Stage 17 It's over folks! Or is it.....? Bagnéres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes

Stage 16 & the haul up Col du Tourmalet was always going to produce a result one way or another.

Like many of our readers we were firmly clutching onto that last sliver of hope that somehow, and by some mysterious turn of fortune, Cadel Evans would be able to claw his way back as a real GC contender. Even if he managed to get all the Gods on his side, he would have needed more to evade the formidable SKY Train. What a team!

Lets hope Cadel can keep his chin up & not slide any further down the classifications. With the pressure off, hopefully we'll see some less conservative riding from him. Was very touching watching Cadel & big George ride across the line together at the end.

What a ride from Voeckler to steal the polka-dot jeursey. He is a machine. What about those facial expressions?

Tonight it's Stage 17, Bagnéres-de-Luchon to Peyragudes, the last in the Pyrenees. So what can we expect? It's short yet sharp with a couple of Cat 1's, a Cat 2, a Cat 3, a sprint and yeah there is the HC, a nasty 7.7% ave 11km climb to bust up the Peleton towards the end of the stage.

Will any one challenge the Sky boys? Nibali showed a bit of spirit last night & will be keen to challenge again to trim the 18 sec between himself & Froome in 2nd. Expect some action from the Liquigas lads.

Sagan has got the green in the bag, so all eyes will be on the breakaway for the KOM polka-dot jeursey. Rolland who earlier in the race had a crack at the jeursey himself will now help Voeckler (107pts) defend his slender lead over Kessiakoff (103 pts). Or will he?

OUR PICK: Voeckler for back to back wins & and another dozen or so new facial contortions...

DRINK MATCH: Given the chilly viewing conditions from the couch & our proximity to Spain lets leap over the Pyrenees into Tempranillo country & sip on any of the fantastic Thelmo Rodriguez reds from the north. His M2 de Matallana never fails.

AUSSIE MATCH: The Mayford Tempranillo out of NE Vic at Porepunkah is superb so to are some local versions in our own Pyrenees. Dog Rock the best of them.

MH Tour Blog Stage 16: The Epic Stage

OK Tourists, we're seriously into the Haute Pyrenees tonight with a couple of massive Hors Categorie climbs, including the infamous Col du Tourmalet at over 2km high! So unlike Schleckie, we recommend you stay off the diuretics and nestle in for a long one tonight with a glass of good red instead...

Profile c/o letour.fr

It could well be said that it's now or never for the GC competitors. With Wiggins well out ahead, this, and tomorrow night's stage will almost certainly see changes: either an extended margin on Froome, Nibali and Evans, or perhaps a comeback from the Italian and/or Aussie mountain-men.

We'll most likely see a few would-be climbers break out from the pack early, and within the Peloton the SKY riders will be working flat-out once again to protect Wiggo's lead from the likely assailants: Evans and Nibali. Both will fancy themselves on that massive descent into the finish, and we'll look forward to watching them with balls to the wall to close the Wiggins gap...

OUR PICK: Nibali to bring it in, hotly pursued by Evans, making up a minute or so on Wiggins....

DRINK MATCH:  Here in the French Pyrénées, it's time to get into Madiran: Usually mainly the Tannat grape (as its name suggests, plenty of tannin around a dark-berry fruit flavour), along with parcels of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Try: Domaine du Crampilh Madiran 


AUSSIE MATCH: If we're talking dark berry fruit and fine tannins in the heart of the Pyrenees... (the ones closer to home) ...then it might be time for a bit of our Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Cabernet Sauvignon 2009...perfect for a cold winter night watching little blokes go up big mountains....


And don't forget, for a little look at our Winter Reds, including the Cab, our new Mataro / Grenache / Shiraz, and the Pyrenees Sangiovese, get into our Winter Warmer Six-Pack - $120 for this month!

Our Pyrenees Cabernet...before it met the bottle.

