A bottle of Shiraz from Hope Estate and a meat pie bring back happy memories from time spent in Australia.

Australian Meat Pie and Mushy Peas with Hope Estate Basalt Rock Shiraz. Photo by Nicole Ruiz Hudson

Once upon a time, in 2009, Greg and I spent four months in the land down under. Greg took advantage of a study abroad program while in business school and spent a semester at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney. I quit my job and went with him. They were four of the best months of my life.

He arranged his schedule to give us plenty of time for exploring while we were in Sydney, and I’d spend the days he was in class wandering Sydney on my own. When the schedule allowed for more time, we’d rent a car and go road trips to branch out further. On top of that, the other students at the business school, the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM), were a very welcoming, interesting, and fun lot. They planned many events and excursions that we were able to join in on. Among these was a wine tasting tour of the Hunter Valley, which is only a couple of hours north of Sydney.

On that particular excursion, one winery stood out from the rest – Hope Estate. It was definitely our favorite of the day. We were also distinctly aware that we’d been a bit tipsy by the time we got there, as it was the last stop in a long day, so it was possible that our preference had been set thanks to the extra good vibes we were feeling by that point in the day. However, we’d brought back several from the trip, and our favorite was borne out as we tried the wines again back at our flat over the next few weeks – this time with clearer heads.

Hope Estate back in 2009

This was all before I’d dived into the wine life, but the name stuck with me – it is a fairly easy one to remember. I’ve recently seen an occasional bottle from the estate pop up at local wine stores and on Wine.com, which has been a fun blast from the past.

A Brief History of the Hunter Valley

Name: Australian Meat Pie
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 1 onion, chopped; 2 medium carrots, chopped; 1 to 2 celery ribs, chopped; 1 lb ground beef; 2 cups beef stock or 2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 2 cups of water (a mix of the two was used here); ¼ cup diced tomatoes; 1 Tbsp ketchup; 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced; ½ teaspoon oregano; 1 pinch nutmeg; Black pepper, to taste; 3 tablespoons plain flour (Wondra Flour used here); Salt, to taste; Olive oil, as needed; 1 puff pastry sheet (store-bought); 1 short-crust pastry sheet (homemade or store-bought); 1 egg; Splash of milk

Map borrowed from Winefolly.com

We’ll be talking about the Hunter Valley again soon, so I’m going to break up the discussion on the region into two parts. Today we’ll take a look at its history.

The Hunter Valley is Australia’s oldest winemaking region. This makes sense, given the region’s proximity to Sydney, where the first Europen arrived and established the first penal colony. Prior to their arrival, the Wonnarua ("people of the hills and plains") inhabited the upper Hunter region for at least 30,000 years. The Worimi held the northeastern shores, and the Awabakal were located around the southeastern shores.

The Hunter River was first spotted by European settlers in 1797 by accident. Lieutenant John Shortland was on a search for escaped convicts when he spotted the river. The Hunter Valley went on to become a valuable source of timber and coal for steamships. A land route to the area wasn’t discovered until 1820. By 1823, there were already about 20 acres of vineyards planted along the Hunter River in what is now the Dalwood /Gresford area between the towns of Maitland and Singleton.

James Busby, the 'godfather' of viticulture in both Australia and New Zealand, changed the game in the 1830s. He returned to New South Wales after an extensive tour studying European wine regions with around 500 (pre-phylloxera) vine cuttings. Busby’s brother-in-law William Kelman took up one of the first official land grants at Kirkton on the Hunter River using a replica set of these cuttings. By 1840 the Hunter Valley’s vineyard area had boomed to 500 acres (200 hectares) and its reputation as a wine-growing region had been established.

The Pokolbin area, the region Hope Estate is in, had established itself as a quality zone by 1930. Sadly, war and economic turmoil slowed down further expansion. Things wouldn’t pick up again until the second half of the 20th century, but there are now over 150 wineries in the Hunter Valley.

Hope Estate Basalt Rock Shiraz

Hope Estate. Image borrowed from the Hope Estate website.

It would appear that Hope Estate has expanded quite a bit since we visited. In addition to wine, they have spirits, beer, and a 20,000-seat amphitheater that hosts major concerts. Maybe I didn’t see it or just didn’t notice because of my tipsy state, but there wasn’t anything so grand in my memories.

Hope Estate was established in 1994 by Michae Hope, a former pharmacist who gave up his career to make wine. He and his wife Karen purchased their first vineyard at Broke in the Hunter consisting of 30 acres of vines on a 250-acre property. They then purchased a winery in 1996 and the first vintage of Hope Estate was released in 1997. Additional vineyards have been added since, including in Victoria and Western Australia, and a new winery followed in 2006. All of the wines are made from estate-grown grapes in their Hunter Valley headquarters

I ordered a bottle of the Hope Estate Basalt Rock Shiraz 2018 from Wine.com ($16.99) and I opened it the same it arrived. I was honestly a little worried about the wine because it arrived on a very hot day and it tasted a little off when we first opened it. (Wines can get “cooked” if they spend time in extreme heat.) Luckily, it improved quite a bit once we cooled the bottle down a little bit and allowed the wine to breathe. It’s a good reminder that serving temperature can make a big difference – the ideal range for big red wines is generally considered to be around 63°-68°.

