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juniorformulamotorsport · 6 years ago

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Thursday, 7th March 2019 – Frog by Adam Handling, London

Back in London again for another theatrical event, and having kept costs down on our previous visit, post seeing Sir Ian McKellen, talking entertainingly and at surprising length about his career now he’s turned 80, at the Duke of York’s Theatre, we opted to go to Frog by Adam Handling. This place has been on my radar since it opened, given how impressive Handling was when propelled into the spotlight by Masterchef: The Professionals back in 2013. It it was clear then that he was something quite special in culinary terms. Now, at just 30 year’s old, he has a growing mini-empire of seven establishments across London and has clearly impressed the Belmond group enough for them to want his restaurant in their second UK hotel (their other UK hotel is Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons with the ever-wonderful Raymond Blanc so they have high standards).

It was a fairly unpleasant night outside and we kicked out of the theatre slightly too early, so we scooted past (to see the staff setting up for the evening) and went to The Port House for an aperitif of one of Niepoort’s white ports before turning round and heading back just before 6pm.

From the outside, the restaurant is very low key, and inside it’s perhaps not as flashy as you might expect. There are no tablecloths, just incredibly shiny black-topped tables, and the kitchen is open to the world. There’s a counter where you can also sit and from which you can watch the chefs in action in incredibly calm action. There are plenty of front of house staff, as well as a large number of kitchen staff and it all felt very Scandi in atmosphere, reminding me very strongly of the places I really like in Copenhagen. That was an impression that lasted all the way through the evening, particularly given the food that followed, and the way in which it was presented.

We were welcomed in, served a glass of excellent Champagne, a biscuity Lallier Grand Reserve, Grand Cru Brut from Aÿ (not Reims as the waiter who first served us claimed) and handed the menus to have a think.

We thought very carefully (for about a nano-second!) and decided the full tasting menu was doable and looked fabulous, and that we’d also take the “extra” course of lobster with Wagyu fat, along with the matching wine selection. A second glass of Champagne arrived after we figured we’d treat the first one as a second aperitif, along with the truly dramatic looking “Snacks”. These were delivered in a cloud of dry ice (I know it’s quite an old-fashioned thing to do but it’s also entertaining and I love the odd theatrical flourish), in a bowl and a box. Once the clouds cleared, further inspection revealed a pair of razor clams, beautifully garnished with hazelnut crumbs, apple, herbs and edible flowers, and that tasted as fresh as you could wish. I was briefly distracted by the way the liquid between the stones in the dish kept bubbling up every so often in the aftermath of the grand entrance, but I am sometimes very easily amused!

Next was a fabulous little tube filled with smoked cod’s roe (so a pretty posh taramasalata you might say). It was rich and creamy and densely textured, and I loved it. It had tiny blobs of caviar and of creme fraiche sitting on the top of the cylinder which added considerably to the richness.

The third and final snack was a duck meat bon bon, and it was a deliriously delicious little mouthful (though I stretched it to three bites because I didn’t want it to stop), with a crispy coating on the outside and full of dark leg meat cooked down perfectly. This is what most confit duck has ambitions to be when it grows up!

After we’d finished the snacks, a serving of bread arrived, an IPA-infused sourdough, served warm, and accompanied with the most delightful butter, whipped through with chicken jus, and sprinkled with crispy chicken skin. We tried to restrain ourselves, but it really was too good to resist for any length of time. Summoning all our reserves of willpower, we turned down a second serving, but it would have been soooo easy to cave in and eat a second portion. This is dangerous food, in the best possible way!

It’s tough to say whether the bread or the butter was the greater, but together they made the perfect match. I love good bread, and that was definitely good bread.

