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Want To See The Wineries?
Why Not Take A Bus?
-
 30th September 2004: One great way to enjoy the South Burnett's
culinary pleasures that may not have occurred to some locals - but certainly
has to tourists! - is to hop on board one of the many new wine and
food tours that are now operating in our region. Although local bus companies
have provided chartered services around the South Burnett's wineries for
the last five years or so, there's been a considerable growth in demand during
the last 12 months and the gourmet tour market is really starting to heat
up. Lionel and Desley Benecke are the operators of
SB Grapevine Tours and
they visit most of the local wineries with customised itineraries. They offer
both day and weekend packages and their air-conditioned coasters can pick-up
groups and return them safely after they've sipped and savoured all the wonderful
tastes our region has on offer. "We're literally flat-out with bookings from
locals and people travelling from Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast",
Lionel tells me. Similarly, Gourmet Food and Wine Tours manager Jason
Olsen said that he custom-designs tours with half-day, full day and weekend
stays where groups can stop for morning teas, lunches or dinners. "Our service
provides tailored tours to fit any kind of itinerary - it's totally up to
the customer", he said. With today's zero tolerance on drink driving, coach
tours are a very safe and enjoyable way of taking in the sights of the South
Burnett and a wine tasting or two (or three!). If you (or your group) want
to take a spin around the wineries in safety, this may be the idea you've
been searching for. You can contact SB Grapevine Tours on (07) 4162-3078
or Gourmet Food and Wine Tours on (07) 4162-5586. Photo above:
Desley Benecke from SB Grapevine Tours, one of the region's brightest
new business ideas.
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Have A Spring Afternoon's
Fun In Nanango's Pioneer Park
-
 27th September 2004: A few weeks ago - based on information
I had at the time - I tipped that readers who enjoyed Wine & Food
In The Park, Picnic In The Park or Shakin Grape should
leave a free space in their calendar for a similar experience at Murgon in
October (see story 12th September). Well, I apologise for getting
that particular story completely wrong! It now appears that
the Rotary Art and Wine Show which will be held at The Pulse in Murgon
on Friday 15th October is not going to be a wine festival of
any description, contrary to what I was led to believe. Instead it'll be
an art show where four Moffatdale wineries will be providing wine tastings.
In terms of winery numbers this makes the event roughly four times bigger
than a monthly opening at the Wondai Shire Art Gallery. But a Shakin Grape
it certainly isn't. However, all's not lost! This year Nanango's much-loved
Pioneer Festival has rearranged its Saturday afternoon program, shifting
the traditional Friday night family concert over to Saturday and adding in
what sounds like a lot of the trappings we've come to enjoy in our park-based
days out including food stalls, street entertainers, non-stop live music
and fun right through to a giant fireworks display at 9:00pm that evening.
It's not clear if wineries will be on hand in any numbers but Nanango has
at least two (Whistle Stop Wines and the Copper Country 1740
Vineyard) and it'd be a shame if they weren't. So if you've been hoping
for another enjoyable family day out under the trees, go to Pioneer Park
in Nanango after 1:30pm on Saturday 9th October (or go even earlier
and enjoy the huge Pioneer Festival street parade which will
run down Drayton Street at noon). Wine and food festival or not, it sounds
like it'll be a great day out.
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Springtime Shiraz
and Port Recipes From Kingaroy Ridge
-
 24th September
2004: Regular readers will remember that a few months ago I broke the
news that the South Burnett's smallest winemaker - plucky John Cahill
from
Kingaroy Ridge - had just
released his second vintage: a rich, earthy shiraz and a delightful port
(see story 28th June 2004). Both wines were made from John's small
holdings at Booie by legendary local brewmeister John Crane and you
can only obtain them if you drop into the Carrollee Hotel's bottle shop
in Kingaroy, where John often works himself when he's not tending his vines.
In the three months since I wrote that story stocks of both the 2004 Shiraz
and 2004 Port have dwindled fairly sharply. But John won't rest until he's
sold the lot so he can reinvest in another few rows of grapes. And to help
the process along he's now started produced and handing out his on recipe
leaflets which give you some imaginative ideas about how to use Kingaroy
Ridge wines. His first leaflet was released late last week and it contains
two recipes: one for Barbequed Rib Fillet with Blue Cheese Butter Sauce
and another for Affagato (ie "Drowned Ice Cream"). John tells me that
he's personally tested both of these recipes to ensure they're goof-proof
to make and I must say they're not only easy to prepare, but they're pretty
mouth-watering too! If you'd like to give them a whirl yourself you can obtain
both of them right here
in Adobe PDF format (220K). But you'll need to drop by the Carrollee for
the missing magic ingredient. Photo: Kingaroy Ridge 2004 Port in
a hand-crafted presentation pack.