Carnage and Cider: Tour Blog Stage 4

Carnage! Carnage! Carnage! What a night last night!
How exciting for us and treacherous for the combatants. Glad to hear that there weren't too many serious injuries but many scrapes and bruises on the roller-coaster ride over the Boulonnais Hills. Unfortunately though 2 riders didn't make it across the line. Team Sky lost Sivtsov who was one of Wiggos supports via a fractured tibia and Jose Rojas from team Movistar was the other casualty.
Tema MH was a bit off with their predictions last night but enjoyed every minute of it.

Stage 4 and we wind down the east coast from Abbeville and swing in-land to beautiful historic Rouen. A relatively flat stage with a few Cat 4 climbs and an intermediate sprint in Fécamp as the riders make their way inland. It may not be the battle of the Somme, however it won't be a ride for the faint hearted. Look out for the wind boys! The Teams that know how to ride in the wind will be favoured here and if it's really blowy, who knows who'll get spat out the back of the peloton. There might be a few tired and sore riders who'll find it a battle.

American Tyler Farrar will be after a big win for the 4th of July, but....

OUR PICK:  Go Gossy!- to pick up his first stage win of Le Tour



WHAT TO DRINK: The heart of Normandy-a Cider! 
Try : Le Pere Jules 'Cidre Bouche' Brut


AUSSIE MATCH: A Napoleone & Co Methode Traditionelle Pear Cider


PS... We like this shot of Scotty Sunderland as posted on Twitter last night: Nice Blouse!!

Tour Blog: Stage 3

Whoa!! What a night for the sprint lovers last night & the expert (ahem!) MH TdF commentary panel were pretty much on the money with their Big Cav prediction & Gossy was oh so close but left his charge a little late - he wasn't happy either. He's looking for respect!

Greipel too was visibly disappointed at not being able to take the points after a near perfect lead train by the Lotto boys and was over heard to be loudly ordering a serve of frites & mayo as he crossed the line on the Manx Missile's shoulder.

Stage 3 & we are back in France. Orchies to Boulongne-Sur-Mer is an uphill battle to the finish. There are 6 big hills in the last 65 km with 4  in the final 16km. The sprinters might find the going a little tougher tonight and there could be plenty of splits in the peloton which could really blow the bunch to pieces.

This is definitely one worth staying up for folks. Gilbo & Cadel have previous form early in the hills & Fabu in the maillot jaune will be as fast as lightening on the descent. One for the all-rounders, so look out for Wiggo to make his presence felt.

OUR PICK: Fabian Cancellara


AUSSIE ROUGHIE: Will Cadel try for this or will Sky help Rogers to the line? 

WHAT TO DRINK:  2 Caps Noire de Slack



AUSSIE MATCH: White Rabbit Dark Ale

Tour Blog: Stage 2

One for the sprinters tonight. No major hurdles for the quicks tonight as the tour bangs along from Visé to Tournai. Look for a race of tactics, with enough time after the sprint section for the sprinters to recover prior to the finish.

Sky, with the powerhouse Cavendish alongside Wiggins, Hagen and Michael Rogers will send out the boys right and the end, and it looks likely that this setting could be ideal for Cav to pick up his first win. Orica-GreenEDGE will have Matt Goss as their big dangerman. And look for Sagan to aim for a back-to-back stage victory.

OUR PICK: Cavendish (massive team back-up helping him to pounce for the first time!)
AUSSIE ROUGHIE: Goss

WHAT TO DRINK: Tournay Blonde
AUSSIE MATCH: Red Hill Belgian Blonde

Tour Blog: Stage 1

Fabian Cancellara (as tipped by us yesterday!) gets the Yellow Jersey on tonight for the 198km run from Liege to Seraing. He's a master of the time trial, but tonight's leg is 198km of rolling up and down through Belgium, and should open the race up to a number of the other big names. Weather should be pretty mild and cloudy, top of 19ºC. Don't write Cancellara off for this one though, he'll still be a fairly good chance.

We reckon Wiggins and Evans will play it safe and stick pretty close to each other.

The last few k's should be a great watch, with a fairly steep 5% climb to the finish to sort out the sprinters and climbers...

Local boy Phillippe Gilbert would be an obvious favourite, and we Aussies should look out for a potential win for the Orica-GreenEDGE team with Mansfield lad Simon Gerrans.