We now came to the second dish of the menu, named Mother, apparently because Handling’s mother suddenly announced she’d become a vegetarian the day he opened his first restaurant, and he had to very quickly figure out what he could possibly give her to eat. In an interview with Foodism he had this to say about it: “When I opened my first restaurant, we had 50 journalists, food critics and influential people coming in to taste my menu for the very first time. And my mother told me she was going to be vegetarian. So I created this dish, and I called it ‘Mother’ to try to embarrass her.” The result concoction of salt-baked celeriac, with a confit yolk, and apples, and liberally dusted in black truffle shavings, is a truly amazing dish. If all vegetarian food could be like this, I really could happily give up meat and not miss it. It was accompanied very successfully by a glass of Sepp Moser, Grüner Veltliner von den Terrassen from Austria’s Kremstal, which went down very nicely.

Things moved from vegetarian to marine-based now, with a glorious scallop, oyster and caviar dish. The scallops were not cooked, rather ceviche, with some incredible gel bobs and an oyster mayonnaise, dotted with micro-herbs and nasturtium leaves, and topped with the caviar. It was subtle, slippery, smooth and lovely and was a great pairing with a 2015 Chardonnay, Trinity Hill, Hawkes Bay, the Kiwis supplying an example of just what Chardonnay can do (as opposed to what it so often sadly is).

What came next was even better. Having recently discovered the joys of black garlic, it was used to tremendous effect in a pasta dish of agnolotti, stuffed with mushrooms and served with tiny little blobs of crumb covered deep fried bone marrow. The black garlic was incorporated into the pasta dough, which made it a tremendous shade of black, with a deep garlic flavour matched by the mushrooms which were enhanced by the wonderful crunch and stickiness of the bone marrow. It might not please the Italians, but it was definitely one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had the pleasure of eating. With it we drank a delicious 2014 Monopole Blues Kékfrankos from Hungary.

The wine stretched to the next course too, which was described as “crab, kimchi, tart” and was in fact a crab tart with kimchi at its base. The pastry was so short it almost exploded in the mouth when you bit into it. It was the lightest, shortest pastry imaginable, and while I don’t know who the pastry chef is, they are clearly blessed in their ability to create pastry. The crab was creamy, the kimchi delivered a bit of punch and the whole thing was a mouthful of pleasure, the surface glazed with cheese and dusted with paprika.

Next was the extra dish, where a portion of lobster is in effect marinaded in Wagyu fat for a day or so before being cooked. The initial bite, when your mouth fills with the seafood but also seems to flood with the oleaginous fat feels very odd, and as if it will be too much for the tastebuds. In fact it’s almost unpleasant, until the moment you start to chew and then it all miraculously comes together. I don’t think you could eat much of it; it’s far too luxurious to do that, but the smallish lobster tail was just right. We had a fresh white wine, slightly effervescent, with it, but it wasn’t listed on the menu, so I can’t say what it was, just that it was well-chosen.

We had one more fish dish still to come, a portion of cod, with tiny cubes of smoked eel, brown shrimp, kohlrabi and a selection of sea vegetables including samphire. The creamy sauce brought it all together in a very cohesive way. It was terrific. So was the bone dry 2016 Riesling Steinhugel Tatomer from California that went with it.

And then there was meat. In fact there was duck, sausage and foie gras. I mean, what’s not to like? It came with a jus so glossy you could see your own face in it, and was sumptuous, deep, a hug of a plate with all sorts of dark, autumnal notes to it. The meat was perfectly cooked, and it was simply allowed to stand very much on its own considerable merits. The wine with it was a plummy, deep red fruited 2017 Primitivo Rumirat Terre de Chieti from Abruzzo in Italy and it fully deserved its place in the pairing.

And thus, inevitably, we came to the sweet stuff. First up was pear, anise (in the shape of more tiny, perfectly deep-fried “croquettes” which gave off not the slightest hint of whatever they were fried in but just tasted of aniseed which is a damn clever trick) and sweet cheese. It was a refreshing plate after all the richness that had gone before and showed off the pears very well too. Pears are tricky, even trickier than apples; some varieties can be horribly grainy and gritty (as stones start to form, I’ve now learned), but I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that these were perfect. For dessert wine, we were back in Riesling territory again, this time with an Australian example, Mount Horrocks, Cordon Cut Riesling from the Clare Valley.

