Briar Ridge Vintage Club 'Off the Press', Winter 2015

OFF THE

PRESS WINTER 2015 ISSUE 70

RISING STAR OF THE YEAR 2015

NEW RELEASES UPCOMING EVENTS AND MORE...

www.briarridge.com.au

WELCOME to the Winter edition of ‘Off the Press’

The winter chill has set in and we are all thinking about spending time with the home fires burning, some lovely comfort food and of course, a beautiful bottle (or two) of award winning red from Briar Ridge. There is much to tell you about so grab a glass and get comfortable...

The accolades continue to roll in for the wines and the winemaking team. We have picked out a few of our favourite reviews for you to read about – hopefully you may have a bottle of some of these in the cellar.

Save the Date!

If there was ever a good reason to venture out during these colder months then our August Indulgence dinner is the perfect occasion. With food by legendary chef Robert Molines, award winning Briar Ridge wines, and our very own Living Legend himself, Mr Karl Stockhausen as our guest host, this is an evening not to be missed.

September is Budfest time! This event has become an annual event on the Briar Ridge calendar after the great success of last year. What a perfect way to enjoy our wines with simple street food from Ben & Harry’s whilst relaxing in the beautiful Briar Ridge grounds. We also welcome back Jack & Pipiana who rocked the winery last year!

Chef Rohan Williams is no stranger to wine country and we are very excited to be holding our Newcastle members lunch at his venue The Sandbar, in Newcastle. Rohan has even given you something to try at home if the mood strikes, see the recipe for slow cooked lamb in this newsletter, or just book in for lunch in October!

The cellar door has been exceptionally busy lately and the buzz around the venue is exciting. Steve and the team would love to welcome you all for an exclusive member’s tasting experience and a complimentary cheese platter... bookings are essential.

We hope to see you soon!

Stephanie Parker Vintage Club Manager

The Single Vineyard Experience OFF THE PRESS | WINTER 2015 | ISSUE 70 WELCOME

S’Bella ‘Spotty Dog’ Paste

Winter edition f the Press’ Cellar Door News We have just finished celebrating Hunter Valley Food and Wine Month which was a great success. If you missed it, make a mental note to head to the Hunter next June, as it was full of great wine and food events. Briar Ridge created our “Single Vineyard Experience”, showcasing a tasting of five Single Vineyard wines along with one of our antipasto platters. If you haven’t had one of our platters, why not come out to the cellar door and relax over one soon with a glass of wine!

The cellar door has introduced a new taste sensation... dark Belgian chocolate balls filled with our delicious liqueur Muscat. They have been very popular, and we are having trouble keeping up with demand! These are available to purchase singularly or in boxes of 4, and a perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee on these cool winter days. You won’t be able to stop at one! A second flavour sensation is being experimented with as we speak. Stay tuned...

Our “Spotty Dog” range of cheese pastes and marmalades has a new “exclusive” style to enjoy. A paste made from our very own Briar Ridge S’Bella “Off-Dry” Semillon – it’s very tangy and moreish... and is currently being enjoyed as an accompaniment to our antipasto platters.

And a big congratulations to our wonderful leader Gwyn Olsen on her recent award.

Steve Pike Cellar Door Manager

Our Belgian Liqueur Chocolates

Stephanie & Steve

Gwyn Olsen – Rising Star of the Year, 2015 She is at it again!!

Gwyn recently was honoured to receive this award at the Hunter Legends Awards. It was a joint award, shared with Troy & Megan Rhoades-Brown of Muse Dining.

This award recognises the outstanding contribution of an industry person over the preceding 12 months, whether they are a young person just starting out, someone just recently involved in the Hunter Valley Wine & Tourism Industries or whose star is ascending.

Congrats Gwyn, Troy & Megan!

Winemaker Gwyn Olsen OFF THE PRESS | WINTER 2015 | ISSUE 70 CELLAR DOOR NEWS

OUR

FAV URITE

RECENT REVIEWS 2014 BRIAR RIDGE Single Vineyard ‘Briar HILL’ Chardonnay 94 POINTS While there is no shortage of flavour, the wine has a nice overlay of savoury, grapefruity, minerality to its moving parts; it is lively and fresh, with good fruit/oak balance, and should keep its shape and length for some time yet.

James Halliday, 2015.

2013 Briar Ridge Single Vineyard ‘The H.R.B.’ 96 POINTS The light, clear colour is entirely approachable, as are the predominantly red fruits; this wine has more Burgundian notes to it than many of its predecessors in the ‘50s (other than those of Maurice O’Shea). Great length and elegance are the marks of a truly lovely wine.

