia's emergence as a top producer of Sauvignon Blanc. Sniff and taste tropical, citrus and gooseberries fruits with added complexity from nuances of green olives, sweet grass, vanilla and oak. Nice wine, that is hard to put down once you start sipping.
Wine Pick: Dry Creek Reserve Chardonnay 2000, around $23. Enjoy aromas of fresh mango and papaya and flavors of delicious peach and apples underlaid with vanilla oak richness; acidity balance, smooth swallow and lengthy aftertaste afford delightful sipping. Some of us tasted it recently at a wine dinner and hailed it as the dinner's outstanding white wine.