We’d now hit the home straight with one more dessert before the end, a light confection of bergamot, stout, miso and smoked Earl Grey. Handling was known for having something of a fascination with Asian elements, though he has by all accounts toned it right down in the last few years. It came through here though with a fascinating mix of savoury and sweet, done with a light hand. It was a good way to complete what had been quite an adventure. The final wine saw us back in New Zealand and again at Hawkes Bay, this time for a 2016 Chenin Blanc Late Harvest specimen, a medium bodied dessert wine full of honeyed tones. On a side note, if our visit was on a typical night, around a third of the tables were taken up by young Asian women, dining in pairs, and furiously Instagramming everything, which may or may not be an effect of the Asian flavours. Who can tell?

By now it was gone 10pm and although coffee and tea was on offer, we declined (I no longer drink coffee after around 2 in the afternoon, at least not if I want to sleep) but we were still presented with the petit fours, which were playful and fun. These little jellies had to be peeled off the plate they came on.

And these included coffee-flavoured chocolates made to look like coffee machine capsules to my probably unreasonable delight.

Nearly five hours after we’d sat down, we paid our bill, then wandered out into the night to catch our train promising ourselves we’d be back when we could afford it. We’d had a brilliant meal, served by attentive, friendly, knowledgeable (in the main) staff and while it really couldn’t be called cheap in any way, it was worth every penny.

Food 2019 – Frog by Adam Handling, London Thursday, 7th March 2019 - Frog by Adam Handling, London Back in London again for another theatrical event, and having kept costs down on our previous visit, post seeing… 1,957 more words

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twelvebyseventyfive · 7 years ago

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In Austria: tasting exciting older 1er cru wines from the Österreichischer Traditionsweingüter members

Michi Moosbrugger, chair of the OTW

Austria is making some wonderful wines at the moment, and this tasting was a chance to look back at some of the Rieslings from ‘Erste Lagens’ (which translates as ‘Premier Crus’) in the winegrowing area unofficially known as the Danube area, from the regions that are taking part in this exercise of delineating the top vineyards. It was presented by Michi Moosbrugger of Schloss Gobelsburg, who gave a very clear introduction to the project.

Winemaking in Austria is concentrated in the east of the country, with 18 specific regions. However, the vineyards can be divided into three broad growing areas: Steiermark in the south, then everything south of the Danube (including Burgenland, concentrating on red wine and some sweet wines), and then everything that is north of the Danube (focusing mainly on Riesling and Gruner Veltliner, the subject of this tasting). This Danube area is the most westerly, and it split into Kremstal, Kamptal, Wachau, Wagram and Traisental.

The main valley of the Danube is the Wachau, and then there are the side valleys: Traisen, Krems and Kam. The differences within the appellations are probably more significant than the differences between them. There are important differences between the lower ends of the valleys and the top, where winegrowing stops. It’s around 1-1.2 C, which is quite a lot.

Altogether the Danube area covers around 10 000 hectares of vineyards. (Austria in total is c 50 000 hectares, same as Burgundy.). In terms of planting, there is 55% Grüner Veltliner, 10% Riesling and 15% Zwiegelt (from the 2000s boom in red wine production).

Until World War II, most wines were field blends. The overall structure of Austrian vineyards was based on field blends, with many varieties mixed together. Everything was sold by village appellations, and very few single vineyards were mentioned on labels. After the war there was a dramatic change in Austrian vineyards, with a transition from field blends to varietal plantings, and wines were sold by grape variety. As people didn’t know what the future would bring, they decided to plant everything that they had in the field blends as single varietal wines. This began to be refined in the 1970s, and by the end of the 1980s only Grüner Veltliner and Riesling were left as significant plantings in the Danube area.

The current appellation system that is still under development began in the 2000s. It is a process that takes time, and all involved are showing the requisite patience. In 2002 Austria began with the first DAC appellation, and now there are some 10 of them, with more in the pipeline. In the Danube area a three-tier system has emerged: regional, village (Orstwein) and single vineyard (known as Ried), and within this single vineyard segment, the concepts of premier and grand cru vineyards are now being teased out. So far, Kamptal, Traisental and Kremstal are on board; Wagram is still developing the system for themselves; and Wachau is not yet involved.

