The House at Mount Prior

The next couple of posts will be about our recent four days at the Rutherglen Wine Show, Australia's second largest, with 2300 entries, and a Mecca for all those who love food n wine. We stayed for three nights at the fabulous House at Mount Prior. We previously stayed with Rose, Graham, Paula and Paul in June and were returning as we had been so impressed by the way they were providing a stand out experience for their guests. On our previous visit we had discovered that we could book a room in the courtyard and this would give us access to a pet friendly area of the property so that we were able to bring our dog Claude on the holiday with us. We arrived on the Thursday afternoon and were greeted by Rose and Paula while Claude was greeted by his four furry friends and disappeared with them within minutes of his arrival. We took a little longer to unpack the car and get our gear into our room. Rose came down to check that we were settled and to offer us tea or coffee, however as we had brought a bottle of Devil's Lair Fifth Leg Red 2006 with us, we just asked for some glasses. This blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz (Syrah), is a very interesting mixture of complexity and easy drinking which will make it a great wine to accompany food and one which I will return to at a later date.
Sitting in the courtyard with our bottle of red and just "blobbing" out we were pleasantly surprised when Rose arrived with a bowl of nuts for us to nibble on.
Thursday was the night of the Rutherglen Wineshow Presentation Dinner and we had arranged for Graham to drive us into Rutherglen and pick us up after the event. While we are away Claude is being babysat by Rose and Paula.
We arrived at the Soldiers Memorial Hall in Rutherglen in time for the serving of canapes and aperitifs.
The canapes were:

1. Blended mushroom and Milawa Blanco cheese, cooked and in mini tartlets. Very yummy, every time they came round I was asking for one for Jocelyn long after she was declining them.
2. Warm pea and mint veloute. Veloute is one of the four base sauces of French Cooking and I have usually encountered it as a dressing for ham and pickled pork dishes, in particular. Last year in Auckland I tasted an ice cold pea and mint veloute as an appetiser at Mechanix on the Mission Bay Waterfront, but never as a warm soup style. This was served in shot glasses and the creaminess of the peas and the roux were countered by the zestiness of the mint.
3. Duck, spring onion and ginger cigar. This is a blended mixture of the aforementioned wrapped in spring roll pastry. Let me tell you they were to die for.

The food was accompanied by:

• An Oloroso Sherry- The Seppelt Museum,
  
• A Pinot Chardonnay 2004 Methode Champenoise, Sparkling White from Josef Chromy
• An Anderson Sparkling Cellar Block Shiraz 2002 also a Methode Champenoise, but a red. This was the wine that Jocelyn and I drank with our canapes. It was deep purple in the glass, with a density of 7 plus, as with most sparkling wine produced by this method the nose is full of yeast and in this case by dark fruit aromas, rather like Christmas cake.

We were then ushered through into the dining area, where we shared a table with Ewart and Beryl Henderson, for the second year in a row. Ewart is retiring this year, from his role as secretary of the show society which incorporates the wine show, after 36 years in the position. He and Beryl intend to spend their retirement as grey nomads, traveling with their caravan.

At the table we started with an entree of Confit Chicken and Chicken Liver Pate Terrine served with a brioche. This is basically confit chicken dispersed through a pate and prepared in a terrine. Brioche is a very rich bread with recent history in French cooking but an even longer history dating back to Roman times.

