Hardwired

wine

Australia 2014: Melbourne

Nov 23, 2017 | , , , ,

Melbourne, New Zealand

Sunrise. We slung daypacks over our arms and went downstairs for a hearty breakfast before meeting Trevor, our guide for a wine tour of the Macedon Ranges. On the bus with us were a couple from Malaysia, an Aussie couple, and two women from Sydney, each traveling alone. A friendly group, we chatted most of the way to our first destination—Cloud 9 Farm.

Cloud 9 Farm is a small-scale family-run operation that specializes in wine and cheesemaking, as do many wineries in Australia and New Zealand. This struck me as interesting, because wine and cheesemaking do not necessarily go hand in hand at California wineries. The winery sits beneath the picturesque Cobaw State Forest with beautiful views of the valley below the Macedon Ranges. The owners, the Deeble family, have a passion for good food and wine and pride themselves on healthy and chemical-free products. Susy’s sought-after-cheese, White Velvet, a Camembert-style cheese, is only available at the cellar door, and everything from breeding the cows to milking them and pasteurizing the milk is done at the farm.

Before we headed to our next destination, Granite Hills Wines, we stopped at Hanging Rock Discovery Centre for a snack. Tourists picnicking in the area had spotted kangaroos, one with a joey, and we went in search of the marsupials but disappointingly never came upon them. We did see a colorful Crimson Rosella parrot, and he was a delight in bright red and blue, not to mention being friendly.

Granite Hills Wines is perched atop a boulder-strewn slope of the Great Dividing Range in Central Victoria, at an altitude of around 1,800 feet. The weather is cool, particularly at night, with reliable rainfall and well-drained soils, which translates to little disease for the vines. The winery is home to some of Australia’s best Rieslings and the birthplace of a peppery Shiraz, and we were all looking forward to our wine tasting. The small family winery has won hundreds of awards from local and international shows.

Our group lunched at “The Vic”—the Victoria Hotel Woodend. The fare was pub food. We started our meal with homemade bread and three kinds of mayonnaise. I recall one of them being beet mayonnaise. Because mayo isn’t one of my favorite condiments, I skipped it and ate the bread. I recalled similar experiences in France and Spain when mayonnaise triumphed over mustard for our ham sandwiches and was also preferred over cocktail sauce for our shrimp cocktails.

With lunch over, we motored to our last winery of the day—Paramoor Winery, a boutique winery. Their tasting room is in a rustic barn with comfortable seating. While most sipped wine, I strolled outdoors to snap photos of the grounds and visit the owners’ aging Clydesdale, as I am quite fond of horses, although I’ve never owned one.

During the return trip to Melbourne, everyone on board dozed as Trevor fought heavy traffic into town. At another bottleneck, we told Trevor to drop us at the next intersection and we would walk the two blocks to our hotel. He hesitated. We assured him that we needed to stretch our legs as we’d done enough sitting for one day. Reluctantly, he agreed, saying the turnaround in front of our hotel with all the cabs coming and going would further delay him, and he was already forty minutes late dropping off the rest of the group. We thanked him for the tour and walked the few blocks to our hotel, ready to freshen up. We spent the rest of the day walking the waterfront, watching kayak teams practicing.

That night, we had no dinner reservations. Oktoberfest was in full swing, and most people strolling the wharf seemed more interested in drinking than eating. After perusing the menus of several restaurants, we entered Melbourne Public and asked if they could recommend an eatery. The front section of the establishment was a bar, with their restaurant at the very back of it. We ordered the lamb shanks and the beef cheek, and a bottle of Catalina Sounds pinot noir. The food and service were excellent, and we still rave about the meal.

 

 

Sharing is caring!

New Zealand 2014: Te Anau

Oct 26, 2017 | , , ,

At breakfast the next day, we said goodbye to Diane and Denis, who were also headed out of Aoraki/Mount Cook. We hadn’t even left the alpine village when a light flashed on the dashboard of our rental car. The icon appeared to be a snowflake. Snowflake? It was overcast and chilly outside, but snow? Really? We pulled to the shoulder of the road and dug in the glove box for the owner’s manual. David was thumbing through the pages when Diane and Denis waved as they motored by. A few seconds later they reappeared and braked alongside our car to ask if they could help. We explained our predicament, and Diane said the light would go out as soon as the car engine warmed up. She gave us her cell phone number in case we ran into any more trouble, and they drove off. Precisely as Diane predicted, the light went out the minute the engine warmed up.

