Soul for the entertainment scene

The time spent waiting for a license has been used to build up the wine cellar which now offers more than 180 labels of predominantly Portuguese wine and port. Macau Beer is also served on tap and a fine selection of whiskies is available.The two floors can sit a total of 50 guests and group bookings are welcomed.The ground floor is brightly lit by the natural light the low reaching windows let through. Guests have a choice of different table sizes and shapes, matched with wooden chairs or coaches. There is no shortage of talking points on offer with the museum style hanging system full of paintings and self-taken photographs from around the world and a collection of pottery that adds colour.Downstairs a stage complete with electronic piano, drum kit and three guitars and banjos (both of which Mr Higgins plays) awaits the venue's first live act.The music menu will also be very specific.



Read More

Organic winery focused on producing world-class sparkling wines

There is an in-ground barrel and sparkling tirage cellar, infrared reflecting roof, thick ICF (insulated concrete forms) walls and building orientation to take advantage of shading and natural light. A grand opening celebration will take place July 20. For more information, call (902) 542-8463, or visit www.lacadievineyards.ca. - Submitted .



Read More

Wine Tasting - Please Join us - No Charge

The winery produced only 1500 cases of this wine in 2006, all with estate fruit, making this a great example of artisanal old vine Monastrell at a very reasonable price. 4 - Trapiche Vina Fausto Orellana Malbec 2005 $50From the great Trapiche Single Vineyard Malbec Project. Each year Trapiche makes dozens of single vineyard wines, each representing a specific vineyard and expressing a specific terroir. After what must be round after round of brutal tasting and hairsplitting, they choose and release the three finest Malbecs in the world. The goal of Trapiche and Daniel Pi the wine maker, is to take Malbec to it's logical extreme of quality and varietal expression. The wine more closely resembles Classified Bordeaux (after all Malbec is a Bordeaux Grape), than it does your average Malbec.


Read More

How Often Do Doctors Act As Good Samaritans? What Help Do They

Questions include what help they might be expected to offer, particularly if they have no equipment or have had a couple of glasses of wine; and some want to know their legal position if something should go wrong after a Good Samaritan act. Fortunately the chances of a claim are extremely rare and MDU members are reassured they have worldwide insurance cover for claims arising from Good Samaritan acts. Members can also seek help and advice from the MDU for other medico-legal queries arising from Good Samaritan acts such as police interviews and coroners' inquiries."

The latest edition of the MDU's GP Registrar Update2 also dispels some of the common myths about offering assistance in an emergency and several MDU medico-legal advisers look back at some of the help they have provided as doctors in an off-duty emergency.



Read More

Italians take it all in their stride

But on this occasion, a good bottle of red wine was chosen. According to a still elated Gerrans the day after: "The powers that be didn't want to chance the bubbly in this area." The accolades, meanwhile, continued for Gerrans, who received 70 text messages and half as many missed calls on his mobile phone within 30 minutes of his win. He woke up the next day - fortunately a rest day - to discover 200 emails in his laptop inbox.

STAGE 17 - Embrun to L'Alpe-d'Huez, 210.5km

Final of three stages in the Alps, this is a long, laborious but then fast-finishing day in the saddle for the surviving riders. Two giant climbs before the last ascent up the famed 21 switchbacks to L'Alpe-d'Huez, where some of Tour's greatest exploits have been recorded.

.



Read More

Warming a beloved's heart

Sweeten to taste with manuka honey or brown sugar, then add a bottle of wine, red for preference but white is fine. Re-heat, but do not boil, then serve.

Not, perhaps, our normal aperitif, but it worked a treat on this night.

A more common pre-prandial drink was served at a celebration dinner at Rydges hotel recently, where sous chef Michael Sullivan, winner of the New Zealand arm of the international Chaine des Rotisseurs competition, could showcase his talents before heading off to Paris for the world finals in September.

The evening got off to a flying start with Nobilo Methode Traditionnelle 2005, a blend of pinot noir and pinot meunier. It was deliciously fruity with a citrus tang that cleansed, refreshed and sharpened the palate. Ooh, yes, please, I'd love another glass.



Read More

A little drop of heaven

Sourced from a block of vines, some going back 140 years, the winemaking had been kept simple: open vat fermentation, basket pressing, no tannin addition, 18 months in new and older French oak.

The 2004 vintage, a naturally blessed season across most of Australia, is the perfect homage to Brother May, even if the wine is priced at a slightly immodest (at least by Jesuit standards) $60 a bottle.

The '04 Brother May shiraz has an honest, almost rustic personality driven by plenty of blueberry/dark berries and earthiness upfront, finishing soft and velvety. The background eucalypt presence is very Clare, very Sevenhill.

It's bigger and richer than any of the usual commercial Sevenhill reds, so can it be duplicated every year? The simple answer is: no.



Read More