So our tip: Gerrans.

And for a drink: Something dark: A Leffe Brune.
Or a closer-to-home: A White Rabbit Dark Ale from Healesville

Enjoy the ride!

Ten great food and wine spots in Ballarat

On the surface, it's hard to see Ballarat as a great foodie destination. But scratch a little harder and there are heaps of great little spots popping up around the place.

Here, I'll run through ten great suggestions for somewhere terrific to eat and drink if you're visiting our great town or even if you live here and need a suggestion to get you up and moving for some new tastes.


1. Breakfast at L'Espresso.

A Ballarat institution. Some ripper ways to kick off the day here. I personally love the Parmesan Scrambled Eggs, a freshly squeezed OJ and a long macchiato, but there are myriad choices to keep you and yours happy and content. A top spot to pick up some cool new tunes from Greg's CD selection too!

2. CAKE Bakeshop, in Main Road

Can thoroughly recommend the "Red Velvet" cupcakes and get into some truly wicked "Grounded Pleasures" hot chocolate.

3. John Harbour, Butcher

One of our town's legends. He and his band o' butchers are permanently cheery (even on the crowded Saturday mornings) and provide consistently excellent meat. Any cut you want, plus some great smallgoods seasonally ranging from Christmas Hams to haggis!

4. Eclectic Tastes

Serving truly excellent coffee, a constantly changing menu of interesting lunches, and a must-have lemon-curd muffin after.

5. Beers at the Lake View

No better place to be in the afternoon as the sun sets over a shimmering Lake Wendouree. Some ice-cold Coopers Pale or Asahi on tap, and plenty more choices (inc. a cheeky Mitchell Harris Rosé or Fumé) in the fridge...

6. Forge Pizza

Rock up to pick up your brilliant crispy-crusted pizza and you'll see this joint is absolutely pumping. expect a bit of a wait for your dinner, but it's ABSOLUTELY worth it.

7. Campanas' Stockade Cellars

Love wandering around Campanas', always some new and interesting drops to tantalise the tastebuds, and now with a rocking deli it's got a bit of everything. Brilliant smallgoods and a great range of cheeses and other bits and pieces. A massive selection of wines both local and from afar. You can really spend ages in here.

8. Craig's Royal Hotel

When it comes to institutions, this is it. An amazing restoration of the original 1850s hotel, it now has brilliant meals 7 NIGHTS A WEEK. The absolute go-to choice especially on those difficult Sunday thru Tuesday nights...

9. The Ballaarat

This "old society" club has been restored into a fantastic restaurant with really good modern cuisine and some ripper local wines. Get in and try it out, it's excellent.

10. Dessert and Wines at Lydiard Wine Bar

This is the ideal way to see out the night. The dessert tasting platter is a particular sensation, and the extensive wine list showcases the best of our region. A very cool venue to relax and savour the tastes and ambience...


So there you go, a few suggestion for your next little jaunt.
I'll update with some newies to try out soon....

Mitchell Harris Wines at Spring Graze Ballarat

A few pictures from a great night at Lydiard Wine Bar this week. Spring Graze was a satellite event of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and showcased the best of fresh spring produce along with the range of Mitchell Harris wines.

We hand-disgorged a dozen bottles of our new sparkling, Sabre, which was served with fresh plump oysters. The dry, aperitif style was a brilliant match for this seafood canapé.

A Thai salad of spanner crab showed off chef Damien Jones' heritage in Thai cuisine brilliantly, and was matched with our 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Fumé, and our 2011 Rosé.

Through the night we patched in Johnno from his wine-show judging in Canberra, to introduce the sneak preview of Sabre. A great way to bring him in as a part of the evening, but obviously he would have preferred to indulge....

An incredible main of a rare rolled roast of Goldfields Spring Lamb was some of the best lamb I've ever tasted, and a brilliant centrepiece with our reds, 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2009 Shiraz.

And a sublime way to finish the night was a dessert of blue cheese, pear and apple, matched with the fruit richness of our Special Release Muscat.

