Easy lemony seafood, potato & herbs

Easy, yummy, cheap, adaptable and best served with a really good baguette with lashings of Lurpak butter.  I love to pair this dish with our G Series 2014 G4 Chardonnay** and plonk it on the table in my favourite roasting pan for everyone to rummage through (we have picky eaters in our household).

The G Series is our new top of the line range and the Chardonnay is complex and very traditionally Burgundian in its style, so it needs something that packs a punch of flavour to stand up to the layers of rich fruit characters and French oak nuances.

Which is why I don’t like to over complicate the food match…. when the wine is this good I want to enjoy it, not become a slave to it.

Ingredients:

Chat or baby potatoes, Mussels, calamari or squid, green prawns, scallops (out of shell), white wine for cooking (don;t use the G4 Chardonnay!!!), extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), garlic, red onion, lemons and lots of fresh herbs.

You can really use whatever seafood you want or can easily get, just make sure they are roughly cut to the same size so they cook evenly (quickly).

For the herbs, I use whatever is around, but generally go with lots of flatleaf parsley, oregano (fresh), thyme, rosemary, basil, chives and even a bit of mint.

Method:

Have a sip of your cooking wine to check it is all right, tie on your apron and pre-heat the oven to 200 (Celsius).

Add a good lug of EVOO to a heavy based roasting pan suitable for the oven & stove top.  Add your potatoes, whole cloves of garlic, red onions (quartered), rosemary, thyme (lemon thyme if you have it), lemon zest and lemon juice (don’t be shy!), a small amount of the white wine and season well with salt and pepper and put it in the pre-heated oven till the potatoes are cooked through and golden brown (30-40 minutes). Remove form the oven and turn oven to a high heat.

Turn the cook top onto high to keep the pan really warm while it is out of the oven and scatter the seafood in a single layer on top of the potatoes.  Add more white wine to the pan to make your sauce, and a bit more more lemon juice and zest and seasoning over the seafood.

Place back in the oven and cook seafood quickly (you don’t want it to stew, so if your in doubt about any of it, pre-cook it in a pan first), until it is just tender and showing colour.

Remove from the oven, season again for good luck, and splash over some more lemon juice and zest and add all your beautiful fresh green herbs.

Serve it in the roasting tray to the table and let everyone serve themselves.

One large roasting tray usually feeds 4 – 6 with bread depending on appetites and boy / girl ratios.

**The inaugural  release of our G4 Chardonnay will happen in or around October 2015.

Worth its weight in gold

We are just a bit excited about our 2013 Pokolbin Dry Red Shiraz winning a GOLD MEDAL at the 2015 Royal Sydney Wine Show. Biggest class in the show with over 200 wines, 13 gold medals awarded and our favourite Pokolbin Dry Red the only Hunter Gold. Congrats team Tulloch!

Click here for full results of this class at the 2015 Royal Sydney Wine Show

We are on the hunt for old Tulloch Wines

Click here for details: In Search of Old Tulloch Wines graphics

An Old Name in a New Era

So the Tulloch name survived and here we are alive and thriving to tell the tale 120 years on.

Although we remain a family company, investment in the brand by our partners combined with a modern business structure is now at the heart of our success.

Times they have a changed, and I have no doubt that the company my children (or one of my siblings children) inherit, and their children inherit, and so on and so forth, will look very different in another 120 years, come 2135.

It’s hard to imagine how the Australian Wine Industry will look in 2135, how will consumers tastes and demands have changed, will tradition, respect and authenticity endure as principles that underscore success and longevity?  Only time will tell.

My Board of Directors are a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to wine industry cycles and they often muse about the good old days. For me, I have only known this industry against a tough and ruthless landscape, ruled by trading terms, production efficiencies, new media know how, a well financed and very active anti-alcohol lobby and a severe and debilitating production and demand imbalance.

Despite these odds, our dedication and commitment to handing this great brand down to a new generation is unwavering.  The support of Australians underpins the future success of  small family owned Australian companies and is paramount to the dream of succession.  Not just for the wine industry, but for all those whose generations toil against the odds and nature to carve a piece of history into this countries young landscape. The message is simple, where possible choose Australian – owned, made, grown, packaged, financed.  Help us keep the great stories of our generations and our country alive for many years to come.

Click here for the final chapter in the Tulloch story: Tulloch Timeline Part 3

When a family company is no longer owned by the family

We often hear how the wine industry is not well suited to the rigours required of public companies.  A lack of long term vision, commitment and strategy, combined with the ruthless and merciless obligation to declare dividends, means an agricultural pursuit like wine will never be a good fit.

So what becomes of a successful well known family wine brand, when the family cease to control the entity?  Can it survive?

Click for part two of the Tulloch Story: Tulloch Timeline Part 2

Community

Last Friday saw 390 of the Hunter Valley’s finest join together to celebrate the results of the 2014 Hunter Valley Wine Show and the presentation of the trophies.  For most, this event is all about who won, who didn’t, who should have etc. etc.  But for me it is about so much more.  It is about celebrating the community of the Hunter Valley.  It is a rare chance to catch up with mates and friends, enjoy a few drinks and bask in the warmth of the wonderful community that raised me.

I am a child of the vine.  My mum talks about my twin brother and I playing in the dirt for hours on end as she tied down, the highlight of every year was riding on the harvester, the buzz of vintage was palpable and exciting, the winery was a place for adventure and hidden treasure and the people who worked in the industry were our extended family.  The McGuigans, the Scarboroughs, the  Tyrrell’s etc. these people are still some of the most important families in my life, outside my own.  They are mentors that I look to for advice, wisdom and peer support. So once a year when I have the chance to catch up with them, parents and kids, it is a special opportunity and worth celebrating, perhaps more than the achievements of the wines on the day.

In the modern world we inhabit today,there are so many ways of communicating and ‘connecting’.  Community is so much more than that, it is the  long-standing rural inhabitants of a place, thrown together  in a confined space with awesome wines, tasty food and increasingly ridiculous conversation as the day progresses.  That’s my kind of place, I think I’ll stick around.

If you are interested in seeing the actual results of the wine show, follow this link. 2014 Hunter Valley Wine Show Results

 

40 Winks in Wine Country

40 Winks in Wine Country.

And the 2014 Cellar Door of the Year is ….. Tulloch Wines

 

We were super excited to be announced as Cellar Door of the Year at the 2014 Hunter Valley Legends and Wine Industry Awards a few weeks back.  Needless to say there were a few sore heads the next day amongst our very proud and well deserving team.