Taste of Melbourne Festival

15 – 18 Sep 2011

Royal Exhibition Building Carlton

It’s that time of year again with the fabulous ‘Taste of Melbourne’ showcasing our premier restaurants, producers and purveyors, held at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building.

So much is on offer from top restaurants such as Esposito, Stokehouse, Sarti, The Millswyn, Mahjong Black, The European, The Kitchen Cat, Mezzo & Mr Bianco, St Katherine’s, Libertine & Le Traiteur and The Botanical.

Sample great wines from Boat O’Craigo, Yering Station, Punt Road Wines, Seville Estate & Giant Steps etc.,  Also some of Australia’s best hand crafted beers will be on show, watch out for Bluetongue, Prickly Moses, McLaren Vale Beer Company, Otway Estate or try the many and varied apple and fruit ciders.

Check out the website for all the info and ticket prices - http://www.tasteofmelbourne.com.au/

If you can’t make the festival come along on one of our Yarra Valley Winery Tours anytime and enjoy wonderful regional gourmet food and wines.    We can take you to any winery you want including Boat O’Craigo, Yering Station, Punt Road Wines & Giant Steps.  Check out our website for more info  -   http://www.chilloutwinetours.com.au/

Bon appetite

Oakridge Wines Full Moon Dinner- ‘Entrecote Bordelaise’

Date: 12 August 2011

Venue: Oakridge Wines, 864 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream

contact details:  9738 9900  or  info@oakridgewines.com.au

Time: 7pm.  A Winter French feast slow cooked over an open fire fuelled with barrel staves. Vegetarian options available. Special dietery requirements catered for on request.

Cost: $65 (3-courses) or $90 (with matched wines)

For full menu please click on this link – http://www.oakridgewines.com.au/News_Events/Events/Full_Moon.aspx

If you can’t make it why not book one of our Chillout Travel Yarra Valley Winery Tours.  Mention you would like to visit Oakridge Estate for lunch and we will organize a lovely day out for you and your friends….

Please click this link to see an example Yarra Valley Winery Tour for private groups  - http://www.chilloutwinetours.com.au/yarra-valley-wine-tours/yarra-valley-wine-tours-private/  Or phone Chillout Travel Winery Tours:-  03 9537 3301

Its Gumboot Season in the Yarra Valley

“Receive 20% off* your Cellar Door wine purchase when you visit us wearing your gumboots:  Wash the mud off your gumboots and join us for some winter fun in the Yering Station Cellar Door. Taste our new releases including the much anticipated 2008 Yering Station Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Shop the Produce Store for local decadent winter goodies…*no further discounts apply, offer not valid for Yering Station Reserve or Single Vineyard wines.  Every day during July & August”.

Grab your gumboots, leave your car at home and come with us on our Yarra Valley Winery Tour and get your discounts and have a great day out!  Click on this link for more info Winery Tour Yarra Valley.

[Sourced 23 July - http://gumbootseason.com.au/yering-station-2/]

Easy Tiger Comes To Innocent Bystander Yarra Valley

Photography by Manuel Cifra. Exquisite: The chocolate and pandanus leaf dumplings are Michelin-star worthy.

“Easy Tiger is the much hyped and much loved latest addition to the trendy Collingwood foodie strip on Smith Street. Headed by a trio with ties, both past and present, to Innocent Bystander, its Thai offerings have been described in the Herald Sun as worthy of three Michelin stars.

Now we have a treat for you. There’s no need to head into the city on these cold nights to visit the latest Melbourne must eat, as Easy Tiger is coming to you with a special appearance here at Innocent Bystander on Tuesday 2nd August from 6.30pm”.

To start
Ma hor (prawn, pork and chicken mince cooked in palm sugar, served on watermelon)
Pacific oysters with green chilli nahm jim and peanuts
Betel leaves with prawn and fresh coconut
Chicken, shiitake mushroom and water chestnut spring rolls with chilli tamarind sauce

Banquet 
Slow cooked beef shin yellow curry with pea eggplant and Thai coriander
Coconut braised snapper with roasted eschallots and baby corn
Grilled berkshire pork belly salad with mandarin, lemongrass and roasted cashews
Son in law eggs with chilli jam
Steamed jasmine rice

To finish
Chocolate and pandanus leaf dumplings with melon and salted coconut cream

$65 per person. 
Bookings are essential.
Please call 03 5962 6111 – Innocent Bystander.

