If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Marco Cirillo of Cirillo wines, Grenache impresario and the Barossa's only Italian Stallion, then you haven't met one of the best 'heart of gold' blokes who pepper our vinous landscape. Humble, fun loving, dedicated to his winemaking cause, focussed yet unswervingly generous with time and energy, Marco is the kind of man you wan't in your corner... especially when it comes to smallgoods.
Marco comes from over 600 years of smallgoods making. No mean feat considering that Australia was only over run by immigrants some 220 years or so ago. The secret of the Cirillo family meats was brought to our fair shores from Marco's forebears and it pays heed to note that what Marco doesn't know about smallgoods, isn't worth knowing.
Marco came in as a WISS interloper; haranguing the judges, eyeing off his competition, interrupting me speaking (the worst crime), but in the end was possibly the most important part of our WISS day aside the actual entries - the beefeater. Marco managed to eyeball, sniff, squeeze and dissect every piece of meat ensuring our health, well being and anal integrity was kept intact. He knew when meat was turning, he knew when it was underprepared, he even gave a diatribe on curing methods from the Roman era using a paper cup and a toothpick. Marco knew everything, was beyond helpful, stewarded all meat, ran beers and, invaluably, brought his 'cure-all' homemade limoncello to steady our guts.
Marco also brought with him two entries that fit no genre of our dinky competition - a 6-year-old ham and a Cirillo speck. Spectacular meats - the 6-year-old ham with the texture of soft yet pliantly chewy cheddar and aromas that ran from camembert to intense, gamey pork. Like nothing else and simply stunning; plus an insight into the Cirillo family's long history of smallgoods-ing. The speck was insanely concentrated pigginess, but, as meat chewing gum goes, superb. I wished we had some dough and a pizza oven.
Anyways, a humongous thanks to Marco... and by all means neck one of his range of craggy old-vine grenache wines when you next spy a bottle. A worthy drank for some meats. Or in general.
...what a bunch of legends. But more specifically, Mel, who runs the joint. A superb location on the escarpment above Tanunda, the Artisans of the Barossa houses a collective of 'like-minded' small batch producers who get off on sub-regional winemaking. Anyways, the cellar door is a stunner - floor to ballistically high ceilings with views cascading down over a vineyard or three, the bright, alfresco tasting room and private spaces aside, Mel let us run WISS all day Friday commandeering her staff, her kitchen, her private tasting room and a few buckets to slag unworthy meat in. Oh the humanity!
No way we could have pulled WISS off without the help of Mel and the Artisans of the Barossa cellar door team, thank you so much for hosting our event, thank you for putting up with us, thanks for going above and beyond. We salute you.
View from interior of cellar door. Winsor spitbucket doubles as pissoir
Ok. So this is the one you have all been waiting for. The best. The tastiest. The sexiest. The one you want to stash in your pants and show off to friends. The greatest flavour, the best excuse for killing an animal, the ultimate moment in death of small, kind, loveable farmyard friends...
RAVENSWORTH 'COUNTRY HAM' vs DEBORTOLI 'HARRY'S HOT STICK'
A very tough call here for the judges... The Country Ham was subtle, fine, filigreed and elegant to the Hot Stick's brashness, complexity, amazing flavour and seductive spice.
In the end. The best meat won... (3 judges to 1 judge)
THE BEST SMALLGOOD IN THE AUSTRALIAN WINE INDUSTRY FOR WISS 2011 IS...
DEBORTOLI HARRY'S HOT STICK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winner of WISS 2011 - De Bortoli Harry's Hot Stick
THANKS TO ALL WHO ENTERED - WATCH OUT FOR WISS 2012 DETAILS, COMING SO SOON THAT IT WILL MAKE YOUR GUTS SPIN...
It's big. It's juicy. It's huge. It makes you swoon and gag and cower. Cross your legs and padlock the chastity belt. We have the winner of the biggest, the thickest, the meatiest. The girth will make you think twice about asking that random stranger home...
And here it is.
Adults only...
The winner of the Dirk Diggler/John Holmes Memorial Trophy for sausage with most girth and width (and length and weighing in at a whopping 1.25kg)...
Moondarra Bresaola!!
Congratulations to Neil Prentice!
It was actually one of the best Air Dried meats we tried. Superb. Made from Neil's own Wagyu cattle..
