The Forager: Small bar sale, wine of legends
In this week’s column: A small bar with a big future, celebrating dead winemakers, winning winter lemon dishes, what’s in season at the markets, and food and wine events for your diary.
A change of ownership for Cantina Sociale
The ink has just dried on the contract of sale for Sturt Street’s Cantina Sociale, with talk of possible national expansion.
Opened in December 2012 by winemaker Justin Lane (Alpha Box & Dice), his partner Angie Bignell, and associate Georgie Rogers (El Choto), Cantina Sociale was one of the pioneers of small bars in Adelaide.
Operating from rustic corner premises, it offered natural wines by the glass syphoned from barrels sourced by Lane, along with cheese boards, charcuterie and tapas by Rogers.
Lane and Bignell had bought out Rogers before the recent sale of Cantina Sociale.
Lane said he was unable to reveal who the new owners were at this stage, but he is staying on as consultant.
“The plan is to franchise the idea, with winemakers in each state to be involved.”
Dead Winemakers’ Society
While there are still bottles of their prized wines hidden away in cellars, the spirits of legendary winemakers such as Max Schubert, Greg Trott and Peter Lehmann can be recalled and celebrated, as happened at the Dead Winemakers Society Dinner held in McLaren Vale recently.
The society started in 2008, when winemaker Justin Lane used to visit wine critic friend Josh Raynolds on Long Island, in the US.
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“In his cellar he had a section called ‘Dead Winemakers’, so whenever I visited I brought him a bottle of wine by a dead guy,” explains Lane. “It was morbid, creepy and quite delicious. It inspired me to start a lunch club for me and a few of my special drunken friends.”
This year Lane decided to open up the club to a wider group. He hosted a dinner last week at his winery cellar door, Alpha Box & Dice, and extended the invitation to friends of friends, neighbours and associates – with the requirement that they dress in black and bring only wines of the deceased.
More than 50 guests enjoyed a candlelit dinner prepared by chef Salvatore Pepe. Classic dishes such as crostini of salmon crudo with pink peppercorns, stuffed mushrooms with truffle, pasta fagioli served with chilli oil, ragu Calabrese with orecchiette and parmigiano, insalata di radicchio e pere, and a selection of ripe cheeses and sourdough bread from local baker Andy Clappis were accompanied by wines with age and reverence, including Aldo Conturno Barolo, Domaine Leflaive, Wirra Wirra wines by Greg Trott and Tryrell’s Vat 1 Semillon.
“There was a lot of Peter Lehmann on the table,” says Lane. “East End Cellars did good business this week.”
Lane plans to hold two similar dinners each year. Register your interest by contacting Alpha Box & Dice.
And the winner is…
The snooker table at the back of The Duke of Brunswick Hotel was covered in a white tablecloth and an assembly of sweet and savoury lemon dishes for judging in the 8th Howard’s Cook Off, a quarterly food event in the south-west city community that grew around the legacy of the late food writer Howard Twelftree (John McGrath).
Hotel locals and friends showed great enthusiasm for the spread, but it was food writer and professional cook Ann Oliver’s experienced palate which presided, judging Liz Ho and Michael Jacobs’ tagine-style chicken with green olives and preserved lemons as the winning savoury dish and Dianne Stubbings’ lemon curd tart as the best sweet.
There is also a “Packing Case Award (along the lines of the Archibald’s Packing Room Prize)”, which is judged by journalist and Brunswick local Lance Campbell, who claims to know nothing about food. Campbell gave the prize to Libby Marten’s Lemon Focaccia.
The competition culminated in a long-table lunch which combined all the competition dishes with the hotel menu.
The next Howard’s Cook Off event is planned for July 26. The feature ingredient will be parsnips and the judge will be Liz Ho. See last week’s Forager for more details.
Crossing the line
Many photographers start out as writers and decide it’s easier to watch the birdie than suffer writers’ block, but it’s less common for an accomplished photographer to turn to the word.
Adelaide photographer Milton Wordley says he started his wine blog because, as a photographer, he’s been privy to many interviews with winemakers and he wanted to tell their stories as candidly as a photograph can, without the filters of a writer’s interpretation. He does this in the form of a Q&A called People of Wine:10 Questions.
