Smell My Food™

Alright! Its been awhile since i posted so this is gonna be a super long post! Alright firstly, you all know that Chef D is busy with his projects and as well as his upcoming major exam whereby there will be media and advertisers as well as SA Great(A group that promotes produce in South Australia) will be at that judgement and the winner will be featured in the Indulge Section of the Advertiser's Newspaper.

Its Field Trip Day here in Adelaide! We were brought around wineries in McLaren Vale, a place filled with tranquility and its unique wine varieties. So to start off with, we headed off to CORIOLE!

What a nice scenery to start off the day with the view of the local vineyards.

The food and wine sampling table that was set for us specially, The Le Cordon Bleu Apprentices!

Best 101 Wines from Australia featured in the Langton record. Harold the winery staff told us that the number of wines that are stated are fixed. This means that if for example a new wine is better than one of the list stated, that wine in the list will be replaced by the better one. So it will always stick at 101 Wines. How cool is that!

2 Wine Glasses, 1 Drinking Glass and the Welcome Card

Harold pouring a glass of Chenin Blanc for Tony, our Italian based chef. His best dishes I've tried so far got to be the sourdough bread and pork belly. Doesn't he look like one of those statue outside an italian shop with that pizza thingy.

The named 'King of Olives" - Kalamata Olives

Its not that salty like ordinary olives and it gives that savoury character to the flavour.

Salt Cured Olives - Not for the faint hearted.

This are preserved green olives, they have a fruity character to it.

This is somewhat like a cream cheese. Fairly similar to camembert in terms of flavour.

This is a hommus which consists of EVO, Cream cheese and a tinge of ASV.

This is a goat's cheese. Quite similiar to Brie just that its more earthy in terms of taste. Its like eating fresh soil.(Please do not try eating soil) Personally, I did not like it a single bit.

Redstone Cabernet Sauvignon, McLaren Vale 2006.

A cassis flavour to it with dark chocolates fragrant to the nose.

Chenin Blanc, McLaren Vale 2006

Pears fragrant to the nose with a fruity like characteristics to the palate that has sufficient acidity

Fiano, Mclaren Vale 2008

This is a unique wine as it gives a subtle and delicate flavour to it with tropical fruits like passionfruit, pineapples and pawpaw. Coriole's one of a kind.

1st Extra Virgin Olive Oil

This is a special olive oil as when the oil is first extracted from the olives, this gives it a spicy flavour towards the end of the throat. The freshest olive oil you can ever get.
For olive oils to be classified as extra virgin, the acidity level must be in between 0 to 0.8 percent and has to be free of defects. This is the standard global rule.

Vroom vroom! This is not ur Ordinary EVO!

Yes. Coriole named its Extra Virgin Olive Oil as EVO during the first production. So who actually made this name. Was it Ferrari or Coriole? hmmm.

This is actually your market's balsamic vinegar but in order to be termed balsamic, firstly, it must be made from a town in italy called Modena. Secondly, it is made from white Trebbiano grape juice that is heated and aged in wooden barrels for several years. Therefore, Coriole named it Red Wine Vinegar. It goes best with Olive oil and bread.

DID YOU KNOW : Balsamic in the olden times was used to treat the skin from disease and illness.

Vin Cotto, slightly similar to balsamic vinegar but its sweeter as it uses the vin cotto grape variety.

Verjuice, A non alcoholic drink that is made from unripened grapes. Fairly sour and acidic. Good for soups, sauces, cooking meat and even an apperitif.

The Wine Tasting Cellar..

Chef D and Harold

Next stop, off to lunch at Woodstock. We were treated to a Ploughman's Platter which was particularly new to me. Like come on! Who eats this in Singapore!

Ploughman's platter consisting of Pita Bread, French Loafs, Polenta, Duck Liver(Pate), Anti-Pesto, Brie Cheese, Olives, Chorizo(Spicy sausage), Turkey Ham, Watermelon, Olive Oil, Spices and a sweet and sour dip.

All I can say, it was a new experience and interesting adventure! Really!

After lunch, while walking back to the coach, something tragic happened!

A Croco ate me! Ok, just kidding. Everyone wanted to put their head in it but no one dared, so Chef D did it! *clap clap

Alright next on the list, off to Primo Estate! Please note that this winery is one of the top 10 wineries in terms of appearance and design. It really looked like an awesome estate! My future inspired home...

Fresh Olives growing outside of the estate.

This bell will come in handy for ordering!
"Ring, Ring, Make me a Milo Peng Pls!"

Like I said, The Top 10!

Award designs matches with expensive wines! $70 a bottle!

If I were a boss, this would be my morning attire ;P

5 years down the road...

Alright.. Enough of dreaming. Next its a number 1 top in the list for me. Its the Samuel's Gorge.

You'll know what I mean once you take a look at the pictures.

Upon alighting, we were greeted by this Golden Retriever mix Poodle dog named Brasso! Yes! He is like the same level as my groin. Real friendly and damn I must say, we spent most of our time playing with him.

Check out the Interior Design..

And off for wine tasting again...

Grenache, 2007 Cadenzia

Its sutle on the palette and has the fruity sweet character to it.

After about drinking 2 different wines which are the shiraz 2006 and 2007, almost dozing asleep to the serenity of the vicinity and the cool breeze,

Here comes my favourite guy! Its Justin McNamee! The Winemaker/Manager of Samuel's Gorge, born in Jamaica, he learnt the way of growing grapes and blending wines to make the absolutely best funky flavours!

Doesn't he look like one of The Simpson's character. A quote from him " Although I look like a hippy, I'm not one." And yes, indeed its true. He is a down to earth man that enjoys making wines and satisfying people. He believes that wines should bring joy and fun to the table while matching with the dishes. He specialises in making Tempranillo and Grenache and has a strong passion in them. He shares his secrets of growing vineyards as first of all is the type of soil. Different type of soils are best in growing a certain type of grape variety. Weather comes into play too and also he stated that the grapes have to be harvested during Full Moon as the grapes gives off its best flavours and aroma to it. He also uses the GPS system that states a particular section of the vineyard's growth and nurturing. Thus, it enables him to carefully track and send signals to the harvesters.

Personally, what I like about him is that he is willing to share his knowledge and intuitions. He even has his own personal laboratory that he mixes and blends his wine. He experiments with different flavours and records its down to make sure he makes the best out of his wines.

Suddenly, being my inspiring creative self, i asked him " Is it unethical to mix different wines since wines are drank particularly from a single grape variety?" He replied that there is no such thing as unethical and that wine should be fun. If everything has a set of rules and regulations, we would still be having World War 1 now. Given his reply, I immediately thought of mixing the Grenache 2006 with the Shiraz 2007 to match with our moroccan spiced lamb. My team members were happy with it and even Justin approved of it! Hah! Talk about the First Singapore Winemaker in Town!

Justin's Laboratory...