Grapes and cheese
It’s still very dry here and so windy today! I am trying to keep the nets on my grape vine that is loaded with ripening fruit. I had attached some reflective owls with bells to deter the birds – who obviously have very good taste! – and found they had broken off and ‘flown away’ in the wind, so I have wired them back onto the nets now.
Rain is predicted but I need the grapes to be in prime condition as there is a Penfolds dinner next week featuring aged wines including a ‘97 Grange. The meal is four courses of Sher wagyu as they are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, so serving premium wine and food!
My grapes will be going with the cheese course. Everyone loves them as they have a distinct flavour. We call them the ‘passionfruit’ grape as supposedly they came with Swiss Italian settlers in the 1800s to the Hepburn Springs region.
Not sure of the variety, (‘Isabella’ and ‘Concord’ have been tossed around along with a few other names). Everyone wants cuttings when I prune back in winter. As you can see in the picture, they are red/brown in colour and have seeds but not are not the pumped-up sweet grape you see commercially.
