All for 1

From the 1st January to the 26th January a group of Australia winemakers are asking you to only drink Australian Wine. It is just a bit of fun for the month of January and a good way to celebrate Australia Day.

If you would like to find out more about the 'All for 1' movement please visit www.allforonewine.com.au today and make your pledge, there is even a page for the 'sinners' to confess their sins.

And the results are in

We have had some very successful results in the past few months for our wines the in following wine shows. Below are the winning results

Boutique Wine Awards of Australia.
Bronze Medal – Leone Botrytis Semillon 2006
Bronze Medal – Leone Pinot Grigio 2008

Perth Royal Wine Show 2008.
Bronze Medal – Leone Pinot Grigio 2008

2008 Cowra Wine Show.
Bronze Medal – Leone Sparkling Shiraz 2006

Barossa Wine Show 2008
Bronze Medal – Leone Pinot Grigio 2008

www.loumirandaestate.com.au

Born 1907

Until recently the earliest documentation we have had on the Lou Miranda Estate Old Vine Shiraz was from around World War I. Thus we have always assumed that the Old Vine Shiraz on the trinity block (the vineyard which is in between the Lutheran Church and the winery) was planted around about 100 years ago.


We were doing some autumn cleaning the other day and found an official document which states that the vines were planted in 1907. So we have just missed the Old Vines 100 year birthday.


Here are some photos I had taken of the Old Vine Shiraz the other day. The vineyard is beautiful in autumn, the vines are still green with a scattering of yellow and brown leaves, the sky is a bright blue and with all the rain we have had recently the roads are lined with little sprigs of grass.

Italian Heritage pt2

Here was another article in the Area News.

Italian Heritage

When my Grandparents Frank and Caterina Miranda migrated to Australia they went to work in Griffith, NSW. Griffith, 700km west of Sydney and 500km north of Melbourne was a small country town founded on returned soliders from WWI being given small allotments for their service. The area became a rich fruit growing region because of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation System, this was a big draw card for the Italian migrants of the time because they were able to set up farms and supply the big cities with fresh fruit and vegetables.

The New South Wales government is putting together an exhibition in June, my grandparents are in the photo above which was published in the Area News (local Griffith newspaper) on 2nd April, 2008.

For more information about the exhibition please visit www.heritage.nsw.gov.au

New York Times - Where to go in 2008

Coming in at Number 51 on the New York Times list of destinations in 2008 is the Barossa Valley. On a list that includes romantic holiday destinations, must do shopping trips and names culinary delights from all over the world, its exciting to see that the Barossa Valley rates with the best of them.

51. BAROSSA VALLEY, AUSTRALIA

'The world's love affair with shiraz is bringing wine spectators to Australia's Barossa Valley. The hilly region is home to some of the world's oldest shiraz vines, some dating back to the 1840s. And if the more than 60 wineries aren't enough, Barossa also offers an artisanal cheese trail, and nearby Adelaide is a foodie destination in its own right."

Extract taken from the New York Times.

Stage 1 - Tour Down Under

Each year the Tour Down Under rides past the winery in a flash. The slow and exciting build up as we wait to watch the cyclists zoom down the hill is heightened by the numerous police cars ringing their sirens and stopping traffic before the race passes us by.

We all stood out the front waving our teams flag to cheer the boys on. Stage 1 of the tour runs a 129km route from Mawsons Lake to Angaston. We are somewhere around the 80km mark of the race just after the Lotteries Sprint in Lyndoch.

The riders came past at 12:30, just in time for lunch and just enough time to take the back roads to Angaston to see the finish line.

Come and join us next year for lunch to cheer on the yellow jersey.

Vintage Bottles

Lisa has always sporadically collected old bottles and tins. I remember when she came home from Bali after a holiday with some friends, I was eager to see all the gifts she had bought me and she started to pull out soft drink bottles – this was before vintage style glass bottles were popular in Australia - she had collected a whole range of them. I wasn’t too disappointed as the bottles were beautiful but I was hoping for a little Balinese shell bag.

I few years ago we were cleaning out our back shed and we came across one of my grandfathers old suit cases. Inside we found all the beautiful bottles that we see above. We were especially excited to see old Miranda port & muscat bottles.

Some of them are so old that the contents have evaporated.

There was even a bottle from Mum and Dad’s wedding. A tradition at Italian weddings is to give the gift of bonbonniere. Mum and Dad gave each guest a little port bottle. They were married 33 years ago today – Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad!

Hyatt/Advertiser South Australian Wine of the Year Awards

On Friday 25^th August Mum, Dad, Lisa & I went to the Hyatt/Advertiser SA Wine of the Year Awards. We had a wonderful night, the food was delicious, the wines (all 12 of them) were beautiful & the entertainment (Far from North) exceptional.

