Picking the Merlot and Malbec off twenty year old vines completed the 2010 harvest for Huia. The German backpackers rued their tall genes and headed off for some lumbar spine treatment at the nearest Bungee Jump station. More fun than a chiropractor it seems.

Vintage 2010 has been one of the very best in Marlborough. The weather has been settled, cool nights and endless long mild blue-sky days. Flavour development was accrued at a leisurely pace and the picking followed suit. The cropping levels are lower across all varieties with beautiful clean grapes and very intense flavours.

See the final moments of the 2010 vintage below

In the winery all wines are tucked up nicely and the fermentations are going well with the winery smelling very aromatic. The wines from 2010 will be a delicious treat to be enjoyed.

See the previous harvest reports from Huia

pot roast loin of old spot pork with kumquats

This is the third post in a series where Adam Byatt’s introduces his new cookbook “How to Eat In”. See video below where Adam prepares the main event. Make sure you don’t miss Gareth Grove’s weekly executions of the recipes.

pot roast loin of old spot pork with kumquats

Kumquats are widely underused. They are deliciously sour, with a powerful citrus kick, and in this recipe both these elements complement the full flavour of the pork perfectly. The result is a rich roast with plenty of cooking juices –perfect for mopping up with chunks of bread.

Serves 4

2 onions

1/2 bunch thyme

1 x 6-bone rack good-quality pork, such as Old Spot (French trimmed)

sea salt and freshly ground black

pepper

olive oil

20 kumquats

500ml brown Chicken Stock

1 star anise

Preparation

Peel and finely slice the onions. Pick the leaves from the thyme.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Method

Season the pork well with salt and pepper. Heat a flameproof casserole over a high heat until hot, splash in some olive oil, then place the pork in the pan and brown on all sides. Remove the pork and turn the heat down to medium. Add the onions and brown gently for 5 minutes, stirring regularly to incorporate all of the cooking juices from the pan (this will give body to the finished dish).

Once you are happy the onions are browned, add the kumquats and place the pork on top followed by the thyme leaves. Now pour in the stock and add the star anise.

Place the uncovered pan in the oven. Roast the pork for 45 minutes – the meat should be firm to the touch and still moist, but with no sign of blood when pierced in the centre with the tip of a skewer. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 30 minutes to relax the meat and allow the juices to settle. Take the pork out of the pan and slice between the bones. Serve with the juices spooned over, and the onions and kumquats.

Hungry for more? Check Adam’s bread & Portobello mushroom soup recipes and share with us your cooking tips.

Huia's Juice Tray

At the moment, we are in the middle of the Sauvignon Blanc pick. Sauvignon crops have been quite small for us this year averaging about 5 to 7 tonnes to the hectare (35 – 48 hl/ha). This has resulted from a combination of factors including cool flowering but also some very careful pruning and shoot thinning by the vineyard crew. We pick our Sauvignon very early in the morning (4am) when the fruit is at its coldest. This means the fruit can retain all the wonderful aromatics that the Marlborough climate gives us. We pick it into small 1000 litre bins and press it cold without crushing to minimise skin contact and phenolics.

Watch the video below the see the Sauvignon make his way from harvest to press

The stony silts at our Rapaura Road vineyards provide ripe passionfruit, melon and citrus flavours into the Sauvignon Blanc. Our Winsome vineyard grows on heavy Orthic Clays. These soils give us more structure and some bright greengage plum, gooseberry and nettle  flavours.

All of our Huia Sauvignon Blanc is grown organically. No pesticides or herbicides are used to grow the fruit. We use careful canopy management and benign biological products to manage any disease. Weeds under the vines are managed using a Braun undervine weeding machine and by hand weeding. We also make lots of compost from our winery marc and prunings to fertilise the soil, encourage good soil biology for healthy vines.

Sauvignon Blanc on Vine

All the Gewurztraminer is organically grown on our Winsome vineyard and was picked a few days ago. The heavy clay soils mean that no irrigation was used and it has resulted in a small crop of lovely perfumed fruit. It has been quite a battle to keep the fruit clean and protected from the birds but we managed it. The only problem we had was to stop the vineyard workers from eating it all themselves.

