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After a bit, the more interesting items go to the Harvest Archive so if
you're looking for something specific, check there.
 

The 2007 Royal Canberra Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show is on again at Exhibition Park in Canberra,  1 September 2007. 25 companies have entered 61 oils for judging in the 2007 Royal, and we will put up the results here on the website when announced. We thought you might like to know the criteria for entry and what the judges look for.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made from olives crushed soon after harvest and processed without the use of excessive heat ensuring that flavour, aroma and health benefits from the olive is maintained. To make the
grade of Extra Virgin, the oil must have an absolute perfectly balanced flavour and aroma with a free acidity level no more than 0.8%.

The Judging panel comprises 10 experienced Australian oil producers and tasters, including Chairperson Richard Gawel – Head of AOA organoleptic panel, Nelson Quinn – President of SOGA (who was in our #2 issue, Jayne Bentivoglio and Robert Armstrong.

There is a Presentation Dinner for this event to be held on Saturday 15 September at the First FloorRestaurant, Green Square Centre, Kingston starting at 7pm. Award winning regional wines and extra virgin olive oil will be served along with a 6 course menu. Visit www.rncas.org.au  for more information.

Here is a website marketing initiative that looks good and will hopefully do well.

Obviously aimed at a much younger audience than me, it's got the feel of a website under 35's would share links to when planning a night out (which is what they state as their objective). The home page is a big search page, with drop down menus which look locations, for meal and drink deals, bars, restaurants, BWS bottle shops, venues with big screen TVs (?) etc. It still needs a lot of data added but it's ok for NSW and ACT at the moment.

The site has the required interactive features that allow you to vote on sexy photos of suspiciously professional looking models, to add a bar review (there's a perceptive one on the ACT's Holy Grail ...'Often full of bogans (mainly defence personnel) who think it's classy to dance to Prince, pick up 16 year olds and sing bad karaoke. Do not, under any circumstances, order risotto here. (Arborio rice? what's that?)' ) and other sites obviously have entries by the staff members who say how nice the staff are. If you treat it as fun you should find the site useful

While the Product Watch section is a grab bag of brands obviously designed to keep the industry and BWS friendly, there are some small brewery items that Regional Foodies will find interesting. I've been wanting to mention Stefano di Pieri's Mildura Brewery and in the Cheapdrinks.com.au Product Watch is their Murray Honey Wheat Beer described as "A delicate and less bitter style of beer ...popular with the younger crowd, women of all ages and those with a sweet tooth." Which makes it sound a bit like a fruit spritzer but it's not.
 
The Mildura Brewery website has the full range and story (the Brewery pub is in a nicely restored movie theatre with deco touches). The website banner features a photo of a famous dust storm that blanketed Mildura (the tag line is 'The brewery that took Australia by storm'). Hmmmm. Cover your drinks.

How to do it

The new Lynwood Preserves website is pretty classy, if we do say so ourselves. Not that we had anything to do with the final design (that was Phoebe Besley at harcus design) but we did our bit to help plan and build it all.

In fact we'd done all that six months ago and we were waiting to work out the online ordering which Joh O'Dell our Regional Food webhead finished off.

So why did it take so long to build? Well, I think it's a great case study for small producers to look at before they leap into their own website. (I'll happily tell you about it if you're interested)

Robbie Howard (that's her with the commercial size jam kettle she uses) and husband Alan wanted something simple and stylish but something they could change themselves. Then the online ordering had to have a way of adapting to product that was small run and seasonal. Both tasks requiring computer skills that needed to be learned.

The result is worth the wait, and it carefully makes sure that all the people who stock their jams are listed with addresses, as are the distributors so if you don't have time to wait for the postman before you spread that croissant, you can rush out locally. You need that retail support and you have to make sure that an online site doesn't alienate them.

We wrote about Lynwood Cafe and Robbie and Alan in our Issue 2 and we've put a PDF of that story in our Web Extras section.  You can see the new Lynwood Preserves site at: www.lynwoodpreserves.com.au

Meanwhile back at Parliament House

Following up the Hawkesbury Harvest launch (archived), 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.)