Video by Alan Kropf, Mutineer Magazine

We’re back with another installment of The Great Aussie Wine Mutiny. In the last TGAWM, we took a broad look at Margaret River in southwest Australia near Perth. The wines burst with character that is the reflection of the cool climate terroir, and the local shiraz takes on a very different personality from the bombastic shiraz of Barossa Valley. Now, as a God-fearing wine writer I will drink bombastic Barossa Valley shiraz with great enthusiasm, but these Margaret River shiraz wines are layered and complex works of elegance with an identity all their own.

“The styles that we’re trying to produce here, and certainly at Xanadu, are a lot finer, more elegant, and in my opinion, a little bit more food friendly,” says Glenn Goodall, winemaker at Xanadu Wines. “Margaret River is probably most well recognized by its cabernet, its chardonnay and its sauvignon blanc/semillon blends. Shiraz, historically over the last few years, has probably played second fiddle to those other varieties.”

Video courtesy of Xanadu Wines

Cabernet sauvignon is the flagship red of the region, with the region’s top producers making cabs that can hang with the best in the world. Moss Wood, Cullen, Cape Mentelle and Leeuwin Estate all come to mind.

Beyond the brilliant cabernet sauvignon monologues, Bordeaux-style meritage blends are also pretty damn amazing, and the inspired use of petit verdot and malbec by winemaker Virginia Willcock in Vasse Velix’s Heytesbury red resulted in something of a fine beverage religious experience for me. I’m talking about a wide-eyed and giggly symphony of complex aromas that are all familiar to me from the countless meritage blends I’ve consumed in my days, yet expressed in a very spectacular way.

As crucial as the petit verdot and malbec are to this blend, for Willcock they are really supporting actors to the lead that is cabernet sauvignon:

“Cabernet [sauvignon] is king in Margaret River and all I want to do is find something that is going to bring cabernet to wonderful heights, and I think petit verdot and malbec can do it. Petit verdot brings violets, orange peel, acid structure and incredibly intense tannins. Malbec spice, voluptuousness and beauty.”

Video by Alan Kropf, Mutineer Magazine

Cognac. The quadrilogy is complete. If you missed Cognac Conversations Episode #1, Episode #2, or Episode #3, dip into the archives and check out what you missed. In this episode, Mutineer Editor in Chief Alan Kropf continues to try and educate stand-up comedians Ben Morrison (who also happens to be a regular Mutineer contributor and host of the Mutineer Comedy Festival) and Daryl Wright (also a Mutineer Comedy Festival performer) at the world renowned Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City.

Cognac. You know it as one of the ultimate sippers on the planet, but what about cocktails? The answer is yes, from the classic sidecar to the ultra-modern Cognac Summit Cocktail*, Cognac does have a happy home in the world of mixology.

In this third installment of Cognac Conversation, Mutineer Editor in Chief Alan Kropf pays a surprise visit to stand-up comedian/Mutineer Director of Comedy Ben Morrison at his Hollywood apartment to make one of these so-called Cognac Summit Cocktails and prove that literally anyone is capable of whipping up this delicious cocktail at home.

Official Cognac Summit Cocktail Ingredients:

• 1 lime peel
• 4 thin slices of fresh ginger
• 1 1/2 oz. VSOP Cognac
• 2 oz traditional lemonade
• 1 long piece of cucumber peel
• 4 or 5 ice cubes

*Because we live on the edge, we strayed a bit from the official recipe in our demonstration and used 2 oz. of Cognac and 4 oz. of lemonade, and while homemade lemonade is always preferred, sometimes you just gotta roll with Americana’s finest: Newman’s Own Old Fashioned Roadside Virgin Lemonade.

The Sidecar Recipe:
By Robert Hess from “Classic Cocktails” in Mutineer Magazine Issue #10

• 2 oz. brandy (or cognac)
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
• Shake with ice.
• Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

What? No sugared rim? Personally I find that the sugared rim simply makes my fingers sticky, which is far from desirable. You may of course choose to sugar yours if you so desire, but history is on my side on this since the original recipes also were presented sans rim.

