Food, wine, music as well as olive groves all set to a banquet table between the trees. It’s as European as quick driving as well as sluggish soccer, however with the finesse of a top hunter Valley winery as well as the spirit of a festival. This is the Continent on our shores.
Whispering Brook – the sobriquet of the peaceful waterway that runs round the estate – is one of those unusual locations that blends culture as well as nuance so cleverly it’s simple to fail to remember precisely where you are.
One moment you’re in the hunter Valley, one of Australia’s finest white wine regions. one more moment, you’re in the Italian olive groves of Puglia or the Minho white wine region on northern Portugal.
And it’s all underpinned by a sense of downplayed quality.
Our video snapshot of Whispering Brook’s long table lunch.
We technique the somewhat whimsical somewhat fine-tuned cellar door – a lovely broad lumber homestead – down a large driveway between the grape vines.
Behind the cellar door, the yard opens out as well as a proffered glass of bright Provencal style rosé encourages us to stroll down to the olive groves beyond.
It’s astounding that only a few lawns from the gathering lunch crowd, the olive trees as well as views across the hunter supply such serenity.
A serenity that’s damaged by a unexpected crack; it’s the winery’s dog, Brook – a lovely Roadsend Australian Shepherd. She’s foraging for fallen olives, crunching the pits like they’re peanuts.
We comply with Brook back towards celebration while she ignores our entreaties to both fuss her as well as save her dentist bill.
Whispering Brook Olive long Table Lunch
From the lawn, where canapés are being served (rich wagyu tartare on peanut praline sourdough as well as housemade crumpets topped with smoked salmon roe, regional honey as well as sour cream), we discover our seats at the lunch table.
And what a table it is.
Between rows of tall olive trees, the table runs for some 50 metres, a white ribbon laid down between the blue leaves of the grove.
This lovely bucolic al fresco scene somehow produces a conflicting idea of low-key grandeur as well as what – under typical circumstances – would feel like ostentation.
Perhaps this is what makes Whispering Brook’s famous luncheon feel so European. So often, the method things are in Europe as well as the way of life that’s lived must feel pretentious or over the top. however from the context as well as in the spirit of exactly how it’s done – with heart, candour as well as generosity – it just feels right.
Soon, we’re all seated as well as that European vibe amps up further.
Olive oil, freshly pressed from this year’s harvest, adds a touch of gold to crusty bread, as well as slabs of yellow cultured butter topped with pepperberry as well as sea salt are scooped out as well as plied to the exact same sumptuous sourdough.
Plates show up of hiramasa kingfish with a macadamia satay, broccolini as well as lemon myrtle to remind us we’re still in Australia. on the other hand our glasses, charged with Whispering Brook’s Arinto as well as Touriga Nacional, take us to Portugal as well as back to Europe when again.
As the programs come out, lunch chatter as well as clinking glasses all however drown out the troubadour’s guitar. The branches of the olive grove above us accept the long table leaving the sun to shine down on the white fabric as well as shimmer off the white wine glasses.
It’s all we can do to farewell our holds in English as we leave this culinary odyssey of a Euro-stralian luncheon.
Arrivederci, Whispering Brook. Au revoir. Até logo. We’ll see you once again soon!
It’s a once-a-year thing
Whispering Brook have been running this terrific lunch annually for rather some time. however it occurs to coincide with the very first weekend of the hunter Valley white wine as well as Food Festival, which is an remarkable event you must absolutely inspect out.
To book your location at the Whispering Brook Olive long Table Luncheon, it’s a great concept to very first join their membership programme.
Apart from anything else (new white wine releases, news on olive seasons as well as ideally a lot more photos of their great woman Brook), you get very first notification of tickets to the lunch as well as special member rates.
We’ll see you there – the very first Saturday of June.
We went to Whispering Brook’s Olive long Table luncheon as media guests of hunter Valley white wine & tourism Association