News

Nick Zema was in his last year of high school when one night, as he did his homework, his father came into his room and told him to pack his books away.

“We’ve just bought a vineyard,” said Demetrio Zema. “I’ve been to see your headmaster to say you’re not coming back. We start picking in the morning.”

And so the Zema Estate story began and a long-held dream finally took root in red-dirt reality. The connection with wine stretched across generations and hemispheres. Demetrio’s great grandfather had opened the first wine bar in the ancestral village back in Calabria in 1835 and wine has flowed freely through Zema veins ever since. But it was love that transferred this vinous tale to Coonawarra. Shortly after Demetrio and Francesca Zema were engaged, Francesca’s family emigrated to South Australia and her father began working in the vineyards at Wynns with the understanding Francesca would return to Italy for the wedding once they were settled.

Demetrio Zema may be many things but patient isn’t one of them, so, tired of waiting for Francesca’s return, he set out for the other side of the world to meet his bride. Fifty-two years, two sons and thirty vintages later, Demetrio and Francesca are still here and the Zema name has become synonymous with Coonawarrra.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

I write this while listening to the news about the flood devastation throughout Queensland, Northern NSW and Victoria, and I think about all the families affected. Almost everyone knows someone who has experienced loss in this terrible event.

Whilst the impacts are devastating and the loss of life unfathomable, I can’t help but think of the resilient spirit of Australians and how no matter what, we seem to bounce back quickly and efficiently. It is the family spirit and, in some cases, sheer stubbornness, which as wine drinkers we can thank for keeping our industry interesting, our glasses full and our minds lubricated while we solve the problems of the world late into the evening. Without family wine names such as McWilliam’s, De Bortoli, Brown, Miranda, Cassegrain, Tulloch, Tyrrell’s, Drayton’s, etc. wine in Australia would be pretty dull.

Quite some time ago, the Australian Wine Industry started to become corporatised. It was seen by the suits as a place to make fast money and subsequently family brands started to be taken over by corporates…. For a while things went well for them, but unfortunately the wine industry was just too close to farming for the corporate juggernaut to get it right.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

Break out the fairy bread, cupcakes and cordial – it’s our tenth birthday! But while most 10-year-olds have a lot of growing up to do, Selector magazine has matured into a sophisticated publication with an enviable swag of awards.

As part of our celebrations, we decided to take a look at our amazing journey: how Selector started, where it came from, how it progressed to where it is and where it is headed.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

It is nearing four in the afternoon and Guy Grossi walks into his Florentino restaurant kitchen, which is bustling with staff busily preparing produce for another night of capacity trade.

“Boun Giorno!” sings Guy at the top of his voice. “Boun Giorno” reply his staff in chorus, without missing a cut, chop or slice of their work. This is the way it’s done in a Guy Grossi kitchen.

As a restaurateur there are few who can equal Grossi. He owns one of Melbourne’s most iconic restaurants in Grossi Florentino, which has been serving up Italian fare in its Bourke Street locale for over 75 years. In addition, he owns the historic Mirka at Tolarno Hotel, Grossi Trattoria in Bangkok, and he recently opened Merchant at the Rialto Intercontinental in Collins Street. Not bad for a lad who never wanted to be a chef. But with both his Italian-born parents working as chefs, it was destiny.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, Italy’s best-known red grape varieties, are relative newcomers on the Australian wine scene. Tiny patches of Italian varieties have been grown here since the very early years of viticultural settlement. The Dolcetto vines at Best’s Great Western date back to the 19th century, for example, and Sydney surgeon/winegrower Thomas Fiaschi planted the rare Aleatico grape in Mudgee in the 1920s.

But Tuscany’s Sangiovese and Piedmont’s Nebbiolo didn’t arrive here until late in the 20th century. Its pioneers were Carlo Corino at Montrose in Mudgee, Mark Lloyd at Coriole in McLaren Vale, and the Brown Brothers in Victoria’s King Valley.

I have been monitoring the progress of these Italian varieties in Australia for almost 20 years. I first tasted Australia’s fledgling Sangioveses and Nebbiolos in 1993 when I was working for the now-defunct Melbourne wine and food magazine Divine. We managed to find around a dozen examples of Australian-grown Italian varieties for a tasting (a mini State of Play, if you like) – including the first Pinot Grigios from T’Gallant on the Mornington Peninsula and a Dolcetto under Garry Crittenden’s (also now-defunct) Schinus label. I remember being particularly impressed by Coriole’s Sangiovese.

That tasting made me wonder why more Italian varieties weren’t grown in Australia – why local vignerons were so wedded to the so-called ‘classic’ French varieties such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. After all, Italy’s warmer Mediterranean climate is far more similar to many Australian grape-growing districts than chilly northern French regions such as Burgundy.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

There’s a handful of celebrities who go by one name only – Madonna, Bono, Sting – all of them members of the seriously A-list. You can add to that list someone who isn’t often seen at movie premieres or the opening of the latest LA nightclub: Nobu.

The chef, whose full name is Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, is famous for many reasons. He has 24 restaurants in all corners of the world bearing his name. His business partner, Robert de Niro, is one of the most heralded actors of his generation.But more than any of that, Nobu is credited with bringing sushi to the world.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

There are literally hundreds of pintxo bars in San Sebastian’s ‘Parte Vieja’ or Old Town and pintxo bar hopping, or ‘txikiteo’, is a weekly ritual for locals. The key to a successful night is to keep on the move and not expect a seat, especially on weekends. Some pintxo bars are definitely better and more popular than others, so are generally more crowded. These are the ones that have good wine lists and great food, so are worth the wait.

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!

Question: Most of our wine-matching education has been around meat and seafood. With a vegetarian joining the family, we’re struggling to get reoriented. Do we use familiar criteria like the robustness of the dish, the f lavours/spices/sauces and apply them to the vegetarian mealbefore choosing the wine? Or are there different principles for wine matching with vegetarian dishes? Lynne Tacy, Garran, ACT

Answer: Welcome the wine-drinking vegetarians!

Matching wines to vegetarian dishes should be no different than for non-vegetarian.

You are correct to assume that familiar criteria such as those you have mentioned should be used to choose an appropriate match, as the principles are the same. For example...

To read the rest of this article, pick up a copy of Selector magazine at your local newsstand or subscribe now to receive FREE wine! Plus we’re excited to announce the imminent launch of the Selector website so watch this space!