As the festive season approaches it becomes important to find light fresh wines to accompany that first bowl of strawberries, the barbequed prawns or the ever present tropical fruit salad. We recently applied ourselves to this task…
Brown Bros Pacific Flavours
Four Seasons 1 November 2011
As the festive season approaches it becomes important to find light fresh wines to accompany that first bowl of strawberries, the barbequed prawns or the ever present tropical fruit salad. We recently applied ourselves to this task and sampled Brown Brothers offering including their just released and highly acclaimed Cienna Rosso. The wines were perfectly matched with exquisite Pacific dishes created by the staff and students at AUT University’s School of Hospitality.
Matching wines with the spice and fruit flavours of the Pacific can be a challenge for any host. Brown Brothers’ fruitier wines are created by bringing an early end to the fermentation process, and this delivers both sweetness and low levels of alcohol making them ideal for the challenges of the festive season.
We were welcomed by a glass of the family’s Prosecco NV which was easily approachable even though Mickey’s little hand was yet to reach twelve. It is crisp, light, zesty, and sparkling with a hint of pear and apple. True Prosecco is rare and this one is grown in the Brown family’s cooler vineyards most similar to those in the variety’s origins in northern Italy.
The first course of crayfish with a mango and lime salsa was matched with the 2010 Crouchen Reisling which Lane argues was the best match of the day, high praise for a red wine drinker. Brown Brothers are one of the few growers of Crouchen in Australia and possibly the world as fewer winemakers grow it in its home in the western Pyrenees. This crisp, naturally sweet wine could accompany a variety of spicy dishes or light desserts.
Moscato has been gaining in popularity in New Zealand. This is interesting in light of the rise of cider in popularity also; both are lower in alcohol content and with a light fizz so Moscato is quite simply the ideal breakfast or pre dinner summer drink. Brown Brothers’ Moscato Rosa is a Rose variation of the same Moscato that would be very familiar to New Zealand wine shoppers. It is also young and vibrant but with a pink hue (a description also beginning to suit Lane and Mark).
It did a fine job of bringing out the best of the tuna tartar with Thai basil and pawpaw. The Brown family sees Moscato as an important “next generation wine” – ideal for palettes that are new to wine (also ideal summer drinking for those more experienced palettes).
The Cienna Rosso NV is a sparkling red with strong strawberry and raspberry flavours. Cienna is a new variety derived from Cabernet Sauvignon. It could accompany either spicy curries or creamy desserts. We enjoyed it with a smoked pork loin with cinnamon plantain. This would be our choice to go with the summer berry flavours of Mum’s pavlova.
The big brother of Cienna is the 2010 Tarrango. This light-bodied red brings berry and cherry flavours. It was the driest wine of the day and was served with a lamb lap lap with coconut taro. The great match with a curried dish explains its sales success in the UK bottle stores: it is perfect to take to an Indian BYO restaurant. It would also go well with the wide range of the barbequed meats that fill the New Zealand summer.
We finished with a cleansing glass of Zibibbo NV and a plate of ginger wine marinated tropical fruit on banana bread. Zibibbo is a sparkling wine made from Muscat of Alexandria grapes and delivers strong summer fruit flavours of passionfruit and apple. New Zealand fruit salads should not be without passionfruit and a glass of Zibibbo.
Katherine Brown took us through this tour of the Brown Brothers’ wines and the history of her iconic Australian wine-making family. Brown Brothers remains in family hands and has resisted the tide of corporate consolidation that has characterised the Australian wine industry. Chatting with Katherine also revealed that the next generation of the Brown family is dominated by Brown sisters rather than Brown brothers. The family ownership should ensure that the focus on innovative wine varieties continues for the benefit of the adventurous wine drinker.
Prices for all the wines noted above range from $15.99 to $19.99 – so great value for something fresh this summer.
By Mark Brighouse
Photography by Lane Hannah
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