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Kingsley Grove Releases
Two South Burnett Champagnes
-
 21st
September 2004: If you dropped by
Kingsley Grove's stand
at Picnic In The Park last Saturday (see stories 22nd August and
12th September) you would've seen a little history in the making. The
winery chose the event to launch their two new champagnes: Kingsley Zipp
and Kingsley Red Zipp. To be called champagne, wine has to be produced
in the tradition the French are getting so proprietorial about these days
and then fermented in the bottle for six months. And while the South Burnett
has produced at least one white champagne before (John Crane made
a bit of bubbly a little while ago), a red champagne is definitely a first!
Kingsley Grove owner Mike Berry told me that he's made the white Zipp
out of semillon grapes that were hand-picked earlier this year and then pressed
dry as whole bunches. The Red Zip, by contrast, is a Chambourcin base made
from grapes grown right on the property. "Both are full of flavour and produce
a crisp zip on the taste buds - hence the name," Mike told me. "They're both
ready to drink now and should be chilled for maximum pleasure." When I asked
why he chose to produce a champagne style wine he said he'd intended to do
it even before he planted his first vines in 1998. "As winemakers we find
the whole process fascinating from beginning to end", he said. "Making a
good champagne is a real challenge." Both wines will be on show at the Brisbane
Conrad this coming weekend and both retail for $15.00 each - which is pretty
much a steal for great tasting bubbly! You can also obtain them directly
from the Grove's new cellar door (see story 17th August); by phoning
the winery on (07) 4162-2229 or (07) 4163-6433 or
via email.
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No Burning Beats
Next Week: They're On Holidays!
-
 18th September
2004: Fans of Kingaroy's Burning Beats Cafe will have to take
it on the chin next week: the popular venue will be closed from Saturday
18th September right through until Tuesday 28th September, after
which it will re-open on its usual Wednesday to Saturday schedule. Owners
Paul Stoddart and Kerry Cotter (Kerry's pictured at right)
will using the short break to rest, recuperate, investigate new recipes for
the coming summer season and continue developing ideas for the little cafe
that's become something of a South Burnett cult eatery over the last few
years. In other Beats news, curry fans will be pleased to hear that after
running several Asian Banquets during the winter the Cafe will be holding
their next Indian Banquet Night on Saturday October 9th. For
$35 per head (BYO) you can eat as much as you like from a dozen different
dishes providing, of course, that you book ASAP (the Cafe's Feast Nights
now regularly sell out a week or two ahead of each event). The Cafe will
also be running one - and possibly two - more of its cooking schools
over the next couple of months before Chef Paul battens down for the Christmas
rush. So if you want to pick up the tricks of the Cafe's Asian and Indian
cooking, these schools will be the last opportunity to do so until 2005.
The Cafe is located at 194 Kingaroy Street and when they return you can phone
them on (07) 4162 3932. You can also email them anytime:
info@burningbeats.com.au
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Amy Ballin's Dreams
Come True
-
 15th September
2004: Over the last few weeks I've been reporting the progress of talented
South Burnett chef Amy Ballin who's currently living in Scotland and
making big waves in the UK (see stories 8th August and 6th September).
In the latest update about her progress I've very proud to report that she's
just had another major triumph in her quest for international culinary honours.
Amy has been selected with 15 others to compete in the 2004 UK finals of
the Young Chef and Young Waiter of the Year Competition. She and her
fellow competitors will stay at the famous Louis Roederer property
in France from the 21st-23rd September and spend three days learning about
wine and having dinner at the chateau. Then they'll then do a cheese and
wine course at Philip Howard's famous Square Restaurant in
London before they compete in the national finals on the 4th of October.
At the final, Amy will team with a waiter and cook an Amuse Bouche (starter)
of her choice for six invited guests. She'll then have to make a main dish
of her own creation using six squab pigeons and will be given a mystery box
of ingredients from which to make a dessert. All up, the gruelling competition
will take 3.5 hours and Amy said she's prepared. She's also told me that
she's been checking out this site every couple of weeks. "It gives me a little
feeling of being at home", she said. Popular Australian media have been taking
great interest in Amy's story too. But - as always - you'll hear about it
all first right here on this site. Good Luck
Amy! (Photo: Amy Ballin competing at the PCA Regional Cuisine
Cook-Offs at the Wine & Food In The Park Festival).
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Two Big Spring Wine
Festivals For 2004
-
 12th
September 2004: In late August I broke the news that Kingaroy was going
to conclude its Centenary Week celebrations with a mini
Wine & Food In The Park
Festival headed by the legendary James Morrison (see story
23rd August). This particular event - Picnic In The Park - will
be happening in Memorial Park in Kingaroy this coming Saturday 18th
September ...and it looks like it's going to be a blast! However, South
Burnett residents and visitors who want even more will get another bite of
the cherry in October when Murgon stage their Rotary Wine and Art
Festival as part of the joint Murgon-Cherbourg Centenary Celebrations.
