Two Hands
Winetasters @Home Episode 7
Australian Wine Dinner
Wednesday, May 26th, 8:00 PM
Event Summary
Many of you will remember the very successful Two Hands tasting that we had at the beginning of last year. A comment we heard frequently that evening was that the wines needed food. Well, here is your chance! For our seventh (yes, really!) Winetasters@Home© event, we are delighted to present a dinner with an all-Australian wine selection.
The wines: Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2017 to start, three Two Hands Shiraz, all from 2007, and Chambers Old Vines Muscat to end with. The white and red wines will come, carefully decanted, in 4 OZ servings and the dessert wine will be 2 Ozs. There are 48 wine packages available.
The food: Chef Gregory and his team at the Vintage Conservatory have created a five-course tasting menu to go with the wines.
The online event: 8 pm on Wednesday, May 26th. We hope that this time will allow you to enjoy your meal and the wines, before joining your friends online in Google Meet. Be sure to save a bit of your wine for the discussion!
Registration: Wine service for this event is $65 for members, $90 for non-members, including GST/HST, click here to register. Foodservice is $65 plus HST, click here to order.
The Wines and the Menu
This event will feature five wines from Toronto Winetasters’ cellar. A vegetarian menu option is also available.
Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2017
Nova Scotia Scallop – summer pea puree, corn emulsion, apple chutney
Honey Ricotta Ravioli – parmesan lemon sauce, toasted pine nuts
~~~
Two Hands Harry & Edward’s Garden (Langhorne Creek) Shiraz 2007
Two Hands Max’s Garden (Heathcote, Victoria) Shiraz 2007
Two Hands Zippy’s Block (Barossa) Shiraz 2007
Forrest Mushroom Salad – walnut and roquette pesto, truffle vinaigrette
Braised Short Rib – pomme puree, sautéed kale, braising reduction
~~~
Chambers Rosewood Vineyard Rutherglen Old Vines Muscat, NV
(from 100+ year old vines)
(and Zippy’s Block Shiraz, if you have some left!)
Chocolate cake – red wine chocolate ganache
We’re sure you will want to play with the wine pairings a bit – for example, Barossa Shiraz can pair very well with Chocolate.
The Wineries
Vasse Felix is Margaret River’s founding wine estate, established in 1967. The vineyards in Margaret River contain ancient soils, situated near-twin oceans, which creates an ideal environment for growing world-class Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Vasse Felix has four vineyards situated throughout Margaret River producing wines recognized as Margaret River benchmarks.
Two Hands’ rise to fame has been meteoric – from the germ of an idea in 1999 by Michael Twelftree and Richard Mintz, it had by 2012 achieved ten consecutive years in Wine Spectator top 100 and their success continues today. The wines are not for the faint of heart – these are big, even massive, wines (can exceed 15% alcohol), but with the polish to attract high Parker scores. Shiraz was their initial focus and remains their core today.
Chambers Rutherglen, established in 1858, the Chambers family has been making “honest wines with a sense of place” for over six generations. Chambers produces highly prized fortified wines such as the Muscat and Muscadelle. Robert Parker Jr describes them as ‘some of the world’s most remarkable dessert wines’.
The Vintage Conservatory
The Vintage Conservatory’s kitchen will be familiar to many of you by now. They did the very successful “Off the Beaten Path” dinner for us in February. Our dinner is being prepared by Executive Chef Gregory Hogg.
How to participate
Wine service for this event is $65 members, $90 non-members, including GST/HST,
click here to register. Foodservice is $65 plus HST, click here to order.
The wine portion of this event is limited to 48 orders. Register quickly to avoid disappointment.
Beginning at 14:00 on Wednesday, May 26, you will be able to pick up your package (of wines and/or food) at either the downtown location on Lombard St (Adelaide & Church) or at the uptown location at Avenue Road and 401 (just north of the 401). You can also drop off bottles from prior events for future re-use. Full details will be in the confirmation email after you sign up, which will also include the Google Meet link.
Vasse Felix Vineyard
The Wines – Tasting Notes
Vasse Felix Heytesbury Chardonnay 2017
A crisp note of flint emerges in the background of this intense white, offering a core of peach, melon, and tangerine flavors. Shades of green tea linger on the finish, with fresh acidity. 91 points Wine Spectator
Two Hands Harry & Edward’s Garden (Langhorne Creek) Shiraz 2007
Minty, plummy and chocolaty, with a soft, velvety texture, this is a solid example of what the Shiraz Langhorne Creek is capable of producing. Some will criticize the slight eucalypt character, while others will laud its regional character. 90 points Wine Enthusiast
Two Hands Max’s Garden (Heathcote, Vicator) Shiraz 2007
Winemaker Notes
The color is a deep magenta with black hues. On the nose, red to black fruit characters of raspberries and red currants intermingle with darker cherry-like chocolate aromas. Subtle black pepper and smoky notes, graphite, and scorched earth add complexity. The palate opens gently with refined definition, nicely accentuated by a solid core of fruit weight without heaviness. The acid balance supports the very long but fine tannins.
*******
Silky, open-textured, and utterly beguiling for its exuberant raspberry and plum fruit, sailing smoothly over the tannins in pinpoint balance. Picks up savory notes as the finish persists. 91 points Wine Spectator.
Two Hands Zippy’s Block (Barossa) Shiraz 2007
Winemaker Notes
Deep black in the glass. A very obvious inky nose of blueberries, minerals, coal, and dark chocolate, backed by secondary notes of daffodil and Asian spices with a thread of mint. Starting out with an even float of fruit across the palate, the mouth-feel stays soft, long, and elegant throughout. This is a surprising wine that sits on an elegant core of ripe and concentrated fruit. The tannins are soft and fleshy and well balanced with the fruit.
******
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate – 93 pts – The 2007 Shiraz Zippy’s Block from Roennfeldt Road in the Marananga sub-region of Barossa Valley, is a brooding, burly wine with a splendid nose of plum, tar, licorice, smoke, game, and blueberry. On the palate it is surprisingly restrained, bordering on elegant. Savory, ripe, and medium-long, it will be approachable in 1-2 years and drink well for a decade thereafter. – Dec 2009
James Halliday’s Wine Companion – 92 pts – More life here, with some red fruit providing lift to the concentrated fruitcake and chocolate beneath; the oak and fruit work in tandem and provide a rich, but not overwhelming level of interest on the finish; chewy with some nerve to conclude. Date tasted 26 Feb 2009, drink by 2020.
Wine Spectator – 91 pts – This spicy red is distinctive for its star anise and cigar box overtones around a plump, chewy core of blackberry, plum and dried blueberry flavors, persisting through a solid frame of fine tannins. Best from 2011 through 2019. 750 cases made. -HS, Oct 2009
NV Chambers Rutherglen Old Vines Muscat (from 100 year old + vines)
Winemaker comments: Raisins and rose petal aromas combine with a luscious palate consistent with the fruit aromas and the hint of wood age. The result is a rich, well-balanced wine with a depth of flavor to enjoy with cheese dishes or chocolate-based desserts.
“Mid-walnut hue, with the last faint vestiges of red. A wine that immediately commands attention and respect with its racy touch of rancio to the liqueur raisins of a deluxe Christmas pudding center stage, backed by spices of every known kind.” James Halliday
….”Made from older vines, but still retaining freshness and lift on the palate and finish, this is a halfway house style Muscat, between the fresh, open styles and the ancient medicinal ones, and it keeps its figgy, rose petal, and walnut notes alive but combines them with a deeper, darker core than last years’ wine.” Matthew Jukes.
