Dinner at Syracuse

I woke up this morning, moving a little slow after a great dinner last night with friends. Adding to the headache, I'm a bit sore from having to scale our back fence onto the rooftop (and balcony) in pouring rain and after a number of glasses of wine. Thankfully, I avoided what could have been a a nasty fall, and managed to escape with only a few scrapes on my hands/arms. In case you're wondering...I don't normally climb onto my rooftop for sport...Natasha and I both managed to forget our keys before going out!

The night started at Turf Bar, which is a great pub on Queen street in the CBD, with a few drinks before moving onto dinner. For a pub, it had a decent wine list, including a Jim Barry Watervale Riesling, which is a wine that is almost always in our fridge as it is such a great early drinking Riesling. It can be found anywhere from $11/bottle to $15/bottle, good value at either price.

We moved on to Syracuse for dinner and shared some mixed tapas and some great wine. I'm not a foodie, so not much to say except that I loved it. The highlight for me was the Wagyu Beef special. We decided to splash out a bit on the wines and had three crackers:

• 2001 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay - Arguably the best Chardonnay in Australia. It isn't officially in my Top Five, but would definitely be Top Ten. Problem is usually the cost, as it is typically around $75-80/bottle (retail), so it's only for special occassions, which we turned this into! Anyone who is 'over' Chardonnay should have some of this as it will definitely get you back onto it. This Chardonnay has led the pack for years and has probably helped to shape modern Australian Chardonnay away from the heavily oaked style that turned a lot of people off of Chardonnay a few years ago. My theory on Chardonnay is that the cheap stuff is usually crap, so you have to spend a bit to get good quality. You won't go wrong with this one. It took a little while to open up, so it probably has a few years drinking left, but after a bit of a rest in the glass, it was fantastic.
• 2005 By Farr Sangreal Pinot Noir - Having just moved to Melbourne, am keen to take advantage of the multitude of quality wineries in Victoria within driving distance of Melbourne. This is one that I've been keen to try, having previously tried the base level Pinot and the Shiraz. I think this one goes for about $65/bottle. I enjoyed it, but think it will soften in a few more years and should be even better. We are looking forward to the Melbourne winters as instead of starting off with a glass or two of Riesling, will probably warm things up a bit with a Pinot, before moving to the bigger reds.
• 2006 Glaetzer Amon-Ra Shiraz - Speaking of which...we finished the night off with a decanted bottle of this. I have had it before and have always enjoyed it, but it has never blown me away. For the price (usually around $100/bottle), unless you want to cellar it, there is probably better value (although it was only $115/bottle in the restaurant). Either the restaurant has stuffed up their pricing, or the so-called experts know something I don't know, as I understood the 2006 barossa vintage was outstanding. The wine was obviously a bit young, but was a nice big Barossa Shiraz to finish the night off. The aged wines were even more expensive - we had to draw the line somewhere...

For a nightcap, and before my scaling expedition, we ended up at Crown trying our luck on the tables - and failing. Thankfully however, my bank card didn't work, so I ended up changing $100 US that I had in my wallet from my recent travels, so it was sort of like I was gambling with free money... :o) Overall, a great night out with great company.