I admit that my answer to a well-meaning colleague’s question about why I was flying to the southern New Zealand city of Queenstown was a trifle glib: “I flying over for a champagne dinner.”
Look, the answer was partially true. My main reason for going was to attend a five-course dinner at the Rees Hotel, probably the city’s best address, with each course accompanied by a different Taittinger bubbly.
I just omitted to mention that I was also going to luxuriate in the comfort of the Rees, take a ride in a century-old steam-powered ferry, and fly by helicopter over snow-clad peaks to land — damn the torpedoes — on a glacier, and that I was also getting a first-hand look at the work of a very young Corey Hume, a former culinary Olympian who had only just replaced a very experienced hand as the hotel’s Executive Chef.
Corey Hume: a significant young talent.
And, in fact, counting the pre-dinner drinks with the delicious nibbles, there six Taittingers to try, all expertly introduced by Doug Campbell, head of local distributor, Vintners: the Taittinger Prestige Cuvee NV, followed by Taittinger Les Folies NV, the Taittinger Prelude NV, the Taittinger Vintage 2012, the Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blanc 2006 and theTaittinger Prestige Rose NV.
They were all markedly different and beautifully matched to Corey’s excellently thought-out and prepared dishes.
And he saved the best till last — a knock-out dessert of a white-chocolate shell filled with citrus-and-mint ‘marmalade’ and housed inside a real lemon and balanced on a marzipan ‘coin’.
Lemon inspiration: Took three days to make.
It took Corey three days to make. And minutes to eat, minutes that were worth every second of preparation time.
And how did a stay at the Rees stand up? Let’s just say that the hotel’s lakeside position, its outlook over The Remarkables, its standard of comfort and amenity, and the quality of food and beverage in its restaraunt, True South, are all impeccable.
And that’s not just payback for a memorable trip and dinner. It’s all quite true. And, by the way, Corey is worth bottling. He’s very good.
A bucket of bubbles: one of six Taittingers served.
I have just one complaint — being woken early in the morning by a loud ‘knock’ at the door and having the apparition of a lusty wench disappeat into the ether.
Alas, I was forced to return to bed alone.
And if you must draw a moral this: it’s that even the finest wine can’t fulfil its promise.
Part of the Rees serving team: Edward Johnson (True South restaurant manager) and Kathryn Day (F&B Team Leader).
Written by JOHN ROZENTALS
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