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Act now to secure your 2015 Single vineyard Pinots Noir before they are released at Cellar door this Saturday!

2015 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir Release, Queen's Birthday activities and a blast from the past!

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NEW RELEASE WINES
Following the small but beautiful 2014 vintage, 2015 was a joy.  One of those years they say, ‘if you couldn't make good wine in 2015…’
A lovely vintage with great weather through the whole of the growing and ripening period, resulting in beautiful fruit.  The wines are well structured with delicious, crisp natural acidity, concentrated, balanced and great length. 

We think these are some of the best Moorooduc Estate Pinots yet, and these wines always sell out, so get in quick to ensure you get the 2015s that you deserve to have in your cellar!  And check out the new artwork on the Robinson and Garden Vineyard wines!
 
2015 Robinson Pinot Noir                       $55
This wine is made from specially selected fruit from Hugh and Isobel Robinson’s vineyard on the Old Moorooduc Road. It celebrates the individual character of this special site around the Moorooduc area.
 
Bright clear garnet in colour with floral aromas of roses, violets, strawberries and red cherries on the nose.  On the palate, the wine shows tangy, red cherry and raspberry fruit and is long, fresh and succulent, with mouth wateringly delicious, crunchy red fruit acid.  Pure and silky in texture, this is a great match to a wild mushroom ragu, with slow cooked free range chicken.
 
2015 The Moorooduc McIntyre Pinot Noir     $65
This single vineyard wine from our home vineyard in Derril Rd is further evidence of what our fine vineyard site and mature vines can produce in a really good year.
The star in the Moorooduc crown, this wine sells out, so don’t miss out on what we believe is the best ‘Duc yet!
 
Bright garnet in colour with dark cherry fruit, black roses, violets, star anise and a touch of soy on the nose.  Juicy dark cherry, raspberry, strawberry fruit on the palate, sage and thyme and a touch of spice, vie with dark perfume and velvety texture.  Firm, fine tannins, firm acid and lovely depth.  Pure and bright, this delicious wine is perfect with cassoulet!
 
2015 Garden Vineyard Pinot Noir            $55
This 2015 Pinot Noir is a continuation of the whole bunch ferment story at Moorooduc Estate. The Garden Vineyard, across the hill from us, is owned by the McFall family and has been leased and run by us for over ten years. A parcel of fruit was fermented on whole bunches.  The stems were ripe and so add savouriness and structure. 70% whole bunch wine is in the final blend, resulting in a more subtle wine than in previous vintages.
 
Pale garnet with savoury delicately perfumed nose.  Meaty, herbal aromatics with lifted perfume, red cherry and tangy raspberry drops.  Medium bodied on the palate, with sage, roast lamb and cranberry sauce.  Fresh and bright, with good length and texture.  You guessed it – great with slow cooked lamb and roasted root vegetables!
 
 
RICHARD’S SAY
 
Changes in the vineyard
For some years we have been making changes in our Derril Road vineyard.
Most of these have involved grafting to change variety or clone while maintaining the original root systems in the hope that vine maturity in the new grafts will come sooner.
New issues have arisen in recent years.
  • Eutypa (“dieback”, “dead arm”) has become a significant issue, especially in our original Chardonnay vineyard. This is a slowly progressive fungal infection, which enters the vine through pruning cuts and, over a number of years, grows down the trunk and eventually kills the vine.
  • The vine louse, phylloxera, devastated the European vineyards in the 19th century. (European grapevines are highly susceptible to this pest which is native to north east America). It arrived in Geelong in the 1880’s and swept through central and north eastern Victoria, into NSW. It was not seen in the Yarra Valley until a few years ago and not (yet) on the Mornington Peninsula.
Our original vineyard is on its own roots (not grafted to Phylloxera resistant rootstock). We are therefore, like most Peninsula vineyards, at risk of Phylloxera infection if and when it gets here.
By the next growing season we will have three parts of the vineyard replanted on rootstock. As well as giving us some protection against Phylloxera, this is an opportunity to improve on some of the decisions made in 1983. In particular these involve spacing between rows and the height of the posts.
The downside is that I will be 101 years old when these new vines reach the age of 30 years. Oh well.
Richard
 
 
QUEENS BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
As we do every year, Richard and Kate will be at the MPVA Winter Wine Weekend tasting at Red Hill this Saturday.  If you haven’t bought your tickets but are planning to come, book here now to avoid disappointment, and queues on the day!  Cellar door is open all the long weekend from 11am-5pm, and the new 2015 Single Vineyard Pinots will be on tasting as of Saturday.  Sunday will be busy as we have our final mushroom tours and mushroom lunch of the season, so if you do arrive while cellar door is heaving, we hope you can be patient!  That said, Jeremy and Richard will be helping Helen in cellar door on Sunday so it will be a great time to talk to the winemakers!  We look forward to seeing you!!
 