In 1992 the Österreichischer Traditionsweingüter (OTW) was founded to help begin the classification of vineyard sites. There was a lot of tasting of wines, and consultation with geologists and scientists. In all, the process took 17 years to come up with the classification of the Erste Lagen (the premier crus). Now they are in a process of delineating grand crus (Grosses Lagen). This will take perhaps another decade, and then they will translate it into the legislation. The winegrowers are leading the process. ‘If we let politics into this game, a lot of shit will happen,’ says Michi. ‘We are taking a lot of time in order to do it properly. It’s a generational process.’

So the current structure is that there is an appellation system of region, village and single vineyards. Then, of these single vineyards, be Erste and Grosse lagen (the top 3-5%).

It is a thorough process. They have defined relevant factors for the classification, which they break down as content factors, economic factors and quality factors. Content includes historical records, subjective relevance (the individual grower’s assessment), intersubjective relevance (the collective assessment of the growers), varying relevance (the variance among the wines from the vineyard) and quantitative relevance (the number of producers making a separate wine from the vineyard). Economics include the price fetched for wines from each site. Quality factors include media and expert ratings for all wines out of the vineyard. The variation of these ratings and continuity are important, too. The producers also taste all these wines and this is considered.

All these factors go into an evaluation sheet, and a system has been built up to process the data. There’s an average score for each vineyard, plus the variances and the sorting. This helps produce the classification strength.

In all, there are 5400 vineyards in Austria, with 2500 single vineyards in the Danube area. So this is a lot of work, potentially.

In 2009 they started with 53 vineyards as the base. In 2011 they began a collaboration with the VDP (in Germany) and the STK Steiermark to try to harmonise the process. Now we are looking at 61 single vineyards (Rieden) which is 16% of the production area. In order to use the Erste Lagen classification you need to be a member or an associate of the TGW.

Wachau roducers have their own classification that’s not based on vineyards, but instead on must weights after pressing. For the moment they aren’t joining. ‘I am on good terms with most of the Wachau producers,’ says Michi. ‘We are doing our thing and they are doing their thing. They are not doing a vineyard classification at the moment.’ This is a bit of a shame, because the patient way that this vineyard classification is being developed is a model for emerging appellation systems worldwide.

THE WINES

Malat Ried Further Gottschelle Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kremstal, Austria Nice density here with fresh citrus and pear fruit, with hints of pepper and a lovely mid-palate fruit sweetness. Has good concentration of flavour and fresh, mineral, citrus fruit on the finish. Lovely focus. 91/100

Birgit Eichinger Ried Kammerner Lamm Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kamptal, Austria Subtly waxy with a dense, mineral citrus core. White pepper and juicy acidity provide a supporting role with brightness, purity and focus. There’s a lovely sweet crystalline fruit core here. Very refined and nuanced. 93/100

Ehn Ried Langenloiser Spiegel Grüner Veltiner 2012 Kamptal, Austria Aromatic with a slight creaminess, as well as detailed tangerine and pear fruit. Crisp and complex with finesse and delicate, refined citrus fruit. This is pretty harmonious and really pretty. 93/100

Johann Topf Ried Strasser Offenberg Grüner Veltiliner 2012 Kamptal, Austria Fine and harmonious with a sweet pear and white peach core to the ripe fruit on the palate. Quite generous but not at all flabby with good acidity and a fresh, slightly citrus pithy finish. 91/100

Nigl Ried Senftenberger Pellingen Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kremstal, Austria This is lovely: there’s some tangerine and canteloup melon richness, backed up by crystalline citrus fruit, a hint of pepper and good acidity. There’s a lovely depth to the palate with nice precision and brightness. Attractive stuff. 92/100