Sadly, there has to be one. Yes. The most rancid, vile, gut twisting, running for crapper, dry wretch moment of the WISS show. Sure, the producer put their heart, soul and feet into their smallgoods, but on the day... the gear looked, well, vomitous...
It's green, through and through. The colour of moss, verdant pastures and your Grandma's dunny...
Wow. Some great sausage happening here. Very, very good entries. A touch of gut throb and a little instantaneous gout, but a complex bracket to judge. We went through the lot in two brackets with the following results:
Class comments -
Again a very great level of respect for the traditional nature of smallgoods making. Few imposed their ego on the making process - many have made salami to match their wine. The caveat is These Smallgoods Scream Out For Wine. Fermenting smallgoods is a dark art that involves billions of microbes to creare rhe lactic ferment required to reduce the ph to make stable products. many entries didn't have their head around this entirely, the results, had we swallowed them could have killed us. However, the top smallgoods showed true artisan craftsmanship. RC
Overall a very good class though some skanky units that needed cleaning up. Again I think some stuff needed more hangtime and curing, but ones came to the top were complex and balanced with intensity of flavour and aroma, as you would expect from a good wine. DB
This class is my smallgoods sweet spot; some really lovely pig sweet, complex, deliciously long and rounded salami styles. I reiterate comments on hangtime, a couple of them would be more interesting in a month or two but not right now. As far as a sausage fest goes, that was a good one. NR
Firstly, pay heed - a meat spit bucket is fuckin' wrong. Luckily the stuff on the plates was so right. An amazing array of very finely made meat goods; incredible range of spice driven, pig driven, oinking good times. I appreciated the more intense styles of sausage; some extremists have left a heady imprint on some of their wares. Across the board great quality and an excitement in interpreting various 'terroirs'. MB
Bracket One Winners -
New Generation Wog Council 'Hot' Salami - Nicely textured, complete and composed. Bit of kick here, not blowing heads off but a mid palate burn nonetheless.
Casella Yellowtail Sausage - Sweet perfume, neat pepper, very intense flavour, enjoying the handcut shape here, soft texture, lovely spice throughout, finishes with great length and spice. Super stuff.
First Drop Salami - meaty, leathery, savoury spice and sweet animal meat, touch of capsicum or paprika, herbal notes, bergamot, pine needles, very fresh and peppery.
David Franz 'Fat Boy Sausage Calabrese' - very intense aromatics, minty almost, lifted fennel characters, peppery, menthol, lean and hot spice. Amazing intensity. Cornish says 'first sausage to make me really want to drink wine with it'. Hyper style.
Cirillo 'Calabrese Sausage' - Layers of intense aromatics and the same to taste, loads of flavour, rustic texture, sweet smoke, chilli, meaty, savoury. Superb.
Bracket Two Winners -
DeBortoli 'Harry's Hot Stick' - Great appearance, almost cheesy aromatics, awesome layers of flavour, richness, great spice intensity, slightly umami finish, amazing length, lingering spice, incredibly finish.
Syrahmi Salami - Very meaty with spice, winey characters and a lifted sweetness, great intensity of flavour, very long residual flavour, sweet flavour and well polished entry here.
Torzi Matthews Salami - Sweet peppers, chilli, capsicum and paprika in the bouquet. Palate has lots of layered flavour, sinewy texture, easy eating style that keeps you reaching back for the simple but attractive flavours.
and the winner came down to...
DeBortoli and Casella and Cirillo salamis...
But we only have one winner - the Salami Of The WISS goes to....
DeBortoli Harry's Hot Stick - a supreme entry that was eventually stolen by Judge Cornish to take back to his lair in Victoria.
DeBortoli sausage centre, empty Cirillo plate to left (eaten for posterity) and Casella sausage to right
Several ice blocks were administered to anus (or is that anii?) after the hottest salamis were mustered for the judging of the WISS Hottest Salami award. The final three were -
New Generation Wog Council 'Hot' Salami - Nicely textured, complete and composed. Bit of a kick here, not blowing heads off but a mid palate burn nonetheless.
Yarran Wines Leopard Wood Salami - Pepper over chilli spice. Intense, serious burn with front to back palate wall-to-wall fire. Still has great flavour, meatiness delivers good carriage for flames.
