Bites

Champagne appreciation has reached lofty heights in Perth, with the opening of Must Winebar’s Champagne Lounge proving bubbles are in demand. The exclusive 16-person room in Must’s renovated roof space offers arguably the largest list of its kind in WA with more than 100 different champagnes on offer.

A noteworthy inclusion to the Champagne Lounge’s fashionable fridge is a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon Rose ($860). There is also a range of Krug Grande Cuvee NV regular (750ml, $385), magnum (1.5 litres, $849) and if you are very thirsty, jeroboam (three litres, $2,000). The room sits 16 guests for dinner and 32 for stand-up functions. A special menu, ‘Food Built for Fizz’, is offered in the Champagne Lounge only. The lounge is somewhat exclusive, so bookings are recommended.

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Burswood Entertainment Complex second-year apprentice chef Sam Carstairs has been awarded the title of ‘best apprentice 2007’ at the national cookery competition held last week in Sydney.

Lecturers from West Coast Tafe in Joondalup selected Mr Carstairs to represent Western Australia in the national competition. As national winner, Mr Carstairs will become part of the Australian national junior culinary team at the 2008 Culinary Olympics to be held in Germany where he will compete against other chefs and confectioners from all over the world.

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Mount Barker winery Xabregas Wines has won a gold medal at the 2007 New Zealand International Wine Show for its 2005 Xabregas Shiraz. With 2,155 entries, New Zealand’s International Wine Show is one of the largest held in the Southern Hemisphere. The estate also scooped several medals at the 2007 Perth Royal Wine Show with their 2007 Xabregas Unwooded Chardonnay, 2006 Xabregas Show Reserve Chardonnay, 2005 Xabregas Show Reserve Shiraz and the 2005 Xabregas Shiraz. Xabregas currently exports to New Zealand, the UK and China.