Wine Companion, June 2015.

94 POINTS Briar Ridge makes this blend to pay homage to the great Hunter River Burgundies that were among the legendary reds of the early days of the district. The elegant wine shows red berry and cherry fruit with a savoury background.

Mike Frost, The Courier Mail, February 2015.

2014 Briar Ridge ‘The Briar’ Vineyard Blend This wine is like having all your best friends over for a party in the backyard!

Semillon, Verdelho, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are all part of this energetic and fresh field blend – a wine made from various grapes that are all grown together in the same vineyard. Field blends are huge in Europe, and it’s good to see them on the rise here in Oz, as they generally make for exciting drinking. This one is fresh, and fruity with loads of white peach and melon, and then – BAM! – your mid palate takes a hit of herbs & juicy green grass. It may be too grassy for some, but I loved it. There’s some great complexity here too and a finish longer than an Oscars acceptance speech. Drink it with chicken and prosciutto salad.

Rating: Very, VERY Good Wine.

Jane Thomson, Fabulous Ladies Wine Society.

March 2015.

GWYN TALKS...

FIANO! We have just released our first Fiano to the Briar Ridge range. So, what exactly is it, I hear you ask?

Fiano originated in the Campania region of southern Italy and on the island of Sicily. In Italy it produces a fairly strong flavoured white wine and it is believed to have been the grape used in the ancient Roman wine Apianum. Outside of Italy, it is currently grown in Argentina and Australia.

The grape is relatively easy to grow requiring little fuss in the vineyard. It is drought tolerant, resistant to disease and naturally high in acidity which makes it well suited to the Hunter Valley and our Mount View vineyard.

In 2014, we created a new block especially for Fiano out the front of the Briar Ridge winery. As this vineyard was planted from cuttings, it will take approximately three years for us to produce a wine from this block of Fiano and hence in 2015 we purchased grapes from the Howard Vineyard (located on Oakey Creek Road, Pokolbin) to create our first Fiano for Briar Ridge.

The resulting wine is bright and crisp, with good mid palate texture. The nose displays a perfumed aroma of honeysuckle and cumquat. The lively balanced palate is packed with notes of ginger spice, cumquat and hazelnut with a layered textural mid palate providing further complexity. The traditional high acid naturally occurring in the grape provides length and a crisp, persistent finish. Personally, I find this wine very delicious and a very enjoyable drink. It is young and zesty now, and will continue to develop further complexity over the next five years. A definite star of the portfolio and it is exciting to know that we have this variety planted in our estate vineyard now.

In 2015, we only produced 120 dozen of this wine so it is in limited supply.

Gwyn Ol s en Winemaker

Introducing

‘The Squire’ Chardonnay 2014 sees the beloved ‘Hand Picked Chardonnay’ under a new name – ‘The Squire’ Chardonnay.

But why is this so?

This has come about for a number of reasons. Due to changes in viticulture and the improvement of machine harvesting quality, we now employ a machine harvester to harvest around 50% of our Chardonnay blocks and hence the resulting wine is produced from 100% hand-picked fruit.

Machine harvesting does not directly impact the fruit quality or the final wine and thus I felt that it was misleading to continue to call this wine ‘Hand Picked Chardonnay.’

How does The Squire fit into the brand and the history? After a lot of research and names being tossed around the office, we came across the original name of our Mount View Vineyard, known as ‘The Squire Vineyard’ thus we thought this would be a perfect fit for our Chardonnay. With the Chardonnay blocks planted on both ends of the vineyard, it is a perfect representation of the wine style and vineyard characteristics and also allows us to pay homage to the rich history of this region.’

Gwyn Ol sen Winemaker

Winter Offer

DID YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR RECENT BIG BULLY CAMPAIGN? THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO ORDER A SIX PACK OF BIG BULLY AT JUST $150 PER SIX PACK. See enclosed order form. Valid until 31st July 2015.

UPCOMING Events

AUGUST The Indulgence Dinner Saturday 1 August 2015 BRIAR RIDGE VINEYARD

Robert Molines will again be preparing a sumptuous menu for our Indulgence dinner, and we have invited Living Legend and Briar Ridge consultant winemaker Karl Stockhausen along to share a story or two with you. Enjoy wines from our Single Vineyard and Stockhausen series with a sneak peak from wines from the 2015 vintage.

Cost $90pp, four courses and Briar Ridge wines.

OCTOBER Briar Ridge AT Hunter Uncorked at Balmoral Sunday 11 October 2015

Come by and say hi!

