Dinner with MarkG

Daryl Douglas · Post by **Daryl Douglas** » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:11 pm

Mark was in town late this week and we'd arranged to meet up, share some wine and food. Dinner was at Wayne and Adele's Garden of Eating which is a husband and wife operation. The garden's a bit tacky though still comfortable al fresco dining at this time of year, apart from the trees dropping flowers. But the food's mostly pretty good without being great. Adele's service is exemplary, Wayne's the chef. His menu is adventurous. The toppings on the in-house baked foccacio starter were a bit ordinary but we both enjoyed our entrees. My smoked barramundi raviolo was very good and Mark's "that was good", referring to a seafood pattie that was on the chalkboard was a bit of a relief.

Mark's bottle of 12yo Pipers Brook chard was pretty much past it so we passed on that. I was a bit surprised that he found my Forest Hill Vineyard Block 8 chard 05 to be a big wine in the Aussie mould but then I've never tried a Chablis. It was still light straw in colour, very good varietal fruits with well-integrated oak, and finished well with lively acid that I thought went well with my entree accompanied by an anonymous creamy sauce.

Not sure if the wagyu rump we both ordered was in fact wagyu but the portions were tender enough, tasty as would be expected of rump and mine was perfectly cooked to order, medium rare, but there could have been more mushrooms with the again anonymous sauce. The wheels fell off with the first couple of reds. My Jeanneret Denis Reserve 02 was corked, fruit-stripped. So was Mark's french offering from a region (the name of which escapes me) between Cote Rotie and Cotes du Rhone. That was a pity as the fruit was coming up a bit with air but so was the TCA, especially on the nose. So, Mark's Blue Poles Tempranillo 2007 (to be released soon) rode to the rescue. It's a very food-friendly wine, good fruit, cherries, red plums with a bit of muskstick confectionary and savoury notes that supported the beef. The finish has satisfying length that's carried by ripe, almost talcy-soft tannins. My savoury dessert didn't work that well for me, don't recall Mark's opinion of his dessert.

It was very pleasant evening with Mark.

Cheers

daz

Mark G · Post by **Mark G** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:38 pm

Cheers Daz

Good to put a face to a name and to enjoy a pleasant meal in balmy Townsville. The meal was pretty good but they could do with some presentation skills and avoid putting melted feta on top of foccaccia!

As always, cork rears its ugly head and destroys 2 known to be very good wines - bloomin' wonderful. Glad you enjoyed the Tempranillo and next time if I get that far across the nation again I'll shove some merlot in the kit bag

Cheers

Mark G

Daryl Douglas · Post by **Daryl Douglas** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:11 pm

It is good to put a face to a name and I'd be pleased to catch up again Mark, if the opportunity arises.

Regards

daz

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:12 pm

Mark G is the King of Cork.

Wherever he goes corked wine follows. :evil:

griff · Post by **griff** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:40 pm

Davo wrote:Mark G is the King of Cork.

Wherever he goes corked wine follows.

Ha! You aren't too bad either! :twisted:

cheers

Carl

Daryl Douglas · Post by **Daryl Douglas** » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:33 am

No wonder he's keen on screwcaps! Don't blame him either - last weekend I also opened a Cullen DM 01 to see why its had so many negative comments recently but couldn't tell because of the TCA :cry:

Hopefully the last remaining bottle escaped the TCA demon and will show well in another few years - same with the remaining bottle or two of the Jeanneret Denis, the first couple of bottles were delicious, typical big good quality Clare shiraz.

Overall, Cullen has the worst record for corked or cork-affected wines I've experienced but 1 of 3 of the Denis is also up there.

daz