On 22nd August, Mukul Manku put together a wonderful wine dinner with wines of Southern Australia. Held at the upscale Spicy Duck restaurant in the historic Hotel Taj Palace New Delhi, this event was relished and appreciated by all present. In this post Mukul writes about his experience.
The Wine Flight
The wine dinner featured a flight of four wines, one of which was a sparkling wine and other three were still wines, the details of which are covered in the succeeding paragraphs.
The Blue Bar
The starter course of the event was held at The Blue Bar which is a stylish, luxurious bar at Hotel Taj Palace New Delhi, known for its trendy design and upscale yet comfortable setting. Taj had earmarked a special place in the Bar area for our guests to make it a Private Event enclosure, something which was appreciated by the club members.
Il Fresco Villa Sandi Prosecco DOC Treviso
The guests savoured the liberal pours of Prosecco and loved the light and the refreshing style of this sparkling wine from Italy.
Let me here also breakdown the longish name of the Prosecco – Il Fresco Villa Sandi Prosecco DOC Treviso for you:
Il Fresco means The Fresh One, indicating the fresh style in which this sparkling wine is made.
Villa Sandi is the name of the winery, as also the name of the actual Villa, the origin of which goes back to the year 1620. The winery takes its name from this historic villa which is seen as an amalgamation of the exceptional Architecture of the Villa and Agriculture/ Viticulture in the region.
Prosecco indicates the style of this wine. It means that it is a sparkling wine from Italy made with the Charmat or the Tank Method to preserve freshness of the wine.
DOC stands for the wine appellation. It means that this wine is governed by the strict DOC regulations which ensures that it is produced as a good quality wine.
Treviso indicates that this wine comes from the province of Treviso located in the larger Veneto region in North East of Italy.
An overview of the Still Wines
Before I talk further about the still wines which were served at the sit down dinner in the Spicy Duck restaurant, let me give you a small brief about these wines which form part of the Metal Label series of the Berton Vineyards Australia. The grapes for these wines are sourced from premium vineyards in Southern Australia, which go into the making of only single varietal wines. When I say single varietal, it primarily means two things – first that these wines give the pure expression of the grape and second, these give the real sense of the place from where they come from.
A Word about Berton Vineyards
The family owned Berton Vineyards was established in the year 1996 when Bob and Cherie Berton planted their first vines in South Eastern Australia.
One of the first offerings of this winery was the Bonzai Cabernet Shiraz. Yes, you read the correct, the Bonzai Cabernet Shiraz which was actually made with grapes grown on a stunted Bonzai Vines. I had to actually check about Bonzai Vines on Internet and to my pleasant surprise this was true.
This unique wine made from grapes coming from Bonzai Vines, brought immediate recognition and prominence to the wine house.
Metal Label Sauvignon Blanc Padthaway
The first of the three still wines of the evening was the Metal Label Sauvignon Blanc Padthaway. Here Padthaway is the wine region from where this wine comes from, which is located in Limestone Coast which hugs the South Eastern coast of Australia.
The area is known for its Terra Rosso soil – a reddish brown coloured top soil which is rich in nutrients and has a good clay content – where both these conditions are beneficial for grape growing. Beneath this top soil, there is the bedrock of porous limestone, which again helps in a good viticulture.
The word Padthaway is local dialect means – The Good Water. It refers to the clear and clean water present in the shallow water table existing this wine region, which is available to the vines.
All these geological conditions combined create conditions which are favourable for viticulture and contribute to create wonderful wines, one of which was this Sauvignon Blanc which we savoured in the wine dinner.
Metal Label Shiraz Rose Riverina
The second still wine in the dinner was the Metal Label Shiraz Rose Riverina. As the name suggests, this wine comes from the Riverina wine region located again in South Eastern Australia in the state of New South Wales (NSW).
This region experiences a Mediterranean climate with hot summers, mild winters and negligible rainfall. To overcome the acute shortage of water, the Government of Australia commissioned an integrated irrigation scheme way back in 1912. Executed with construction of dams, head works and a network of canals, this scheme brought water to NSW, facilitating the start of agriculture and viticulture.
Now this Rose wine is made from Shiraz grape varietal, which is known to give structured wines having a robust body. So while the bottle gives the look of a quintessential Rose wine with a pinkish salmon colour, it packs a punch at 13% alcohol level.
A Rose wine with 13% Alcohol !!! – Well Welcome to Southern Australia.
Metal Label Durif
The third still wine and the last wine in the dinner was Metal Label Durif coming again from the Riverina wine region in New South Wales, Southern Australia. Now Durif is a unique name and quite frankly I came to know of it for the first time during that evening itself.
Durif is also known as Petite Sirah. As you would notice here the Sirah is with an “i”and not “y” as in Petit Syrah (which is synonymous with Syrah). The grape varietal Durif is a cross between Syrah and the Peloursin Noir – a rare red grape found mostly in the Alsace region in France.
Durif has berries which are small in size and thick skins. It produces wine of a deep inky colour with high level of tannins, an intense aroma and a good structure, all of which is balanced by a robust acidity to give a wonderful red wine which we savoured that day.
The Evening That Was
The evening turned out to be pleasurable experience for all the members who relished the wines in an exquisite environment and indulged in healthy conversations over wines. Here are some of the pictures from the event.
Hope you loved reading this post as much as i liked writing it. Till we catch up again, it’s Cheers, from my side !!
A comment by Dan Trauki on this post shared in Facebook :
“ Australia probably has more Durif vines than France these days as it is very popular variety. Initially grown in Rutherglen Victoria since the start of the 20th Century, where the first ever varietally labelled vintage of Durif was launched by Morris of Rutherglen in 1954. Today there are 119 wineries producing Durif right across the country. Durif has the ability to age magnificently, especially from Rutherglen- I have enjoyed several bottle of 50 year old Durif ( from Morris) and each still had plenty of life ahead of it”.