Sittella Sparkling Workshop & lunch

10:30am on a Saturday morning and I am sampling some of the new sparkling wine at Sittella Winery in the Swan Valley. Such a hard life! This is what I do to bring the latest wino news to all of you!

This past Saturday Sittella held a Sparkling Wine Workshop followed by a 3-course lunch. The tickets were $77.50 per person and quite frankly I just HAD to attend.

The morning started off by being personally greeted by our host and Senior Winemaker at Sittella – Colby Quirk. Mr. Spittoon and I were early one of the first to arrive so we got a head start on the sampling and had some one-on-one time to chat with Colby.
Once everyone had arrived (we were a group of about 30) Colby introduced himself and his 16-year winemaking background before taking us through the process of making a sparkling wine as we stood in the winery. He took us through the full process from when the grapes come into the winery to all the machines involved right up to the labeling stage.

During this time, we tasted a couple of base wines (these are wines without the dosage added – this is the addition of sugar and preservatives) as well as the finished products. It’s not everyday that you get a chance to taste the base wines, this was a real treat in my books! Plus we were amongst the first people to taste Sittella’s two newest sparklings which are set to be released next week.
We then moved into the barrel room, which was set up for the tasting and presentation. The whole event was really casual and easy going, even Mr. Spittoon said that he didn’t get that snobby wine feel that he gets from a lot of the wine events I drag him along too!
Our first tasting was the NV Sparkling Chenin Blanc: the dosage trial! We had 4 lovely tulip spiegelau glasses in front of us; the first had zero dosage – just disgorged & crown sealed with no additions, the second with 5g/l sugar & preservative, the third was the standard Sittella sparkling Chenin and the forth had the most added sugar at a level of 18g/l and preservative. Again it was this type of exclusivity, which I think, really made the morning so special.

We then moved onto tasting the new yet to be released Blanc de Blanc and Rose made from Pemberton grown grapes as well as the 2007 Pinot Noir & Chardonnay blend and the sparkling Shiraz. Click here to read my tasting notes on the 2 new releases here.

While sipping on the above we also nibbled on tasty cheese & fruit platters with bread and crackers while Colby walked us through the wines and answered any questions we may have had.
Once the tasting commenced we moved onto the verandah of the restaurant. We all sat down at our own tables to look over the menu, which had a great choice for a set menu. Click on the image below to see the tasty delights we were offered.
I liked the setup of the entrée, very cool! In terms of the mains I went for the fish and Mr. Spittoon went for the Porterhouse, which was definitely the stand out meal. The meat was cooked to perfection and the onion rings were gone in the blink of an eye. The desserts were both simply amazing. The chocolate pudding was so gooey and moist and the brandy snap strawberry basket oh my… I was just about licking the plate!

With our main meals I had a glass of the 2007 Pinot Noir Chardonnay sparkling and Mr. Spittoon had a glass of Cab Sauv with his steak. Drinks with lunch were not included in the price so our bill at the end was a whole $16. All up it was $170 for the day, money well spent in my books.

It was a great experience and I am really looking forward to Sittella possibly hosting a Red Wine Workshop down the track. I’ll be first in line! Keep an eye on the Sittella website for upcoming events and the Sittella Facebook page.

Click here to see more photos from my visit.