Once the wine had a chance to open up, it showed notes of blackberry, plum, bay leaf, and charcoal on the nose. On the palate, the fruit was juicy with just a touch of jamminess. Savory touches of bay leaf, cedar, olives, and black pepper joined in on the mid-palate, softened by a touch of vanilla, and there was a hint of stony charcoal hint on the finish. It was reminiscent of Rhône Syrah in style, but with riper fruit notes. It was medium + in body with balanced acidity.

Geeky Details

Taken from the tech sheet.

Alcohol: 14%

Blacked: 100% Shiraz

Winemaking: Estate Grown – 100% Family Owned - The Basalt Block is located in the Hunter Valley among the hills of the Broken Back Mountain Range. The range was formed by volcanic activity leaving the red soil rich with basalt. This mineral-rich soil produces the finest quality, low-yielding grapes which Hope Estate winemakers use to make this single vineyard wine. Matured in new and old French hogsheads for 13 months.

The Pairing: Aussie Meat Pies

While in Oz, we developed a taste for the meat pies that are so ubiquitous there. They’re inexpensive, portable, and delicious – what’s not to love?! Food trucks, street carts, and food stalls everywhere sell these hand-held pies filled with beef in gravy. You might find different flavor variations and additions to the filling; for example, in addition to the classic, I often liked mushroom and curry flavors as well. The pies are often served topped with mushy peas, or you might drizzle on ketchup or hot sauce.

Greg and our friends Marc and Dan eating meat pies in the CBD.

I thought I’d recreate the memory to pair with this wine. I’d originally intended to go all in and make individual hand-held pies, but it was crazy hot out on this particular day and it got to me, so I decided to cut myself a break and make a single large pie in the end. Hand-held pies will have to wait for another occasion.

I looked at quite a few recipes for meat pies before creating my own. I noticed many recipes used a combination of short-crust for the bottom shell, and flaky puff pastry for the top and I decided to go this route, but other versions choose to just use one or the other. I made the short-crust but used store-bought puff pastry. (Making puff pastry is a headache I do not need, thank you very much!) Feel free to go with what appeals to you.

I also made mushy peas to go with the pies. I often forget how easy it is to make this and how satisfying the results are. Heat a bag of thawed frozen peas in a pot, add a bit of flavoring, then mash them up using an immersion blender or food processor – that’s it! A little sriracha was the final topper to the ensemble.

The wine paired nicely with the meat pies. To be honest, it worked best with the pie alone, without the hot sauce or the peas, but the combo is just too good to pass up.

*****

The World Wine Travel (#WorldWineTravel) blogging group is exploring the wines of New South Wales this month. Be sure to check out their posts:

A Scruffy Shiraz with Urban Smoked Short Ribs by FoodWineClick!
Chili de Moira + Beelgara Winery Estate Shiraz 2017 by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Yellow Tail Wine is from NSW, Who Knew?? by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Additional sources used for this post and extra reading:

Sometimes you just have to go ahead and create a reason to enjoy a special bottle - or the bottle is reason enough on its own! Here we pair a bottle of Penfold's Bin 389 Cabernet - Shiraz with Braised Oxtail Stew.

We’ve been having one of those weeks, and sometimes when you’re having one of those weeks, it helps to make yourself something comforting and delicious and open up something good.

Moreover, this weekend is ‘Open that Bottle Night.’ This is an annual occasion celebrated on the last Saturday in February created by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher in the year 2000. Gaiter and Brecher are a wife/husband journalist team, then working at the Wall Street Journal, who decided to create the day with the goal of motivating people to reconnect over a special bottle and create good memories. Many of us have bottles that are languishing away because we’ve been saving them for some special occasion. Their goal was to give us an occasion.

I admit that I have a lot of these bottles. Earlier this week I was looking through my wine racks, saw this bottle of Penfold’s Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz South Australia 2013, and thought “WTF not?” A friend who used to work for the company gave us the bottle a few years ago, and I’ve been waiting for a reason to open it. In the spirit of OTBN, I decided to just go ahead and make the occasion.

