A Sad Trip

My oldest friend of 62 years had been fighting cancer for two years but word came the evening I got back from Port Macquarie that the battle was lost.
I flew up to Brisbane a day later to say good bye.
We had a good three hours together and he was with it enough to talk about our primary and secondary school days as well as some of our surfing exploits, ‘near misses’ in the stupid period of our late teen and young adult years, mutual dating fiascos and family life after settling down.
And even though I had left Brisbane for Sydney when 21, we still had maintained contact and visited one another.
He cracked a few jokes and was able to deliver few of his well known zingers.
His wife of around 45 years whom I had also known since primary school was with us as was a mutual school friend whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. Two of his three boys with their families dropped by.
We even managed a glass of wine to toast long term friendships.
Obviously not a happy time but it was a fitting and satisfying farewell and it was obvious he appreciated the efforts that friends were making to come see him.
I flew home with a heavy heart and he was gone the day after.
Lesson: Live each day to the fullest. You never know when life may be cut short.
Vale Bruce.

A Trip to Port Macquarie / Part 2

Day three started with another coffee in town before we headed 'down memory lane', also known as the Pacific Highway Freeway, an hour north to Crescent Head which is a famous long board point break.
One of the longest and most classic right hand point breaks in Australia the area was made a National Surfing Reserve in 2008.

We had visited there few times before in our younger surfing days but as usual the lack of surf was evident. We think we jinx the place. Despite this, it is a lovely to walk along the point up onto the headland. The water was so clear and blue and inviting despite the winter temperatures. A number of kids were spear fishing around the rocks on the southern side of the headland.

We had a beer in the tavern and a meat pie from the local bakery for old times sake. I have to say that this time we left the former in 'better condition' than we had in past visits.
On the way home we took the back road which is quite a rough gravel track through some very marginal cattle country.

But suddenly you are surrounded by tea tree plantations. This one was the 300ha (750 acre) Maria River Plantation and is part of huge plantings which stretch north almost to the Queensland border.
Total production of tea tree oil ranges between 70 and 100 tones a year.
Tea tree oil is distilled from one of the many species of the Australian native paper barks, Melaleuca alternifolia.
The final surprise of the trip was crossing the Hastings River by ferry back into Port Macquarie.
That night we had BBQ lamb with duck fat roasted potatoes and two bottles of excellent wine.
Next morning it was time to leave. The three days had gone all too fast.

The return trip was a mirror of the first except from Sydney to Moruya we flew to Merimbula way to the south to drop off passengers first, before heading back. This adds an hour to the trip. Strange scheduling but guess REX have the economics worked out.
Both landings were pretty 'exciting' as the weather had turned bad.
But all the pax must have been locals and used to it as there was not a peep as we bounced and swayed our way down to the runway before what seemed a controlled crash landing.

Stirls is off to the USA soon to visit his daughter and twin grand children. We should see him down this way in September. I am saving up all the two man farm jobs.

A Trip to Port Macquarie / Part 1

My old friend, Stirls, moved from the central coast (just north of Sydney) further north to Port Macquarie. This restricts our visits somewhat.

It's about a 700km drive from our place including the slow trek right across metropolitan Sydney which means probably 10 hours on the road and a night's stopover each way.

I looked at airfares from our small regional airport and found some relatively cheap ones with a connection in Sydney. I say 'relatively', as the cost was about half of a return ticket from Sydney to New York. Regional airlines with route monopolies charge like wounded bulls.

But it was much better than driving.

It's a pretty short trip for us to Moruya's tiny airport for the hour's flight with REX in a small Saab 340 turbo prop to Sydney. There are only three departures a day.
In Sydney it was a change of terminals, with an almost four hour wait (long lunch!), for another hour 's QANTAS Dash 8-400 flight to Port (as it is known by the locals). This was a pretty bouncy trip with no drinks served because of the turbulence.
Total trip time with the layover was 6 hours.

Port Macquarie was founded in 1821 as a penal settlement, replacing Newcastle to its south as the destination for convicts who had committed secondary crimes in New South Wales. It served that purpose until 1830.

Today with a population around 45000 the town boasts about its year round great climate, its 17 unspoilt beaches, a lush hinterland, a diverse variety of attractions including the Koala Hospital, a zoo, river cruises and the Hastings River wine region. Like our area it has become a popular sea change destination for retiring baby boomers. Housing is less than half the price of that in Sydney so you can sell your $2million shack there, buy/build a very comfortable home and live well off the difference.

The wine region combines high summer humidity and high rainfall, as well as being uncompromisingly warm. It can be affected by the tail end of tropical cyclones (hurricanes) moving down the coast from Queensland and by its proximity to the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. A very difficult area to grow good quality grapes.....just like ours.

Its six wineries covering around 200ha produce mainly Chardonnay, Semillon, Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot and Chambourcin.
Our first day started with a coffee in blazing sunshine at the local marina before a walk along the town beach and the Hastings River breakwater where painting of the rock wall had obviously been encouraged.

