Orange Wine Week - Part 2

The Burgundian lunch at the Old Convent was our highlight of Orange Wine Week.

The Old Convent Building

The Old Convent is one of our favourite places to eat, because the setting is so beautiful, Josie Chapman’s food is always amazing and we knew we would be drinking the outstanding DeSalis chardonnays and pinot noirs.

The long shared tables, meant that we were surrounded with new and interesting people, Josie did very well with her guest placement and we left with many phone numbers and new dog owner friends!

The Burgundian menu included:

Freshly made bread

Terrine with micro herb salad

Pea soup with white fish

Beef bourguignon with roasted vegetables & potatoes

Camembert with bread

Poached pears and crème anglaise

The De Salis wines matched perfectly and we were able to try some of winemaker Charlie Svenson’s older wines as well as his current releases. With approximately 40 guests in the room, the lunch went well as it was an intimate gathering where strangers quickly became friends.

The quirky lighting

We left feeling extremely full yet happy having enjoyed a couple of hours of superb Burgundian food and wine in excellent company. The Burgundian lunch offered exceptional value you for money and we will definitely be coming back for Josie’s next event.

Pea soup - gone in a flash

Orange Wine Week 2012

Mr L'Orange and I got our hands on the new Orange Wine Week 2012 brochure yesterday and are very excited about the programme for late October. This year's festival is jam packed with good stuff, the tough job will be selecting just a few events to attend.

The bar has definitely been raised and there is now an excellent range of wine related events throughout the week with a good mix of casual and formal. If you were thinking of making a visit, then leave your children behind and come to Orange for Wine Week which takes place from 20-28 October 2012. 

This year there are guest chef appearances from Tony Bilson, Kate Bracks the Masterchef winner and Peter Kuravita. These events have a matching guest chef price tag so be prepared to spend big, perfectly fine if you can spare the cash or want to do something unique for a special occasion. As DIY consumes almost all of our savings, we are going for the more ‘value for money’ options and my top picks for Orange Wine Week 2012 include:

Burgundian Lunch at the Old Convent with De Salis Wines

Josie Chapman is one of our favourite chefs in Orange and the Old Convent is one of the most lovely venues in the area. So the fact that they are doing a lunch accompanied by De Salis wines (another of our favourites) for the very reasonable price of $50 is a no brainer. Who else wants to join us? On both weekends during Wine Week.

Live DJ and Vietnamese pork rolls at Philip Shaw Wines

Relaxing in the sunshine whilst sipping wine, listening to music and munching on Vietnamese culinary delights sounds like the perfect Sunday to me. At $8 per person, this option is great for groups of friends/family and is pretty casual which in my view is what wine drinking is all about. Taking place both weekends during Wine Week.

Printhie Sparkling Launch at the Byng St Store

As this event is free and just around the corner from our house it immediately caught my eye. We will definitely be popping along to sample the new Printhie sparkling, meet Drew Tuckwell the wine maker and get to see the Byng St Store with its exciting wine bar set up.

BUG Bicycle Ride – 50km around the region 

I think I need to go into training to be able to complete this one, however it is a great way to get more people involved in cycling and to see the region from a new perspective. I would personally recommend using a mountain bike as the roads in Orange are shocking for bumps and potholes. Free event - meeting at the Byng St Store at 10.00am on 28th October.

Night Markets at Robertson’s Park 

Always a good opportunity to try lots of wines in a short space of time without the trouble of driving. Arrive early to avoid disappointment as food runs out and queues get long otherwise. Free event you simply buy what you wish to eat and drink. Taking place from 5.30pm on Friday 26 October.

Hopefully some of these suggestions have tempted you to book in a visit to Orange or get your friends and family up for the weekend for some Orange Wine Week action. 

To see the full brochure of Orange Wine Week events click here. If you are needing accommodation, there is always the Dalton St Studio for the perfect home away from home mini break!

The Cider Awards 2011 held in Orange

The 2011 Cider Awards, the first to take place in Orange, were a huge success thanks to the efforts of Gail and James Kendall and the rest of the organising committee. The last time everyone got together to judge the ciders of Australia and beyond was back in 2007 so this event was long overdue. The judging panel was made up of a mix of wine and beer judges (Max Allen, Willie Simpson, Neil Cameron, Kirrily Waldhorn & Lucy Maddox) who combined their wealth of knowledge to pick the best cider in each category.