These celebrations will kick off with the town's long awaited Arena
Spectacular on October 2nd and will carry on through much of the month.
The Rotary Wine and Art Show is the next big thing after the Arena Spectacular
and it will run for several days (exact details are still vague). And just
for this year it will replace the Shakin Grape Wine Festival which
was held at Barambah Ridge in October 2002 and 2003. As is the case with
Picnic In The Park (where all the Kingaroy wineries will be lending a hand),
all of Murgon and Moffatdale's wineries will be taking part in the northern
celebrations and it looks like being another fun day out for regional wine
fanciers. I'll publish more details about this event as soon as the timetable
is finalised, but leave space on your calendar for it. I'm sure it's going
to be a hoot!
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Something Totally
New: The South Burnett Dozen
-
 9th September
2004: In about 9 months from now - roughly July 2005 - fans of
our region's wines are going to be able to buy something they've never been
able to buy before: The South Burnett Dozen. This will be a collection
of the 12 best wines produced by our region's wine industry over the
previous year as judged by the South Burnett Wine Industry
Association itself. While the full details of the plan won't be finalised
for another few months until all member feedback has come in, the South Burnett
Wine Industry Association accepted a proposal put forward by winemakers
Stuart Pierce and Luke Fitzpatrick at its most recent
meeting to hold this annual competition. I can only think it's a very positive
step. Briefly, Stuart and Like have proposed that every winery in our region
- and that's more than 20 now - will be able to submit their new release
whites and reds (ie this year's whites and last year's reds) into a blind
tasting. Every participating winery will also be able to appoint one person
to act as their tasting representative on the judging panel. All the submitted
wines will be blind judged in categories (eg: shirazes, blends etc) by the
full panel . And the twelve top point-scorers will become that particular
year's South Burnett Dozen. The system Stuart and Luke have proposed is expressly
designed to prevent anyone's individual bias affecting the results and will
put all our wineries - big producers as well as boutique ones - on an
equal footing. The end result? An annual dozen that reflects
the genuine pursuit of excellence. When you pause to consider that
our region's wineries have won a small avalanche of state, national and
international medals over the last few years and that the best wines we've
produced to date are still in the vats, the first South Burnett Dozen
is likely to be a knockout! I'll keep you posted on this story as
it develops.
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Amy Ballin: An
Update
-
6th September
2004: As you may have read in our story below (8th August) young
chef Amy Ballin - previously of Nanango's Copper Country
Restaurant and currently living in Scotland - competed in the semi-finals
of the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship last week. The hotly contested culinary
competition was held on the 26th August but unfortunately (on this occasion,
anyway) Amy didn't make the final. Competitors were presented with a
mystery box containing various meats such as pork livers and rabbit. There
was a table stocked with a large array of vegetables, herbs, spices and dry
goods. Each chef was required to prepare a main course meal of their choice
using the surprise ingredients and all of them had to produce a fruit tart
as the dessert. Amy admits that the rabbit threw her out a little which is
fairly understandable, given that rabbit isn't used very often in Queensland:
it's more of a European ingredient. Otherwise she was quite happy with everything
else she made and was deservedly proud of being short-listed in the semi-final
of such a prestigious event. However Amy's pursuit for culinary honours doesn't
end there! Next week she'll be competing in the UK's Young Chef of the
Year competition. She hopes the lessons learnt in the Ramsay Scholarship
semi-final will take her even further this time around. Again - along with
the SB Cuisine team - I'm sure that all our readers wish her the best of
luck. You go girl!
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A New - And True
Blue - Kingaroy Cheese
-
 3rd September 2004: It wasn't all that long ago that blue
vein style Brie appeared on the Australian cheese platter. The story goes
that a cheese maker discovered the cheese variety by accident after
hundreds of kilograms of his Brie became infected with a blue vein mould.
It's hard to say if the story is true… but if so, the expensive mistake
resulted in one of the trendiest cheeses around today. The South Burnett's
award winning
Kingaroy Cheese has
just produced its first batch of Bunya Blue - a triple cream Brie
marbled with veins of blue. I recently taste tested the new cheese which
had been matured for six weeks. The sixth week must be the magic moment for
blue Brie because its creamy pate slowly bulged and oozed, it had a rich
smooth texture and a subtle salt flavour with no bitterness. The company's
master cheesemaker Chris Ganzer told me that it would be produced
in limited quantity to start with and exclusively sold through the
Stuart Range cellar door.
Another new product available is Bunya Black, a grape vine ash enriched
Brie which could be purchased as an alternative or an accompaniment to the
blue. [PS: I apologise for the break in reporting over the last
week. After August's technical glitches my whole family came down with a
bout of Ekka virus last week that literally knocked us all off our feet.
I'm feeling much better now and plan to resume normal reporting ASAP. These
things are sent to try us, I guess....]
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