Nicky Vs Jack: A dinner with Dave Franz at Little Blue for the BFW Wine Club Dinner
By Jack, aka The Saturday Man
After several months of planning, excitement, and more than a few bottles of VP Crazy Cab Shiraz Liqueur, the BFW Wine Club Dinner at Little Blue in St Kilda, featuring David “Franz” Lehmann, has come and gone.
On a cold winter's night at the end of the St Kilda pier (which seems to go forever after a few bottles of Dave's plonk in your gut), it was the scene of fifty people celebrating good food and good wine with the man our wine members have grown to love over the last couple of years. Dave’s passion for his product and the humour he displays both in his packaging and when speaking about his wines makes his wines taste even better (if that’s possible). You know where it has come from. You know what the inspiration was behind it. You know that someone has put a shit load of effort into making it – that’s the Dave Franz rubbing off on me.
Up until the Tuesday, we still had approximately 20 people on the waiting list for the event. Trav had gotten in early and monopolized a table of 9 for his birthday and his sheer weight of numbers paid off in the raffle later in the evening. Kon and his wife were the lucky ones to be drafted in on the day prior after we had two cancellations. Unfortunately for the others, we couldn’t go to the “bench” any more, as Little Blue was at its capacity.
We were greeted at the Kiosk (in front of the Little Blue restaurant) where I was surprised to see everyone on time – no doubt the temptation of Dave’s Long Gully Road Semillon and Eddie’s scallops with apple puree (cooked to perfection) on arrival was a rather large factor in this! As people started to introduce themselves, I couldn’t help but see Nicky staring intently into Dave’s eyes as he spoke to a group of members. This had been Nicky’s dream since the moment the 2009 Riesling had passed her lips. She was googly-eyed like a 15 year old at a Justine Bieber concert. This was her moment. Poor Brian aka Sunday Man tried to find another scallop. He knew he couldn’t compete.
Soon after the waiters with the scallops had begun to disappear, we were told to start telling the guests to move into the restaurant. I frantically searched for another glass of Semillon prior to going in, as I knew the brand new, Brothers Ilk Chardonnay was on its way, and once I had started drinking that I knew I couldn’t go back. Mass confusion soon took over as people start to take their seats. Some had misread the seating plan, others had not seen the seating plan, and others may have had a few too many glasses of Semillon to know that a seating plan existed. There was the classic “I’m only sitting here because someone else is sitting in my seat” that you get when you try to get a seat at the new Harry Potter movie on opening night. After some fuddling around, everyone was seated, the green tea cured ocean trout had been served, and the Brother’s Ilk Chardonnay was flowing. My table was in awe of this wine – “one of the best Chardonnays I have had in a long time”, said Rob. “This is how a Chardonnay should be”, said Old Pete.
It was time for introductions and Tyson tapped his glass with his knife for at least thirty seconds before the crew started to quiet down – clearly they were all having a good time. Tyson introduced the man of the moment, Dave Lehmann, aka Dave Franz, and he was greeted with a large round of applause. Dave then proceeded to lose the crowd with his admission that he was a Port Adelaide supporter. We had looked up to this guy. Now we just felt sorry for him. Nonetheless, he quickly won us back over with the fact that Melbourne was his second home, that he loved the place, and that he was very appreciative of being asked to host this dinner. People only need to look at a Dave Franz label to know what he is all about and to see his passion for his product. Perhaps the thing that stuck with me most was what he was told by his old man, the great Peter Lehmann, who told him to make the type of wine that you love and that you want to drink, because at the end of the day if you can’t sell it, your left with a shit load of wine to drink. He even dropped an f-bomb to show us all how different he is to the pretentiousness that has consumed our industry and given a lot of us a bad name. “What a bloody ripper bloke,” said old Pete next to me, “I’d love to have dinner with him”. Poor Old Pete didn’t realise that we were eating, it was evening, and that Dave was at the next table. Old Pete or Simple Pete? You decide.
The steak tartare was next, with the incredible 2006 Benjamin’s Promise Shiraz to compliment. Dave thanked Eddie, chef at Little Blue, for the effort to match the wine and the food, and the fact that it was done so well. I think we all agreed. Myself and Brian Sunday Man had to let our steak tartare go cold (Bad joke I know), while we went to sell raffle tickets. One prize was a degustation dinner for two at Little Blue and the other being a magnum of Dave’s 2002 Cellar Release Cabernet. All up, we were able to raise over $1000 for the Variety Club, mainly thanks to my superior selling techniques over the Sunday Man (not for the first time eh!?) . We got back to our seats, where we were rewarded with the red and the steak – superb combination of fruit and spice from the Shiraz was complimented perfectly to Eddie’s magical spices in the steak.
The Larakin III is one of my favourite wines of the last couple of years. It is a multi blend, multi vintage red that is perfect for food or just to sip away. When it came out with the lamb main course, I got excited. The other thing I love about this wine is that it is a tribute to Dave’s late dog that died from eating a brown snake. As a dog lover myself, I think the label of he and his dog is great. The 36hr cooked lamb, with kipfler potatoes and a nicely acidic pomegranate salad was everything that I thought it would be and more. I say more, because the food just kept coming. My eyes have always been bigger than my stomach, and I knew then that I would pay for eating so much. Nonetheless, it truly was a superb main and Tony and I certainly tried our best to get through all of it. Eddie spoke about his love of food and fresh produce and the entire group was certainly very proud to have tried his impressive menu. He had done a wonderful job and Dave was kind enough to give him a big thank you also.
By this time, Old Pete had become Pissed Pete, AK had become Mr Smooth, The Sunday Man had become the Shiraz Man, and Nicky was still gazing into Dave’s eyes. I was, of course, the saint that everyone knows and loves, and was certainly not trying to kiss Dave Franz at any point. I would like to set the record straight (and my sexuality) by saying that I love my wife and a damn good Riesling is not enough to sway me. Yet. Ian seemed to be agitated on the next table. I didn’t know why but it soon became clear that it was because his favourite VP Crazy Cab Shiraz Liqueur was on its way with the cheese board and muscadelle. It was no surprise that after a little while he had migrated onto my table and was drinking our table out of the stuff also.
After a truly superb evening, people started to filter out with boxes of wine underneath their arms, after Dave had very generously offered special prices for the evening that most snapped up. I checked my watch and saw that it was 1230am. Four questions ran through my head:
- Where had the last 5hrs gone!?
- How was I going to work in the morning!?
- How was I going to get Pissed Pete down the pier to a cab!?
- Had I really tried to kiss Dave Franz!?
The answers:
- Drinking damn good wine, eating damn good food, with damn good company, aka living the dream
- I didn’t.
- He fell half way along the pier, was sprawled out on the floor, and I had to carry him.
- I don’t kiss and tell.
Many thanks to all those who came and were part of a magnificent evening. Many thanks to Eddie for the food, to Dave for coming over and for the superb wine, and of course, to Tyson for having the vision and patience to put an evening like that together.
Can’t wait for the next one!
Jack, aka The Saturday Man