Petra Unger Ried Further Oberfeld Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kremstal, Austria This has a lovely white pepper edge to the pear and melon fruit, with some citrus brightness. There’s a good concentration of fruit here, and a sense of harmony. Developing beautifully with some subtle toasty richness. 93/100

Ott Ried Feuersbrunner Spiegel Grüner Veltliner 2012 Wagram, Austria Harmonious with a mellow richness and concentration, showing pear and peach fruit overlaid on a citrus background. It’s dry, but there’s a sucrosity and generosity here that’s really appealing. 92/100

Bründlmayer Ried Langenloiser Käferberg Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kamptal, Austria Finely aromatic with some spicy pear and citrus fruit, as well as some peppery structure on the palate, under the fresh, slightly grippy fruit. This is serious and complex, with some fine toasty richness and a grainy, peppery finish. 93/100

Türk Ried Kremser Frechau Grüner Veltliner 2012 Kremstal, Austria Concentrated, fresh, vivid and very peppery, with lovely complexity and harmony. Tangerine, herbs and bright white pepper detail add interest to the palate. Finishes very lively and expressive. Lovely wine. 94/100

Karl Fritsch Ried Kirchberger Schlossberg Grüner Veltliner 2012 Austria There’s some toasty, nutty richness here, with a sweet fruit core and some nice development. Has warmth on the mid-palate and generous pear and melon fruit. Seems a touch sweet. 91/100

Jurtschitsch Ried Kammerer Lamm Grüner Veltliner 2007 Kamptal, Austria Lovely development here with toast and pepper detail as well as crystalline citrus fruits and a hint of herbiness. Harmonious and broad with a hint of pith on the sweet, long finish. Mature and very attractive. 92/100

Buchegger Ried Gedersdorfer Vordenberg Grüner Veltliner 2007 Kremstal, Austria Refined and peppery on the nose, with some lovely sweet citrus and pear notes. The palate is fresh and beautifully expressive with nice weight to the fruit. Showing some attractive sweet pear and melon fruit richness, but still very focused and fresh. 94/100

Leth Ried Felser Scheiben Grüner Veltliner 2007 Wagram, Austria Very fresh with youthful citrus and pear fruit, as well as some peppery detail. Bright and juicy with good acidity. So primary for a 10 year old wine, and really delicious. 93/100

Neumayer Ried Inzersdorfer Zwirch Grüner Veltliner 2007 Traisental, Austria From a screwcapped magnum. There’s a slightly plasticky, herby edge to the nose, and the palate is tight, pithy and primary. Lots of citrus pith here. Not very harmonious, but still youthful. 89/100

Sepp Moser Ried Rohrendorfer Gebling Grüner Veltliner 2007 Kremstal, Austria Complex, slightly smoky, and surprisingly youthful, with a fresh, juicy, herb and pepper-tinged citrus fruit core. Complex and bright with nice precision. Developing very nicely with a good future ahead of it. 93/100

Hirsch Ried Zobinger Heiligenstein Riesling 2012 Kamptal, Austria Beautifully focused with concentration and richness. Has lovely, concentrated sweet citrus fruit with hints of melon and honey, some spice, and crisp acidity. Really lovely wine, drinking beautifully. 94/100

Stadt Krems Ried Steiner Grillenparz Riesling 2012 Kremstal, Austria Fresh and intense with lovely citrus fruits. There’s some grapefruit pith adding a savoury detail, but the core is generous citrus tightly framed by keen acidity. There’s finesse to this wine. Harmonious. 93/100

Brandl Ried Zobinger Kobelberg Riesling 2012 Kamptal, Austria Taut, primary and fresh with a hint of pithiness and keen, dry citrus fruits. Has some herbal characters on the finish. Bright, linear, lemony and primary. 92/100

Stift Göttweig Ried Further Silberbichl Riesling 2012 Kremstal, Austria Pronounced tangerine, lemon and grapefruit pith here. Youthful and still compact and bright, with the fruit tightly furled and waiting to come out. Lovely purity. 92/100