 
JILL’S SAY
Jill’s sister Jan delivered us a blast from the past the other day, in the form of the Australian Gourmet Traveller ‘The Wine Magazine’ from October/November 2000.  This was the issue when the grand opening of ‘Jill’s at Moorooduc Estate’ was reviewed, and it took us back to a time where we really knew nothing about running a restaurant.
 
That night, Richard disgorged his one and only sparkling wine for guests to start the evening with some marinated Moorooduc olives, and Kristy and Kate worked the floor, as Jill cooked up a feast in the kitchen.
 
The wines served were the 1998 Chardonnays, Pinots Noir and Shiraz, matched to a menu of some of the dishes that have become classic favourites for long term visitors to Jill’s dining room, in it’s many guises over the years.  Truffled potato croquettes, Jill’s fish soup, cassoulet and panna cotta have all starred in the past, and we still see them at this time of year at Jill’s Sunday lunches.
 
For the Pinot Noir release, here is Jill’s original
‘Moo-roo-duc Cassoulet’ recipe from 2000 – it is a lot of work, but if you don't have Jill to cook it for you, it’s worth giving it a go!
 
Moorooduc Cassoulet
1kg dried white haricot beans
500g pickled pork belly
1 onion, sliced
Bouquet garni (combine 3 parsley sprigs, 4 unpeeled garlic cloves, 2 cloves and 2 bay leaves in a piece of muslin, tied with a string)
3 kangaroo sausages, polish sausages or other coarse-textured sausages
6 confit duck breasts (recipe below)
 
Beef
1 kg chuck steak, cut into 5cm pieces
olive oil
500g beef bones
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
5 tablespoons tomato paste or 4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
½ teaspoon chopped thyme
2 bay leaves
600 ml dry white wine
1 litre beef stock
 
Topping
200g soft white breadcrumbs
¾ cup parsley
2-3 tablespoons duck fat, melted
 
Soak beans overnight in 4 litres water in a large pan.  Add pork, sliced onion, bouquet garni and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 1-1.5 hours (until beans tender) add 1 tablespoon salt, skim the top, take off the heat and set aside until ready to serve.
For the beef, pat steak dry and season.  Heat two tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy-based casserole until nearly smoking.  Brown steak in batches, adding more oil if necessary, then remove from pan.  Add beef bones to pan and stir until browned, then remove from pan.  Reduce heat to medium-low, add onions and stir for about 5 minutes.  Return bones and steak to pan, add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, then cover and cook gently, 1.5 hours.  Strain mixture through a fine sieve and reserve cooking liquid.  Separate meat from bone and discard bones and bay leaves.
Strain cooking liquid from beans into a saucepan (reserve beans and slice the pork), add sausages and bring to the boil.  Simmer over medium heat until tender, then drain, cool and cut sausages into 1 cm slices.  Slice each duck breast lengthways into 3 pieces.
For topping, combine breadcrumbs and parsley, season to taste and mix well.
Arrange a layer of beans over the base of a 6L capacity flameproof casserole, top with beef, duck, pork, sausage and a layer of beans.  Add enough reserved meat cooking juices so that liquid is level with top layer of beans. 
Sprinkle with topping and pour melted duck fat over.  Bring cassoulet to a simmer on top of stove, then bake at 180°C for 1 hour, breaking the crust from time to time to allow the juices and steam to release and improve the flavour of the crust.  Serve with a green salad and a glass of Moorooduc Estate Pinot Noir.
 
Duck Confit: Remove skin and fat from 12 boneless duck breasts and reserve.  Rub duck meat with a sprig of lemon thyme, then rub each piece with a little salt.  Place in a glass or porcelain dish and sprinkle with freshly ground white pepper and 12 crushed juniper berries, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.  Combine reserved skin and fat, 350g can duck fat and 200 ml water in a heavy based saucepan and cook over medium heat until duck fat is melted, then strain through a fine sieve and return to same pan. (strained, crispy skin can be cut into strips, seasoned with salt and served sprinkled on salad, or forget the salt and they make the best ever dog obedience treats!).
Wipe duck breasts dry with absorbent paper, then add to fat in pan and simmer over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, or until duck meat is tender.  To test, pierce at the thickest point with a knife.  If blood appears, continue to cook, if the juices run clear, the duck is cooked.  Pack duck breasts back into (cleaned) glass or porcelain dish and cover with cooled duck fat.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, unopened for up to one month.
 
Alternately, ready prepared duck confit can be bought from specialty butchers and some good delicatessens.
 
 
JILL’S SUNDAY LUNCHES
If you don't feel up to tackling Jill’s recipe, come to Sunday lunch. There are a couple of tables still for the lunch on 30th July, and we have availability for Aug 27th, Sept 24th, Oct 29th, Nov 26th.  Call Lynda or Helen on 0359718506 for more details and to book.  You can book as far ahead as you like, but we need payment to secure a booking.  A bargain at $85 a head! 
 
Cheers!
 
Jill, Richard, Kate, Jeremy, Helen, Lynda, Emma, Ashlee and Karis
 
 
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me@moorooducestate.com.au