I died and went to Heaven.

  

Last night I died and went to heaven.  And heaven is called Monichino.

Dinner was set in the tasting room, where first we tasted wines of course.  These weren’t your typical petite tastes, but generous samplings and I only got through three wines before deciding that this was a winery worth visiting.  The Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Riesling were simply outstanding.

We were 18 and were driven to the winery in this bus so that we could freely enjoy the wines.  Brilliant idea.

 

 Francesa, pictured below on my right with Stuart, our host on my left, is one of the celebrated chefs of the Murray and presents a very high standard of Italian cuisine using fresh locally grown produce.  It's a shared table experience with the Antipasto Di Casa served family style, each plate brought out individually and shared by all.  Here's how it started:

Pea Bruscetta

Bagna Cauda (Hot Bath)

Cappaccolo with celery and Fennel Remoulard

Bocconcini wrapped in Procuitto

Griled and marinated eggplant and zucchini/marinated mushrooms

stuffed baby mushrooms

Suppli-Rice balls

Baby zucchini filled with Ricotta and cheese

Roasted Red Capsicums

Tomato Salsa with Fresh Ricotta

Conchiglioni pasta shells filled with Ricotta and spinach

All served with crusty Italian bread.

For the starters, we had the Pinot dishes.and Sangiovese wines, the Pinot to taste with  the veggies, and the Sangiovese to go with the meatier dishes.

There were long pauses in between each plate to allow us to savour what was being offered.  It was marvellous.



The main meal, or Primo Piatto, was:

Veal Rib eye roasted with a herb crust

Local award winning baked ham

Polenta with cheese

Fresh local asparagus

Dolce (Dessert)

Panna cotta served with berries marinated in Monichono Citrus Nip

Handmade chcolate hazelnut ice cream

Along the way of course we had some spectacular wines.

The 2005 Shiraz was soft as silk.  A wine to die for.

The three different dessert wines,  late harvests with Botrytis, were different ages and can be differentiated by their colours.  And the piece de resistance was the 30 year old muscat which was unbelievably good.

Hazelnut ice cream (on left) and panna cotta (on right).

We got home at 1:00 a.m., which is probably later than I'll be up on New Year's Eve.

An absolutely marvellous evening all around.