As we cruised along the shoreline of Lake Pukaki, we kept a watchful eye for tourists who were making last-minute decisions to stop for photos. Intent on capturing the views, most braked without warning and failed to park completely off the highway. Some even left their doors wide open as they bailed out of their vehicles to snap selfies.

In Twizel, we steered onto Highway 8, the scenic route. As David often is, he was on a mission to reach his destination—Te Anau— and wasn’t fond of making too many stops along the way, but he squeezed in a salmon hatchery tour, and on the recommendation of a friend in the US, found time for a much longer visit to Glide Omarama. Duly impressed, he put a glider flight on his must-do list for “Down Under #2.” I’m still mulling over this particular adventure. I’ve seen videos of the flight path and the vistas are remarkable, but I’d be crazy to even contemplate climbing aboard a plane with no engine to glide over glaciers. On the other hand, I might give in and go.

As noon drew near, we pulled into the Gibbston Valley Winery to have lunch. For us Texans—used to sizzling 100-plus-degree weather—it was a tad chilly to sit outdoors, but our server gave us a window seat—the next best table. We ordered a cheese platter to share and both had the soup special: white bean, cumin, and mint, an odd combination but absolutely delicious. After our meal we stopped next door for a look-see at Gibbston Valley Cheese, also part of the winery. Everything cheese—cheesemaking, cheese tasting, cheese platters to enjoy on site, and cheese and wine hampers to go. We made a note: picnic lunch next time?

We spent two hours sightseeing in Queenstown before we continued on to Te Anau. Prior to our trip, David had hyped the Fiordland Lodge to the point where I couldn’t wait to see our lodgings for the next few days. And I wasn’t disappointed. The lodge, constructed in 2002, sits on a knoll with rolling grasslands and commanding views of Lake Te Anau. Inside, the construction is natural timber with massive log trusses and full-trunk pillars. The ceilings are thirty-six feet high with plenty of glass to capture the vista, and there is an impressive fireplace of local river stone. And the lodge even has its own library.

Despite its vast size, the lodge feels warm and comfortable, and the setting private. In the main building are ten guest rooms with lake views, and adjacent to the lodge are two log cabins, ideal for parties of four or more.

As an outdoors person (fittingly, Earth Day was founded on my birthday), I took seconds to discover the flock of sheep grazing in the pasture next door, and even less time to notice the large vegetable and herb garden growing near the entrance. As soon as I unpacked, I made a beeline for both. Daylight dwindled. We bundled up against the chilly evening and joined several couples on the front lawn to sip drinks and watch the sun set over Lake Te Anau. The dark sky soon filled with stars, so brilliant, you felt you could touch them. As the dinner hour drew near, we gravitated toward the intimate dining room. The prix fixe menu offered three choices each of appetizer, entrée, and dessert. We both chose the cured salmon carpaccio with a lemon and dill sauce, the beef filet with eel risotto, and the chocolate tart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing is caring!

Australia 2014: Cairns 

Oct 5, 2017 | , , ,

Monday morning, we killed an hour poolside at the Peninsula Hotel, then packed our bags for the drive from Port Douglas to Cairns. As soon as we arrived at the Pullman Reef Hotel in Cairns, the woman behind the check-in desk greeted us with “The pool’s closed.” Her pensive expression told us she expected a negative reaction, but David smiled and replied, “That’s fine. There’s an entire ocean just across the street.” She beamed. “You’re the first guests not to complain.” And indeed there was an entire ocean, and more, across the street from our hotel.

Cairns Esplanade.

