The Signature Style of Jock Zonfrillo

With his Rundle Street-based creative eatery, Orana, named the best restaurant in Australia by Gourmet Traveller last year, Jock Zonfrillo has gone from local star to international sensation… but his heart remains deeply embedded in the landscape of his new home.

A celebration of uniquely Australian flavours, Jock’s signature-style is about paying homage to locally foraged and sustainably sourced indigenous foods like lemon myrtle, native thyme and kangaroo.

The Orana Foundation, which Jock established in 2016 along with the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Government, focuses on researching, sourcing and developing a demand for native Australian food in a sustainable way, harnessing the history and ingenuity of indigenous Australians and their communities.

This food philosophy also ties in with Jock’s attitude toward wine matching, with his lists featuring predominately local Australian wines that speak to the earthy Australian flavours of his iconic dishes.

“There’s nothing more enjoyable for me than creating dishes to match with wine and vice versa - they’re good individually but better together,” he said.

“The ingredients we use and the flavours we create, they actually cry out for an Australian wine – fermented juice that’s been growing in the same soil as eucalypts, wattles and acacias.

“There is a distinct flavour difference between Australian wine and the rest of the world and that flavour naturally complements the food that we create.”

So, when it came to sourcing the perfect chef to help us celebrate the release of our 2014 The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz, Yalumba winemaker Kevin ‘KG’ Glastonbury said Jock was the obvious choice.

“Collaborating with Jock is an alignment of philosophies: Jock’s world of food is very much about sustainability and relating to the soil,” KG said.

“We are 168 years old because we have respected the fragile soils of the Barossa – we’re still here, still growing and still learning.”

Our sold-out event, The Signature Gala, featuring food from Jock Zonfrillo paired with Yalumba wine, will be held in The Signature Cellar at our winery in May.

It will be a celebration of a 50 year tradition of making The Signature Cabernet Sauvignon & Shiraz.

Jock has embraced the opportunity to create an exciting menu of fine food and wine matches based on sustainability and longevity, for this very special event.

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“When I think about a dinner, the location is key and there’s no better place to have a dinner like this than at historic Yalumba,” he said.

“When we create this dinner, we won’t be looking at food in isolation, just as much as we won’t be looking at wine in isolation.

“When you join the two together you end up with a richer, infinitely more engrossing story – that’s what it’s all about.”

If you would like to be the first to know about upcoming events at Yalumba, or in your city, sign up to the Yalumba Wine Club today.