Australia Wine dinner
and Yalumba winery
What happens when you put together amazing food, great
wines, excellent customer service and a fantastic host? Well the answer is that
you feel in heaven, and that was how most, if not all, of us felt when we
attended the Australia wine dinner organised by the Wine Warehouse and Yalumba,
and hosted at Lubu in district 2.
Yalumba, and its sister company Negociants, have been
present in Vietnam for over 12 years, and you can find its great wines at the
Wine Warehouse. Yalumba is another of those iconic family owned wineries, which
focuses on making quality wines while keeping them affordable.
This family winery with 165 years of history is experiencing
its 5th generation running it, and although it had humble
beginnings, it has become one of the best estates with international
reputation.
Yalumba has different vineyards which they have selected for
their micro climates and specific characteristics, allowing them to make
different, while great wines. Barossa, Clare Valley, Riveland or even Tasmania,
are just a few of the areas where Yalumba grow wine grapes.
They even have some
vineyards in New Zealand, Yalumba being the first Australian family to invest
in Marlborough.
This innovative winery even makes its own barrels and owns
its own wine nursery, giving them the ability to decide what they do and excel
at it, from the vines to the wood used in the barrels, which is rather unique.
They also experiment with new grapes and new blends, and in
fact they were the first to commercialise Australian viognier, including a 100%
organic viognier wine.
When interviewing Tim Herrmann from Yalumba, he was clear
that Yalumba is all about quality and having strong relationships: they bottle
on site and tightly control the distribution around the world ensuring that
each bottle is sold in proper conditions.
With 1.400 hectares of vineyards, Yalumba keeps growing by
buying interesting small vineyards and having partnerships with small growers,
and they currently have over 40 different wines under the Yalumba label alone.
With over 165 years of history making wine, Yalumba enjoys
challenges as well as trying new things, while experimenting with grapes, soil
types, and even oak.
They look for wines
which over deliver, to be enjoyed on their own, but also adaptable with food.
They craft from ready to drink wines like the Strapper, to others more complex
which are designed to be cellared for 20 or 30 years.
Yalumba the Signature is
a good example of the latter, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and syrah from
Barossa, probably the best blend of the winery which is only made when the
quality of the grapes is excellent, this wine has been made since 1962, and
each year is dedicated to a different employee, this wine has 20 months of oak
in barrels made by the winery.
The wine dinner started with a reception with beautiful
canapés and Jansz sparkling wine, both of them nice and delicious and a great wine
to start a memorable evening. Jansz is a fresh and crispy sparkling wine,
bringing a lemon zest to both the nose and palate, with some hints of honey and
straw. Soft acidity well balanced and
beautiful tiny bubbles, make this sparkling wine an ideal aperitif, also well
paired with smoked salmon, boquerones and salads.
With close to 50 guests from all over the world, the dinner
continued with five more dishes, perfectly designed and prepared by chef Kylie,
and six more gorgeous wines paired by Jim Cawood from Lubu in coordination with
Yalumba and the Wine Warehouse.
Beetroot cured salmon, Galician style octopus and even
morcilla were some of the delicacies served for
dinner, and although I will
soon be reviewing all the wines at wineinvietnam.com two of my favourite were Jim
Barry McRae Wood Shiraz 2010 and the Yalumba ‘Patchwork’ Shiraz 2010, both
incredibly delicious complex wines.
Yet another amazing evening for food and wine lovers, thanks
to the Wine Warehouse, Lubu, and Yalumba.
