Katnook Estate Winemaker Dinner

Last year Nov, I attended a Katnook Estate Wine Dinner held by AsiaEuro at Gu Yue Tien and recently, this Katnook dinner was a winemaker's dinner, with the presence of Wayne Stebhens, the senior winemaker of Katnook since 1980's. This time around, the winemaker dinner is held at Max @ iHaus which is my perfect choice of dining place.

Katnook Estate lies in the heart of Coonawarra - Australia's premier red wine district.

It's been a while since I last went to Max's. And boy, I did miss his dishes especially the scallops and foie gras. There were a few bottles to be tasted that night. We started with the Katnook Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2008 which is light and fruity as a pre-dinner drink together with some hors d'oeuvres such as smoked salmon quiche, roasted mushroom strudels and pesto marinated mozzarella cheese and cherry tomatoes.

Max rarely disappoints. The appetiser which is an AOC Espelette spiced Tuna Loin (a variety of chilli pepper cultivated in the French commune of Espelette and is certified appellation d'origine contrôlée) which is seared rare and served with shaved fennel with white wine anchovies and ratatouille emulsion is a great start to the dinner. The tuna just melt in the mouth and the pinkish red flesh is so visually appealing. This dish is paired with a Katnook Estate Chardonnay 2005. It has a very interesting nose which is butterscotch and thus the toasty bouquet.

After that, we were served Black Peppered Duck Breast on Parmesan Crisps with Leek confit and parsley coulis. I find it so interesting because the saltiness of the Parmesan crisps somehow blends in really well and I tell you, it's quite addictive!

The third dish happened to be one of my favourite as well - the Pigeon breast with Cromesquis of Goose Liver, glazed chestnuts and thyme cooked with port wine sauce. Max told me that someone even called him to order a tray of his cromesquis of goose liver (a small cylindrical croquette of minced meat bound with a thick sauce) for takeaway! It's not on the menu, so you'll have to ask Max in advance. However, the Mignon of Beef which was char grilled with Melange and sauteed asparagus did not gain my approval. It was a pass for me. Sometimes when you have too huge a dinner, the steaks are a little tricky.

With winemaker, Wayne Stebhens.

The best wines are always served last. In this case, we get to drink the Katnook Estate Odyssey 2003 and the Prodigy 2005 side by side. Last year, I kind of like the Odyssey more than the Prodigy by this time around, it was completely the other way round! And in the words of Wayne Stehbens, "Prodigy is a seamless marriage of rich, intense fruit and spicy, chocolaty oak with a palate that can only be described as luxurious."

Thus, I have exactly the thing that I'm looking for. It's chocolates! How could we have such good wine and not paired them with chocolates? I surprised the winemaker by pulling out a bar of Valrhona Manjari 64% from my car. Even he agrees that chocolates does goes hand in hand with wines. I cut it up and shared them around. Even Wayne told me that there was a journalist whom never got moved by a chocolate bar was very impressed with the Valrhona when she tried it. Hey, this is quality chocolate ok?!!

Guess who was there too?!!

Me & Patrick Teoh

It was such an enjoyable dinner. A few of us stayed up until 1 in the morning to have a few more rounds of whisky and some laughter. You should hear how Patrick pronounced the word cheers in Tamil (ADEI APPA!) He's so funny! Next time, go ask him.

Autograph!

At RM235 per pax, I think this dinner is very well worth it. Good value!
Besides that, Katnook is really a good value for money wine label.