AceHighWine

Since the groundbreaking Windows shut in 2005, Burswood Entertainment Complex has been without a marquee fine dining restaurant, though if the rich set did want to splash out, the complex’s excellent Chinese restaurant, Yu (nee Genting Palace) could certainly accommodate. A visit last year from Rob and Alex from Winestream provided a great excuse to dine at Yu but I had to wait until Marie’s birthday last night before allowing myself to be lured to the 21st century’s incarnation of Windows: (A)Lure.

We were seated and presented with an amuse bouche of an espresso shot of the soup of the day together with bread, butter and olives. The wine list is extensive and there’s an okay range available by the glass, but the by-the-bottle prices are a little on the high side. Beer, cocktail and spirit drinkers however can choose from an impressive selection at very reasonable prices including the excellent Hoegaarden Forbidden Fruit still on offer at a criminal $7 a bottle.

The menu is modern-Australian with a strong seafood influence while a dedicated sushi station prepares Japanese fare. For an entree, I decided to uncharacteristically try the Caesar salad (”I’m a have a salad. And some water.”) with grilled prawn and chicken confit while Marie went the rock lobster, prawn and avocado cocktail. Both were excellent with particular mention going to the flavour and sheer size of my salad. Our excellent waitress for the night Lisa told us that after complaints about the size of the salad, the kitchen decided to supersize the Caesar.

In all honesty, I could have happily ended my meal there and I’m not a small eater, so perhaps something to keep in mind if you’re just after a bite rather than a full blown banquet. I’m not sure whether it was because we were full, chose badly or a result of the blazing pace set by the entrees, but we weren’t as into our mains of salmon and pork belly confit. Try as we might, we couldn’t muster the energy or digestive system real estate to sample the dessert: (A)Lure this much certainly don’t skimp on serving sizes!

When it opened, Windows revolutionised fine dining in the state with chefs Hans Lang and Marianne Kempf (who are now running their own magnificent restaurant, Gala, in Ardross) introducing West Australians to many European gourmet concepts that we now take as the norm. Considering how gastronomically-aware Western Australia has become, it would be unfair to expect (A)Lure to have the same impact on the dining scene as its predecessor, but the restaurant’s seafood-driven menu is studded with gems that extend further than just Fish of the Day (MP).

All things considered, (A)Lure would be my choice as a venue to kick off a night at: its extensive drinks list covers most poisons of choice but I think for the money, there’s plenty of other places I’d ring first for a dinner reservation - though if I was a cashed-up mining magnate wanting to entertain or a rich Asian businessman in town as part of a big junket, the convenience of (A)Lure and the strength of its food (and not to mention money not being an object) makes dining in-house a feasible option. (A)Lure at Burswood

(yes, the above pic is a scanned Polaroid - bringing 20-year old instant film cameras to weeknight dinners is the perfect way to avoid looking silly by lugging a digital SLR to fancy restaurants.)

These came in the other day and decided that while searching high and low for my missing notebook and tasting notes, I’d just have to get stuck into the recent arrivals on the tasting bench. I know, I know, the sacrifices I make…

The 2005 Leston and Scotsdale offerings are the sixth releases under the Howard Park Single Vineyard Series banner and come from a good vintage for Western Australia’s southwest. Like the rest of the range, winemaking inputs are kept to a minimum and constant among among the four core drops in the range (one shiraz and one cabernet from the Leston vineyard in Margaret River and a shiraz and cabernet sourced from Howard Park’s holdings in the Great Southern) so as to let the fruit speak loudest.

Howard Park Margaret River Leston Shiraz ($40): Thick, dense, creamy chocolate and vanillin notes on the nose together with ripe jammy fruit aromas. Thick, luscious and intense plum flavours lined with grainy, fine tannins that will disappear with food. A nice juicy finish brings closure to the drop while adding further weight to the argument that cabernet isn’t the only red that Margaret River can produce.

Howard Park Great Southern Scotsdale Shiraz ($40): Sourced from a single estate in the Frankland River region, this beauty is liquid proof of the region’s affinity for the variety. Elegant and restrained nose of bright raspberries and strawberries with a hint of oak-derived vanillin. The combination of bright red berry fruit dusted in fine powdery tannins and just a hint of cool climate pepper makes for a succulent, highly-gulpable medium weight drop that’s likely to disappear before you know it. Definitely my pick of two and a pleasure to drink now. Get stuck in!

Based on a conversation with new Howard Park winemaker Tony Davis, it’s looking doubtful if there’ll be any 2006 reds released under the Howard Park label, so this and the corresponding cabernets could be the public’s only chance to add some new Howard Park Single Vineyard Series releases to their cellars until the 2007s see the light of day. Interestingly, Davis believes that Great Southern cabernet and shiraz from Margaret River were this vintage’s highlights so I’m expecting plenty of anticipation leading up to the release of Howard Park’s 2007 wines. www.howardparkwines.com.au

Every week it seems, a new poker prodigy-cum-next-big-thing-cum-superstar-of-tomorrow bursts on to the scene. Courtesy of the overwhelming tornado of poker news surging up and down telephone lines, it’s easy to gloss over these names and cluck one’s tongue, muttering unpleasantries such as “must be on a sick upswing” and “luckbox” under the breath. But (as alluded to in my interview with WSOP main event runner-up Paul Wasicka), these players are more than just a jumble of nine point Arial letters on one’s monitor: every player has his or her own story, complete with regular home game; circle of friends to discuss strategy with and a virtual rail to cheer them on wherever they are around the world.

