Short Bites: Dan Stock with Melbourne’s latest food news
As Melbourne awakes from its slumber, wine lovers are in for a treat at a luxe cellar door in the heart of the CBD. Here’s the latest food news with Dan Stock.
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Winemaker Pete Dillon is pretty happy with the way this year’s vintage is shaping up.
“Overall, it’s looking pretty good, the mild summer means there’s some really good colour to the pinot, there’s lovely line and tension in the chardonnay,” he says, while keeping one eye on the weather forecast for the week ahead.
While most winemakers have various site-specific decisions to make during this time of year — what to pick, where and when? — Dillon has to factor in the vagaries of Mother Nature across multiple vineyards in multiple states.
Founded in 2001, Handpicked Wines is a multi-regional wine producer, whose spiritual home is the Mornington Peninsula, but also owns vineyards in the Yarra Valley, Tasmania and the Barossa, and makes more than 50 site-specific wines from around the globe.
In a normal year, Dillon would finish vintage here in Oz and then head over to the US to make their Oregon pinot, and then to Bordeaux to make the “wines in the style of the site”.
“We have fingers in plenty of pies, but trying to do it in a meaningful way. We’re trying to do it in a way that engages intimately with the wines and sites,” the award-winning winemaker says.
This week, the full range of Handpicked Wines will be on show in the heart of the city when it opens its luxe cellar door. As part of the 80 Collins hospitality precinct, Dillon says: “It’s exciting to get our local wines in front of a city of wine enjoyers. It’s a real opportunity to showcase our wines and winemakers from around Victoria.”
Open daily for breakfast through supper, the cellar door will offer smoked trout crumpets to start the day, artisan cheeses from here and there and sliced-to-order charcuterie from the best in the curing biz and such seasonal specials as raclette and truffle toasties when the weather turns.
Dillon and his team will hold tutored tastings and wine flights, with monthly wine workshops and tank tastings part of the planned calendar of events.
The Melbourne venue follows a successful Sydney Handpicked urban cellar door that opened in 2016.
“Sydney has been a real success, but as we have a real foothold in Victoria, it’s great to be able to showcase our wines here as the city awakens from its slumber,” Dillon says.
Handpicked Cellar Door is at 80 Collins, cnr Pink Alley and Benson Walk.
YOUNG TURKS
Coskun Uysal of Balaclava’s acclaimed Tulum restaurant is inviting some of Melbourne’s hottest young chefs into his kitchen to reinterpret Turkish cuisine as seen through their eyes.
The Flying Carpet dinner series kicks off in April with Helly Raichura from vegan Indian restaurant Enter via Laundry answering the question: “How do you interpret Turkish cuisine through your lens as a chef?” Other chefs to join Uysal in the kitchen include Dave Verheul (Embla) in June, Clinton McIver (Amaru) in August and John Paul Twomey (ex-Carlton Wine Room) in October. Each chef will produce an entree, main and dessert, with Uysal matching each course. “I love that through collaboration we can bring a wider audience to Turkish food, it’s not just about kebabs and dips. I have huge respect for these chefs and what they do,” Uysal says. Bookings: tulumrestaurant.com.au
A DELICIOUS MONTH OUT
American Express delicious. Month Out comes to Melbourne in May promising a whole month of delicious dining and exclusive offers across the city — and now’s the chance for restaurants and bars, cafes and pubs to get involved.
Venues simply upload a special offer — whether an exclusive menu item, special discount, with-purchase gift or bespoke customer experience — which will be available through May as the delicious. Month Out takes over town, including such venues as Andy Allen’s Three Blue Ducks and Andrew McConnell’s Cutler & Co. Visit delicious.com.au/dmo-register by April 26.
SHUCKING SAUCES
East 33 — which delivers Sydney Rock Oysters fresh from farms up the east coast across Melbourne — has enlisted some of Australia’s favourite chefs who have bottled their love of freshly shucked oysters: literally. The Chefs’ Series sees Neil Perry, Scott Pickett, Victor Liong and Alex Pritchard create a limited edition sauce to serve with the briny bivalves, with one released each week. Tomorrow, it’s Pritchard’s lemon myrtle and pink peppercorn vinaigrette, with Liong’s ginger vinaigrette and Pickett’s native pepper and verjus mignonette to follow. For orders: east33.sydney
HERE’S CHEERS
Dromana’s Two Bays — Australia’s first gluten-free brewery — is marking coeliac awareness week (until Saturday) with a cool collab with band Ball Park Music which has the #4 song in this year’s Triple J Hottest 100 (Cherub). Ball Park Bloom is a Belgium witbeer brewed with GF buckwheat, oranges and coriander seed. With donations from every keg, carton and can sold, they’re hoping to raise $10,000 for the Australian music industry, with Collingwood’s The Fox Hotel pouring it during the national tap takeover. Stockists: twobays.beer
No, Chris Lucas didn’t name his new French restaurant ‘bastard’
Eight years and a rumoured $45m later, Chris Lucas is finally opening his newest venue — a four-level French behemoth in the city next month. Just don’t say the name has a crude translation.
New elevated Italian joint takes rooftop restaurants to new heights
It’s been two years in the making, now the team behind Williamstown’s Sebastian has launched a buzzy new eatery at the top of Cremorne’s tallest building.