My Aching Head

Wine is one of these strange things that a lot of young people drink and love but they don’t become passionate about it until they get older. Peregrine winery, however isn’t the sort of place that is stuck in the same old stereotypes of old people, old buildings and old traditions. It’s hard to expect anything of the sort as you drive down the driveway, the massive white roof of the winery catches your eye, sticking out in a strange harmony with the landscape.

It’s quite difficult to actually see what you are looking at until you get closer, the judges of some bigwig architecture prize described it as “an elegant blade of light” and that “the age-old process of making wine has been radically reinterpreted for our time”. Not really sure how a building reinterprets the wine making process, but each to their own. I think the beauty of the building is it’s multiple purposes - not only does it reduce the cooling costs of the winery, but it acts as a concert stage.

Concert stage you may ask? It turns out that Central Otago summer is perfect for producing wine as the number of awards Peregrine has won attests to. The summer is also perfect for sitting on the lawn, enjoying some good wine, taking in the scenery and listening to awesome bands, Fat Freddy’s Drop and Jose Gonzalez in recent times. Needless to say, the wine flows freely and the weather is great.

Peregrine Winery is a must stop on your way through the Gibbston Valley, preferably in summer when a band is playing but if it’s winter and the mountains are snow capped the wine will still taste great.

Driving into Queenstown is quite an experience, following the winding Kawarau River down through the Gibbston Valley and the Kawarau gorge is the sort of drive that you can’t stop looking around in amazement. The problem with looking around with your mouth wide open, is that you might miss the amazing vineyards either side of the road. Now it isn’t just the architecture and landscapes they are built on either, rumour has  it that the Pinot Noir is pretty good. Today, I took the opportunity to test that theory - I woke up around 1, jumped in the car and headed to the closest (well not the closest) but the first winery.

Chard Farm, is a beautifully understated vineyard perched on the cliffs of the Kawarau gorge on the old (1860) Cromwell-Queenstown road. The buildings are massive Tuscan-inspired warehouses which were built in 1993 specifically for the vineyard. It is one of the oldest wineries in the area and certainly feels like it truly is part of Central Otago - the clerk at the cellar door spoke like he had been a part of the furniture for the best part of the last 40 years and the wine wasn’t too bad either.

We started by tasting the “CO2″ the 21st birthday bubbly, it’s a really refreshing and light bubbly, which really doesn’t have too much more than bubbles in common with champagne. The unwooded chardonnay was a very easy drinking white with very subtle flavours, it’s certainly not what I think of when I think Chardonnay. The Pinot Noirs were all good, if a little too subtle with “2006 the Viper” being my pick, it has a great peppery note and blackberry flavours. Probably the spiciest of the wines we tasted.

At the end of the day, I wish I had have been to Chard Farm last, I think I would have appreciated it more at the time.

I’m a huge fan of cheap good wine, happy to drink good quality boxed wine and certainly not turned off by a $4 bottle - so long as it tastes good. But currently I have a glass of Yalumba Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 in front of me, and let me tell you I’m not that impressed. It’s one of the “premium cask wines” just like the Banrock Station wine I’ve written about before and it might be harsh on the Yalumba, but it just doesn’t match up against the Banrock.

Before I start talking about the wine itself I think it’s important to mention that by all reports the 2007 vintage in the Barossa valley was extremely hard for the growers, with a late frost and some heavy rainfall damaging a great amount of the harvest. This may well explain the low quality - especially because this box is of the 2007 vintage, as compared to most cask wine which is blended.

On the nose there is a definite smell of blackcurrant, and a slightly unwelcome hint of menthol. The taste is not what I have become used to from cheap Australian wines, which normally provide a somewhat balanced taste. It lacks body, tastes young (yes, I realise it is young) and has a touch of alcohol aftertaste. It’s not all bad though, it is quite easy drinking which isn’t always the case for cheap cabernet sauvignon’s and definitely is very good value drinking.

Recently Monteiths Brewing company has released a limited release beer celebrating 140 years of brewing. It is supposed to be brewed in the style of the 18060s, which due to the fact that I’m a  child of the 1980s I can’t comment on. Now, I’m not a fan of a limited release consumable of anything, least of all beer, it’s one of those things give me a taste of something that I might fall in love with and then cut off the supplier. Anyway, to the meat of it all, the beer.

