Unfiltered Wine and Unfiltered Conversation - A Perfect Weekend with Cheek and the Peach

Another getaway estrofest weekend in Fatlanta, gloriously hosted by The Georgia Cheek and The Georgia Peach. (Introducing... the Cheek Man... and special guest star The TallaAussie)
Lovely dinner at the chi-chi hotspot Rathbun's... an Iron Chef winner, this guy knows his way around good old-fashioned South of the Mason Jar Line cuisine. Ce soir Sheena started with the doodle-menu (handwritten daily specials) Pork Belly soft tacos follow by main of Braised Rabbit with squash and gnocchi. Was so wrapped up in catching up with dear friends over gossip and larfs completely forgot to take pictures.


Saturday morning Breakfast #1 was half of the most decadent sugar head rushing donut ever invented. As soon as Cheek returns my text msg I will post details. But not humanly possible to eat a whole one. (OK, she texted - it is Dandy Donuts - can't find a website though...)




Saturday morning Breakfast #2 was a stellar production consisting of Prosecco mimosas - done just right - just a dribble of OJ for colour. 2 x omelettes with mixed cheeses, oyster mushrooms, one with shrimp and one with salmon. Onion, olive foccacia - warmed. Good coffee and fresh fruit. Perfect at 3pm...


Almost forgot - TWO kinds of bacon - maplewood smoked and North Georgian applewood smoked. Between the bacon and the Sunday repeat version of this brunch with farmer's market ham, the Cheek Man was heard to moan from the depths of kitchentude "GRROOAAAANNN... That's sum good pig"...


It was a damn good base for what was to come later that evening. Courtesy of the Georgia Peach, 4 of us slurped through prolly $450 worth of wine - a vertical tasting of the D'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz.

(Georgia Peach's ill-gotten gains from that suckered wine clerk in our favourite Brisbane likker shop...)


As Cheek Man put it "it seems a shame to compare these wines to each other when any of them would kick any other wine's ass... I'd drag my balls over broken glass for any ONE of them"....

Contestant #1 was the 1998. Rated 96 by Robert Parker This was a dark and inky baby, nicest legs of the bunch.

Contestant #2 was the 1999. Also a Parker 96 - if you care about that sort of thing) The '99 is a special one for Sheena. First time I ever broke the $100 ceiling for a bottle. Picked it up in Sydney on my first trip in 2003. Shared it with some then-dear friends over the course of a fantastic meal. It opened and changed character several times over the 2 hour meal. Magical experience. And brings back wistful memories over friends who disappeared mostly due to assholeoitis. But je digress... '99 still spectacular - the ripest and fullest right from start to finish.

Contestant #3 was the 2000. If pure numbers had to single out a shitty one of the bunch, it would be the 2000 would be it Now this is where Cheek Man's wise observation holds truth: it was still fabulous. Set apart from its brethern by a uniquely bricky red colour compared to inky blackness of the others. But after 3+ hours opened, came into its own and held up comparatively just fine.

Last, but by no means least - the 2001. Parker ranking of wowish 98. I said that out loud on first sip. This is a monster, and technically we shouldna touched it for another couple of years. But relentless swirling brought it out and I think consensus was it was the winner - patience being a virtue. The inky blackness the most opaque of the four.

Heavenly evening, made all the more perfect with the loud story-one-up-womanship that only a 3 chick to 1 guy dynamic could produce. We made the effort to tone it down once we realized just how profoundly wasteful it was to snort a '99 out of ones nose...

My place next time...