Uncorked & Forked: 180 reasons to arrive hungry
Your weekly taste of Australia’s best food, drinks and spirited discoveries
Welcome back to Uncorked & Forked.
This week we’re letting 180 Australian food and drink makers loose inside an old Sydney railway workshop as we speak, finding a Margaret River Shiraz that punches well above its $28 price tag, and heading underground for wine tasting in a sandstone tunnel.
We’ve also got Pinot and cheese, a country pub worth leaving the Hume Highway for, mulled wine in a Melbourne laneway and, naturally, wine with dinosaurs.
Let’s get into it.
MAIN COURSE
180 Reasons To Arrive Hungry
If Uncorked & Forked had a shopping list, Sydney’s Little Food Market might be where we’d go looking for half of it.
More than 180 Australian food and drink makers have taken over Carriageworks this weekend, August 21–23, turning the enormous former railway workshops into three days of eating, drinking, tasting and discovering.
And that’s the part we like.
The emphasis is firmly on the makers, so this isn’t simply somewhere to wander in for lunch. Visitors can taste their way around the stalls, talk to the people producing the food and drinks and, almost inevitably, leave with a cheese, bottle, condiment, chocolate or other little obsession they didn’t know they needed.
Tickets start at $19, tastings are included and the market runs until 5pm Sunday.
Come hungry. Perhaps bring a bigger shopping bag.
Good Drops
Vasse Felix Filius Shiraz 2024
Margaret River and Shiraz don’t always appear in the same sentence, which is partly what makes this $28 bottle from Vasse Felix interesting.
The Filius Shiraz (above left) draws heavily on fruit from the cooler southern reaches of Margaret River and is made with minimal intervention, wild fermentation and older French oak.
The result is a fresher, more medium-bodied take on Australian Shiraz. Vasse Felix finds dark cherry, raspberry, mulberry and pepper in the glass, and independent reviewers have been similarly enthusiastic. Halliday Wine Companion’s Jane Faulkner and WA critic Ray Jordan both gave it 93 points, with Faulkner particularly taken by its aromatics, juicy dark fruit and firm tannins.
My Verdict: This is the sort of $28 wine that reminds you good value doesn’t have to mean simple. Plenty of juicy dark fruit, a nice lick of pepper and spice, and enough structure to make it interesting without turning dinner into a wine examination.
The Region: Margaret River, Western Australia
Best with: Lamb cutlets, grilled steak or anything heading towards a barbecue.
Discover Filius Shiraz at Vasse Felix
Gentleman Jack Tennessee Whiskey
With Father’s Day looming, here’s one for Dad’s drinks cabinet.
Gentleman Jack (pictured above right) is Jack Daniel’s smoother, slightly more polished sibling, undergoing a second charcoal mellowing after maturation as well as the traditional charcoal treatment before it goes into barrel.
The result is softer than classic Jack Daniel’s, with vanilla, caramel, oak and spice, and it works equally well neat or over ice.
Dan Murphy’s currently has the 700ml bottle for $63 for members, making the timing particularly handy.
My Verdict: Smooth, approachable and familiar enough for the occasional whiskey drinker while still having enough character for Dad to appreciate. At $63, a considerably better Father’s Day proposition than emergency socks.
The Region: Lynchburg, Tennessee, USA
Best with: Neat, a large cube of ice, or after dinner when somebody else has volunteered to wash up.
Gentleman Jack at Dan Murphy’s
Festival Watch
Spring grazing in the Yarra Valley
Bloom & Graze | Yarra Valley, Victoria | September 12–13
CherryHill Orchards at Coldstream is turning its property over to two days of local food, wine, spirits, artisan produce, orchard tours and acoustic music.
The drinks list alone gets our attention: Cherry Spritz, Seltzer, Cider, Cherry Vodka, Cherry Liqueur and Blossom Gin.
There are also masterclasses pairing Yarra Valley Dairy cheeses with Tillie J Wines, while Stirring Trouble combines Naught Gin tastings with cocktails.
It’s about an hour from Melbourne, with transport options available for those sensibly planning to investigate the drinks list properly.
Bloom & Graze details and bookings
Cheese meets Pinot in Adelaide
Mould x Pinot Palooza | Adelaide, SA | August 28–30
Two things that require very little explanation: artisan cheese and Pinot Noir.
Mould and Pinot Palooza are joining forces again at Adelaide’s historic Queens Theatre, bringing together Australian artisan cheesemakers and Pinot producers from Australia and overseas.
Taste the cheese, taste the wine, decide which ones belong together. This is important research.
Gourmet goes to Gundy
Gourmet in Gundy | Goondiwindi, Queensland | September 4–6
Regional food festivals have a particular charm when the region itself is allowed to do the talking.