We arrived at the Old Convent in Borenore and got busy tasting the large range of ciders that were part of the competition. The ciders were placed in groups moving from dry to sweet and sparkling with the same done for the perrys (pear cider). This was the best bit of the night, although as the room got busy, it was harder and harder to get to the tasting table or to a spittoon, so we just had to keep drinking everything in our glass! There was the full gammit of commercial main stream ciders by the big producers combined with boutique ciders that offered something a little more unusual. 

My personal favourites were the Lobo ciders, French sparkling cider and I liked all of the perrys! To accompany the cider tasting some divine pork belly canapés came around that were the best we have tasted, pure melt in the mouth deliciousness.

We sat down to long trestle tables adorned with candelabras, home baked bread and lots more cider. In between courses the winners of each section were announced some of the most highly awarded include:

Phoenix Beers – Henney’s Cider

Carlton & United – Dirty Granny

(Phoenix Beers) Domaine Dupont – Etienne Dupont Normandy Cider

The Hills Cider Company – Perry

Josie Chapman produced a tasty starter of cheese soufflé accompanied by a pear and rocket salad. The main course was duck with a beetroot sauce accompanied by roast pumpkin, asparagus and a crunchy cabbage salad. This was the biggest piece of duck I’d ever eaten and again it was cooked to perfection and presented beautifully (no mean feat for a crowd of eighty). Dessert was poached pear and vanilla panna cotta which despite my dislike of panna cotta was actually very nice. 

The setting was lovely and rustic in the Old Convent and the food was faultless, the company on one side of us was excellent, we were chatting away with the owners of Annandale Cellars. However, the neighbours on our other side were cider producers who were so upset they hadn’t won an award that they just complained all evening and drank their own cider!

All in all, we had a really good night and enjoyed trying something different and improving our cider knowledge.

Cider Award

Despite the fruit related name, Orange is a region that is renowned for producing apples. Being a major area for all things apples, it is little wonder that we are about to have a national cider awards and dinner held in Orange. As a Brit, I am a big fan of proper traditional style ciders and perry (fermented pears) so can’t wait to try some gold medal winners.

Better still, Josie Chapman will be cooking a 3 course dinner to go with all the lovely cider. This event is taking place at the Old Convent on Thursday September 15th and will be hosted by top organic wine reviewer Max Allen. I already have 2 tickets for the dinner in my hot little hands. If you would also like to attend this event, tickets are $80 and all the details are on the CiderOz website.

Who’s keen to join myself and Mr L’Orange?

Best Sunday Brunch in Orange

This is most definitely the month for visitors, this weekend we were joined by Ed & Katie for a wonderful winter mini break. We kicked off Saturday with a nice drive up Mount Canoblas with the plan to take in the views and go for a nice walk. When we reached the top of the mountain the temperature had dropped 4 degrees and there was fog everywhere and a full on gale – needless to say we were not keen to leave the car under such conditions so drove back down the hill. We decided to walk around Lake Canobolas instead, which was very chilly but invigorating.

We had a good lunch at the Union Bank, the new lamb burgers are a hit and then as the weather worsened we hit the shops, particularly enjoying the Myer sale and hot chocolate at DNA (the boys toured the pubs of Orange).

On Sunday morning we spoiled ourselves with breakfast at The Old Convent in Borenore. The Convent are now offering a set menu for $32 that includes 4 breakfast courses and a coffee or juice, the perfect way to try lots of delicious plates in the one sitting. It also removes the headache of ordering and makes it far easier for the kitchen, so why not! We started with poached pears, muesli and natural yogurt, this proved our favourite course partly because it was something we wouldn’t normally choose. There was a lovely sprinkle of cinnamon on the pears and the dish was a delicious start to our gourmet breakfast.

Next  course was bacon and poached eggs with toast and roasted bacon, the food was so good, I just wanted more! Everyone agreed the coffee was excellent and the orange juice was freshly squeezed for extra tastiness.

As breakfast continued the sun made a rare appearance and we got the treat of some blue sky. Our third breakfast treat was a corn fritter with smoked salmon, crème fraiche and chives, chef Josie Chapman certainly knows how to push the food pleasure buttons. We finished off with a yummy homemade biscuit coated in icing sugar and yet again, I wanted to eat a few more! We all agreed a top breakfast experience, but make sure to book and an early slot is recommended before it gets busy.