Function Report - Bruce County Motel

20th May 2003

“Blue Nun of course!” It’s Belfast, circa 1969, and Maureen Wheeler, travel guru and wine-lover, tastes vino for the first time.”, was the first sentence in an Epicure Uncorked, Winter 2003, article. By a strange coincidence, members of the Wine Services Guild who attended the Guild function at Bruce County Motel found it was not a case of “gold in them there hills”, but gold in one’s glass as we arrived at the dinner and tasting arranged by Bill Aquillina, Sales Manager (Victoria and Tasmania), National Liquor Company, on 20th May 2003. Bill had arranged for Peter Walker, and Ian Gibson to provide the wines to accompany the meal. Peter is responsible for relaunching the Blue Nun label into Australia, and Ian is the Chief Executive of Platypus Lane Wines from the Swan Valley in Western Australia.

The Blue Nun label was created in 1921 by H. Sichel Söhne. Some of us remember Blue Nun Liebfrauhmilch from the late sixties and early seventies, but it seemed to disappear. Sichel merged with Langguth in 1995 and Blue Nun was born again.

We were presented with Blue Nun Sparkling Gold, a cuvee of Riesling and Trebbiano, that contains 22 carat gold leaf, as we arrived. It was a most refreshing aperitif, and helped set the atmosphere for a really sociable occasion.

Our first food course consisted of either Beef Goulash Soup, or Asparagus Lasagne with fontina cheese and olive oil, accompanied by 2001 Platypus Lane Unwooded Chardonnay. The tasting notes for the chardonnay stated “Rich round palate displaying generous tropical fruit.” Ian gave a short dissertation on how he came into the wine industry, and his company. Following the chardonnay, we tasted some Blue Nun Qualitätswein Rheinhessen. I think the Germans put those funny punctuation marks within a word to test one’s sobriety! This is perhaps a tad dryer than one normally associates with a Rhein (or Rhine) wine, but was nevertheless most enjoyable.


The second course was a choice of Fresh Fish with a lime hollandaise sauce, or Loin of Lamb. The 2000 Platypus Lane Shiraz was appreciated by all, along with the food. The Shiraz was seen as being great value.

Our third course was a choice of Almond Meringues or a platter of Victorian cheese and greens. Blue Nun Eiswein Riesling really hit the spot, and was packaged in a most attractive bottle!

Our thanks go to the management and staff of the Bruce County Motel for providing an attractive venue, and great food and service for this function. Once again, we thank Bill Aquillina for facilitating another marvellous tasting for the Guild. We also thank Peter Walker and Ian Gibson for taking the time to display their wares for us.

Finally, we must not forget President Bob, who arranged for the function and acted as MC for the night.