The Riesling was hand-picked last Friday on a beautiful cool day. Again our Riesling is grown organically and un-irrigated on the Winsome vineyard. The vines were quite vigorous last year but this year they have behaved really well and the spur pruning that we use has lowered the yield to a nice 7 tonnes per hectare. The fruit showed the beginnings of a light botrytis infection which, with the dry harvest weather we have had, dried nicely into sweet raisins. The fruit was whole-bunch pressed and is awaiting a natural ferment.

All that remains of vintage are two more days of picking Sauvignon Blanc, another day for Merlot and Malbec Rose and finish off with a tiny harvest of Syrah.

Vineyards at Deakin Estate

The BBQ is an Australian rite of passage that emerged out of the halcyon days of the 1960s.  It was the dawn of dining in the backyard and the only permissible time a man cooked. It became a ritual passed down from father to son and you didn’t complain when dad cooked the snags as black as the charcoal.

In backyards across Australia at any time of year, you’ll find BBQs cooking all afternoon while backyard cricket matches unfold and the ladies set the table with coleslaw, white bread and plastic table ware.

It’s customary to bring your own meat and the host provides the wine, which suits me fine.

You see, I’ve been listening to Dr Phil Spillman, Winemaker at Deakin Estate, talk about the new Artisan Blend wines and he is talking all BBQs and alfresco dining.

The Chardonnay Pinot Grigio is a nice and crunchy style with the chardonnay picked early  to keep the fresh, vibrant aromatics and the red, a Cabernet Tempranillo blend, is soft and supple, both perfect as Dr Phil says for, ‘just relaxing and enjoying a casual meal’.

With the advent of the warmer weather, I’ll be taking Dr Phil’s advice and lighting the first BBQ of the season to celebrate.

And for those after the genuine Aussie BBQ experience, ask the cook to leave your sausage on until they’re black. Or actually, maybe don’t!

Continuing our harvest report month on Bibendum Times we thought you might like to hear an update from the professionals. Big thank you to Dan Coward for writing, directing and producing the videos!

Watch Andrew Hardy, chief winemaker at Petaluma explain what’s been happening in the Adelaide hills and talk about an unusual technical issue:

Toby Barlow, chief winemaker at St Hallett, takes us through the beautiful world of Barossa Valley Shiraz. Looks like it is going to be another good Shiraz year:

What to know what’s happening now in Mclaren Vale? Curious to know how the Riesling juice is tasting in Clare Valley?

We are publishing weekly harvest diaries from all over the southern hemisphere. Watch this space to get real time updates and some great pictures too.

If you’ve been following this space, you might have noticed a recurring theme. Lately we have been almost obsessed with the green (or Vivid in Bibendum speak) aspects of wine production. After discussing the real meaning of natural wines and exploring the philosophy behind biodynamic farming we thought we had covered it all. And then came Matt Oliver.

Matt is the vineyard manager at Huia, a small family owned estate established in 1996  located in the Wairau Valley in Marlborough New Zealand. At Huia the land is worked following biodynamic principles and they are now in the process of obtaining the Demeter certification. But that is not all. Since 2006 and after preparing 12 months of carbon accounts and an emissions management plan Huia has earned the right to label its wines with carboNZero certification. Confused? Watch Matt explains what the process involves:

Talking to Matt is a revealing experience. He is not only worried about the environmental affect of producing his wines has but also concerned about the journey the wine has to make. We all have preconceptions of how bad the environment is damaged when we ship wine overseas. Well according to Matt we need not to worry.  It is greener to ship from New Zealand than to truck from Bordeaux. Watch the video below to hear the real figures.

Most importantly the wine tasted great. All the Huia range shared a clean, elegant and focused character. Is this due to the lack of carbon emission? Matt is positive it played its part.

You can buy the Huia range on the Bibendum Wine website

Rudolf Steiner

Biodynamic agriculture was developed in the early 1920s  by Rudolf Steiner. Seen by many as the first modern ecological farming system it is an holistic approach that tries to bring the soil, plants and animals to its original natural balance and harmony. Unlike the more general term natural wine (see earlier post), Biodynamic winemaking is to many the strictest method of viticulture and vinification. Very precise guidelines have to be followed in order to convert the soil back to its original composition. Certification is very difficult to obtain and at least 4 years of proven Biodynamic farming are required.

