A fresh truffle.Credit: Anthony Dennis
A French cuisine staple sniffed out by pigs is a hot-ticket produce in Australia — only we use dogs, writes Anthony Dennis.
There is the Hound of the Baskervilles and then there is the Mutt of Manjimup. The latter may be an unkind way to describe an adorable, mellow golden labrador called Zita, who, on a chilly morning in the south-west of Western Australia is indulging in some Sherlock Holmes-style doggy detective work of her own.
Zita, you see, is a truffle dog, charged with sniffing out one of Australia's most valuable and nascent agricultural exports. Here, in the winter months, when the light is delicate and dappled, with a bracing breeze whipping across from a nearby dam, a stroll through these groves can, at a pinch, feel like you've been transported to rural France.
Black diamonds: Zita the labrador on the hunt.Credit: Anthony Dennis
All that's needed to complete the Gallic illusion is for some beret-wearing farmer, baguette shoved under his arm, perhaps accompanied by a truffle-sniffing pig, to emerge from behind a tree. Truffle dogs (pigs are not used in Australia) like Zita are unleashed between the neat rows of more than 13,000 hazelnut and oak groves of the trufferie at the Wine & Truffle Co. here in Manjimup in Western Australia's attractive south-west corner, not so far from the famed vineyards of Margaret River.
As for the truffles themselves, these pungent-smelling, unfortunately poo-shaped mushrooms grow on the roots of hazelnut and oak trees infected with truffle spores imported from France. Zita's work, and that of a team of other canines, is vital to the success of the Wine & Truffle Co. with nearly three-quarters of the black truffles produced in Australia coming from Manjimup.
The Wine & Truffle Co. is the largest producer of superior Perigord truffles in the southern hemisphere. Truffles of the quality uncovered here can sell for $2500 a kilogram, with the arrival of fresh truffles in the kitchen of fine dining restaurants around the world causing grown chefs, even with the giddy price-tag, to quiver with the excitement usually reserved for children receiving Christmas gifts.
The Wine & Truffle Co.'s trufferie claims to be one of the few in the world that allows visitors to participate in a guided truffle hunt employing dogs trained to locate the coveted superior black Perigord truffles. After the truffle hunt guests retire to the property's cellar door for a truffle and wine tasting and, if they choose, a truffle-infused meal at the cafe.
However, any revenue from tourism is a bonus, with the company now exporting to more than 25 countries, including France, which sources Australian truffles in the off-season European summer, and Asia, where the demand has grown dramatically.
That said, the interest in truffles in this corner of Western Australia and beyond is enough to justify one of the biggest events on the admittedly not crowded Manjimup winter calendar. The town's annual Truffle Kerfuffle is already attracting international interest, with the event last year attracting chefs from interstate and overseas.
Back in the groves, Zita is so excited - apparently due to the presence of so many truffles on average 30 centimetres below the ground, and due to the company of the pat-happy humans on the tour - that her master has to restrain her.
The French, ever the traditionalists, still use pigs to sniff out truffles. A good truffle dog can sniff out a truffle from as far away as 50 metres. On the day of my truffle hunt, Zita's master is Adrian Mielke, a professional "freelance truffle-hunter", whose job it is to guide his dog around the groves. From Mielke's trousers hang multi-coloured ribbons that he attaches to the disturbed turf where Zita has located a truffle. A small team of harvesters then come and carefully dig them up and bag them.
Harvested truffles are then taken to a shed where they're graded by hand, then vacuum-packed to be dispatched to customers. And, just as the high-minded French resented the introduction of technology to the production of wine by new-world markets such as Australia, so too are they likely to be aghast by the science that antipodeans are introducing into truffle cultivation.
"It's an industry fraught with artisanal attitudes," says Nigel Thomas, one of the Perth-based directors of the Wine & Truffle Co. "But [truffle production] lends itself to science. A lot of people don't want science to intrude or believe it's applicable."
But Thomas says experimentation can help reduce the amount of rot, one of the scourges of the industry that dramatically reduces harvests. Yet something must be working for these black diamond-hunting Sandgropers. The Wine & Truffle Co. is expecting a bumper season this winter. Indeed, a record harvest is predicted with as much as 3000 kilograms of truffles expected to be sold, which is going to require a lot of detective work by Zita and the other Mutts of Manjimup.
Anthony Dennis was a guest of the Wine & Truffle Co.
FAST FACTS
Getting there Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger all operate regular daily flights to Perth from Sydney and Melbourne. Manjimup is 307 kilometres south of Perth though a trip to the town can easily be combined with an extended visit to the Margaret River wine-making region, about a two-hour drive away.
Staying there Being quite a small town, Manjimup has a limited choice of places to stay including some bed-and-breakfasts and self-contained accommodation. The best accommodation closest to Manjimup (about a 20-minute drive) and en route from Margaret River is the rustic Karri Valley Resort, near Pemberton. Rates for a Lakeside Room for two start from about $212. See karrivalleyresort.com.au.
Touring there During winter, the Wine & Truffle Co. conducts truffle hunt tours on Saturdays and Sundays at its Manjimup trufferie. The two-hour tours cost $60 an adult and $30 for children. Morning tours, including a three-course set-menu lunch, cost $110 an adult and $80 for children. Phone (08) 9777 2474, see wineandtruffle.com.au/truffle-hunts. Manjimup's annual Truffle Kerfuffle event will be held on Saturday, June 22. See trufflekerfuffle.com.au.
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