The Mercer 
 
                                                                                                  
The Mercer winemaker dinners  
ArenbergMonday 16th November

Quirky labels and a 100-year-old-heritage from the D'Arenberg family estate

We are finishing off our winemaker dinner series for this year with the handcrafted Australian quality wines from D’Arenberg estate. Join us for a five course dinner of great Mercer food from head chef Warren Lee with matching wines. All the wines will be introduced by Claire Scott from the estate. D’Arenberg is the only winery in Australia to use an age-old basket press method for both red and white wines; the presses date all the way back to 1860s.

Our winemaker dinners have enjoyed an excellent welcome; guests have varied from executives entertaining clients to whole families and journalists. The editor of Decanter magazine, Guy Woodward writes of our first winemaker dinner: “Held at The Mercer, Decanter's New Restaurant of the Year in 2008, it was hosted by Mariela Molinari, winemaker at Catena, whose figurehead, Nicolas Catena, is the current Decanter Man of the Year. With such accolades, it promised to be a good night, one would think (or certainly, so I hoped). I had nothing to fear. Besides the excellent food, the wines were suitably impressive”.

“The art of being different” Kangaroo
The family owned and run estate boasts an impressive selection of richly robed red wines with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache being corner stones. Chester d'Arenberg Osborn, Chief Winemaker and Viticulturist says "I aim to make loudest, most flowery fragrant and most fruit-flavoured wines that have great palate texture and are free of excess oak. I look for tannins that are long, lively, gritty and youthful with fragrant fruit-mineral notes.” And he has certainly succeeded; D’Arenberg enjoys a high profile in international markets. They were for instance named World Winery of the Year by Toronto Star in 2005.

Chester is famous for his quirky speeches and bubbly persona; “we're deadly serious about our wine until it is in bottle, from then on, its all about having fun”. The serious side relates to the minimal impact viticulture and the traditional hands on winemaking using basket presses and food treading to produce world class wines. The fun is the quirky names for the wines, the family stories and of course the enjoyment that comes from drinking the wines alongside great food.

Join Claire Scott from D'Arenberg, who will share the wines and stories in a brash, friendly and humorous manner, just as Chester would like it. After all, you can only talk about a side of a hill for so long!

The price for this event is £80. To reserve a place please contact us on Events@TheMercer.co.uk or 0207 628 0001.






 
 


The Mercer >3434 Threadneedle Street, EC2R 8AY 
London  ::Tel 0207 628 0001::  info@themercer.co.uk