Sicilian Wine Dinner In Pictures

At the end of September I had the opportunity to co-host a Sicilian dinner with my friend/ex-colleague Victoria Curatolo. Vicky left Vinoteca to become the brand ambassador for her family’s Sicilian winery – Villa Tonino. Based on the West coast of Sicily in Marsala, they make a range of well-made, affordable red & white wines, [...]

Bordeaux – Tasting ‘Terroir’

Last night I had the pleasure of conducting a ‘Bordeaux’ tasting for 17 people in our private room.  How do you begin to explain the wines of Bordeaux? It is a notoriously complex  region (however, not as complex as Burgundy).I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the topic, luckily I had a few things working [...]

Cooking for Legends

Last week I had the priviledge of cooking for two of the Barossa’s foodie legends – Maggie Beer and John Duval. Some years ago at cooking school I was introduced to Maggie Beer when we learnt about the ingredient verjuice, then still an unknown condiment in South African kitchens. I loved it because of its ability to lend [...]

Cata Vino Wine & Web Tasting, Dos Hermanos Dinner & The Power Of the Online ‘Word of Mouth’

Well, I can’t believe it, but the Cata Vino tasting has come and gone.  It seems like just yesterday that I signed up to twitter, and started tweeting.  A very good  friend of mine back home, who works in social media recommended twitter.  Who knew that within a few months I would make enough contacts [...]

German Dinner In Pictures

Thursday the 12th of February, we held our first ever Vinoteca dinner, which we plan to hold monthly, each one with a different theme. As I mentioned in my last post chef Jürgen Bircks came all the way from Germany, to create a very authentic German evening for all of our guests. A great [...]

Chef Jürgen Bircks Arrives From Germany To Cook Up At Vinoteca

Tonight we’re having our first ever Vinoteca Dinner in the private room, which will have a German theme.  The menu has been put together and prepared by our guest chef Jürgen Birks, who arrived yesterday with his wife Gretel after an impressive 12 hour journey from Baden Württemberg in South West Germany.  Our head chef [...]

The Shaw & Smith Dinner In Pictures

The Shaw & Smith Dinner was a great success!  Everyone had a great time, and was seriously impressed by the wines and the menu.  It was great to chat with everyone at the dinner and see what brought them our way.  I sat with a fellow Canadian and food lover Joanna, and luckily her boyfriend’s [...]

Who’s Having a Five Course Meal, With Wines To Match Tonight?

I have just finished typing up the menu for tonight, and I must say I can’t wait. It sounds great, Ross has really outdone himself this time.  Life is good when you work in the hospitality industry and you are lucky enough to join your customers for a meal, and help host a winemaker’s dinner.  [...]

Suckling Pig

Hello again,
Saturday night I had the pleasure of working in the private dining room for a group who had opted for a suckling pig dinner to celebrate a 40th birthday.  I think they had a much better time than the pig!  I took a few photos, which could be a little controversial.  I know the [...]