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It started in April this year with retired Penfolds winemaker John Bird, followed by Oliver’s Taranga winemaker Corrina Wright and Barossa wine identity the late Bob McLean. The latest People of Wine: 10 Questions entry features Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard winemaker Chris Carpenter and InDaily wine writer Philip White.
“I’ve been photographing the wine industry for over 30 years, photographing a lot of winemakers,” says Wordley. “Recently I photographed Chris Carpenter, who had fascinating things to say about climate change and music’s influence on winemaking. He also had some things to say about our mutual friend, the wine writer Philip White.”
Curds minus whey equals cheese
Local cheesemaker Kris Lloyd from Woodside Cheese Wrights is running a series of cheese-making lessons for students at Glen Osmond Primary School this week.
Lloyd has teamed up with the school, which has adopted an agricultural focus with the establishment of an extensive vegetable garden, fruit orchards and a few grapevines.
“I love the idea of teaching children at a young age about seasonal and local quality food,” says Lloyd.
“Most kids love cheese, so to be able to take them through the process of turning milk into curds and whey and then cheese, right before their very eyes, will be quite magical.”
Lloyd will run three sessions, introducing cow, goat and buffalo milk. She plans to make a simple feta with the students which will be ready to taste on the day.
The school has also adopted one of the CheeseFest cows and is planning to decorate it with an agricultural theme for the 2015 CheeseFest.
This week at the Adelaide Farmers’ Market – kiwifruit
New-season kiwifruit grown in the Adelaide Hills are now available at the Adelaide Farmers’ Market.
Contrary to common belief, this small fruit with green flesh and a furry brown skin did not originate in New Zealand; it was first grown in China.
Today, kiwifruit is grown locally by Otherwood Orchards, which has a weekly stall at the Showground Markets on Sundays.
When selecting kiwifruit, look for fruit that gives a little to the touch. Avoid any that are too soft, as this can be an indication of bruising or rotting. Hard kiwifruit will ripen in a couple of days in a brown paper bag with holes in it at room temperature.
Otherwood Orchards is selling kiwifruit for $5 a kilogram ($4.50 for market members) at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market every Sunday from 9am to 1pm.
What’s on?
Lolo Houbein at the Seasonal Gardeners’ Market – June 7
The author of One Magic Square: Grow Your Own Food on One Square Metre will speak at the Seasonal Gardeners’ Market at the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market. Activities also include a gardening workshop for children by Green Gecko at 10am. Gates open at 9am and the market concludes at 1pm. Entry is free.
Africola takeover – June 8
Chef Luke Burgess (ex Garagistes, Noma, Tetsuyas) teams up with Africola head chef Duncan Welgemoed and winemaker James Erskine (Jauma) for another Africola takeover dinner. The theme for the evening is: fresh and preserved, with ingredients fresh from a day of foraging at Basket Range to produce a six-course menu. Tickets are $85 or $135 with matching wines. Seating is limited. For bookings phone 8223 3885.
Sea and Vines Festival – June 5 to 8
As part of the 23rd Sea and Vines Festival, the Willunga Farmers Market and The Producers will present an exclusive culinary journey through the Willunga Farmers’ Market with McLaren Vale foodie Pip Forrestor on June 6. The event, called the Market Kitchen Table, will introduce participants to the farmers and fresh local produce at the market before they are transported to The Producers Farm Kitchen in McLaren Vale for a tutored cooking class of cheesemaking, sourdough pizzas and wine blending. After the work is done, participants will enjoy the fruits of their labour around a shared table with vineyard views to the Willunga Hills. Tickets are $165 plus booking fee. Further Sea and Vines program details can be found here.
OOP Cooking Classes – July and August
Each month at least two renowned chefs hold cooking classes at the in-store demonstration kitchen at Outdoors on Parade. Chefs include Shane Wilson, of Bistro Dom, with wines by Battle of Bosworth; Lachlan Colwill, Hentley Farm, with wines by Hently Farm; Tony Carroll, Jolley’s Boathouse, with wines by Hesketh; Somchit Siow, Star of Siam, with wines by Fox Gordon; and Duncan Welgemoed, Africola, with wines by Henry’s Drive. All classes are $110. Check the website for dates and further information.
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