Then it was a short road trip south along the coast to Laurieton and up North Brother mountain in the Dooragan National Park to the look out which has some spectacular views both north and south.

Lunch was at the Sandbar Cafe in North Haven. The selection of Malaysian food made choice difficult but I settled on beef rendang with roti, saffron rice and sambal beans which was delicious.
That evening we went to the Duck on Clarence for a few great craft beers before heading across the road for a good Thai dinner and a bottle of Clare Valley Riesling.
Then it was a late evening watching the Australian soccer team try to at least hold the French to a draw (after the latter had been awarded a very dubious penalty) in the World Cup.
Alas they lost 2-1 but were not disgraced.

Milton Quilt Show 2018

This weekend is the Queen's Birthday long weekend.
Nothing much royal related happens and the holiday is regarded as a good excuse for many to get away for a few days.
The south coast of NSW is a popular destination for those from Sydney and Canberra although I did notice that our local motel had vacancies which is unusual.
The biggest attraction for many years has been the Shoalhaven Coast wine region's winter festival.
Unfortunately this event has become the victim of its own popularity.

Last year an estimated 10,000 people turned up to the various wineries along the coast over the three days.
The (state) government stepped in (as they tend to do with most things these days) and wanted to enforce stringent traffic control and licensing regulations for the 2018 festival which the organizing committee couldn't comply with in the required time frame.
So the festival was cancelled.
From what we hear this did not stop the visitors coming however and most wineries enjoyed a brisk trade.

Not a lot was happening locally apart from the biennial Milton Quilt Show.
The co driver was heavily involved in this helping with the organization and working there over the two days. She also had a number of quilts on show.
The Saturday was really busy but not so much the Sunday.
Despite this, preliminary indications are that the show was a success.
Pics of the individual quilts will be available on the co driver's blog.
The local hospital auxiliary benefits from the proceeds of the show.

Wild Fermentation

The other night we opened a bottle of wild fermented New Zealand Pinot Noir from the Marlborough region.
It wasn't expensive and tasted excellent and quite different from most other Pinots in the same price bracket.
It had the depth of flavour and earthiness that is expected from more expensive wines of that variety.
Why would wild fermentation contribute to that difference?
Fermentation of wine is the conversion of sugar in grape juice by yeast into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

C₆H₁₂O₆ → 2 C₂H₅OH + 2 CO₂

Normally the yeast added to grape juice is a culture of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain.
Different S. cerevisiae yeast strains have differing physiological and fermentation properties which can have a direct impact on the flavour and complexity the finished wine.
Winemakers purchase one of the many strains of this yeast, rehydrate it and add it to the must.
They can be fairly certain that fermentation will proceed in a predictable way and produce a satisfactory result.
But there is another method ie. wild fermentation.
Wild or indigenous yeasts are the naturally existing yeasts in the air, on vegetation and on inert surfaces. Therefore they are found in the vineyard, in the winery and on winery equipment. 

So when grapes are picked and crushed and let sit, eventually they will ferment as the indigenous yeasts on the grapes and those hanging around the winery colonize and begin to consume the natural sugar in the must turning it into wine.

For this reason many winemakers add sulphur dioxide at this early stage of production to 'kill off" the wild yeasts or add a higher selected Saccharomyces yeast inoculum so they predominate in the fermentation process.

There are thousands of different types of wild yeast.

Many do not make good wine so they are broken down into two sub categories: wine yeasts and spoilage yeasts.

The most common wild yeasts found in the vineyard are from the genera Kloeckera, Candida and Pichia with Kloeckera apiculture being the most dominant species.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is actually quite rarely found in the vineyard or on the surface of freshly harvested wine grapes unless the winery frequently returns winery waste eg. pomace, to the vineyard.

A close up look at Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeasts

How do you know what yeast is there and whether it is good or bad?

Without a laboratory, there is no way of knowing what yeast is in the must.

So what are the dangers of wild yeast fermentation?
Many wild yeasts have a low resistance to alcohol (< 4%) so fermentation can become 'stuck'  ie. stops before all the sugar is consumed, producing flabby wines and unwanted residual sugar problems.
Many are slow to colonize meaning fermentation is delayed and the grape juice is left open to oxidation and infection by spoilage organisms.
Fermentation by-products can produce off aromas and esters which can taint the finished wine.
Then why do many wine makers proceed with wild fermentation?
Pretty much for some of same reasons considered as risks.
Delayed onset of fermentation allows longer contact with the grape skins developing better colour, depth of character and more body.
By-products can impart add complexity eg. as in our wine, earthiness.
By the time wild yeasts have reached their critical alcohol survival levels, they have already done their thing and any Saccharomyces present may have reached a level where they can take over and finish the fermentation. If not, monitoring of fermentation progress (by specific gravity based tests) allows the winemaker to inoculate the wine with the desired Saccharomyces strain at the right stage.
Wineries in the old world have been using this method for centuries with great success.
The new world is just catching on.
Is this something I might try?
All I can say is it's worth thinking about.