DRINK WINE, MAKE WORDS - The Wine Cellar

Wine cellars are such beautiful places; mostly dark, quiet, peaceful places. Sometimes decorated. Sometimes neat. Sometimes messy. But always likely to present a surprise.

A wine cellar is the repository of the owner's past, present and future endeavors. Maybe it holds the wine that was inherited, or collected for old friends to share and reminisce over. On the other side a cellar whispers the aspirations of the future and places yet to have arrived at. 

Stepping into my own wine cellar, the room has a clean floor and polished walls of refrigeration panel. The wines are stacked in neatly positioned racks. Not obsessively ordered - not far from it. I feel it needs some more work; to make it authentic. But the space was previously a hen house - how more authentic does it need to be?

When the weather is cold and you need to find something to warm the cockles of your heart, accessing wine requires commitment. A trek through the garage, out to the back of the yard, through a shed and into the cellar. 2 sets of keys are required to get through this labyrinth as well as exposure to the elements - it takes commitment.

What to drink? With a large cellar, sometimes the choices are too difficult. But heading to the Pinot section is always fun. You get down on your knees searching for something elusive, something that probably disappeared long ago. 

Hold on. What have I got? Rub the dust and a little bit of mould too.  

You beauty... 2008 Giant Steps Gladysdale Pinot Noir.

The Simple Joy Of Dining Out

A Simply Day at Twine Restaurant

Dining out for so many people is such a traumatic experience. Faced with the dilemma of selecting food and fighting through the jargon that litters a menu; not to mention a wine list that sacrificed several broad trees to compile it.

Food and drink are the tools to bring friends together and enjoy the moment. The challenge for a restaurant, cafe or in my case a winery cellar door is to break down the jargon appropriately to engage the customer. 

From a cynical business perspective this process is about prying a customer's money from their wallet. After all the establishment is not a charity. Each organisation will have its own style as will the more talented hospitality professionals.

The sheer volume of visitors coming to a place like the Hunter Valley does allow you to practice your technique for using a metaphor. This allows a personalising of the experience, be it for a wine tasting or selecting a menu item that the customer can relate to, on their terms.

As a creature of habit I tend to be limited in my menu selections, but my theory is that a good Creme Brulee is the measurement of an establishment. If you can't do the classics, what is the chance you can do anything else consistently well?  My latest haunt that has provided the simple joy of dining out is Twine Restaurant on Marrowbone Road Pokolbin. 

For a more articulate review of the dining experience check out the Newcastle Herald's Liz Love's review.