It was a pleasure to be invited to this special evening with both Fil and Peter of South Australia at the really successful Eve restaurant by Morgan Hartman when she took the job to work for the GRATEFUL PALATE ( www.gratefulpalateimports.com 312 Harbor Pointe Drive. #6 Mt. Pleasant, SC. 29464 ) portfolio of excellent Aussie wines. She had just left Country Vintners and working for that small but excellent portfolio of " other " top-notch Aussie wines. She wanted me to get a better idea of what the Grateful Palate had to offer and so invited me with another small Virginia retailer from Old Towne, Alexandria. I have pictures of the entire evening at Eve restaurant including pictures of the owner/chef which I will include in this blog.
I have to apologize for these pictures taken with a defective camera. The lens must have been scratched because all the pictures are somewhat fuzzy/hazy and great for atmosphere but not so great for clarity. I include them anyhow because they are what I have and they are better than nothing at all. I am at least happy to have some pictures to preserve and record this extraordinarily intimate evening with two really fine Aussie owners/winemakers from South Australia.
I sat next to Fil Scarpantoni ( SCARPANTONI Estates wines, PO Box 84, McLaren Vale, SA 5171 +614142320000 www.scarpantoni-wines.com.au Scarpantoni.wines@bigpond.com ) and across from Peter Lynn ( MAJELLA Wines , Coonawarra SA 5263 Lynn Road +61 8 8736 3055 peter@majellawines.com.au www.majellawines.com.au ). I was able to talk to both together and separately depending on the circumstances. Morgan Hartman was there with another gentleman, Ted from the Henry Wine Group I believe and another lady, the owner of a wine shop in Old Towne, Alexandria. We all sat together at one table nestled nicely into the corner of Eve's dining room so that you could look out into the room if you wanted. I had my back to the room and so was able to nicely focus all my attention on both Peter and Fil and getting to know them better.
It was a curious evening in that we did not end up drinking much of either Fil or Peter's wines ( none from Fil I believe ) because of a mix up in deliveries. Oh well, that stuff does happen. It did not diminish either Fil or Peter or the evening! I later bought immediately some of Fil's whites for the store as well as some of Peter's reds, too.
The dinner was nice and leisurely and I ordered some of all the chef's specialities even though they might not have been my first choices otherwise. I wanted to taste what he was so famous for and was willing to experiment and I was not sorry in the least bit! I have the menu somewhere and must find it and include the foods later.
In the meantime I will share some of what both Fil and Peter wrote in my book at the end of the evening. Peter wrote : " To Anthony, Great to meet you. Cheers mate. Also, thanks for enjoying Mathew's wine ( Peter's brother I think? ) I enjoy it as well and I am sure your customers will, too. It is a wine that is very special and close to me and my family; his lose was tragic but now everybody can enjoy his wonderful wine , enjoy everybody! " Peter Lynn, Coonawarra, Australia. It's " The Musician " 2004 ( a Cabernet-Shiraz blend ? ) red that I liked so much , especially with the story about Mathew. He died in a freak accident crossing the road I believe if memory serves me well after all these years. Seemingly senseless, so sad. I should buy some more again after thinking about all this. It's excellent and I need to try the new vintage. I'll call " Amo " my rep from the Grateful Palate and check in with him about this.
Fil wrote twice, on the sheet of paper and on his business card. On the card he wrote : To Anthony, thanks for the great dinner together ". On the paper he wrote : " To Anthony, may all your dreams be filled of mango's and wine. I hope you remember the memorable dinner we had at " Eve " on that wonderful night. And hope you get to finally enjoy the wines that are part of quest for life!! Cheers and many happy years of life and love. " Fil Scap 13/10/05. I must have told Fil and Peter my story of the peeling of a fresh , ripe mango and how I find it an incredibly erotic experience especially if you only use your teeth to accomplish the job without any assistance from a knife! Just imagine it, erotic indeed.
This was a great evening and I will talk of it again. I did end up trying Fil's wines and really loving them. It's been fun to sell both Peter and Fil's wines since this marvelous dinner. I came away with a bottle of Peter's wine signed by him that I still have in the store. I will take a picture of it and include it when I find Eve's menu of the evening to bring this partial blog full-circle. Thanks Morgan for including me. I really do appreciate it. Here are the pictures, enjoy them. Cheers, TONY
1 comment:
How fun to relive that night! It was Vanessa from UnWined in Alexandria, can't remember her last name off the top of my head, but I can try to get it to you.
So glad you were there!
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