Following up the Hawkesbury Harvest launch covered below, Paul Judge extended an invite to taste the Top 40 NSW wines for 2006. These are the wines that are moving onto the NSW Parliament Members Dining room wine list. They had been judged some weeks before by the NSW Wine Industry Association and the criteria was 'strictly from NSW'. See the NSWWIA website for the complete Top 40 list, made from over 800 entries.
Set again in the Strangers Dining Room with the beautiful sunset backdrop of the Domain gardens and buildings beyond, there were forty bottles arranged on tables in their category groups.
Now wine tastings before a three hour drive home immediately lose some of their attraction for me. But, unlike the original judges of these excellent examples, I knew who the six category winners were so that eliminated thirty four that I had to taste. And if I did spit discretely, as many of the guests did, I could try a few more.
But first there were speeches; and the politicians were introduced by Lyndey Milan a respected food journo and media celebrity proud of the State's wines. (I'll always remember her in that dress in one of the old photogalleries here. Who said we didn't do social pages in Regional Food?)
The Hon. David Campbell gave us the figures. We (Australians) apparently consume half a million bottles of wine a day and of course, he reckons more of that should be NSW wine. We've obviously some areas like the Hunter and Mudgee that already have great reputations, but David Campbell pointed out that nineteen on the top 40 list were from cool climate areas. And that's a real trend to watch. He endeared us with his story about berating the sommelier at a restaurant where he was lunching, who had no NSW wines on their wine list. And so he drank water. He was encouraging us to do the same (the berating, not the choosing aqua minerale).
The Hon. Ian MacDonald, who in his role as Minister for Primary Industries is another champion of the local wines, then added his welcome. As we moved onto the tasting part of the evening, he was actively seeking advice and information from the winemakers attending, asking what were the regional characteristics etc. he should be tasting for.
All that was left for David Lowe, the President of the NSW Winemakers Association to say, was that there were lots of other wines of terrific quality out there that we should all enjoy (and that he'd have better luck with his wine next year!)
Ok I know you want to rush out in a buying frenzy before Christmas so here's the list of winners. The whole Top 40 selection is here as a PDF.
(I've added some of my notes below about the winners, if that helps.)
CLEAR IMAGE 2006 NSW Wine of the Year
Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2005, Tumbarumba
Best NSW Sparkling Wine (Sponsored by NSW Wine Press Club)
Centennial Vineyards Methode Champenoise Pinot Noir Chardonnay 2004, Southern Highlands
Best NSW Young Dry White Wine (Sponsored by Restaurant & Catering NSW)
Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2005, Tumbarumba
Best NSW 
Mature Dry White Wine (Sponsored by A & G Industries)
Pokolbin Estate Riesling 2000, Hunter Valley
Best Young Dry Red Wine (Sponsored by Colour True Labels)
Simon Gilbert Wines Prince Hill Shiraz 2005, Mudgee
Best Mature Dry Red Wine (Sponsored by Rabobank)
Peterson’s Glenesk Shiraz 2001, Mudgee
Best NSW Sweet White Wine (Sponsored by Australian Sommeliers Association)
Petersons Botrytis Semillon 2004, Riverina
My notes say...
Centennial Sparkling 2004 - Very dry, yeasty, straw, with lasting mouth feel. Beside it was the Charles Sturt Limited release Pinot Noir Chardonnay made from Tumbarumba fruit (and interestingly had a crown seal cap) It was marked NV but had a 2002 date on the label. It had lots of tight bubbles and was a fair second choice.
Hungerford Hill Tumbarumba Chardonnay 2005 - 'light, delicate fruit, pale, lingering butterscotch. Will it age? Must buy a case'. Out of Canberra regional loyalty, in the same category I tried the Ken Helm's 2006 Riesling. Again. It's good.
I didn't try the winning Pokolbin Riesling in mature white section, I did try the nearby Tyrells Vat 1 Semillon 1998. My perceptive note says 'Gee, what age does. Lovely.'
As you'd expect, the same obvious comparison between the young and mature reds was played out. The Simon Gilbert Prince Hill Shiraz however was immediately drinkable, smooth and a dense colour. The Peterson's 2001 Glenesk Shiraz was peppery, with lots of oak, I noted 'needed further consideration over dinner sometime'. Peterson's also scored the best sweet wine, but by this stage of the tasting, I didn't really give it full attention. John Bushell, our Regional Food ad manager said he preferred the De Bortoli Noble One Semillon to the Peterson Botrytis Semillon 2004, Riverina , but confessed that's a favourite of his anyway.
You can follow up the links on the NSWWIA website for all the winemakers addresses and contacts (it's in a spreadsheet format). Many of these are only available direct from the winemaker and cellar door.
(Images above left. From top to bottom, Ian MacDonald quizzes the winemakers, Paul Judge from DSRD NSW sharing notes with Claudia Chan Shaw, NSW Tourism's Catriona Fraser in blue with Jenny Arkell (right) listen to the speeches, Delia Dray of Dept of Primary Industries with Lyndey Milan behind her.)
Hawkesbury Harvest hits Macquarie Street
That's the Strangers Dining Room (yep that's what it's called in political speak, it stops you the public, feeling too familiar) at NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street Sydney. The buzz was around an initiative that the NSW govt. do every quarter where they choose the produce from a particular region of the state and serve that up to the pollies in the not so strange member's dining room for a week. They have a cocktail party to introduce the producers of the region, and then the chefs produce a menu dedicated to that region's finest which looks like this, (opens in new window). It's a good initiative and if the region's issues get discussed over dinner, a great way to raise the idea of regional food to our state parliamentarians and guests.
