We’ve gotten to know Mac Forbes, winemaker and owner of his eponymous winery in the cooler climates of Australia, over the past couple of years, and we think he’s well and truly at the forefront of the winemaking scene here.
He might just be one of Australia’s most exciting winemakers.
The crux of our enthusiasm is that he makes some of the most Burgundian Pinot Noirs outside of France, in Australia’s Yarra Valley. While he wants his wines to show their Australian roots, there’s no denying that they are more Old World than New, with the linear acidity, crunchy fruit and complexity of outstanding Cote d’Or crus.
As Australian expert, James Halliday, explains, Mac’s wines have a “clarity, finesse and tension born of philosophy and of place.”
It helps that Mac is dynamic, thoughtful and seriously talented. He worked in France, Portugal and Austria before returning to his native Australia in 2004 to set up his own place. He brought back the sort of methods with quality in mind: his grapes are hand-harvested, plot by plot, his wines fermented with wild yeast, and he uses some whole bunch. He imports French oak, some new but mostly not, and doesn’t filter his wines.
He not only excels with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but also with Riesling. You might think Australia is too hot for the cool climate Riesling grape, most associated with France’s Alsace and Germany’s Mosel. But Mac gets round it by planting his vines at high altitude, in the brilliantly named Strathbogie Ranges.
So we’ll taste some of each, with Mac on hand to guide us. It promises to be a very enjoyable evening.
Places will be limited to 12 guests
| Date: | Wednesday, 11th September 2019 |
| Time: | From 7:00pm |
| Ticket: | £120 per person |
| Location: | Quality Chop House, 88-94 Farringdon Rd, London EC1R 3EA |
| Closest stations: | Farringdon, Chancery Lane |
Menu
- SHARED STARTERS ON ARRIVAL
- Crumbled rye sourdough, raw butter
- Swaledale Lamb croquettes, parsley mayonnaise
- Chicken liver parfait, Australian truffle, pig skin
- Smoked cod’s roe, cured egg yolk, radish
- FIRST COURSE
- Brixham Brill, shellfish hollandaise, sea purslane, orange
- MAIN COURSE
- Porchetta, potatoes, creme fraiche, lovage
- Butter head lettuce, tardivo, preserved lemon, Old Ford
- DESSERT
- Madagascan chocolate, cherries, pistachio, olive oil
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Wines
- 2017 RS19 Riesling, Mac Forbes
- 2017 RS28 Riesling, Mac Forbes
- 2015 Woori Yallock Chardonnay, Mac Forbes
- 2017 Woori Yallock Chardonnay, Mac Forbes
- 2016 Woori Yallock Pinot Noir, Mac Forbes
- 2015 Woori Yallock Pinot Noir, Mac Forbes
- 2008 Yarra Glen Pinot Noir, Mac Forbes
- 2012 Hugh Cabernet Sauvignon, Mac Forbes
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Other information
To save you the trouble of printing out a ticket, we’ll have a guestlist at the door.
If you purchase more than one ticket, please share the name(s) of your guest(s) with [email protected] so that we know to expect them.
In the event you can no longer make it, we'll do our very best to credit your ticket towards future wines. We simply ask you give us as much notice as possible.
It may, on rare occasions, be necessary to substitute any of the wines advertised for one of a similar or better quality.