The wines accompanying this part of the meal were:

• The Howard Park Madfish Riesling 2006. This wine lives up to the promise in the tasting notes which stated. "The wine is pale straw in colour with green hues. The nose is wonderfully aromatic showing limes, passion fruit and floral characters while the palate is clean and refreshing with citrus and bath salts to backup the riper fruit flavours. The finish is clean and quite mineral like with a lovely zing of acid down the palate. As with all good Riesling it will cellar well for at least seven years maybe more."
• The Campbells Viognier 2006. This wine won a gold at last years show, and two very significant trophies " Best Dry White Wine from Rutherglen" and "Best Dry White Wine from North East Victoria." The first time a Viognier has wone a trophy at the Rutherglen Wine Show. My notes on the menu describe the wine as follows straw hue in the glass, spicey citrus with floral highlights on the nose. Medium bodied but with a nice mouthfeel and an almost impossible stonefruit flavour against soft citrus. This was one of my favourite wines last year and I think that cellar door has run out, but it is always worth asking. Campbells do go out of their way to accommodate your wishes.
• The Seville Estate Chardonnay 2001. A review in 2005 said this about the wine. Rich with tropical fruits, is light gold with a green tinge, showing abundant aromas of passion fruit, pineapple and lime, with good balance and a velvety palate, ending with a tart green mango finish. In 2008 the fruit had mellowed into ripeness and the toastie characteristics of aged whites were much more prevalent. I am not a great fan of Chardonnay especially when it is aged but this one tempts me to try more.

The main course comprised a seared Eye Fillet steak sitting on a bed of sauteed spinach, braised beef Cheek on a bed of horseradish potato drizzled with port wine jus and a crispy onion and herb salad. Jocelyn doesn't eat red meat and as soon as this was discovered the chef's from the Pickled Sisters, who were catering the event, had a beautiful chicken breast filled with herb cheese cooked and served for her in very quick time.

The wines that accompanied this course were the reds:

• Boat O'Craigo 'Rob Roy' Pinot Noir 2005. In his 2008 Wine Companion James Halliday rates this as a 5 star wine and makes the following comment. "Lively, spiced black cherry fruit: spotlessly clean; very good mouthfeel and length." It was also a Gold and Trophy winner at the 2006 Rutherglen Wine Show and collected medals at several others. My notes on the night describe the wine as deep crimson in the glass and quite dense, dark fruit and spiciness on nose. Nice mouthfeel with the dark fruit and integrated oak lingering on the palate. beautifully complimented the braised Beef Cheek.
• Majella Coonawarra Cabernet 2006. This bronze medal winning wine and the next both made exccellent partners for the seared eye fillet . It was almost black in the glass and had high density. The nose had floral and blackberry aromas with spicy whispers and the palate was deep brooding full of fruit with hints of cigar and dark chocolate the finish was lingering black cherries.
• Morris Rutherglen Durif. This year is the celebration of 100 years of Durif in Rutherglen with a program of events focussing on the grape said to be the "son of Shiraz." This wine from this vintage was my introduction to the big, high alcohol, tannic Durif's of the area and my one step conversion to the grape and the Rutherglen style of wine. Now a devoted follower of the genre I look forward to cellaring bottles of each vintage from Morris, Campbell's, Warrabilla and Stanton and Killeen. Dark Red almost black in the glass, with an almost onyx density. The first aroma that assails the nose is the tannins, but lurking in the background are stewed plum and spice. As always the wine is full in the mouth and the stewed dark fruit flavours linger in well structured tannins.

The cheese platter consisted of Milawa Brie with quince paste, A Warby Red with pear relish, a Milawa Cheddar with winter fruit chutney seved with oatcakes and lavoche

The Stanton and Killeen Vintage Port 1992 accompanied the platter. Drinking well this port was a fitting tribute to Chris Killeen

Dessert was chocolate bouchon with raspberry puree, muscat and walnut parfait, dark chocolate sauce.

A 2002 Lillypilly Wines Noble Blend, this winery based in Leeton NSW in the Riverina Wine District has been a gold medal and trophy winner for the 2006 and 2007 at the Rutherglen Wine Show,

The meal ended with coffee and butterscotch fudge accompanied by a glass of Chambers Grand Muscadelle.

As we said our farewells to Ewart and Beryl, the Cofields and the Campbells and walked outside we were met by a smiling Graham, who whisked us back to the House at Mount Prior and our comforable room for the night.

Part Two will follow over the weekend