Cognac. The sequel. What does VS and VSOP mean? Should you buy Cognac out of an aluminum can? These questions and more will be answered as Mutineer Editor in Chief Alan Kropf attempts to educate stand-up comedians Ben Morrison (who also happens to be a regular Mutineer contributor and host of the Mutineer Comedy Festival) and Daryl Wright (also a Mutineer Comedy Festival performer) at the world renowned Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City.

Cognac. You know it and love it, and now you can witness Mutineer Editor in Chief Alan Kropf attempt to educate stand-up comedians Ben Morrison (who also happens to be a regular Mutineer contributor and host of the Mutineer Comedy Festival) and Daryl Wright (also a Mutineer Comedy Festival performer) at the world renowned Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City.

Rosé Avengers & Producers and Chef Lam of Butterfly Restaurant hosted the 7th Annual PINK OUT! SF on May 10th to a sell out crowd. In tandem with Pink Out! SF, RAP teamed again with TasteLive — the world’s premier online tasting community — to host a live streaming broadcast from Butterfly hosted by Courtney Cochran, certified sommelier, entrepreneur and author of “Hip Tastes,” with wine bloggers tasting remotely. The virtual tasting was sponsored by CellarPass, Mutineer magazine, and featured Gloria Ferrer Brut Rosé, Robert Oatley Sangiovese Rosé, and one of the world’s most exclusive rosés, Chateau d’Esclans “Garrus.”

Pink Out!: The Pink Out! SF celebration at Butterfly restaurant and featured an extensive walk-around t asting of 40-plus classic still and sparkling rosés from throughout the world, accompanied by delicious appetizers and chill DJ grooves. Chef Lam will once again dished up rosé-inspired Pan-Pacific appetizers from sustainably and organically sourced ingredients. Of course, our guests sported their most fun and entertaining pink attire.

And new this year, RAP partnered with Mutineer magazine to help raise funds for its Clean Water Crusader campaign in support of A Child’s Right. A Child’s Right is a nonprofit relief organization that provides clean drinking water for children living in orphanages and street shelters as well as those attending schools and visiting children’s hospitals in impoverished urban and semi-urban areas in underdeveloped countries.

Raffle Grand Prize: To help raise funds, The Flamingo Conference Resort & Spa in Sonoma County, California is supported the fundraising effort by providing a two night wine country weekend getaway in a poolside suite with breakfast buffet and health club admission for two as the evening’s raffle grand prize. Amorosa Bella joined in with a bottle of sparkling and a collection of its authentic sensuality products. And to top it off, the package included a $100 gift certificate to dine at Zazu Farm & Restaurant.

For more pictures from the event, click here.

We at Mutineer hope today’s blogpost finds you well! ‘Tis the season and because of this, we decided to give away a NewAir AW-211ED 21-bottle dual temperature zone wine cooler valued at $280 to one of our followers who subscribed or renewed their subscription to Mutineer Magazine between November 22nd and December 20th. One lucky person who subscribed during this timeframe was selected as the winner and now we will announce that winner. To all our supporters and fans and all those who subscribed over the last month, we sincerely thank you. To Tammy C. of Tammy’s Tastings, congratulations on your new NewAir wine cooler! It will be sent out shortly and we hope you enjoy it.

Stay tuned for more Mutinous Giveaways and we wish you all the best this holiday season! Drink, be merry, and know your limits and when to hang up the keys.

All our best -

The Mutineers

We know you love reading Mutineer Magazine, so why not spread that love to your friends and family and let them know how you really feel about them? Luckily for you, it couldn’t be any easier to gift a subscription of Mutineer! In just three easy steps, your father’s neighbor’s brother’s third grade teacher’s dog sitter’s twice-removed cousin’s landlord could have a subscription of their very own.

1) Visit the subscription page on Mutineer Magazine’s website.

2) Enter the shipping information of the person you are ordering a subscription for and select either a one year subscription (6 issues) for $14.99 or a two year subscription (12 issues) for $25.00 and click subscribe.

3) You will be redirected to a PayPal page. Securely enter your login information and pay as you normally would with PayPal. Don’t have PayPal? That’s fine! Click pay with a debit or credit card and securely enter your debit or credit card information as you normally would when purchasing something online. Submit it .. and you’re done! It’s just that easy.

Next, just sit back and wait for Finnegan to call you and tell you what an awesome gift you’ve sent him.

Really folks, it’s that simple and people will love you for it.