Club Veraison News 16th November 2008
| Now over 550 members across the nation |
In This Issue:
Christmas Parties
Spaces are filling quickly.
Evening Specials
Special for Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday night.
Wine Words
Lets Decant - What happens when you decant.
On Tasting This Week
32 different wines & chef’s tapas for $20 per person.
Date Claimers
All our upcoming wine dinners.
 Christmas Parties
Need a venue for your Christmas party this year? Veraison has begun taking bookings already.
We have a number of different function packages to choose from. Find out which style of function package would suit your event best. Be sure to book early to avoid disappointment.
 Evening Specials
TUESDAY – 2-for-1 Main Meals
Buy one main meal & receive a second main meal to equal or lesser value for free.
WEDNESDAY – Degustation with wines $50
Enjoy our degustation with wines included at this price
THURSDAY – Wine & Tapas $20
Enjoy chef’s tapas plate and try 32 different wines for just $20.
.
 Wine Words Let’s Decant
At Veraison, as a matter of course, we offer to decant red wines. It simply makes them taste better. You will never make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but “every wine deserves a chance”, my wine principle always said. He was of course referring to decanting a wine or “letting it breathe”. It’s amazing how letting a wine breathe can really make it improve.
Whether you are at a dinner party or in a restaurant, red wine sitting in a decanter always looks great. But it’s not all looks, what is actually happening while it’s in there?
The bottom line is this, fruit juice cannot be stored on the shelf & expected to last. Yet aged wine is the thing that wine drinkers love. So the wine maker adds a preservative, usually sulphur. Sadly though, sulphur tends to mask the taste of the wine. The best way to explain the effect of sulphur is to open young bottle of red wine & immediately try a mouthful. Sulphur is the sour flavour that wants to make your face pucker up. I have a few people at Veraison who open a bottle and think “that’s exactly the same as the last bottle of red that I had.” Sadly they think that this is just “red wine flavour”. Of course it tastes the same, all we have here is a big glass of sulphur flavoured juice. We need to remove this preservative.
Decanting is the answer. Sulphur is removed during the process of oxidisation. As air (in particular, oxygen) is in contact with the wine the sulphur is removed. The more surface area the wine has in contact with air, the more effective this takes place. This is exactly the reason decanters are generally bulb shaped. Pulling the cork out of a bottle does not let it breathe adequately.
You can purchase decanters from most home-maker stores. If you do not have a decanter you may wish to “double decant” your wine. All you will need for this is a clean plastic jug. Simply pour the wine into the jug then pour it back into the bottle. You may wish to repeat this process a number of times.
This is something you can try at home. Take 2 bottles of the same red wine. Decant one wine for a time, and leave the other wine sealed. Time is important. A young wine (younger than 2002) will generally take longer to lose a lot of the sulphur. Generally 2.5 to 3 hours. An older wine (2002 and older) will generally be under 1 hour. After allowing time, pour a glass from both the decanted & unopened bottle. With the sulphur removed you should be able to taste the juice which the wine maker intended.
 Tasting This Week
All 32 wines with chef’s selection of tapas just $20 per person every day.
WHITE
08 Forest Hill Riesling – 95 points Halliday
08 Peter Lehmann Riesling – 93 points Halliday
06 Bleasdale Chardonnay
08 Forest Hill Chardonnay – 90 points Halliday
07 Yalumba Wild Ferment Chardonnay
– 94 points Halliday
08 Wirra Wirra Hiding Champion Sauv Blanc – 90 points Halliday
08 George Duboeuf Sauvignon Blanc
07 Astrolabe Voyage Sauvignon Blanc
07 Astrolabe Voyage Pinot Gris
08 Symphony Hill Reserve Verdelho
06 Peter Lehmann Semillon
RED
06 Pertaringa Stage Left Merlot – 90 points Halliday
06 Torres Atrium Merlot
07 Smith & Hooper Merlot – 90 points Halliday
07 Forest Hill Cabernet, Merlot
04 Peter Lehmann Cabt Merlot – 91 points Halliday
06 Peter Lehmann Cabernet Sauvignon
05 Bleasdale Mulberry Tree Cab Sauvignon
06 Vasse Felix Classic Dry Red Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon
05 Yalumba Shiraz, Viognier – 92 points Halliday
98 Addison Section 49 Shiraz
00 The Fleurieu The Fleurieu Shiraz
07 Kooyong Massale Pinot Noir
– 94 points Halliday
06 Port Phillip Estate Pinot Noir
– 94 points Halliday
05 Kismet Pinot Noir – 91 points Halliday
07 Wrattonbully Tempranillo – 92 points Halliday
06 Yalumba Bushvine Grenache
04 Bleasdale Malbec
05 Guigal Cotes Du Rhone Rouge
06 Cotes du Ventoux La Vieille Ferme Rouge 99 Peter Lehmann 99 Cellar Reserve Cabernet Franc
 Date Claimers
November 24th - Yalumba Rare & Fine Wine Dinner - $80
Darren Cosgrove has been working for Yalumba for almost 20 years both around Australia and overseas. Darren will be hosting our evening on a Monday night the 24th. Many will remember a very informative & entertaining evening hosted by Darren earlier this year. Our evening of perfectly matched food with exceptional wine from the oldest family owned winery in Australia will certainly meet expectation.
December 15th – Elderton Command Shiraz Vertical Tasting - $80
For something extra special to round out 2008 we will be hosting our own vertical tasting of Elderton Command Shiraz. This event will feature vintages starting with the epic 1998 through to the internationally acclaimed 2004. Our amazingly creative chef Alex Weston will delight & surprise with his food matching skills for this evening.
December 25th – Christmas Day Lunch.
Veraison will be open this Christmas Day for lunch. To celebrate we will be hosting a 5 course degustation lunch with wines to mach. Watch this space for further menu, wine & price updates.
December 31st – New Years Eve Dinner.
Starting at 8pm this new year’s eve Veraison will be hosting a celebratory 5 course degustation dinner. Sparkling wines will flow as we all see in the new year in style. Be on the look out for more details here.
Each dinner is set across of a 5 course degustation starting at 6:30pm.
Contact Veraison on (07) 4638 5909 for more information.
.
|