A seat at the table: an amber revolution

On Tuesday evening, we headed over to Noble Rot Wine Bar for one of their special evenings of wine tasting along with a degustation menu of good food. The theme of this evening was skin-contact wines, also known as orange wines. Sommelier Maciej ZImni guided us through the history of this type of wine from its beginngs in Georgia, to Italy and finally the Southern Hemisphere (represented by New Zealand and Chile).

The menu below shows us what we ate and drank. The first wine from Gisborne was lovely and fruity and went well with the beautiful prawn cake, with its fragrant lime, coriander and coconut

This was followed by a kingfish escabeche with a gorgeous sauce, served with a wine from New Zealand and one from Italy. I preferred the New Zealand one to be honest, but both were good. Our next wine (pictured) was from Georgia, and a very special rich and full bodied wine with quite a special flavour. This was served with roasted hapuka (a fish) with a fantastic watercress based sauce that was strong and robust enough to complement the wine.

Roast pork is not a favourite of mine, but the dish we were served almost made me change my mind – almost – still not my favourite! The two Italian wines we were served were quite special (costing NZ$300 a bottle!), and again went well with the food

The final course, an amazing savoury pastry filled with a gouda ‘custard’ and served with quince puree, caramalised onons and a crisp sage leaf. It was probably my favourite dish, and the Chilean wine served with it was also good. The chef thought we should have a sweet end to the meal, so little meringues, filled with cream, were served before we left.

Verdict: an excellent evening where we learned a lot, ate some good food and had the chance to taste fome different wines.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.org