Dear Feastlings,
As the weather warms and people leave for their summer haunts, we find ourselves with a little more time on our hands for extracurricular activities; unfortunately, most of our friends in the wine industry are like us, though. Be it for business or pleasure, they want to keep their summer travel plans focused on places where it isn’t topping 100 degrees. We’ve got some good fortune this month as our friend Bryan Klassen of Epicurean Wines is no stranger to the desert heat, so he’ll be braving the first of the summer heat to fill us in on what’s been going on in Australia.
Remember Australia? It seems like fifteen years ago, everyone was loading up on Aussie wines- people were clamoring for the rich, ripe flavors Australia offered, and then came the massive wave of mass production, bottom-shelf grocery store wines that flooded the market and swept the legs out from under everyone’s confidence in picking up an unfamiliar bottle of Antipodean wine and dropping it into their shopping cart.
Those high-volume, low-quality wines are still out there, but the people at Epicurean Wines want you to know that in the meantime, there are wineries who’ve been industriously working away throughout this period to, as they say, subvert the dominant paradigm. On Tuesday, May 30, Bryan brings us four wines that decidedly do not taste like every other Australian wine, wines whose balance and curious complexity make them standouts amongst their colleagues and counterparts. You can join us if you’d like, meet Bryan, taste some wines that dare to be different, and eat a dinner built around them. Call us at (520) 326-9363 to reserve a seat at the table.
Epicurean Wines dinner with Bryan Klassen
Hay and straw-roasted chicken thigh with pear and roasted garlic custard, brown chicken reduction, lemon and pine nuts.
2022 Unico Zelo “Jade & Jasper” Fiano, Riverland
Porchetta with zucchini and orange peel, fried smashed potatoes, Braulio-eucalyptus glaze and wilted spinach.
2021 Unico Zelo “Truffle Hound” blend (Barbera/ Nebbiolo/Sangiovese/Merlot,) Clare Valley
Duck breast with truffled barley malt glaze and cinnamon leaf reduction, with French-cut green beans and Dauphine potatoes.
2017 Langmeil “Valley Floor” Shiraz, Barossa Valley and Eden Valley
Seared New York steak, wrapped in roasted Poblano chilies and potatoes, served with demiglace, fresh mint and oil-cured olives.
2019 Langmeil “Blacksmith” Cabernet Sauvignon, Barossa Valley
A little something sweet for dessert.
$95 plus tax and gratuity