[Sourced 9 July 2011 - http://www.innocentbystander.com.au]

If you can’t make it on Tue 2^nd Aug why not book a winery tour to the Yarra Valley with us - Chillout Travel Winery Tours.  We can take you to Innocent Bystander where you can sample their Trophy winning wines and stay for lunch at their lovely bistro.  Click on this link to see our Yarra Valley Winery Tour for private groups which can be adapted to suit your ideal itinerary!  :-)

Worlds Oldest Champagne Sold

“Two bottles of the world’s oldest champagne, which spent about 170 years at the bottom of the ocean, sold for 54,000 euros ($73,700) at an auction in Finland on Friday 3 June.

The second lot, containing vintage Veuve, fetched 30,000 euros, which the auction house – New York-based wine specialist Acker Merrall & Condit – said was the most paid for a bottle.

“The important thing for this event is that this was a world record for an auction,” Richard Juhlin, an authority on champagne, said in an interview after the event. “I’m a little surprised the bidding didn’t go higher. If you had speculators bidding against each other, it could have sky rocketed.”

Collectors have been paying higher prices for champagne, especially for prized vintages, said Juhlin, who had forecast that the bottles might fetch 100,000 euros, 10 times the minimum price of 10,000 euros. Bidders applauded at the Veuve price, given by the same Singapore-based internet bidder who minutes before gave 24,000 euros for a bottle of Juglar.

The bottles were sold in Mariehamn, capital of Aaland, a Finnish-controlled archipelago of 6,500 islands in the Baltic Sea, where divers discovered the precious cargo in a previously unknown shipwreck.

Madame Clicquot

“This is truly a historic event,” Stephane Baschiera, president of Veuve Clicquot, said in a statement before the sale. “We have worked closely with the government of Aaland since the discovery of the shipwreck to help salvage and protect the precious wines, which we know now were tasted by Madame Clicquot herself.”

The auctioneer didn’t charge a premium, Truly Hardy, Acker Merrall’s director of auction operations, said at the event in the Culture and Congress House Alandica.

About 145 bottles were found intact, including Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck – today made by Vranken-Pommery Monopole – and Juglar, which became part of Jacquesson. Veuve also offered 15 rare bottles from its own cellars and was a partner in the sale.

Acker Merrall said the top price, equivalent to $40,500, beat the $39,850 paid for a bottle of 1959 Dom Perignon Rose in April 2008.

Fresh fizz

Two bottles were cracked open in November and I got to taste the Juglar, which was remarkably fresh. The fizz had almost gone and it was too sweet for today’s palate, yet it retained a distinctive smell of orange and raisins, like a Christmas cake. It might still be served as a dessert wine. The Veuve was lighter and more floral, with layers of complexity.

The original destination of the champagne isn’t known. Anders Naasman, one of the divers, said it may have been headed for the tsar’s court in St. Petersburg. It was well preserved because it lay horizontally, under pressure, at a low temperature in the dark, 50 meters (55 yards) below the surface.

The authorities in Aaland, an Swedish-speaking region, say the proceeds of the sale will go to a good cause, such as environmental measures to improve the quality of the water in the seas around Aaland, whose main industries are shipping, trade, banking, farming and food. About 65 of the islands are inhabited, with 11,000 people living in Mariehamn, the archipelago’s only town, founded in 1861.

The oldest Veuve Clicquot previously held by the champagne house dates back to 1893, said Francois Hautekeur, a winemaker with Veuve, who is assisting with preserving the champagne”.

[Sourced – Sydney Morning Herald 8 July 2011 - http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/top-drop/worlds-oldest-bubbly-sells-for-73k-20110603-1fjnf.html]

Are you in a Champagne mood?  Join us on our lovely winery tour to the Yarra Valley and enjoy a great day out only one hour from Melbourne.  Our Yarra Valley winery tour includes drinking sparkling wine at the famous Domaine Chandon…    Click on this link Yarra Valley Winery Tours to see our itineraries.