When I first tasted it I wrote in my notes that it was a “subtle flavour” but now when I sit down with a bottle of it I’m thinking to myself just how flavoursome it is. This flavour certainly isn’t a refined clear crisp taste but more of a harsh fruit taste. The beer has a cloudy texture, kind of like someone has mixed in a bit of dirt to each bottle. I’m not sure if it’s the actual flavour or this texture, but It reminds me a lot of a Coopers Pale Ale.

It definitely isn’t an easy drinking beer, the first half a glass didn’t slide down like the other Monteiths do but once your palate has adapted to the interesting flavour it is a much different story. This isn’t a bad thing, I have a problem with a lot of the new beers brought onto the market being devoid of any beer-like flavour.

All in all, I enjoyed the Monteith 140, but I probably won’t be sucking back too many of them. It is only available at Monteith’s bars or in 4-packs from some bottle shops and supermarkets. I could only find it at New World in Queenstown and at the princely sum of $14 for 4 it isn’t even close to being affordable. Next time I’m at Monty’s though I’ll give a few more pints a go, I suppose I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

As part of Mixology Monday (hosted by Steve at Two At The Most), I’m proffering this cocktail recipe. Some people may hardly call it a cocktail, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s simple, girly, oh so tasty, and not something you would tell your mates you were drinking, making this the guiltiest of pleasures.

• 10ml White creme de cacao
• 10ml Dark creme de cacao
• 10ml Cointreau
• 45ml Baileys
• 100ml Milk
• 1 good squirt of Hershey’s Chocolate Sauce

Shake with ice and serve in a chocolate (Hershey’s) coated cocktail glass. Sprinkle chocolate on the milky froth.

I just spent 10 days in Melbourne, the first few just getting acquainted with the town and the following just smacking up the town like never before. The occasion of course was Australian University Games, this is a week long event of hitting the piss hard, waking up, playing sport and hitting the piss hard again. Needless to say, things sometimes things get a little out of hand.

It became pretty clear to us pretty quickly that there are 2 completely opposite types of pubs in Melbourne, those that take themselves too seriously and those that absolutely don’t. I can’t remember all of the places but CQ and the Queensbridge Hotel were shit. Both of these places were the Uni games sanctioned social venues however they were being exclusive in who they were letting in, only dribbling people into the venue and on Thursday night telling them that it was too late and they had been drinking for days so they couldn’t come in - regardless of wether they were too drunk or not.

Then at the other end of the spectrum there were heaps of smaller places that were awesomely accommodating to a mob of drunk uni students. At the top of the list is “Bev and Mick’s bar” in North Melbourne. This place hosted the mixed netball boat races and even though they shut early than we had hoped they really didn’t give a shit about what went on. The number of glasses that were smashed by people standing on the bar, the number of pissed people painted green and the fact that there was 130 of us in a place designed to fit about 80 all went down without a shadow of complaint.

The other bar that get’s my vote for being accommodating is a little place called “The Red Violin.” We happened upon this place at 3am after being kicked out of the Traffic bar on Federation Square, (which was also happy to let things get loose) the security at the Red Violin were happy to let anything happen as long as it didn’t affect anyone else. At one stage a bouncer woke up a sleeping guy, not to kick him out for sleeping but ask him to take his feet off the table. This isn’t to mention the ridiculous drunkenness, stupid attire or people spitting in each other’s faces. This was all capped off at the end of the week, on Friday night when the dress code had clearly been raised (people wearing suits) and the doorman still let us in, cause we were “cool”.

Hats off to the Red Violin, Bev and Mick’s and everywhere else that made our week grand.

Last night I worked in the Boiler Room for the first time in quite some time. A few things there have changed, apart from the management changes they have started serving a few light snacks, like cheese boards. Anyway, when I got there reacquainted myself with the surroundings and spotted a tub of cranberry sauce in the fridge. It was clear, I had to make some drinks with cranberry sauce.

While they aren’t necessarily that original, both of these drinks were met with much enjoyment.

Old Fashioned Christmas Lunch

• Wedge of orange
• Wedge of lemon
• Bar spoon of cranberry sauce
• 2 nips of Wild Turkey bourbon

Muddle fruit and cranberry sauce, stir the bourbon with ice. Strain and serve over fresh ice. Garnish with a wedge of orange.

Saucy Cosmo

• Bar spoon of cranberry sauce
• 10 ml of lime juice
• 1/2 nip of Gran Marnier
• 1 1/2 nips of Tanqueray Gin
• 80ml of Apple Juice

Shake contents over ice and serve in a chilled cocktail glass.