Thursday, May 21, 2009

Just Imagine..

Just imagine an evening tasting wine where the atmosphere is friendly, relaxed, informal. Where the measures being served from each of the wines being shown, are more than just a tasting measure, to give you the best opportunity to relish each glass, and if you were not sure, you could go back and try another glass. And all this served with high quality food from Patrick and his crew.

This was what I had to suffer last night at the award wining restaurant It-Tmun here in Gozo. The show case wines available to try were from the ozzy wine maker Peter Lehmann's Barossa range presented by Julia Schregel, export manager for the Hess Group, also on hand to answer questions were Mr Abraham of Abrahams Supplies Ltd and Marco Vella import export manager for Attard & Co.
We were greeted on arrival by Patrick and were served an aperitif of very Italian pink Prosecco, most welcome considering the very hot day we had just endured. Prosecco is a fresh light, simply made sparkling wine that is not at all like champagne (other than the bubbles) nor does it try to be champagne, and is made from the prosecco grape, the producer I can not remember. Normally at these events I take a pen and paper and take notes, which I failed to do last night that is why I am sat here at 6.00am in the morning writing just in case my ageing brain forgets where I had been last night, let alone remember what I tasted.


  • The first of the Lehmann wines was the Chardonnay, light and fresh not over full as some Ozzy chardonnays can be, with some oak, once again not over oaked as some Aussie chardonnay can be. If you like Chardonnay but are fed up with the fat over oaked, over alcoholic style this would be a good choice.
  • Next to try, the Riesling this grape better perhaps known in Germany has found a new home here in South Australia, made to drink young, hence screw cap closure (Maltese winemakers note) with hints of peach and citrus fruit, clean and refreshing, went very well with the Paella that was being served freshly cooked at the table by Patrick's brother.
  • Then we had Barossa's own adopted grape of Shiraz, deep red with lots of red fruit favours and enough tannin to balance nicely with the 14.5% alcohol . The Shiraz paired very well with the cheese selection that was on offer.
  • A wine called Clancy's (not sure where the name came from) a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot a big wine that is straining at leash to get out but has been tamed by the addition of Merlot, noticeable tannins. This is certainly a different wine to the usual ozzy reds, so for something a little different try it.
  • To finish the evening we were served a port style wine called 'The King' made from a blend of Shiraz and Touriga Nacional (the traditional port grape) and I thought that the quality was very good indeed, and would be happy to drink it in place of a traditional vintage port, I am sure there are a few purists out there that might cringe at this statement.
Patrick tells me that he had an enjoyable evening, I know I did, I also added further to my wine knowledge. Note to self 'when wine tasting remember to take notebook and pen'.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. Albert Schweitzer.

1 comment:

Ilene Springer said...

Hi Steve, congrats on your new classy Maltese wine blog. Wish you a lot of happy wine tasting. Thanks for your good wishes on me getting my work permit. Have a glass for me, will you?---Ilene