Crowd-sourcing the new Mitchell Harris Sangiovese

View Larger Map

In the sensational Pyrenees red-wine vintage of 2010, we were lucky enough to get our hands on some terrific Sangiovese fruit from Shays Flat, near Landsborough on the western edge of the Pyrenees.

An offer too good to pass up, it left us with a little bit of a problem; we'd never made Sangiovese before!

So, what to do? First, we bled off some of the juice in a saignée fashion, to create about half of our Mitchell Harris Rosé 2010 (the other half being Macedon Pinot Noir.) The remainder has now been maturing in old oak hogsheads for about a year now, and it's time to work out what to do with it!

Options included :

• Doing nothing, bottling up as is...

• Blending with some beautiful Pyrenees Shiraz for some bright fruit.

• And/or blending in some Cabernet Sauvignon in a Super-Tuscan style.

With thanks to Anthony d'Anna at Boccaccio Cellars in Melbourne, we put together a bunch of great Australian Sangioveses, and some Italian Chiantis to match the Mitchell Harris offerings against.

It was time to get some clever heads and palates together...

We gathered a few folk together, some from the wine & food scene here in Ballarat, a couple of Sangio-loving medicos and even a couple of ex-Sommeliers for a blind benchmark tasting.

Nine great wines were tasted, and what did we find?

• Australia has some absolutely brilliant Sangioveses, that match it with the Italians any day...

• The straight Mitchell Harris Sangiovese was very much a favourite, and certainly more popular than our blended trials.

• We should all be drinking more of this great food matching wine.

So do yourself a favour, get some Sangiovese into your cellar or onto your table, and while you're at it, keep an eye out for the "crowd-sourced" Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Sangiovese 2010!

Steamed Murray Cod with Tomato Nahm Jim - matched with Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé

Ralph Kyte-Powell, John Harris, Alla Wolf-Tasker & Claire Winton Burn at the Daylesford Regional Producers' Day at the Lake House.

As promised, the recipe from Masterchef's Claire Winton Burn that matched so beautifully with our Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé 2010 at the Daylesford Regional Producers' Day last weekend.

Steamed Murray Cod with Tomato Nahm Jim

Serves 2

2 x 150g Loddon Valley cod fillets, skin removed

Murray River sea salt, to taste

2 cloves Australian garlic, chopped

2 coriander roots, carefully washed and coarsely chopped

1 long red chilli, coarsely chopped

1 long green chilli, coarsely chopped

8 ripe cherry tomatoes, coarsely chopped

2 small (or 1 large) red shallot

1 small green chilli, finely sliced (you can substitute a small red chilli if green ones are not available)

3 tablespoons palm sugar, shaved

2 tablespoons Megachef brand fish sauce

60 ml lime juice

Coriander leaves, to serve

• To prepare the nahm jim, combine the garlic and coriander root in a mortar and use the pestle to pound into a coarse paste Add the long chillies and pound to a fine paste. Add the tomatoes and pound until just pulped, then add the small green chilli, the shallots, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and stir to dissolve Taste the nahm jim for a balance of heat, saltiness, sourness and sweetness, adjusting as necessary Set aside until ready to serve.

• To steam the cod, place the fillets on some baking paper in a steamer. Cover, and steam until just cooked through (about four minutes).

• Meanwhile, place a generous amount of the nahm jim on each plate. Once the fish is cooked, place it on top, then drizzle with a little extra nahm jim and top with some coriander leaves.

• Serve immediately with a crunchy salad and some steamed rice. 

Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé - matching with Thai-style Murray Cod

A quick (shaky, noisy) minute-or-so-long vid of our winemaker John Harris talking to wine-reviewer Ralph Kyte-Powell of The Age Epicure.

This was taken at the Daylesford Regional Producers' Day at the Lake House in Daylesford, brilliantly put together by the lady of the lake, Alla Wolf-Tasker.

Masterchef's Claire Winton Burn put together some beautiful Thai-inspired flavours to go with her luscious steamed Murray Cod.

Have a look at John explain why the Fumé style of Sauvignon Blanc might pair up a little better than what some of you may expect from the "Savalanche" of fruit-bomb style savvies...

We'll try to chase up Claire's recipe if possible...

...and yes, we've told John he needs a double-barrelled surname if he wants to keep matching it with stars like this!...

Wine Without BS: Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé

Just a link across to the latest post from Stuart at Wine Without BS, and his no-nonsense wine reviews:

Happily, he seemed to enjoy a summer tasting of our Mitchell Harris Sauvignon Blanc Fumé:

"..amongst the best Sauvignon Blancs I've experienced this past year and beyond."


Check out the review here...

Mitchell Harris Rosé at Comme Wine Room

Thirsty in Melbourne this summer? Time to get into the classy Wine Room at Comme, where all through this summer you can drink our Mitchell Harris Rosé by the glass.

Sommelier Marty McCaig has put together a wicked wine list of over 350 offerings, and some fantastic bar snacks and meals, or head into the Restaurant , hatted in the Age Good Food Guide for the last 2 years.

Check it out...definitely worth slipping in for a quick (or slow) drink...

www.comme.com.au


View Larger Map