Quick Chop - Fino and Jauma summer wine release

Fino - 8 Hill Street, Willunga

Amanda from Adelaide Food & Wine Festival recently invited us to the Jauma 2013/2014 summer release at Fino. As media guests, all meals and drinks were provided free of charge by Fino and Jauma.

I was fortunate to be the only person from OTBC who was able to attend this sold-out special event on this beautiful summer's day. I was eager to take my wife for a nice drive down to Willunga's Fino after hearing a few good things from Mirko (review here) and Jess.

I have to be honest, I am not much of a wine drinker, and I'm sure this review will leave you in tears laughing at the way I describe wine - so bear with me. In addition, I had not heard of Jauma before this invitation, so I quickly did a Google search and visited their website. Reading a bit about Jauma excited me a bit because James Erskine has been labelled as a bit of a 'maverick' in the wine industry due to his non-traditional ways of making wine.

Perfect weather, wine glasses everywhere

We were seated on the outside veranda area next to Amanda and a group of people I'd never met. After the usual salutations, the food, wine and conversations began to flow.

Sour dough and olive oil came out along with the first of the wines, the 2013 Jauma Blewitt Springs Chenin Blanc. The Chenin Blanc was very easy on the palate, filled with fruity apple flavours. Together with the Ceviche Kingfish they were a match made in heaven.

The second wine was the 2013 Jauma 'Somewhere on another hill' Gewürztraminer, Savignan, Chenin paired with white poached Inman Valley chicken, smoked eel and fennel. This second wine had a very fruity aroma, much more stronger than the first. There was also a hint of spiciness on the palate. As a novice drinker, I preferred the first white wine a bit more to match both the kingfish and the chicken.

Dishes from Fino

The third wine came, in a clear skin bottle. James gave a bit of an entertaining presentation on a project he'd been trialing during his travels. He introduced the concept of pairing music and wine together to see if changes in music would change the way we taste the same wine. Being a musician, I was clearly intrigued with this concept because when people talk about food and it's major senses, it is usually associated with taste, sight and smell with our ears totally neglected.

With this particular wine, James and his friend composed a 6 minute piece of music purely to be listened to while drinking this wine, with different moods, tempos and rhythms. It was truly a fun experience.

Jauma wine collage

After the fun, we were introduced to our fourth wine, a 2013 Jauma Seaview Birdsey Cabernet Franc together with slow cooked Fleurieu lamb shoulder, peppers and white beans. The lamb was slow cooked with the meat melting away under the fork. Unfortunately, I enjoyed the lamb too much and didn't pay much attention to this red. Well done Fino......

I think the appearance of the last wine is what truly describes James' style in wine making. A cloudy, unfiltered white wine without the fizz that breaks all the traditions of sparkling whites. The 2013 Jauma Blewitt Springs Pet Nat is James' take on a cider in a wine bottle. This was a pure win in my opinion. My wife and I said to each other we'd never had anything like this before and thoroughly enjoyed this along with the Hindmarsh Valley Emme, raw milk goat cheese.

It was a perfect summer's day with delicious food, amazing wine, together with great company and an entertaining sommelier - Thank you Amanda, Fino and Jauma.