Brancott Estate Flight Wines

Brancott Estate has released Brancott Estate Flight, a new range of Marlborough wines that offer full flavour with a naturally lighter alcohol content. And what better way to celebrate the launch, than to fly a select number of media representatives from the Rose Bay Seaplane Base at Lyne Park to Peats Bite on the Hawkesbury River.

Brancott Estate Flight

The new Brancott Estate Flight range includes Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and Marlborough Pinot Gris – both full flavoured wines developed using grapes harvested earlier in the season. The low alcohol of 9% ABV makes them easy drinking and offer an opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine at lunch without compromising on flavour.

Peats Bite

Tony Robb, senior winemaker at Brancott Estate in Marlborough, New Zealand, said the aim of this range was to produce a low alcohol wine that captures everything that is Marlborough with the intensity and pungency of Sauvignon Blanc while retaining the flavour.

To keep alcohol low, the fruit had to picked earlier while it has much lower sugar levels . Sauvignon Blanc is usually picked at 18-21 weeks whereas the grapes that go into making Flight are picked at 16 weeks. “The challenge was to deliver a wine that didn’t have unripe characters,” he added. The method employed at Brancott Estate is proprietary and delivers a natural product with no mechanical techniques. The result is a an easy sipping style of wine with low alcohol that doesn’t compromise the flavour.

Tony Robb, Brancott Estate Winemaker

Brancott Estate Flight Sauvignon Blanc is typical of the Marlborough style with a freshness and ripe flavour profile of grapefruit, passionfruit and a touch of herbal notes. Thr vibrant fruit character on the palate finishes with a crispness that makes it a good accompaniment to seafood dishes, delicate meats or enjoyed lightly chilled on its own.

Brancott Estate Flight Pinot Gris has ripe, floral pear and stone fruit characters with a clean and fresh finish making it ideal as an aperitif, or a match with chicken or pork dishes.

Lunch at Peats Ridge

The Brancott Estate Flight wines were enjoyed with a delicious six course menu from the kitchen of Peats Bite.

Share plates

The first two courses were a series of share plates of house-made flat bread with olives, pistachio dukkah, olive oil,  a smoked eggplant dip, Prosciutto and grilled chorizo, asparagus and grilled haloumi with avocado, roast pumpkin, labna and salted walnut, Hawkesbury River Oysters with watermelon and chilli granita and a salmon tartar with pomegranate and dill.

Salmon with black olive

This was followed by slow-cooked salmon with black olive tapenade sitting on a bed of creamed leek. Flight Sauvignon Blanc was a good match with this dish, cutting through the oiliness of the salmon.

Lamb cutlet

Next, was a tender lamb cutlet with cauliflower puree and pickled cucumber which was well paired with the Flight Pinot Gris.

Pineapple and pannacotta

A Pernod-steeped pineapple with coconut pannacotta enhanced the fruity character of the wines.

Tarago Brie

And to finish, Tarago brie was served with salted walnuts, apple jelly and toasted coriander.

Peats Bite is located at Sunny Corner on the Hawkesbury River about an hour north of Sydney. The idyllic waterfront property with restaurant and accommodation is accessed by water via boat transfers from Brooklyn or by sea plane. Guests can choose to stay in any of the six waterfront split-level units which can be booked overnight or weekend getaways.

Below is a photo gallery of the day which includes images from the Rose Bay Seaplane Base, Sydney by air and the grounds at Peats Bite.

 

Photography © by Kevin Burke for Gourmantic – Copyright: All rights reserved.

The Brancott Estate Flight Wines launch was held on Friday 9 November 2012.

Peats Bite
Sunny Corner
Hawksbury River NSW
peatsbite.com.au