Goondiwindi’s annual Gourmet in Gundy weekend brings together a celebrity chef dinner with Alastair McLeod, local chef masterclasses, a barbecue competition, food, drinks and live music before the main festival on Sunday.
A good excuse to point the car towards somewhere different.
Gourmet In Gundy Event Details
On My Radar
Persiana One: big flavour, one pan
Anyone who enjoys Middle Eastern food but enjoys washing up considerably less may appreciate Sabrina Ghayour’s latest cookbook.
Released in Australia this month, Persiana One contains more than 100 recipes designed around one pot, one pan or one tray.
We’re talking pomegranate beef ribs, za’atar and lemon chicken, lamb shanks, harissa vegetables and salted peanut baklava rolls, all carrying the bold Middle Eastern flavours Ghayour has built her reputation on.
Why it’s on my radar: Maximum flavour, minimum washing up. That’s a cookbook philosophy we can get behind.
Country Classic: The Sir George at Jugiong has turned a historic country pub into one of the Hume Highway’s most tempting detours.
Local Legend
The country pub worth leaving the highway for
Some country pubs are somewhere to stop on the journey. The Sir George at Jugiong has become part of the reason for making it.
Sitting just off the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney, the historic pub dates to the mid-19th century and has played host to generations of travellers since Jugiong was a stopping point for coaches and drovers. After falling into disrepair, it underwent an extensive restoration and reopened in 2016.
Today there’s a restaurant built around seasonal Riverina produce, a bakery, beer garden and accommodation in restored 1800s stone stables.
Jugiong has become one of those little Australian towns where stopping for lunch can mysteriously add two hours to the road trip.
The Sir George has plenty to do with it, and if you’re nearby on the last two Sundays this month there’s a classic roast dinner up for the taking “with roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings!” $29.50 each. Bargain.
A Bit Different…
Fancy a glass of wine with a dinosaur?
We’ve drunk wine in cellars and vineyards. Last week we even met people making it 20 metres under the ocean.
Drinking it with dinosaurs is a new one.
Wine & Wildlife returns to Healesville Sanctuary on August 29–30, bringing Yarra Valley wineries, food trucks and acoustic music into the sanctuary.
This year it also coincides with Dinos at the Zoo, which means visitors can wander around tasting local wine while life-sized prehistoric creatures lurk nearby.
Adult tickets are $60 and include sanctuary entry, wine tastings and a tasting glass.
No word on what pairs best with a velociraptor.
Wine & Wildlife at Healesville Sanctuary
BEYOND OUR SHORES
Sunday gets the Nobu treatment
Singapore has always been dangerously easy to eat your way through, and Nobu at Four Seasons has added another temptation.
Its new Sunday Sushi Social runs from noon to 2.30pm, bringing sashimi, nigiri, maki, grilled dishes and Japanese-Peruvian favourites to a long Sunday lunch, with the option of free-flow Whispering Angel rosé or Hokusetsu sake.
More interesting to us, though, is the new Sake Trolley.
Nobu has worked exclusively with Japan’s Hokusetsu Brewery since 1994, and the trolley brings a curated selection tableside during dinner. Sake sommelier Robson Massayuki Kagawa and the team guide diners through different expressions and recommend pours to match the food.
A drinks trolley rolling towards the table rarely signals bad news.
ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD
Dinner under the stars on Australia’s oldest highway
There are worse places to disappear for a couple of days than 50 acres of rainforest, wetlands and beachfront at Byron Bay.
Elements of Byron celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and has been making a strong case for the couples’ getaway: sunrise yoga by the ocean, horseback rides along Belongil Beach, spa treatments for two, private cabanas beside the adults-only pool, barefoot beach picnics and wine and cheese pairings.
Then there are private villas with deep baths and fireplaces for when leaving the room starts to seem unnecessarily ambitious.
Add dinner at Azure Bar and Grill and this could be one of those weekends where the itinerary is best kept deliberately short.
AFTER DARK
Melbourne’s answer to a cold night
There’s something about mulled wine and Melbourne winter that simply works.
Hidden inside the heritage-listed Mills Building in the CBD, Mill Place Merchants makes its version with red wine, fresh orange juice and zest, honey, star anise, cloves and cinnamon.
Add candlelight and live jazz from Thursday to Saturday and you’ve got a persuasive argument for staying indoors.
And if one drink turns into dinner, the same laneway speakeasy has launched Moonlight & Martinis on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Its $128 package for two combines two martinis with the Merchant’s Supper: lasagna fritti, mini WA lobster rolls, olives, cheeses, Wagyu bresaola, truffle and squid ink salami, pickles and bread.
Not a bad way to make Wednesday feel suspiciously like Saturday.
Until next Friday… keep discovering, keep tasting and never drive past a country pub on an empty stomach.
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