Through the marvels of the internet and mobile phone technology I was fortunate enough to be able to sweat fellow West Australian poker player Marcus Collins - MC to his mates - as he tackled the 2006 WSOP. Cliff notes on Marcus: the 30 year-old had a great Series and cashed in three events (including a deep run in the massive main event where he placed a completely dope 251st out of eight thousand-plus runners) in just his second journey to poker’s Mecca. However, it would be three months later at the inaugural Pan Asia Poker Tour event in the Philippines where the gentle giant would announce his arrival on the poker scene, beating out a small but talent-laden field of poker players to win Asia’s first major poker tournament.

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Considering the region’s national and international clout, the Margaret River Wine Show undoubtedly attracts plenty of interest from wine drinkers both casual and serious. The results for this year’s shows are in and the trophy and award winners are as follows:

TROPHY WINNERS

Best Wine of Show (Sponsored by MRWIA)
Windance Cabernet Merlot 2004
Most Successful Exhibitor (Sponsored by Visy)
Evans & Tate
Best Cabernet Sauvignon (Sponsored by Laffort Oenologie)
Heydon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Best Chardonnay (Sponsored by Portavin)
Cape Mentelle Chardonnay 2005
Best Museum (Sponsored by MRWIA)
Brookland Valley Reserve Chardonnay 2002

AWARD WINNERS

Best Cabernet Sauvignon Predominate Blend (Sponsored by Cospak/O-I)
Windance Cabernet Merlot 2004
Best Sauvignon Blanc (Sponsored by Amcor Fibre Packaging)
Hamelin Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Best Semillon (Sponsored by Labelworld)
Brookland Valley Semillon 2005
Best Semillon/ Sauvignon Blanc Blend (Sponsored by Vinline Bottling and Filtration)
Flinders Bay Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2006

In my mind, the winner’s list reflects the state of wine in Margaret River at the moment, striking a pretty good balance between new and established names. Some may attribute this to a lack of entries from the region’s most prestigious names - Cullen and Leeuwin are auspicious omissions from the list of submitted wines - but by and large, it looks like the little guys who are coming up are more than just riding on the coat tails of the region’s big names (a claim that once held merit). While discussing the merit of the wine show system is a surefire way of stirring up controversy in the industry, there’s no doubt these events play a major role in spreading the gospel of a region’s wines. Also, for the smaller names looking for that big break, success often comes in the shape of regional show success.

Incidentally though, good to see the 2005 Cape Mentelle Chardonnay get up for the best chardy award - it’s such a magnificent drop. Incidentally, the ‘04 Devil’s Lair copped a silver so it’s good to see the work of Stuart Pym getting the props it deserves. One Margaret River up-and-comer to keep your eyes peeled for is Arimia: its Mudlarks Sauvignon Blanc 2006 picked up a gold medal in the Sauvignon Blanc class and their wines have simply gone from strength to strength over the past two vintages with some really interesting varietals in the range.

Anyhow, I’m sure I’ll be adding more thoughts as I get a chance to really go over the results list. Word on the street was that this year’s show featured a record number of entries so if there’s one definitive guide to what’s hot and what’s not in the region, I can’t think of a better one than the results from this show.

By the by, if you want to find out about all things wine-related in Margaret River, check out the Margaret River Wine Association’s website at www.margaretriverwine.org.au

If the words of industry spin doctors were to be taken as gospel, every wine drinker in Australia would be able to locate shiraz of Grange-esque power and complexity at less than $10 a bottle (and at 13-to-the-dozen) at every drive-thru in the nation. Or that sparkling wine of similar pedigree to vintage Dom or Bollinger was as commonplace as girls throwing themselves at footy stars on a Saturday night out. You don’t have to be the ultra-cynical Tim White to believe versions of reality like the above are taking the proverbial.

The word on the street is that Howard Park chief winemaker and completely down-to-earth, straight-talking and likeable Michael Kerrigan is leaving the Margaret River winery for a new position at Hay Shed Hill (vacated when Nigel Kinsman left Margaret River for a winemaking gig in the Napa Valley) which was recently sold by Australian Liquor Holdings to West Cape Howe who no doubt have big plans for the both the winery and Mr Kerrigan. While I haven’t received any official word from Howard Park themselves, I daresay my source would have to be one of the most reliable and the state and is seldom wrong with anything related to the wine industry. Also, for those that don’t know, former Alexandra Bridge winemaker Virginia Willcock is now the group winemaker for Vasse Felix, the former home of Clive Otto who famously parted ways with the pioneering, Holmes à Court-owned winery. With all this movement taking place at some of the biggest names in the industry (let alone the region), the wine-drinking world will no doubt be keeping a keen eye on future vintages from these Margaret River wineries.

Like most kids with Asian parentage, I was blessed to have a mum who knows how to cook. I actually think it’s something genetic as Mum never used to do a lot of cooking, but once we moved to Australia, all those lessons her mother taught her proved to be time very well invested. And while Mum didn’t have any daughters of her own to pass her cooking tips on to, I was more than happy - and grateful - to soak up some of my mother’s pearls of cooking wisdom. No doubt mum was a top notch cook - and I suspect that if she wanted to open her own restaurant, it would look a lot like The Red Teapot on the top of William Street: intimate, tastefully decorated and built upon a menu of authentic Cantonese cuisine - the kind of dishes all Asian mothers seem to be dab hands at preparing.