Food and Drink
New Day Rising for 2015
I’ve come back to the blog-o-sphere after a hiatus. I’d like to rethink this platform as a place to write out ideas, works in progress and to keep notes on the goings on here at BH HQ and the greater world of wine at large. Â As we approach vintage 2015, my fifth at Brash Higgins,…
Read MoreWarming Winter Bones
It’s always sweet relief when I get the nero d’Avola we make at Brash Higgins out of the clay pots and into a settling tank. Until this happens, everything is a little tense around HQ. This condition was heightened even more in 2013, since we had the wine stored in our carport. Nobody likes the…
Read MoreUntangling Field Blends
We made our first white wine this year at Brash Higgins, which is very exciting news, because it’s not as easy as it sounds. 2012 was a good year for whites in McLaren Vale, and many passes thru white varietal vineyards had me thinking this could be the year. For a long time I’ve been…
Read MoreVale Cru on the Road to Adelaide; Sydney
McLaren Vale’s rollicking collective of indie wine labels, Vale Cru, is on the road this June. On June 8 from 430pm a small contingency of the “Cru”, including Brash Higgins, will be showcasing their wines and speaking at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide. Following this event the mob, w/ Brash along for the ride,…
Read MoreReflections on 2011 and Ted Nugent
2011 has been a massive year for me. However, in many ways, each one of the years that preceeded it has led me to where I am right now, sitting at a desk in a hot office in McLaren Vale, South Australia enjoying one too many zooper dooper frozen ice treats. Brash Higgins Wine Co.…
Read MoreA Nero d’Avola whirlwind in Sicily
I went to Sicily this Summer to explore the origins of the grape nero d’avola and how to best cultivate it. As mentioned before, this red wine grape was harvested in May last year on our McLaren Vale vineyard and is poised to make a smart little wine. We went over in August, with my viticulturist…
Read MoreVintage 2011 and Getting the Nero Over the Line
The storm clouds they gathered and as a grape grower, it was white knuckle time again for Brash Higgins Wine Co. So much of the harvest is out of the grower’s control; the weather, disease, insects and birds clearly have a mind of their own. On the heels of a healthy, dry 2010 harvest, disease…
Read MoreThe Nero d’Avola Chronicles
We’ve been preparing our vineyard to harvest our very first crop of the red wine grape Nero d’Avola. It’s a new variety to Australia and I’m going to put it under a new label I’ve been working on, which shall remain a secret for a little while longer. As a relative newcomer to this district,…
Read MorePlumbing Arno Bay for Snapper
I had the pleasure to spend a day out on the Spencer Gulf for the first time fishing for Pagrus auratus, or Australasian Red Snapper. Aussie Red Snapper is not related to the Red Snapper fished in the Gulf of Mexico (Lutjanus campechanus), but it is a highly prized fish for eating and for sportsman…
Read MoreOn the Fast Track from Melbourne to the Mornington
At this time of the year things once again get confusing. It’s harvest time for the grapes in McLaren Vale, and the Northern Hemisphere is buried in snow. The Winter Olympics are underway and rather than jumping over slushy puddles in NYC, as I would normally be doing, I’m enjoying the cooling breeze of jumbo…
Read MoreFlyin’ the Flannel in the Pacific Northwest
Driving a car up from San Francisco to Vancouver, BC is a chance to see and eat some amazing things. Recently on a Thorpe Wine sales blitz thru the Pacific Northwest, I had a chance to revisit some favorite places and friends. “Flyin’ the Flannel“, an album and song from the 90’s US alternative band…
Read MoreA Range Life in the Antipodes
For those of you who have followed the “Wine Odyssey” since the beginning, this is a post that I’d been thinking about writing the last few weeks. So much has happened over the last 2.5 years that it’s overwhelmed me. Much has changed since I travelled to South Australia 2 years ago to work a…
Read MoreA “Grand Moment” At Pierre Gagnaire
Before there was Heston Blumenthal, there was Pierre Gagnaire. The “enfant-terrible” of French cooking has kept pace with the molecular gastronomy boys by running a restaurant facing the future, but respectful of the past. We recently ate there with close friends of mine from the early Paris days. We had all come a long way…
Read MoreThe Fat Duck: Pleasure, the Brain, and Food
One of the highlights of my recent trip to England was a meal at The Fat Duck outside London in the tiny hamlet of Bray. Considered one of the top restaurants in the world, the Duck not only lived up to its reputation, it exceeded it. Chef and owner Heston Blumenthal has created truly unusual…
Read MoreTerraVin Tears Up Auckland
I first met Mike Eaton of TerraVin after drinking his 2004 Hillside Selection Pinot Noir at Gibbs Restaurant in Marlborough. Silky, aromatic, generous, yet balanced are words that spring to mind as I recall witnessing the wine blossom in the glass alongside a fantastic meal. The next morning I called Mike for the first time…
Read MoreWaipara, New Zealand
Just north of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island is an up and coming wine region called Waipara. Pegasus Bay has been shaping delicious pinot noir and riesling from this district for years, and now, finally, the rest of the world is starting to take notice. Waipara is overshadowed by Marlborough to the north and…
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