NEW DIRECTION

Mike Bennie's legendary picks for the annual delicious. Christmas party are shifting focus and we can't wait to raise our glasses.

EVERY YEAR THE team celebrates the festive season with a seriously good party. Not to brag, but when you’ve got a roster of incredible chefs the scope is amazing. Along with the all-star food team, John Susman of Fishtales spreads around astoundingly good seafood, while Anthony Puharich of Vic’s Meats, and Mitch Edwards at PorkStars supply the choicest cuts for the upmarket barbecue. It’s a serious shindig. I do the drinks, which comes with equal parts joy and trepidation for guests. My enthusiasm for the new and unusual can go either way. I have to bring my A-game. Four years ago I rolled in with native botanical shrubs and tried to wow everyone with ‘Aussie spritz cocktails’. They went down pretty well but I nearly flooded the bathroom with ice slurries. Three years ago I figured everyone wanted orange wine and rosé made from obscure grape varieties. Sure, there wasn't a lot of variety, but the styles are foodfriendly. But Colin Fassnidge yelling, "Make me a proper drink, mate!" while he was turning snags is etched into my memory. Last year was all about pet nats and wild fermented beers. An array of fermented sparkling wines, from pale yellow through to dark red, appeared. Alongside, Produce Award-winning Wildflower beers emerged. Capturing the zeitgeist like a lighting bolt in a mason jar, the drinks sure did fly. This year there'll be high-quality but affordable Australian sparkling wines so we can splash things like cassis and Australian ‘Campari’ into them. Alongside, I’ll be bringing, tangy, tart and thirstquenching fruit beers, where local brewers use seasonal produce to spike light, more bitter styles to enhance drinking palates. There’s going to be summery whites. Pure, clean, joyous things that require little attention but marry superbly with seafood, and chilled light red wines for Colin and his barbie. This year is about embracing a breadth of wines and drinks that are done better, but simply.