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Exclusive Penfolds Grange wine tasting
Penfolds sources grapes from vineyards right across Australia, the fruit provides the winemaking team with a rich palette of color, aroma and texture
By: Mary Gostelow
Marlon Abela (photo), 34-year old restaurateur with a mission, only goes for the best: in London, he recently hosted a tasting of the exclusive Penfolds Grange wines.
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Marlon Abela, London restaurateur, shared bottles from his personal collection of Penfolds Grange - an extraordinarily rare collection that has been 12 years in the making - at an exclusive tasting dinner held October 2nd, 2008, at his Michelin-starred Greenhouse Restaurant, London.
The vertical tasting welcomed as special guest Penfolds' renowned winemaker Peter Gago, who provided expert commentary at the tasting of over 20 Grange vintages from 1955 through to 2002.
It was quite possibly the first time in Penfolds’ history that a Grange vertical tasting of this magnitude has ever been held in the UK, let alone the whole of Europe, by a private collector. Marlon Abela was eager to share his collection. “I feel privileged to have had these wines in my cellar. They are simply phenomenal, and have showed such tremendous consistency over the last 60 years. I was looking forward to welcoming Peter Gago, and exploring these incredibly rare and extraordinary wines with him and others who share my passion,” he said at the time.
The two-decade tasting began with vintages 1955, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1967, followed by 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1978, with the second half of the tasting exploring vintages 1982, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, concluding with 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002.
Afterwards, connoisseur and renowned food and wine specialist Patrick Willis, COO of Marlon Abela's MARC restaurant group, said that the whole evening was 'mind-blowing', but his favorite years among the wines tasted were the 1955, 1962, 1965, 1971, 1983, 1990, 1998 and 2001.
To celebrate the opening of these rare bottles, The Greenhouse has now released on to its general wine list vintages 1997, 1999 and 2003. The Greenhouse now therefore has over 35 vintages of Penfolds Grange and Grange Hermitage available on the wine list, ranging from
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the 1961 to 1996, and is regarded to be one of the only restaurants in London with such an esteemed collection. The Greenhouse Executive Chef is Lyon-born Antonin Bonnet, who trained under Michel Bras: the restaurant's Sommelier is Benoit Allauzen and Maitre d' is Jean-Marie Miorada. On an ordinary night - though of course every night is EXTRAordinary here - the menus include all-vegetarian, exciting å la carte and a tasting menu, say Devon spider crab and salmon parfait; Diver-caught Scottish scallop; Pan-fried foie gras with Solliès figs, Wild turbot with chioggia beetroot; Anjou pigeon with wild rocket; Pineapple sorbet; Chocolate and toffee tart.
Yes, Greenhouse owner Marlon Abela and his COO Patrick Willis are both fanatical about fine food and wine. Abela's passion was instilled and nurtured by his late father Albert Abela, who taught his son the fine art of tasting, and the science of collecting. From a young age Marlon developed a most sophisticated palate, and it wouldn’t be too much longer before he would turn this skill into a business. In 1996 that Marlon began his professional collection, employing a small team, MARC Fine Wines, to manage the expanding inventory.
As the collection grew, so did Marlon’s desire to share parts of it with the rest of the world. MARC Fine Wines now is a prominent fine wine merchant in the UK, supplying to many London restaurants including MARC’s own Umu, Morton’s Club and The Greenhouse, which currently has a 3200-bin list and which has been, since 2005, the recipient of Wine Spectator’s Grand Award. MARC Fine Wines’ team of experts manage and engineer the stellar lists at all the MARC establishments, precisely selecting which wines are at their prime for drinking and therefore ready for release on to the lists, www.marcrestaurants.com.
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