It’s always a wonderful opportunity to attend award shows as you are able to taste multiple varieties in one sitting. It is similar to a wine tasting in a cellar door but you have the added advantage (in this case especially) of the wine being accompanied by food prepared by some of the best chef’s in Adelaide. I always find that when buying wine, I tend to stick with a particular variety – however, I was surprised to see from the white wines presented (I usually go for a Riesling) that I enjoyed the Chardonnay & Semillon. Whilst, with the reds (I’m a devoted Cabernet drinker) I finished my glass of Shiraz before any of the other reds.

I thought it was fitting that one of the speakers for the evening said the awards are not about winning but allowing people within the wine industry to set a high standard for their wines showing exceptional quality and varieties. It’s true, we tend to drink our own wine and comment on the flavours we like, but the awards give us the opportunity to compare and set a higher standard for our wines.

For me the stand out of the night was not the wines, but the gorgonzola panna cotta served with pear bread & thinly sliced toffeed pear - To die for!

A glass of bubbles

As I mentioned in the last post we had enjoyed a bottle of the Franciacorta Brut prior to having dinner. It was a perfect accompaniment to the fatty salamis that were on offer because the sparkling breaks down the fat. It is like serving stewed apples with pork, the acids in the apple help the digestive system break down the pork fat - its good for you, some would even say healthy!

I’m a firm believer in starting a dinner party off on a sparkling – actually this is second by the girls at work, I’m sure if health and safety allowed them they would start a working day off with a glass of bubbles!

Dad must be enjoying the flavour of a Franciacorta at the moment because there has been a new bottle of the brut opened every night for the past few days. One evening we had a friend from Italy over. She said that when visiting a winery in Franciacorta the winemaker told her ‘Don’t ask for a Champagne when you want a sparkling ask for a Franciacorta’.

To give you a brief history on the wine industry, sparkling wine has for centuries been know as Champagne. The French believe that Champagne should only come from the Champagne region in southern France, so other countries who have the same style of wine have different names – an example is the Franciacorta region in Italy call their sparkling Franciacorta.

But I believe if it is in a Champagne bottle with a champagne stopper once that cork pops it doesn’t matter if it’s a sparkling, a champagne, a brut or a Franciacorta – they all taste good chilled.

Something that made me smile is Franciacorta rough translation from Italian to English is Little France.

What is your favorite sparkling wine?

Welcome to the table

Welcome to the first post for the Lou Miranda Estate blog ‘At the table’. Our family have always shared meals at the dinner table & wine has always been part of round table discussion. It is not unusual for the dinner table to grow from our immediate family of 5 to include extended family and friends. With our door always open Mum has made sure there is plenty of food to go around and that no conversation run dry.

The reason for starting this blog is to extend to our loyal customers the opportunity to have an insight into our family dinners & allow you to comment on your own family dinners. I also invite you to ask questions about wine or food & we will endeavor to answer.

I have been drinking wine for as long as my parents have allowed it – Pop used to give me wine with dinner when I was about 2 or 3 ‘Just to taste’ he would say. I enjoy wine, & I do love to listen to the way people describe the wines. Everybody has a different opinion and their likes and dislikes vary so much.

Today is the first day of VineTech in Adelaide & we have a full table of people tonight. Dad left early this morning for the conference & took the opportunity to invite some people over for dinner.

Guests: Sam & Rachael Miranda, Michael Stevens-Jones & Luis Simeon.

Food: Fresh salami & an assortment of cheese. Chunkey Pasta al ragu. Fennell & avocado salad. Apricot & prune butter cake served with port wine custard. Macaroons & Haighs chocolate truffles just to finish the night off.

Wine: Franciacorta Brut
Cloudy Bay 1991 Sauvignon Blanc
Miranda Rovalley Ridge 1994 Chardonnay
Rieussec 1983 Sauternes
Loredan Gasparini Venegazzu 1997
Chateau Segonnes Margaux 1985
Wynns John Riddoch Cabernet Sauvignon 1988

The wines this evening were absolutely beautiful. The Cloudy Bay 1991 Sauvignon Blanc had a matured palate and was slightly oxidized. The Miranda Rovalley Ridge 1994 Chardonnay didn’t give away much on the nose and had an acidic taste to the palate, but with its golden legs and buttery flavour on the tongue with the wood and wine well balance, it was still holding up for its age – again with age the wine has become slightly oxidized.

Over the years I have tasted a lot of wines and have grown accustomed to pigeon holing a wine because of certain characteristics. It was interesting to see that the first red to come out was picked to be a Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon but in fact was an Italian 1997 Loredan Gasparini Venegazzu. The second red a French Bordeaux – 1985 Chateau Segonnes Margaux had a stinky nose – age and oxidization with a broad flavour – but to drink was a joy. The final red was in fact a Coonawarra Cab Sauv from Wynns. A beautiful wine, lovely full earthy flavour of tobacco & mint with a full sweet finish – the wood had matured well with the wine.