Hermann Moser Ried Rohrendorfer Gebling Riesling 2012 Kremstal, Austria Lively and a bit spicy with crisp, focused citrus fruits. Linear but with a bit of crystalline fruit richness. Still compact and a bit backward, with keen acidity. A precise style with potential for development. 93/100

Weszeli Ried Langenloiser Seeberg Riesling 2012 Kamptal, Austria Fresh, bright, pure, vivid and lemony with keen acidity. Still primary and youthful, with lovely dense fruit, and yet a sense of lightness. Very acidic. 91/100

Fred Loimer Ried Langenloiser Steinmassl Riesling 2012 Kamptal, Austria Linear, pure and focused with taut, compact citrus fruit and hints of wax and herbs. There’s a lovely complexity to this wine, with some pithy bitterness on the finish. Give it time to open out and show its best. 93/100

Allram Ried Zobinger Heiligenstein Riesling 2012 Kamptal, Austria Delicate tangerines and lemons on the nose. Very harmonious and elegant on the palate with nice acidity supporting pretty fruit. There’s a precision and purity to this wine: it’s generous, but still tightly focused. Juicy, fine finish. Quite lovely. 94/100

Markus Huber Ried Reichersdorfer Berg Riesling 2007 Traisental, Austria Complex, spicy, lively and intense with hints of pepper and citrus zest, as well as a core of pure citrus fruits. Lovely purity and precision here with amazing focus. Still quite youthful with a bit of a sweetness to the fruit with a touch of development. Lovely wine. 95/100

Dolle Ried Strasser Gaisberg Riesling 2007 Kamptal, Austria Compact with nice dense citrus fruit, with a hint of honey and toast. Nice weight and balance here. Not as evolved as you might expect with a delicious weight to it. 92/100

Schmid Stratzinger Sunogeln Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria Fresh and bright with a good concentration of citrus and pear fruit. Pure and bright with some spicy complexity. The acidity is beautifully integrated into the wine. Very impressive stuff, with a fresh, linear citrussy finish. 94/100

Proidl Ried Senftenberger Ehrenfells Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria This is really fresh, with deliciously focused, pure citrus fruit. Some crystalline fruit complexity and richness. Delivers a pure, long stream of lemon and mandarin fruit that just keeps on going. Ageing beautifully. 94/100

Wess Ried Steiner Pfaffenberg Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria Nut, spice, wax and pepper complexity here complementing the green apple and citrus fruit. Linear and delicious, and showing the first stages of complexity from the ageing process. Very appealing with a pithy, slightly bitter finish. 92/100

Mantlerhof Ried Gedersdorfer Wieland Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria Generous with honey, nuts, spice and lemon curd flavours. Showing a bit of development here. Rounded but with good acidity and some spiciness. Very interesting. 92/100

Schloss Gobelsburg Ried Kammerner Gaisberg Riesling 2007 Kamptal, Austria Crisp, tight and expressive with lovely intensity to the bright citrus fruit. Intense, fresh and really complex with lovely acidity and a fresh, long lemony finish. This has a long way to go but is already showing some real complexity. 95/100

Salomon Ried Steiner Kögl Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria Concentrated and with some density to the pithy, crystalline, lemony fruit. Has a brightness under the sweet fruit. Real finesse with a bit of development. 93/100

Hiedler Ried Zöbinger Heiligenstein Riesling 2007 Kamptal, Austria Some nutty, waxy, slightly toasty development here along with some generous honeyed citrus fruit. It’s quite delicious in a broader style with a fresh lemony, spicy finish. Lovely. 93/100

Geyerhof Ried Oberfucha Goldberg Riesling 2007 Kremstal, Austria Marmalade and toast on the nose with a bit of apple and pear richness, alongside some spicy citrus fruit. Showing a little development, and drinking very well now. 92/100

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

from jamie goode's wine blog http://www.wineanorak.com:/wineblog/austria/in-austria-tasting-exciting-older-1er-cru-wines-from-the-osterreichischer-traditionsweinguter-members For Fine Wine Investment opportunities check out Twelve by Seventy Five: http://www.twelve-by-seventy-five.com/

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