The Cairns Esplanade features an outdoor amphitheater, a large swimming lagoon, grassy picnic areas, walking tracks, public barbecues, shops, restaurants, children’s playgrounds, and the departure terminal for the Great Barrier Reef tours. A long promenade stretches the length of the waterfront, and as soon as we unpacked we made a beeline for the boardwalk, interested in finding an outdoor café for a bite to eat. We chose the Wharf One Cafe, mainly for the location, and ended up eating a very late breakfast rather than lunch. Both of us ordered the cane-cured salmon on toast with two poached eggs, a light meal that wouldn’t ruin our appetite for dinner. We walked off the meal and spent the afternoon touring the waterfront and the cruise terminal.

That night, we dined at Tamarind in our hotel—Thai cuisine. David ordered grilled snapper with turmeric and mint and a side of papaya salad. True to form, I ordered the Penang duck curry with caramelized pumpkin, roasted peanuts, chili, coriander, and served with scented rice. For dessert, a good port, and we called it a day.

Green Island day excursion

Dundee’s restaurant

The next morning, we headed to the Reef Fleet Terminal to board a double-decker boat for a half-day excursion to Green Island. We snorkeled, toured the island, and then queued up for a glass bottom boat cruise—arriving back in Cairns for a late lunch at Mondo On the Waterfront. After an active morning, I was ready to relax on their outdoor patio and people-watch as I enjoyed my squid salad.

For dinner, we ate at Dundee’s Restaurant, both of us ordering the fish special, trout with a dill and crème fraîche dressing.

Mondo On the Waterfront.

We woke early on our last day in Cairns, and rather than use the fitness center at our hotel we power walked the pier for exercise, the morning a pleasant sixty-eight degrees, cool by Texas standards.

That afternoon, we caught a flight from Cairns to Brisbane, where we would spend the night. The three-hour plane trip passed quickly, and soon we were checking into the Novotel at the Brisbane Airport.

We freshened up and took a cab to the Reserve Restaurant Milton for one of the best meals we had during our Aussie and Kiwi vacation. The restaurant is housed in “an old terrace building” very reminiscent of historic homes in the French Quarter in New Orleans—plenty of ornate ironwork, crystal chandeliers, and stunning river views.

We started the night with drinks in the upstairs parlor overlooking the Brisbane River before moving downstairs to the dining room. From the prix fixe menu, we chose the pheasant terrine. For mains, David had the lamb rump and I had roasted duck. For wine, we decided on a pinot from the Yarra Valley called Giant Steps, a vintage we fell in love with and had a difficult time finding back in Texas. Of course, it was the name of the wine that initially sold us. Dessert was a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate tart. I could have eaten two or three, but I had to save room for the cheese platter and port that followed dessert.

And I’m sorry to write, in 2015 the Reserve Restaurant Milton closed. According to the owner and chef, Kieran Reekie, there has been “a radical change in diner habits, including a shift towards cheaper meals and trendy chains, like the recent influx of burger joints,” which made his award-winning fine diner unsustainable. He went on to say, “The younger generation doesn’t want to sit down for dinner. They want to stand in a queue and have a drink and snack here, then go for a burger, and maybe dessert somewhere else.” That is indeed a shame. For us, the Reserve offered an indulgent dining experience—one of our most memorable in 2014.

Giant Steps Story

A month after I returned to the US, I finally tracked down a wine distributor for Giant Steps and drove into Dallas to buy the pinot. When I placed the order, the store owner informed me that I had to buy an entire case, as it was a special order. I asked if he could order two cases. I wanted to have extra bottles to give as gifts. He sounded exasperated when he replied, “O…kay.”

The website had the store opening at 9:00 a.m. I arrived at 8:45 a.m. At 9:20 a.m. a postal worker dropped off the mail and said, “They don’t open until ten. I know what the website says, but you won’t see the owner until ten.”

At 10:00 a.m. sharp, two men showed up. They worked for the store. I called the owner to ask if he was on his way. He was finishing breakfast and would be there by 10:30 a.m. I reminded him that his website said 9:00 a.m. Yeah, he knew—he had never gotten around to updating the store hours. Thank goodness this is far from the norm for Dallas establishments, and fortunately for me, I was successful in locating a more reliable liquor store for my Giant Steps purchases.

 

 

Sharing is caring!

Follow by Email

Archives