The Wine: Penfold’s Bin 389 Cabernet - Shiraz South Australia 2013

Penfold’s is one of Australia’s oldest wineries and potentially its most iconic. It was founded in 1844 by Dr. Christopher Penfold and his wife Mary, shortly after they arrived in Australia. With the help of family, they purchased the Magill Estate at the foot of the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia, not far from Adelaide. As part of the development and cultivation of their estate, they planted vine cuttings that they’d acquired on their voyage from England on a stop-off in South Africa. Dr. Penfold believed in the medicinal benefits of wine, and the first wines were prescribed as tonics to patients and were seen as particularly beneficial in the treatment of anemia. The Penfolds started with fortified wines, they then went on to have success with Clarets and Rieslings, finding that they were both popular with customers and fairly easy to produce.

Dr. Penfold’s reputation as a doctor grew, leaving him little time to work in the winery. Mary began to take on more responsibilities, gradually taking over the running of the winery. She continued to manage things even after her husband died in 1870, all the way until she decided to retire in 1884. At that point, she passed on management to her daughter Georgina and her husband Thomas Hyland. The winery remained in the family for many decades, and even after the company became public in 1962, the Penfold family retained a controlling interest until 1976. It is now owned by Treasury Wine Estates.

In 1948, Max Schubert became the company’s first Chief Winemaker and would take the winery in a new direction that put the focus of production on long-aging table wines. After World War II, Max was sent to Europe to learn about sherry production. However, he also spent time in Bordeaux and it left a major impression, inspiring him to experiment extensively. Through the next couple of decades, he would create many of the winery’s most famous wines, including Grange, their most iconic wine.

While I don’t have a bottle of Grange to share with you today, Bin 389 does also trace its origins to Max Schubert, who first created this wine in 1960. It’s been often been considered the “Baby Grange” in part because the various components of the wine are matured in barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. The aim of this wine is to blend the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon with the richness of Shiraz. It has been very popular over time, and key in establishing the winery’s reputation for quality red wines.

The 2013 vintage of the Bin 389 was almost evenly split between its two component varieties – 51% Cabernet and 49% Shiraz. The grapes came from vineyards in Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, and Coonawarra. In short, from many of the best areas of South Australia, the country’s most productive state when it comes to winemaking.

I decanted this wine about an hour before we intended to drink it, so as to separate it from sediment, as well as to allow it to open up, and I do think it benefited from the time. On the day we opened this wine it showed notes of currants and blackberries on the nose, along with hints of eucalyptus, tobacco, and some light signs of age in notes of age forest floor and slightly dry/cooked fruits. These largely added interest and complexity to the wine. Black cherries and dark plums joined in on the palate. The fruit quality was rich and plush, with touches of dark chocolate, licorice, earth, and graphite. It’s a big wine, but well structured with good acidity to balance the strong, but fine dusty tannins. The wine was in a great place, but could still age for a few more years.

I should mention that while this wine is a delicious and age-worthy splurge in the $70-$80 range, Penfold's makes good wines at every price point. We've often enjoyed the Koonunga Hills range and those wines tend to run in the $10-$15 price point and I've generally found them to be a good value.

The Pairing: Good Braised Oxtail Stew

Having decided to just do it, I took to my cookbooks in search of inspiration for what to pair with our bottle. Greg and I spent a few months living in Australia while he did a study abroad program during business school. While there, I picked up a book entitled 200 Years of Australian Cooking: The Captain Cook Book by Babette Hayes at a used book shop–– I love old cookbooks! Given the long history of the winery, I thought it an appropriate place to look for a pairing.

This book attempts to take the reader through the history of Australian cuisine from its colonial period through to more modern times while taking into account influences Aboriginal influences, as well as those of groups that migrated to Australia later on. Quite a lot to cover!

I found the recipe for “Good Braised Oxtail Stew” in a section entitled “Survival Cookery,” which looks at food from the early colonial period (from when the First Fleet landed in 1788 to the early 1800s) when settlers were struggling to figure out how to farm the land and feed the growing masses despite poor resources and lack of skilled farming labor among their population made up largely of transplanted convicts. Everyone was also missing a taste of home. The recipe that I’ve adapted feels very much in this vein – it’s a classic, comforting stew. (It’s also not all that different from the Braised Oxtails I shared in this post, but it’s amazing how just switching up a few things will change the character of the dish.)

The stew and the wine paired beautifully together. The wine only grew more luxurious when paired with the food, and its intensity was an excellent match for the rich meatiness of the oxtails and broth. It was a soul-satisfying combo!

Geeky Details:

Average Price: $70 (across all vintages)
Blend: 51% Cabernet, 49% Shiraz
Vineyard regions: Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, Wrattonbully, Coonawarra
Maturation: 12 months in American oak hogsheads (28% new, 60% 1-year old, and 12% 2-years old)
ABV: 14.5%
Additional details here.

The winery also recommends pairing this wine with lamb with roasted vegetables. Their website shares a set of recipes, including that one, that can be found here.

*****

For additional wines from South Australia and pairings, check out these posts:

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The rest of the World Wine Travel (#WorldWineTravel) blogging group is exploring wines from South Australia. Check out the rest of their posts and join our Twitter chat on Sat. 2/26/28.