A Taste of Mudgee

The last time I visited Mudgee, I learnt how to milk a goat and make a delectable goats milk camembert. That was at the Leaning Oak Dairy under the expert tutelage of Gloria Cox, a dedicated, impassioned cheesemaker who spent 7 hours taking us through the intricacies and hygiene procedures of making cheese.  She then instructed us in detail on how to look after our cheeses in the weeks following. It’s thanks to primary producers like Gloria that the food and wine scene in regional Australia has been transformed over the past decade or so. Mudgee abounds in such people. The following day, I attended a fabulous lunch at Rosby Wines.  It was held in a hand-built mud-brick venue on a hill overlooking the Rosby vineyard with sweeping views over the Mudgee hills. The lunch was catered for by local food and catering consultant Rebecca Sutton. Working on a hooded BBQ and a few gas burners, Rebecca prepared a delicious meal featuring local ingredients: pasta tossed with finely chopped Mudgee olives and olive oil; Hereford Prime Beef with a variety of interesting salads, accompanied by Rosby’s shiraz and/or cabernet sauvignon; and crème fraiche with a local berry coulis. Sitting in the open air, surrounded by the picturesque Mudgee countryside and partaking of such  good food and wine, brought back memories of similar experiences in Tuscany and Umbria, those much celebrated food and wine regions of Italy. “Gerald and Kay Norton-Knight have four hectares of shiraz and two hectares of cabernet sauvignon established on what is truly a unique site in Mudgee,” says James Halliday in his 2010 Australian Wine Companion. “Many new vignerons like to think that their vineyard has special qualities, but in this instance the belief is well based.” A boutique winery, Rosby is a good example of the family-owned and operated wineries to be found in Mudgee. While the region hangs its hat on earthy and robust reds (cabernet sauvignon and shiraz are trademark varieties), Italian varietals such as sangiovese, barbera and the Spanish tempranillo are on the rise. Surprisingly, Australia’s chardonnay boom began here in the 1960s when an unidentified grape was noticed growing on the Roth’s property at Craigmoor, later identified by a CSIRO viticulturalist as Chardonnay. Today there are around 40 cellar doors in the Mudgee Region and you could spend weeks visiting them all. Fortunately for Sydneysiders, Mudgee has come to town and you can sample over 120 Mudgee wines this Sunday (May 15th) at the Pyrmont Festival of Food Wine & Art.   Gourmet foods and unique cuisine from across Pyrmont and the Mudgee region will be available for tasting. Honesty and drinkability are words often applied to Mudgee wines, and you’ll find a wide range of boutique wines made with passion, quality and skill. More info: Pyrmont Festival of Food, Wine & Art, Pirrama Park, Pirrama Rd., Pyrmont  Sunday May 15th 2011, 11am – 5pm www.pyrmontfestival.com www.mudgeewine.com.au www.mudgeeregion.com.au