Tait Wines 'Filetto d'Prosciutto' - Judicious burn. Charry heat with low slow burn that grows, not shows. Uplifting and intense.
First up the meat has all been numbered for anonymity. Next up, the limoncello has been slugged down for protection. Then, spitoons/vomit buckets set aside for the tasting...
The first class to be judged is 'Air Dried'. Judge Cornish says 'so many pigs have died for this'.
Class comments:
For a spread of amateurs, there is a real dedication to tradition. Really respectful to the art itself. No one is taking the piss. - RC
Some could have done with more hang time. Overall very good - DB
Nothing I really recoiled from, some very impressive and interesting products there. Best of them had a supple meat sweetness, weren't over salty and singular. NR
Lots of variety of flavour, well made and well executed smallgoods. Some of the more subtly flavoured products were novel. No gut-churn. - MB
Results:
Third place - TAIT WINES 'FILETTO d'PROSCIUTTO' - A ring burner of the highest order, but takes length and sear to a new level. Great balance of spice in general.
Second place - FIRST DROP CAPOCOLLO - Great flavour here. The meat here never made the barf bucket. Long, umami twang in the finish. Complex flavours.
WINNER - RAVENSWORTH COUNTRY HAM - An extraordinary product that defied Maestro Cornish 'I've not seem similar' - a subtle, lightly coloured but definitively porky product with filigree of flavour. Remarkable for delicacy but complexity.
Things are really hotting up for the First Annual Premier Inaugural Number One Ever Wine Industry Smallgoods Smackdown... The final entries are trickling in to the Artisans of the Barossa cellar door in Tanunda, the Narcan shots have been packed, a course of antibiotics has been issued to all judges to fortify themselves against suspect meats. It's a cavalcade of excitement and intrigue culminating in a terrine of good times.
Meanwhile, the Sydney selection of meats has been carefully hidden in the false bottom of this cooler bag...
And for some of the more contraband salumi there is an additional concealment process.
Richard Cornish is taking no risks coming from Melbourne with his stash...
And of course Dave Brooke's has enlisted the Barossa militia to guard the Artisan's of the Barossa cellar door....
A late entry but very welcome is the meaty goodness prepared by Ben Gould from Blind Corner wines in Margaret River. Ole Benny boy does things a little differently with his home block wines; biodynamic principles, some ripasso and amarone-style action with his reds, fermenting on skins for his sauv blanc and decided that his chenin parcel could do with life as a sparkling. Noice. Meanwhile, he also has nice hair. Oh, and he decided at the 11th hour that he would enter WISS, which makes him heaps cooler.
See how the animal comes to pieces.
See how the animal is knifed and strung.
Animal, just hanging around. Nice shed.
Couple of snags. Sensitive new age girths. Magical sausages.
Ahh, and the beef and venison biltong! See how it dehydrates into beef chewing gum!
The flaming pit of hell. I mean, the biltong making thing.
After an enthusiastic conversation with John Casella, the lord of all things Casella and [yellowtail], an eager entry to the finest smallgoods competition in the known kingdom of Australian wine was hastily entered. Sadly, the first entry was lost by Australian post, but the second entry has arrived in one delicious piece. It's a solid endorsement on WISS that we have had such a big name entry, and one who commands such international attention. Thanks for joining in [yellowtail]ians.
We are please to have had contact with Casella headquarters for this competition...
So nice to see Adam Foster in all his cherubic glory at the ex-Randalls, now VC in Albert Park over the weekend past. Adam is known for his oompa loompa good looks and general nice guy demeanour, so tasting his wares was a joy. Geewhiz that sausage tasted good.
Here is Adam in full flight last weekend... note the salami in foreground...
It's been busy times at WISS headquarters. We've been hard at fine tuning the details for the competition, collating meat stuffs and even doing an interview with the Canberra Times about our intentions with winemaker meat. There's been some pre-judgement tasting sessions, including a run in with a dodgy Csabai and a spell in the toot longer than a Geoffrey Boycott innings. But we have to be made of stern stuff... therefore we've done some research into bacteria in sausages! Hey, salmonella can be fun!
Anyway, we've nailed down our final categories for judging. Here is the list as it stands...