More and more top quality producers embrace Biodynamic farming, with the like of Leflaive, Zind-Humbrecht and Nicolas Joly leading the way. One of the most charismatic and knowledgeable follower of Biodynamics is Alto Adige’s Alois Lageder. A fierce and long time practiser of Biodynamic farming Alois has just released his first Demeter (the strictest Biodynamic certification) certified wine. Watch the video where Alois explains why Biodynamic farming is essential in order to restore the soil to its original composition and how it differs from organic farming.

Seen by many as the purest and ultimate winemaking approach, biodynamic wines have seen a huge growth of popularity in recent years. Sommeliers are increasingly populating their wine lists with biodynamic wines too. As the term is still unfamiliar to the average wine drinker sommelier’s see themselves as being at the vanguard of the drive to raise awareness of biodynamics. Watch Angus Macnab’s (Lanesborough Hotel) talking about biodynamic wines below:

Here’s Roberto delle Pietra (Roussillon restaurant) take on the Biodynamic farming concept and the danger of misusing the term:

It’s exciting to see so many  sommeliers engaging with biodynamics. They fully understand the philosophy behind the wines and by sharing their knowledge they seek to educate and enlighten their customers and convert them into the joys of biodynamic wines.

Thank you all for watching the video, thinking and naming the cocktail. Who would have thought shaking a jar could be that much fun. We really enjoyed some of the comments and couldn’t stop laughing at others. Don’t worry if you missed your chance. You can still watch Will in action and learn how to shake your jar properly and remember to watch this space for our next competition.

Right now to the serious bit. Keeping with tradition we asked the maestro himself to choose his winner. His verdict : “I like “a legal requirement” best. Good bit of post-prohibition irony, an he was obviously paying attention to the video!” So congrats to G.Redmayne who got it just right. A delicious bottle of Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut is on its way to you.

Working  in  restaurants for so many years has made its impact on me. Some things just stick forever. Each time I’m in a restaurant it’s the same story all over again.  I just can’t help it. Cant help organizing and straightening the glasses, cutlery and plates to perfect symmetry. I always notice the drinks on the bar waiting to be served. I feel slightly uncomfortable when all the plates don’t hit the table at the same time and I just about manage not to shout out loud, ’service!’ each time I hear the ringing bell in the kitchen. Suffices to say that my wife feels embarrassed and promises each time not to take me out again.

The restaurant business is a though one indeed. There are the long hours,  demanding guests and the need to keep smiling at all given time.  Restaurateurs are a special breed. They are fuelled just by passion and won’t trade there profession for anything else. Most of them also tend to be great storytellers and always have an interesting take on the restaurant life.

This is why I was excited to meet Geraldine Leventis founder and owner of Raul’s Gourmet. Not only does she seems to be one of the few female restaurateurs around but her way into this world is an unusual one. Married to Painter Michael Leventis, back in 1985, most of her time was dedicated to hosting and entertaining some of the most famous artist of the time. One of whom was the painter Francis Bacon, and it was he who pressed her into opening her own restaurant. Watch her explain how her life suddenly changed.

Geraldine’s followed her instinct and cooking skill to create a successful business. Although you won’t find her in the kitchen she’s the brain behind every plate that leaves the kitchen. Twenty five years on Geraldine’s operation consists of a fine food delicatessen and two Cafés. All 3 are buzzing and benefit from her distinctive style and charm. Watch her explain why this makes her so proud.

It’s great to discover the real story and voice of a restaurant to see just how far passion and dedication take you.

Raoul’s Cafe Maida Vale

13 Clifton Road W9 1SZ  Phone +44 (0) 207 289 7313

Raoul’s Cafe & Bar Notting Hill
105 – 107 Talbot Road  W11 2AT  +44 (0) 207 229 2400

New BTimes video from bespoke film maker Finkus Bripp. We love Wine on Rocks videos because they’re funky, cool and young. We have always believed that wine should be simple and accesible and Wine on the Rocks seems like the perfect partner in crime for us.

“What’s better than some Wine On The Rocks for Brekky?” Nothing, Mr. Bripp – nothing at all.

Check out this new video where you can follow the big day’s event and understand why we think this wass our best tasting yet.