Make sure if you get a chance to drop into Lydiard Wine Bar in Ballarat

Special thanks to Alicia's sister Sally for the gorgeous images...

 www.sallymckay.com.au 

Mitchell Harris 2011 Rosé : Jane Faulkner's The Age review.

So there you have it... get into some crisp zesty Rosé for the warmer days ahead.

If you're in the area, have a taste of our Rosé at Lamaro's, South Melbourne.

You can purchase Mitchell Harris Rosé at:

Barrique Wine Store, Healesville
Campana's Stockade Cellars, Ballarat.

or email us at info@mitchellharris.com.au

Mitchell Harris Success at the Ballarat Wine Show

This week saw the annual Ballarat Wine Show take place at Bray Raceway.

The competition sees entries from Ballarat and the surrounding wine regions: Grampians, Pyrenees, Bendigo, Heathcote, Macedon and Geelong.

A great chance for us to benchmark some of our new releases and see what some of the other great producers in our area our doing.

And, of course, a bit of love for some of our babies. This even included a silver (rare for a pinkie) for our 2011 Rosé. A great lid-dipping to Johnno for his great work in crafting our current range, which is finding its way onto wine-lists around the country.

Wine Industry Smallgoods Smackdown - making the Mitchell Harris entries...

After growing a couple of porkers ourselves in the first part of the year, then despatching them a couple of weeks ago, it was time to put our beautiful home-grown, free-range pork into use in some smallgoods.

Last night we put together these salamis and chorizos as seen here in the video....

In a few weeks these products will head off to compete in WISS ... the Wine Industry Smallgoods Smackdown... against meat tasties from other winemakers throughout the country.

Wish us luck, and enjoy the video, with a soundtrack "Hours" by talented Ballarat musos Dan Houlihan & Brett Augustine.

Mitchell Harris Smallgoods for the SMACKDOWN!

How could we NOT be a part of WISS?


Born from a love of all things dead animal, the Wine Industry Smallgoods Smackdown is a smallgoods challenge for winemakers who play with meat. The competition - to decide who has the best tasting smallgoods. 


Wine bon vivants Mike Bennie and Dave Brookes are co-founders and co-Chair of Judges for this most prestigious of competitions. All winemakers who cure, cook, dehydrate, spice, pummel, puree, hang or smoke are eligible to enter their meat goods.


So under the watchful eye of co-opted Mitchell Harris bro, Mick Harris, some fine porkers have met their match and entered the world of WINEMAKERS MAKING MEATS!

Here are a few shots of a recent salami-day at MH HQ...

The Pork Grind...

Filling the tubes...

Lookin' goooood....

Mitch's surgical knots at work...

Into the cellar...

The Golden By-product... crackling...

So come on winemakers, time to measure your meat against ours in Mike & Dave's challenge... the Wine Industry Smallgoods Smackdown! 

Don't forget to follow @mikerism101 and @vino_freakism  for all the goss on TWITTER, and follow us @mitchell_harris to see the progress of our meats!

Mitchell Harris Wines and the iPad

With the release of the iPad today, we thought we'd explain how here at Mitchell Harris as we've incorporated the iPad into our everyday workflow. With a couple of iPads, our iPhones, home and work computers and some cloud technology we can all stay in touch, have up-to-date figures at hand, and stay on top of sales and marketing.








A few of the benefits of bringing the iPad into Mitchell Harris Wines:

Saving trees and the clutter of paper tasting notes and pricing documents. On our trade visits, sommeliers and wine-buyers can peruse prices and winemaking information without piles of paper being printed out and cluttering up offices and bars. Winemaking info is always at hand when showing the wines.
Any documents that sommeliers want to keep can be emailed through immediately.

Staying on top of inventory. We know continuously where stock is being sent, and what remains in the warehouse or winery at any particular time.

Sales orders can be sent through immediately to the warehouse, and invoices generated, receipts sent, all pretty much at the site of the sale.

Using the Apps such as Numbers, we can work on our production or sales spreadsheets on a train or anywhere, continuously uploading them to our "cloud," where we can all contribute at any time.

