Divine cheese and delightful wine
The most important stop on our mini-tour of the Yarra Valley was at De Bortoli Wines. De Bortoli started in the Riverina, I think, where there are immensely long intensely sunny days. They now have wineries in a number of regions and produce consistently good wines across a range of styles.
I hadn’t tasted many of their wines, though one of my favourite dessert wines for the last dunnamany years has been their Noble One. It’s one of those rich and sweet sunshine-in-a-bottle drinks. I first encountered it at the High Court in Canberra, which is another story entirely.
My parents sprung a surprise on me at De Bortoli’s. They asked the counter staff (who were unfailingly charming) about the cheesemaker, Richard Thomas. He came out specially to see us. Why? It turns out he’s a good friend of my sister’s, who he describes as “one of the best wine educators in Australia.”
Richard is one of the best cheesemakers in Australia. He’s also a pretty awesome educator. My mouth is still reeling from the cheeses he introduced us to and the wines that we tasted. Basically, he moved the whole food element of the day from my brain into my tastebuds, which was perfect. (And if my sudden access of praise worries you, it’s because you weren’t there - it truly was a very special tasting experience, from the staff* to the comestibles.)
If you can get hold of Richard’s goat’s cheese, do. It’s gentle and rounded and perfection. And if you can get to De Bortoli’s book a cheese session. If you can’t book a cheese session then at least get a tasting platter or buy some cheese to take home.
I nibbled on Ossau Iratty (a sheep’s cheese from the Basque country) and thought of the Song of Roland. Mum and I had their Valdeon again for dessert - it is such a perfect cheese to have with a slice of fresh apple and a glass of muscat.
As for wines, we only tasted three, because they were the ones we were thinking of buying. The De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate Grown Viognier is very different to the Canberra cool climate wines I know. Very nice, though. I want to extend my Melbourne trip and help Mum drink her bottle.
I liked the Shiraz Viognier even better (and I’m not a shiraz drinker, by and large). It is just the perfect wine for cheese and Monday was the perfect cheese day.
Let me sigh a little sigh of pleasure and remember it for a moment. Perfect days are rare and special. The wonderful thing about perfect food days is that the memories include taste and scent and can last forever.
*we didn’t eat the staff, but I wrote this post when I was tired - just in case you were worried about my sudden discovery of long pig.
food, de Bortoli, Richard Thomas, cheese, wine, Yarra Valley
September 18th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I think I speak for all of us when I say that I would really like to hear the High Court story someday!!
BTW, it is actually possible to make a person salivate with hunger just with words… Glad you had such a good day!
September 18th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Maybe one day I’ll tell you about the High Court and wine. Maybe.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:51 am
Yum, I wanna be there. Cheese? Fantastic. Wine? What drives me. Put them together? Oh, man….
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:59 am
[...] another interesting wine and cheese experience, check out Gillian’s post. Her words will have you hungry in no time. As a matter of fact, I think it’s time for some [...]
February 8th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Gillian, delightful & humbling really to read the review of your visit to us at De Bortoli.
We now have expanded our cheese inventory to include magnificent cheeses air freighted in from Europe by Fromage Air based in Adelaide who trade as the Smelly Cheese Shop. Valerie Henbest who operates the business took myself & Nick Haddow of Bruny Island to compete in the Caseus Awards 2009 in Lyon, where we came a commendable 9th. behind France, Japan & the UK. We were ahead of 3 European competitors, but given that almost all the cheeses we dealt with are prohibited from import into Australia-the Raw Milk Factor at play, we were very happy.
We presented on a substantial world stage, Heidi Raclette from Tasmania; Fromart Appenzell from Queensland; Meredith Dairy marinated Goat Cheese from Victoria; Bruny Island ‘C2′, the first officially recognised (and therefore historically significant) Natural Raw Milk Cheese since prohibition and ‘1792′ an astounding washed rind cheese, also from Bruny.
A great event in Australian Cheese History, see the streaming of the event as it happened by Googling ‘Caseus Awards 2009′
Cheers Richard
February 8th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Richard - this news is great. Your timing is great too - I was worried about you and the de Bortoli people. May everyone you know get safely through this impossible summer.
I think I need more of the Meredith Dairy goat’s cheese this week, just because.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
[...] Thomas – that wonderful cheesemaker – is safe. I know this because he just commented on the post I did about him, back then. The Yarra Valley is not safe (and has lost a lot), but is [...]