Wine dinner- Great Success! Another later in the year?

[Mike57]

I am down for 2 people right Steve. My wife and self. Do you need cash in advance?

[gwagensteve]

No cash on the night is fine.

Yes, I have you down for two.

Steve.

[gwagensteve]

I've been discussing the wines for the evening with Phil, and I'm really looking forward to this tasting.

We've had another pull out, so the grand total is 10, including Phil, which is fine.

Economies of scale being what they are though, we've had to up the price a little- We're now at $140 per head - that's $90 for wine and $50 for food.

This is bad and good - bad because it's more money, good because the wine is now distributed across 10 not 12

Dinner will be at 7.00pm.

Please ensure you have cash in the appropriate quantities to pay the restaurant and Phil.

[Greg]

On my way to a night of swirling.

Do I lock this thread now to avoid later embarassment?

[Greg]

A whole night out with no posts? Unheard of.

What a lovely night it was.

A big thanks to Phil for hosting the evening, and to Steve for endeavouring to run it.

It was a great chance to drink some great wines.

[gwagensteve]

Thanks for coming everyone - Great food, wine and company.

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as I did. There were some interesting wines there, and lots of great conversation about them.

Steve.

[dank]

I felt strangely hungover on Sunday and didn't roll out of bed until about midday.

It was a great night and I will be down for another one for sure. My inexperienced palate was challenged many times throughout the night and the combination of the excellent food and comparison of old vs new world wines made for an entertaining evening.

My only feedback is that the room was quite noisy (normal for an italian restuarant i guess) and it was a bit of a challenge to get everyone on the same page when Phil was talking about the wine. Other than that, put me down for the next one!

[gwagensteve]

Excellent - thanks for your feedback Dan.

I'd definitely be happy to put together another one later in the year.

Yes, I agree the restaurant was noisy - much more so than we expected. We tried to book upstairs, but by the time we were confirmed with numbers, the room was already booked. Obviously they had a couple of other large tables in which wasn't ideal (or expected) The food was excellent though. Seonaid commented on this too.

It's one of the advantages of doing a week night. Our regular dinners are on Monday nights. Restaurants are normally happier to do a good deal on food for what is generally a quiet night, we get access to private rooms etc, and booking is easy.

It's interesting that if I'd snap polled people before we started the night on their favourite wine, I'm sure I would have had most people saying an Australian red, and most likely a shiraz.

We had a super high quality Aussie Shiraz in the group yet the most popular wine of the night was a German Riesling - I bet nobody would have predicted that!

for those that were curious, here was the list from the night.

Champagne:

Larmandier Bernier Tradition Brut, Chardonnay 1er Cru,
Champagne France, NV

Riesling

Rockford Hand Picked Eden Valley Riesling
Australia, 2007

Von Buhl Paradiesgarten Deidesheim, Riesling Grosses Gewachs
Pfalz, Germany, 2007

Chardonnay

Craggy Range, Gimblett Gravels Chardonnay,
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 2009

Patrick Piuze Vaillon "Les Minots" Chablis, Chardonnay 1er Cru
Burgundy France 2009

Pinot Noir

Pegeric Pinot Noir
Macedon Australia 2008

Thierry Violot Guillemard, Les Duresses 1er Cru Monthelie
Burgundy France 2008

Shiraz

McWilliams Mt Pleasant Maurice O'Shea Shiraz
Hunter Valley, Australia, 2007

JL Chave Offerus St-Joseph Syrah
Rhone Valley France 2008

Grenache Blends

Spinifex Esprit GSM
Barossa Valley Australia 2005

Palacios Remondo Propiedad Rioja
Grenache Tempranillo
Spain 2008

And an extra to finish the night

Tedeschi Amarone Classico Rondinella Corvina Molinaro
Veneto Italy 2007

We threw in a bottle of Nebbiolo from the Restaurant's wine list at the end of the night too.

Great night.

Steve.

[dank]

i've had some great tasting Malbecs from Argentina, most you can buy at Dan Murpheys. i was lucky to have Argentine Friends, and when combined with a traditional Argentinian Asado rib cut off the wood/coal BBQ makes for some pretty sensational BBQs in terms of food and wine.

I've also tried a few wines from Chile, and these again stick in my mind. I will have to do some more research i.e. drinking to get back onto it again.

[gwagensteve]

Cool.
I'll have a chat to Phil about Chile/Argentina Monday week when we catch up. It'll be interesting to see if he has any experience with them.

Steve.