Yarra Valley Bloody Shiraz Pearls

Salmon roe infused with Shiraz, which turns the pearls a deep ruby red and gives them a glossy wine sheen. It is a genuinely unusual thing to put on a plate, and the colour alone does most of the work.

The wine does more than colour it. There is blackcurrant and mulberry fruit up front, the classic marine salinity of roe in the middle, and a faint vanilla and oak note at the back from the wine itself. On the palate the pearls burst with the fruit and the savouriness arriving together, and the berry note carries on after the rest has gone.

Why Choose It?

• Deep ruby red: the colour comes from the wine, not from dye.
• Fruit and salinity together: berry aromatics over the roe's own savoury edge.
• A long finish: the berry note stays after the salt has gone.
• It changes a plate: there is very little else that looks like it.
• Ready to use: spoon it on, nothing else needed.

How To Use It:

• On a seafood platter: where the colour does the most.
• With cheese: particularly a soft washed rind or a fresh goat's cheese.
• On a canapé: blinis, crème fraîche, or cucumber.
• Beside steak or duck: the wine character bridges to red meat surprisingly well.

The One Rule:
Never heat it and never let it sit warm. Heat collapses the pearls into paste, and the burst is the entire reason to buy them. Spoon them onto a finished dish, not into a hot pan.

Storage:
Keep refrigerated. Once opened, eat within a couple of days. Do not freeze.

Allergen:
Contains fish.

Roe the colour of a good Shiraz. Order now.