Well, it was never going to be a serious educational tutored tasting of wines from the other side of the world, was it! But nor did I expect it to be quite such fun and well received! And I appreciate that after several glasses, gratitude can be extremely generous and heartfelt�.but it really did go well! I�m talking about an event we held last night at �The Kookaburra� Australian Bar & Restaurant on the Old Port of Nice. We�d been planning a fun Wine Tasting Event there for some time � the owner, Nick has an upstairs room that he offered to us to use for events. The style and flavour of the bar itself is of course, Aussie through and through (there is even Kangaroo & Ostrich on the Menu), so it was no surprise that the regulars there were pining for a bit of �home�, so we devised an evening of silliness and wine games around a Down Under theme.
Frustratingly, as usual, we found a dearth of decent Aussie & Kiwi wines available here, and even had to resort to asking family when visiting last month and driving, if they could stash a few bottles of wine in their boot. Any customs guy who chose to look in their boot at Calais would no doubt have been utterly perplexed at Brits wishing to bring non French wine into France! With our new Wine List we are trying to source as many non French and especially New World wines as possible as we�ve certainly found a demand.

Meanwhile back to �Vin-dezvous� at the Kookaburra and after a Welcome Cocktail (some fizz with a dash of my homemade Cherry Liqueur � a sort of Cerise Kir!), we had a couple of daft �Guess the Wine� type games, which got us through a typically grassy and elderflower scented New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc from Villa Maria in Marlborough. This was followed by a delightful creamy apple pie flavoured Aussie Chardonnay � pleasingly different to these pineapple chunky fake oak (like drinking a wardrobe!) Oz Chards of a decade ago � in the �Guess which expert is bluffing� part of the game, a lot of people were fooled into believing this complex and yummy Chardonnay from Peter Lehman in the Barossa was either a Riesling or a Viognier � just proved how challenging the game can be! The reds included a strawberry and redcurrant laden juicy beauty from cool climate Tasmania, Devil�s Corner Pinot Noir, followed triumphantly by a bruisingly fruity Shiraz with a hint of Viognier from Victoria. To be fair, the sheer vibrant spiciness of this last one, meant that nearly everyone in the room guessed it right.

More wines were opened as we embarked on a friendly yet competitive Pub Quiz type round of �Vin Triv�. The evening�s entertainment finished with a couple of sudden death tie breakers to establish final winners of each game who went away hugging well-earned prize bottles.
We must have done something right � the assembled crowd drank every last drop and were finally turfed out at just gone midnight! I�m thinking the next one might have a bit of a Spanish flavour and include South American wines too�.hmmm�.. �Ol�!!

Helen Brotherton