Getting Stoked With Cape Mentelle

How quickly time flies, it seemed like yesterday, ...well, maybe not quite yesterday, but a few months ago, that we had a Cape Mentelle wine pairing meal, and thank goodness for web logs, our online, forever immortalized in the hearts of google, life journals, our life events are captured for posterity and for reference, and it was by referring to THIS POST that I knew the circa of the last Cape Mentelle event.

A now familiar face, Cameron Murphy, Cape Mentelle's Estate Director, presented us with five award winning bottles from the Cape Mentelle Portfolio, at the newly opened STOKED in Medan Damansara.

Cameron has been with the Moet Hennessy Group since 2005, and has recently moved to Margaret River as Cape Mentelle's Estate Director.

Owner of Stoked chips in with his perspective on the food, and tells us a little bit about Stoked, and their pride and joy, the BERTHA oven, which he described as a fat woman with heart.  (but my handwriting is so bad these days, I originally misread my scrawls as "a fat woman in heat").  Charcoal and wood flamed, the oven would give birth to many of our lunch creations.

Pairing with the Uni Sashimi with Tofu Puree and Consomme Jelly, the Sauvignon Blanc Semillion 2013, one of their easiest drinking wines, that in my opinion pairs with just about anything.  I am partial to sauvignon blancs in general.  The fruit flavours with the hint of lime, passionfruit melded together with the briney uni (Sea Urchin), eradicating any possible hint of "fishiness" of the raw urchin.

The lovely crusty breads which are spawned from Bertha's belly...

Bertha in action.

Steamed Coral Trout With Kale, Tomato, Served with Caper Beurre Blanc Sauce With the 2102 Chardonnay.

For the nose, the Chardonnay has lime, lemon, cashew, and for the palate, lime pear and grapefruit.  We had the chance to interchange the SBS with the Chardonnay, and CCFoodtravel, who was so late that she managed to have the 1st and 2nd course together, preferred the Chardonnay to pair with both the urchin and the trout (ooh, that's a good name for a pub, THE URCHIN & THE TROUT), whilst I preferred the SBS with both the fruits of Poseidon.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am generally not a Chardonnay fan, but Cape Mentelle's Chardonnay, ...I don't know if it is the atmosphere in which it is drunk, or the food that embellishes, but I always find their's most palatable.

Foie Gras and Duck Pate en croute with the Cabernet Merlot 2012, which to me, was the piece resistance of the day, both for wine and food.  I totally LOVED this dish, and paired with the wine, really, I could just go back and have this combination over and over again.    The gameyness of the dish, the decadent pastry casing, the elegant reduction sauce, just perfect, and that bright crimson Cabernet Merlot to further fortify the entire combination.  It was like the food equivalent of an ancient castle, decadent, elegant, strong, solid, muscular.

The final dish, the Slow Roasted Lamb, served with 2012 Shiraz and 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Gorrrgeous peeps across the table....

The lamb was a tad overcooked, maybe Bertha was too on heat, but the overall flavours were great and the wines, wow...that Cabernet Sauvignon, so complex and intense, with flavours of black currant, and firm structural tannins, that exudes upper crustiness, if you know what I mean.  Basically, a lovely cut of meat with a damn good full bodied wine.  The Shiraz, apparently the most commonly planted, and most unheralded grape (aww poor thing) in Margaret River, has inky purple hues, and is plush and rich on the palate with plums, mulberry and hints of spice.

To end the perfect afternoon, and it was a Friday, White Chocolate Mousse with Mixed Berries and Crumble With Rasberry Sauce.

Cameron and I.

ABOUT CAPE MENTELLE

Cape Mentelle, a founding windery of Australia's Margaret River wine region, is one of the most remoted wine regions in the world located in the south west corner of Australia.  The maritime influence of the Indian Ocean ensures even temperatures, providing consistently excellent vintage conditions.

Local Distributors of Cape Mentelle : Moet Hennessy Diageo