Salami
Air Dried Products
Sausages
Cooked products
General smallgoods (terrines, blood puddings etc)
Most bucolic
Hottest salami
The Dirk Diggler/John Holmes Memorial Trophy for sausage with most girth and width
The salmonella award for worst smallgood of show
The trophy for Best Smallgood Of WISS (all categories in champions round)
Deep within the Jim Barry wines meat works lies some very sinister yet delicious things... I was lucky enough to be given an escorted tour through the facility to see how their WISS entries come together... These are the only surviving pictures after Barry security forces destroyed all evidence of my visit....
This is Princess Diana. Yes, it really is. Meanwhile, it is also the mother to all the crispy skinned, fatty bellied delicious younglings that are taken to pieces by the Barrys. She is pregnant again at the time of photo, gestating more BBQ pork for the ever-burning, roasting fires powered by the Barry family.
Atrocities happen here. Delicious atrocities. Note the cool, clinical feel to the butchery. A hook swings idly in the brisk, still air. A sluice bucket a reminder of butchery past. Chilling. Deliciously chilling.
Pete Barry and his 'friend'. His smile says it all...
The photographer thought this was the roasted pig's best angle... Reminiscent of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover: 'try the anus, we hear it's a delicacy'...
And to the WISS entries. Maturing for our tasting pleasures.
A big thanks for the hospitality at the Barry home!
We're pretty excited to be getting entries from all round Australia now. We thought the Capulet versus Montague of King Valley against Barossa might all get a little too much, but the WISS gear has been coming in from all over. Due to arrive shortly is the Yarran Wines submission all the way from Yenda in New South Wales. They breed their pigs as big as their vineyards down in the Riverina, so we're expecting some mighty entries from winemaker Sam Brewer and his pig mincing team.
Sam says his 'tribe of salami makers' comes from all over, with mates from Griffith to Sydney chipping in during the two day pig fiesta. Sam's butcher was met via a neighbour over the paddock fence - his name is Mumbly 'because that's what he does after a few ales', but Mumbly's butcher mate is 'just named plain old Hendo'. Just to get things straight...
Meanwhile, we've heard of centaurs, but we're not sure what kind of animal this is... Looks tasty though. Seems to be smiling too.
Riverina pigs walk themselves to their own slaughter
Nothing like a friend and family get together over bits of dead animal. Brings out the best in all of us.
Bits of pig, lots of bits of pig
After the pig is pulled apart into its various bits, it is reassembled into smaller, more interesting portions. Just like postmodernism.
Tooheys Extra Dry powers the meat handling
Then, a magician ties the sausages. Why is it when you put your earphone cables into a bag they always come out in inexplicable knots? So too sausages it seems.
Fella did good at scouts tying knots
Whoa! Look out Johnny Holmes! Packing some serious length and girth here.
WISS HQ received a quick email from Richard 'The Only Judge With Credibility' Cornish saying that his 'image was very important to his career' and supplied an actual photograph of himself rather than the likeness we posted earlier. His sombrero adds much needed gravitas too...
Cat Sharland has worked as a viticulturist at Arlewood in fits 'n' starts (and elsewhere) but has become an adopted member of the ruling Gosatti family. The ritual mincing of the pig was started by the father of current vigneron, Garry Gosatti and a mysteriously named 'Uncle Frankie' over 50 years ago and continues to this day. And while the pigs at Arlewood are pretty shit scared having seen the slaying and eating that goes on around the Arlewood Estate, tradition continues with a fiesta of pig that involves such traditional Italian activities as yelling at each other, gesticulating wildly, drinking home made wine even if they make nice wine in the winery and having Nona pinch your cheeks.
For WISS 2011 two types of sausages were produced. Allegedly. When questioned on the chopping, mincing and flavouring section of the production the secret ingredient was revealed by Garry as 'salt'. We wait with baited breath for the result of this magical inclusion. By all reports it seems there is a northern Italian salami sausage curing at the moment, along with a second snag that has beef in it for hitting the BBQs. Northern Italian music blares from speakers, according to Cat-the-insider, which allows for a noble death and reconstruction of the pig. According to Cat, 'Garry has agreed to this entry based on the fact that we may well win a gold sausage on a plinth'. There may be a few casualties from holding one's breath.
Let us gaze upon Arlewood's WISS making fiesta...
FBI profiling suggests this may be 'Uncle Frankie'
Using the 'Superman' to mince the meat - generational learning
