Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Verdelho...hard to spell but casts a spell



I spent the last week of 2011 and first week of 2012 staying at the Kent family's vineyard in Victoria, Australia. It is always an eye-opening experience to see just how much blood, sweat and tears go into producing wine. We take it for granted that we can buy decent wine really cheaply in New Zealand, but after drinking their gorgeous, icy nectar for the past two weeks, I fear my taste buds have been spoilt for life.


Perched up high on the Bellarine Penninsula, just at the start of the Great Ocean Road, their vineyard (You Yangs View) is one of the prettiest I have seen and grows what is now (thanks to them) one of my favourite varieties, Verdelho. Originally from Portugal, a good Verdelho is rich and dense, like Sauvignon Blanc on steroids. We paired ours with everything from fresh oysters to spicy fried rice to seafood pizza (not all on the same night), but it really stole my heart served icy cold on the hottest day I have ever experienced without air conditioning...39.5 degrees. It was literally double the high in Auckland that day, and my skin felt like melted cheese. Mmmm, coincidentally, cheese also went well with Verdelho.


Although still pretty niche, there are a few Verdelhos around, but if you want to know more about You Yangs View in particular, have a look here. And next time you're out for dinner and spot one on the wine list, have one for me. Is it wine o'clock yet?


x

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow how lucky are you to have inlaws that own a vineyard!!!!!! You have a habit of posting things early in the morning that I then crave all day, now I am craving wine and it's not even lunch time - yesterday it was cupcakes!!! stop (but don't really :)

Anonymous said...

That was me (jen) in case you were wondering hehe

Anonymous said...

With 2 daughters in law loving it, Vic may need to stop selling it and we can just drink it x

Erica Kent said...

HA ha - sorry Jen! You can see I consume most of my calories early in the day. Some non-foodie posts coming up, I promise x

Anonymous said...

Cool pic. Is that your face we can see in the reflection?

Erica Kent said...

Hmmmm, not sure which pic you're looking at anonymous!

Anonymous said...

look at the wine in the glass...on the right side...im sure i can see a girl's face sipping a glass. Perhaps i have cataracts?