Briar Ridge Vintage Club Lunch

Saturday 24 October 2015 Bistro Sandbar, Newcastle Beach

Enjoy canapés and four fabulous courses from Head Chef Rohan Williams with matching Briar Ridge wines, whilst enjoying the casual, beach front atmosphere of Bistro Sandbar.

Cost $80pp, including canapés, four courses and matching Briar Ridge wines.

Briar Ridge at the Wahroonga Food & Wine Festival Monday 26 October 2015

Come by and say hi!

Briar Ridge & Pepper Tree Wines lunch Saturday 29 August 2015 Reserve Wine Bar, Newcastle

SEPTEMBER Budfest at Briar

Saturday 19th September 2015 BRIAR RIDGE VINEYARD

If you missed out last year you definitely don’t want to miss this one. We are inviting all members and friends to come and celebrate Spring and budburst on the vines. It is such a great way to celebrate the start of the season and to prove you can still enjoy a glass of wine without too much fuss. Ben & Harry’s are back with their amazing street food, as are Jack & Pipiana to entertain you with their smooth sounds on the lawns at Briar Ridge.

NOVEMBER Briar Ridge at the Brisbane Waters Oyster Festival

Sunday 8 November 2015 Ettalong Foreshore, Ettalong Beach

There will be defi nitely some Semillon to be enjoyed here! Visit www.oysterfestival.com.au for more information. Come by and say hi!

Christmas Cocktails at...

LATE NOVEMBER 2015 more information coming soon!

For bookings and enquiries for the above events, please contact us on (02) 4990 3670 or by email: vintageclub@briarridge.com.au

OFF THE PRESS | WINTER 2015 | ISSUE 70 UPCOMING EVENTS

Seven hour mutton (Mouton a la cuillere)

Compliments of Rohan Williams, Head Chef & Manager, The Sandbar Newcastle Beach Serves 6 | Preparation time: 30 minutes | Cooking time: 7 hours | Skills needed: Beginner ‘A la cuillere’ is the exact opposite of the other French way of serving lamb, which is to serve it pink and underdone.

Seven hour mutton is easy to prepare, relatively cheap and makes a wholesome, comforting meal during the colder months. This works just as well with a leg of lamb but is considerably more expensive.

Ingredients 1 Lamb shoulder 4 onions, quartered 8 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole 4 carrots whole if small or halved if large 300ml dry cider 300ml brown stock eg. Veal stock - jus de veau Bouquet of fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons of dried thyme 2-3 tablespoons Calvados Freshly ground black pepper

Method Make sure you have a lidded casserole dish, preferably cast iron, big enough to accommodate the lamb shoulder; Heat the oven to 170°C; Place the casserole on the hob at a high heat and seal the seasoned shoulder until it is dark brown all over. This will take about 10 minutes. Add a drizzle of oil if the meat sticks. (The browning process is very important; as the meat is slowly pot braised and will not brown any more during cooking).

Drain off any excess fat, throw in the vegetables, the thyme followed by the cider and stock.

Bring to the boil, cover with the lid, put in the oven and bake for 7 hours.

You may want to check the level of liquid half way through cooking and add a little more if it seems too dry but there should not be too much liquid.

The meat will be cooked after 5 hours and offer no resistance to a knife. But to get that French ‘a la cuilliere’ texture so that you can simply spoon the meat on to your plate, the extra cooking time is needed.

There is no need to rest the mutton before serving, simply transfer the meat and vegetables to a warmed serving dish.

Strain the juices and boil the sauce, adjust the seasoning and add the Calvados.

Tip If you prefer thicker gravy you can achieve this by the addition of a little flour and water paste.

Rohan is hosting Masterclasses every Friday night in winter as part of his “Le Tour de France.”

Visit facebook.com/sandbarnewcastlebeach for further details.

Briar Ridge suggest: Enjoy with a glass of 2013 Karl Stockhausen Shiraz.

OFF THE PRESS | WINTER 2015 | ISSUE 70 FEATURE RECIPE

OFF THE

PRESS WINTER 2015 ISSUE 70

The photos below are from our Members Blending Session, Murder & Mayhem at Briar Ridge and the Dynamic Duo lunch.

Contact Us STEPHANIE PARKER Vintage Club Manager

Briar Ridge Vineyard 593 Mount View Road, Mount View NSW 2325 PO Box 148 Cessnock NSW 2325 Email vintageclub@briarridge.com.au Phone 02 4990 3670 | Fax 02 4990 7802 Open 7 days a week for tasting and sales, 10 - 5pm

www.briarridge.com.au