Ivy Spring Party: celebrating wine and ‘pipi du chat’

Clockwise from top-left: Ivy bar, glasses of sauvignon blanc, ‘Jasper’ – Merivale’s new boutique wine, Mad Cow canapés

I’ve always been a kind of girl that doesn’t need much of a reason to throw a party. I bought a new cake tin, let’s party! I’m bored, come celebrate with me! Merivale on the other hand, did have a good reason to get festive and on the third night of Spring, the Ivy saw fit to open the doors and invite Sydneyfora shindig. To celebrate what, you might ask?

1) The uber popular Merivale Winter Feasts have now been extended for one more month. Missed out on the $35 three course meal at Teppanyakior Mad Cow? Then you now have until the end of September to check it all out.

2) Merivale has introduced two house wines from their new self-penned range across their Ivy and Establishment restaurants, but more on that later.

3) It’s springtime! Need I say more?

4) …and of course, my stupendous return from Melbourne to Sydney’s shores. (Ok not really, but a girl can fantasise right?).

Prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and baby basil

Housed within the impeccably chic walls of Ivy Bar, partygoers were treated to complementary glasses of their new house wines, ‘Jasper’ and ‘Felix’ and of course free canapés courtesy of Mad Cow and Teppanyaki. If that doesn’t put you in a festive mood then I don’t know what will.

Sushi from Teppanyaki

Bottles of sauces in the kitchen of Mad Cow

Of course I was more than happy to attend to meet ‘Jasper’ and ‘Felix’ and for a quick banter with Merivale’s Franck Moreau (who incidently was just recently awarded Sommelier of the Year at the GFG). Now I know what gets my tastebuds singing when it comes to a good drop and my technical knowledge on wine is far from laughable (I like to think anyway) but as a safety measure I camed armed with Laurent Garnier and The Piano Man; two people in my life that drink way more wine than I do and in the case of The Piano Man, will put most wine afficionados to shame.

Mad Cow kitchen: preparing the canapés, salivating over the Kitchenaid

Merivale heeded the call to Australia’s and New Zealand’s wine regions to show them what they got and through a series of blind tastings, Franck Moreau amongst others selected and developed a white and a red to launch Merivale’s own self-named range of boutique wines. As Franck Moreau explains, “we wanted to introduce a small albeit quality range of wines which would be competively priced while remaining broadly appealing to suit the variety of Merivale’s diverse dining options”. ‘Jasper’ and ‘Felix’ are now available through their new wine outlet The Bottle Shop and on the wine lists of Ivy’s and Establishment’s restaurants.

Jasper is a cool white sourced from the Marlborough region of New Zealand, an area well known (or shall I say, infamous) for their sauvignon blancs. This ‘sav blanc’ in particular was produced by Wairau Valley winery Highfield Estate.

Bear in mind that I have a distaste for sauvignon blancs so my opinion here will be massively biased. Sav blancs are notoriously known as, um, cat’s piss to put it bluntly (pipi du chat if you prefer a more eloquent term). New Zealand has the unfortunate reputation of producing the most potent of cat’s pee, ahem, I mean sauvignon blanc (hence its infamy) and needless to say I didn’t enjoy Jasper very much. To put it simply, it was too herbaceous for my liking and unfortunately a cool white such as this needs that crisp acidity on the tongue for refreshment. This sadly fell flat quite quickly and petered out to that distinctive taste of pipi du chat.

Felix, a more full-bodied shiraz from The Piano Man’s local hunting grounds of Barossa Valley in South Australia was a far better drop (and I’m not even a red drinker). Though I’d prefer my shiraz to make the hairs on my neck stand on end, people who prefer it less gutsy would appreciate Felix’s more mellow tones. For the curious, Felix was produced by Rolf Binder of (formerly known) Veritas Winery in the Barossa.

Deep fried squid from Teppanyaki

Canapé from Mad Cow

As for the plates of nibblies that were milling around Ivy, the juicy cuts of steak from Mad Cow were a highlight but I was salivating for the bowl of crispy deep fried squid and try as I might, I did not get my greedy paws on Teppanyaki’s mini wagyu penny burgers. Alas!

Wagyu Penny Burgers from Teppanyaki

A big thanks to Candice from Merivale for the invite and Franck Moreau for the brief wine chat. And finally, don’t forget that Merivale’s Winter Feasts are still on for another 3 weeks so if you’re interested, book yourself in asap and meet Jasper and Felix for yourself!

Merivale Winter Feasts are available until the end of September, Mon-Fri 12-2pm and 6-8pm (Teppanyaki is closed Mondays). From $35 for three courses plus a glass of wine or James Squire beer. Bookings are essential.

Ivy
330 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000
Reservations: (02) 9240 3000

Tagged as: Food Event, Ivy Bar, Merivale, Spring