Fast Five

David Collins of Charred Kitchen & Bar on five of his most significant wines

Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Hunter Semillon

I was introduced to this wine at Sydney’s Aria Restaurant, which was my first experience of a hatted restaurant and also the first time I’d tried a food and wine matching degustation. I remember being blown away by the dish it was paired with, presented by sommelier Matt Dunne. It changed my concept of just how wonderful wine can be with food. I was already into wine at that point, but I didn’t really understand it in the context of food. That kick-started my interest in the relationship between the two, and helped me better understand the role of the sommelier in a restaurant.

Bloodwood Schubert Orange Chardonnay

This was my first encounter with the Orange region. Although I grew up in northern NSW, I didn’t know a lot about Orange except that it was known for apples. I came across this chardonnay while developing the wine list for a hotel and, at that time, knew nothing about the region’s wine. I was so impressed, it remains on my list and I offer examples a decade or more in age. Bloodwood is a regional pioneer, responsible for setting up the first commercial vineyards. Their chardonnays have good integration of oak and allow the fruit development to shine.

Penfolds St Henri Shiraz

Up until this wine, I had always drunk Penfolds quite young, so I didn’t really understand its power. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the 1967 vintage of this wine and I was just amazed that it was still developing in the bottle at 48 years of age. I remember thinking it was made before man landed on the moon, yet it was still drinking so beautifully. It had all those lovely savoury characters such as tobacco and leather, though it doesn’t have any new oak influence. I had this wine to celebrate finishing one of my sommelier programs in Sydney, together with a few other people from the course.

Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1

Sarah Crowe is one of my heroes of the industry for the balance she achieves in her wines – this Bordeaux-style blend is amazingly harmonious. I never really gave the Yarra Valley much thought prior to this wine, which probably sounds ridiculous, but I was always focused on NSW and South Australia. This was the wine that ‘broke’ Victoria for me and I now have verticals of Yarra Yering wines on the Charred list. This wine was gifted to me by a fellow sommelier when I got my first job. She was always trying to convince me about Yarra Valley wines and I didn’t listen, but when I tried this wine, I had to eat humble pie.

Best’s Old Vine Pinot Meunier

I was fortunate to attend a tasting as part of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants tour, which included a cool selection of wines from producers such as Ten Minutes by Tractor and Henschke, but for me, this wine won the day. They were pouring the ’91 and ’92 vintages, made using fruit from vines planted in 1868, and those were my highlights – really nice red fruit, a little bit of spice, some earthy, savoury notes... just amazing wine. I’d written off pinot meunier as only being suitable for sparkling until I tried it. As a result, I try to hunt them down wherever I can – I scour the back ends of bottle shops and online for those wines.