The Panama Dining Room featured wine maker; Maison Albert Bichot
Maison Albert Bichot is a family run affair that has been a leading light in Burgundy since 1831, we are featuring a range of wines from them. The current head of the house Alberic has been in charge since 1996 and overseas a wide range of vineyard sites and wine styles throughout the region. The AOC rules governing Burgundy allow the use of very few grape varieties, in fact most of the region is planted out with just two; Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Even so Burgundian winest are the embodiment of the famous French phase “Joie de vivre” ( the joy of living) these wines sing with or with out food and are often rated as some of the worlds greatest wines. We have selected a range of wines from different vintages and sites around Burgundy that highlight how different each villages wine style is, each one is a reflection of the land, climate and care that make Burgundy the Holy Grail of wine lovers the world over.
Start your evening with oysters and a 1/2 bottle of Chablis to share with your friends and enjoy one of the finest food and wine combinations; Chardonnay with elegant fine acidity due to the cool climate and chalky minerality from the limestone cliffs of fossilised shellfish that the vine grow on, a really wonderfully joyful circle of life.
In northern Burgundy, not far from Auxerre, the Chablis appellation covers an approximately fifteen kilometre radius around the village of the same name. It was the monks of the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny who began growing vines in the region.
This Chablis’ crystalline limpidity and its pale yellow colour with light green highlights tell a great deal about its character which is bursting with mineral precision and finesse. Very pure nose that is typical of Chablis (white flowers, flint) opens up to a palate that boasts an elegant combination of almond notes and lovely vivacity.
2005 CHABLIS GRAND CRU ‘LES VAUDESIRS’ DOMAINE LONG-DEPAQUIT bottle 290.00
At the heart of the Grand Cru area the Vaudésirs valley (Vallée des Vaudésirs) is an open book on the geology and
history of the Chablis appellation. It is witness to the erosion which followed the last ice age era. The 6.5 acr vineyard planted with vines of over 40 years old is located on south-exposed steep slopes the exact place is called the endroit des Vaudésirs which guarantees regular and maximum sunshine. It is also here where the kimmeridgian outcrops are the most numerous, which consequently provide a pronounced mineral expression to this great wine. The steep slopes (30 to 40% in some places) are such that they cannot use machinery to work this vineyard’s soil. Instead, the use of a winch to pull the plough up and down along the slopes has to be used.
A beautiful golden robe with very bright green reflections, it welcomes us with a citrus and delicate floral (lily of the valley, camomile) nose. The mouth has the vintage’s tension, with a pleasant moderate acidity which makes this wine a typical representation of a Chablis Grand Cru: mineral and intense.
2007 BOURGOGNE PINOT NOIR CHÂTEAU DE DRACY bottle 66.00 1/2 bottle 33.00
Originally built as a military fortress for the Dukes of Burgundy in 1298, the Château has undergone major
transformations over the centuries. The winery and cellar, a 75-metre-long building built in 1728, are particularly stunning and still in operation. Château de Dracy’s wines have been distributed by Albert Bichot since 1905. The vines are located in Couches, in the north of Burgundy’s Saône-et-Loire department, just south of the Côte de Beaune. They grow in clay-limestone based soil and enjoy south/south-eastern exposure.
Ruby red in colour with raspberry highlights. Fruity nose with notes of forest undergrowth and a hint of toast. Soft and delectable, this is a well-balanced wine with good substance and well-integrated tannins. Lovely fruit and liquorice on the finish.
2006 MONTHELIE CHÂTEAU DE DRACY bottle 88.00 1/2 bottle 44.00
Pinot Noir grapes are hand haversted and destemmed and then oak barrel-aged for over one year in the estate’s cellars (10 to 30% new oak). The diverse origins of the barrels (the Tronçais, Allier and Vosges forests), their particular degree of toasting and their age all contribute to bringing out the aromatic complexity that this special terroir has to offer. Monthélie Château de Dracy has a beautiful deep garnet red colour. The nose is fruity and enhanced by discreet oak which evolve on to notes of blackberry, plum and blackcurrant. The mouth is fleshy, powerful yet harmonious.The finish is persistent and full-flavoured.
2004 POMMARD “CLOS DES URSULINES” bottle160.00
Pommard is one of the most famous villages in the Côte de Beaune and is well-known for its red wines. The
reddish-brown soil is rich in hard piedmont limestone which yields some of Burgundy’s most tannic, robust wines. They are more powerful than the neighbouring wines from Beaune and are often considered to be “masculine” wines. The Clos des Ursulines, a peaceful haven dotted with centuries-old pine trees, is located at the heart of Pommard.
Endowed with beautiful, deep garnet red colour, this Pommard Clos des Ursulines reveals a fruity nose with aromas of cherry, blackcurrant and fig. Over the years these aromas will evolve toward notes of coffee and leather. Full and round on the palate with ripe tannins and rich, but not heavy, substance. This wine is powerful and well-structured yet remains subtle, elegant, silky and almost “feminine” due to the vineyard’s proximity to Volnay. The finish is silky and velvety.
HOTHAM STREET LADIES
As part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2011, The Hotham Street Ladies transformed The Panama Dining Room and Bar with High Op-Shop chic, to create their ultimate share house dinner party.
With the Collingwood ghetto far below, our glamorous hostesses delivered cocktails with born again CWA charm, while head chef Dianne Kerry reinterpreted three courses of share house classics, matched with fine Victorian Wines.
The Hotham Street Ladies are an art collective whose work is rooted in their experience of a run down, but much loved share house in Hotham Street Collingwood. Food is a constant theme in the ladies work but expect the unexpected. They use hundreds and thousands and whipped cream in street art, and at the recent Royal Melbourne show cake-decorating division were disqualified for bad taste. The forms they admire are rooted in tradition, the ideas behind them more contemporary. But they do have a gourmet angle. Recent projects include making the decorations for Stephanie Alexander's birthday cake