As we stepped through the door we were offered a 'wild hibiscus royale'. Think kia royale, which is champagne and cassis, but with Lee Etherington's whole preserved hibiscus flower and a slurp of rose syrup. Lee's Kurrajong Australian Native Foods is so busy with exporting the Australian product to 13 countries that his Wild Hibiscus Flower Company offshoot is now dominating the business and he's got a number of growers supplying flowers. The flowers open slowly in the champagne and give a perfect jumping off place for the bubbles. Very pretty and we went back for a refill, purely to appreciate the idea.
Above: Lee Etherington and Renee Tenniswood and left, a single flower waiting for the champagne.
When the time came for the official speeches the master of ceremonies was Simon Marnie from ABC Radio 702's weekend Show who has a regular food segment that he has gone to great lengths to ensure good coverage of the Hawkesbury region's producers. He evocatively described one dawn meeting with Gary Howard, a local Hawkesbury prawn fisherman who trawls out of Sackville Reach. (It's available online as ABC audio here.)
John Aquilina MP, while offering the State and Regional Development Minister David Campbell's apology for not being able to attend, positively relished the chance to talk about the food from the Hawkesbury, which is his electorate. At left he's drawing business cards to hand out some 'door prizes', hampers of produce and a dinner at Loxley.
Equally enthusiastic was Rex Stubbs, the mayor of Baulkham Hills Shire which is 'home' for the Hawksbury Harvest group. Talking about the importance of the rural and food production areas which supply so much of Sydney's food, he drew applause when he promised that there would be no further loss of agricultural land to suburban development in their council area. He also made a dig at the supermarket chains for their impact on small production.
Karen Gerrity-Newham, above right, was talking to the gentleman at left about the Game Farm quail and she asked had he tasted the produce that was 'doing the room'? At that moment along came a platter of the seared quail breasts (wrapped in sugar cured bacon with verjus and greybox honey dipping sauce). The Game Farm is a family owned business that has been operating since 1975 and sell around Australia and overseas. Circulating prepared dishes for sampling is a great idea and started many conversations.
I managed to sample most of the food being passed around, but like the quail breasts, many were hardly finger food; requiring you to stop talking and stand eating. Carefully.
At each of the producer's stalls that ringed the room, there were also samples to taste, like at left, Broken Bay Oysters. Steven Jones was explaining how their premium produce was due to the Hawkesbury River "Australia's best growing waters" and how they now grow only triploid Pacific oysters. (If you've missed that bit of oyster knowledge - 'triploid oysters are effectively sterile, they grow faster than diploids and stay in market condition for longer periods'. So says Fisheries NSW). They tasted great as well.
Shirley Deschamps, above, explained that the apiarist who supplies a lot of their seasonal exotic honey has a business selling queen bees and the honey he supplies is almost a sideline. Lucky them. They have varieties that I'd never heard of such as Jelly Bush (it's apparently like a tea tree) and Angophora were on their list, along with with lemon tea tree, mangrove and Salvation Jane honeys. Paul Deschamps is a regular at the Wisemans Ferry market every Sunday. Shirley explained that the stall is all Paul's, she is at home busy cooking up their jams, preserves and fruit butters!
The other small and tasty item that went by was a small square of the Kurrajong Kitchen lavosh, topped with Willowbrae's marinated Mt Bowen Mature goats cheese. Both Ben and Karen Lebsanft's Kurrajong Kitchen and the Willowbrae Cheese's stories are worth telling at length when I can. Ben had to excuse himself from the conversation to supervise the baking of what sounded like a huge order of lavosh, happening at a new bakery they were using. That's Glen Barringham from Willowbrae above. He works with cheesemaker Karen Borg and her husband David who is in charge of their dairy. David was talking about the effects of the drought and how their regular milk suppliers are having problems. His solution may be to significantly increase their own current herd of 150 goats to ensure supply of quality milk.
Chefs Adam Yates and Rodney Riddle from Loxley on Bellbird Hill, share a joke with Sarah Warby and Deb from Sassafras Creek Food and Design. The dining options in the Hawkesbury region aren't all regional focussed, so you should do some advance checking. Ireckon we'll be visiting Loxley, Toque and Lochiel House. (And for old times sake Berowa Waters Inn - the last visit must have been twenty years ago!)
One of the small truly finger food items was the tasty and textured duck and pistachio terrine that came with dab of Deschamps apple jelly. I had a few of those. Here the terrine is being given a small fresh new season rasberry as topping, I think by the people from Urban Graze whose cooking school is in the Hills district.
Fresh berries feature in the Hawkesbury Harvest region and the hydroponic Camarosa strawberries from Tony Jones at Berry Good Farms were being served with a really interesting blackberry curd. And Kristie Gilbert from Tourism NSW thought the combination was pretty good as well.
One of the significant successes in the Hawkesbury was the formation of a FarmGate Trail which gave many of the region's small producers a chance to sell directly, and prompted them to value-add their produce to ensure that they had product for all seasons. You will find some useful background on Hawkesbury Harvest group at their attractive website and it links to a dedicated section of the site for the FarmGate trail members.
Ian is the Chair of Hawkesbury Harvest Inc. and was involved with the formation of the Hawkesbury Harvest group, and he obviously adds much more than an academic perspective ( See the website History page and business plans )
With such an event, unless you skim around the room, you don't get to hear the producer stories. I like to hear the producer stories.
You also don't get a chance to try everything
so I'll
have to catch up with the Hawkesbury
wineries
when I visit the region.
For a full list of the food served on the day, click here. For a list of all the participating suppliers, their contacts and brief profiles, download the PDF document here.
Our thanks to Paul Judge from Department of State and Regional Development NSW for the invitation.