Our photo library becomes a "stock library" where we have access to Mitchell Harris images (such as bottle images,) that we can then use in blogs, emails or the like. (It also looks terrific as a slideshow when out pouring and selling booze!)

Getting photos onto the iPad is really easy with the camera connector, then editing them with Photogene, CameraBag or something similar we can share great images in no time.

Blogging (I'm writing this on the ipad using BlogPress now) or staying in touch via Twitter or Facebook is obviously a doddle with the iPad, and makes good use of the odd spare moment. So too is replying to emails whilst out and about.

It's an ultimate note-pad / diary / ideas depository.

A bit of down-time whilst on the road is easily filled with some books on iBooks or a couple of mags on the Zinio app.

So there are just a few ways the iPad has helped a tiny winemaking business like ours, love to hear if you've any great ideas or tips.

And, of course, here's our fearless winemaker, John Harris using a massive spreadsheet during his trial of the brand new iPad...





Stick to the fermenters and barrels JH!

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!...

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

Burns Night: Haggis wrapped in Butterflied Leg of Lamb

Last night we gathered the Scots, the ex-pats, the pipers, and all and sundry together for an early Burns night supper. Hanging about in kilts in 30°C late sun certainly contrasted with the frosty nights we remember in Scotland.

We tried a bit of an experiment in combining the two meats here, the beaut haggis spices infiltrating the lamb, with the juicy lamb keeping the haggis nice and moist.

The haggis: Here in Australia we prefer our haggis wild and freshly shot, keeps that nice gamely flavour compared with those flabby barley-fed specimens raised on the big haggis farms out here and in Scotland...

Haggis...a couple of tasty specimens.

What we used:

850g Haggis
1.5kg Leg of Lamb, butterflied. (your butcher can do this, or there are plenty of you-tube vids on how-to, if you fancy a good boning yourself!)

We marinated the lamb in:
Red wine
Garlic
Rosemary
Thyme
Mint
Salt & Pepper
Marinated for a few hours or overnight if possible.





Then in a big pot of salted water we boiled the haggis for about an hour.
Purely boiling the haggis, you'd probably want about 75 mins, but we pulled it up short as it would still cook when in the roasting lamb.





Then we took it out, peeled the haggis skin, and set the "haggis water" aside for reducing into a sauce.

Lay the haggis in the open butterflied lamb, then wrap it into a roll, and truss it up with butcher's string.

Just wait, it WILL look OK soon...

Fire the oven up to 200°C, and fire up a big pan on the stove on high heat.
Sear the outside of your lamb/haggis roll , then it's into the preheated oven.

25 minutes at 200°C then rest the meat for 10-15 minutes.

We sliced it in half-inch slices, then served with roasted tatties (spuds) and neeps (turnips in UK, we call 'em swedes here in Oz) boiled, mashed with a bit of salt, pepper and cream.

Succulent roast lamb leg, stuffed with haggis.

Pour the reduction of "haggis-juice" and the pan juices over the top...





A cool climate Shiraz has just the right balance of spices and fruit here, we think. We drank Dalwhinnie 2007 Moonambel Shiraz (nice Scots-flavoured name too!), absolutely stunning with this dish. The Mitchell Harris Pyrenees Shiraz would be a sublime little match too, we reckon ;-).

Of course then it's time for a wee bit ay Burns verse...we'll leave it to you to pick your own...(and translate!)

Richard delivers the Burns verse...

*pure-deid-brilliant Haggis actually obtained from the remarkable John Harbour the Butcher, in Ballarat.

Gills Diner ...a very hip new city home for Mitchell Harris Shiraz

Just a note to let you know the flagship Mitchell Harris Shiraz 2008 is now on the wine list at the über-funky city eatery, Gills Diner. This great spot is tucked away in Gills Lane, behind the Commercial Bakery in Little Collins St.

Get yourself down there for some terrific food (amazing breakfast and coffee too!) and hop into some Pyrenees goodness whilst you take in the tastes and the groovy vinyl spinning of the decks.

It's a fantastic find, and we're glad to have the Mitchell Harris Shiraz on the shelves...