March 5-9
Hi All,
Wow…..4 straight days of wine tasting….that is a first for us and darn well might be the last time…..we were in a wine coma, muy contente the whole time:))) But, wow, we feel like we have learned a LOT about Australian wines, and there are some darn good ones out here!!
Barossa: We went to Wolf Blass, Torbreck, Seppeltsfield, Rockford, Henschke, Peter Lehman, Hentley Farm, and then to Artisans of Barossa (represents 6 wineries). We liked them all, although different than Coonawarra, we did find a whole range of varietals (they sourced grapes from Adelaide Hills, Mclaren Vale, Eden and other regions) and therefore some wines we did not like. Our favorites were Henschke, Peter Lehman, Hentley Farm, and Schwartz (tasted at Artisans) followed by Wolf Blass, Rockford, and Torbreck. We did not go to Yalumba winery even though we like many of their wines as we heard they were not very “tasting” friendly….ugh!!!
Seppeltsfield mainly did fortified wines….called tawnys, not ports here in Australia, as Portugal has reclaimed their name….although they did make some regular wines that we did not like, but the tawny’s were outstanding!!
All the tastings were long…..1.5-2 hours each and the people were extremely friendly, very knowledgeable and once they knew our story wanted us to keep tasting and talking. We did a picnic the first day at Hentley Farms and the 2nd day had lunch at the Seppeltsfield restaurant. The service was lousy but the food excellent!!!
Clare Valley: not as well known of a region as all the others but we found a wow winery and some really, really excellent wines for half the prices elsewhere. We sort of lost track of what we shipped back to Mystic but I think Kathy will go crazy finding enough places to store it all:)))
Clare Valley is best known for its Riesling Trail and Kathy was in heaven. She had tasted a dry riesling from Mitchell at the Southern Ocean Lodge last week that she absolutely loved so Mitchell Winery was our first stop!!!
We also went to Mt Surmons, Paulett, Crabtree, Skillogalee, and the wow winery, Kilikanoon!! We had lunch at Paulett….great view, ok food. The second day we went to Kilikanoon as Mt Surmon had sold their vineyard to them and highly recommended them. Wow, what a find….Kathy loved the Rieslings and Semillion and I really, really liked their Shiraz and Cabernet!!! We found out that the Mitchell winery which was right next door and Kilikanoon were started by the Mitchell brothers (Mort and Andrew) in the 1970’s and both now have very successful wineries!!
We had lunch at Skillogalee and what a fitting end to our wine tasting!! Beautiful setting and lovely food!
So….that’s it for wine tasting….whaaaaa, but we’ve bought some great wines! We now head back to Mystic. About 1000 miles to go through a lot of “outback”, stopping overnight at Broken Hill and Cobar before getting to Mystic late Saturday March 12.
Stats:
Traveled:
Car miles: 100 miles to Barossa; 75 miles to Clare; 3200 miles total
Air miles: 1450 total
Train miles: 1600 total
Total traveled miles: 6250 miles
Wrong turns: 3 total
Kangaroo/”Roos”/Skippy count: 15 this leg; 310 total!!!
Skippy roadside warning signs: 4 this leg, 129 total
Koala count: 0 this leg; 49 total
Emu count: 0 this leg; 85 total
Echidna count: 0 this leg; 5 total
One Way bridges: 0 today; 19 total
Speeding Tickets: 0 today; 1 total
Hotel: Brinckinstal in Barossa; very nice, German couple ran the small boutique lodge, country breakfast and afternoon tea (we only made the tea once…too busy tasting wine!!)
Mt Surmons in Clare: best vineyard view yet; retired couple sold their vineyards and now are selling remaining wines and retiring/traveling…..delightful!!
Food: Seppeltsfield lunch: Kathy: Schu Am pork neck, Adelaide Hills oyster mushrooms, toasted buckwheat and savoy cabbage….we have never had a pork neck before and it was very delicious…they had cut the bone out…very moist, tasted more like a pork loin!!
Skillogalee lunch: Kathy: entrèe: prawns sautèed with garlic and cherry tomatoes
John: entrèe: figs wrapped with prosciutto stuffed with 3 cheeses…blue, gruyere, and goat….yummers!!
Mains: Kathy had fresh pasta with prawns et al and John had a pork loin et al….delicious!!
LIG!!!! Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
View from Blickinstal where we stayed….and yes we had quite a storm that night!!
Kathy enjoying sunset at our room at Blickinstal
Alpaca named Snooks at Blickinstal
Where’s the wine infused hay:)))
Kathy at Torbreck with The Woodcutter…..first tasted with Jim and Caz in Sydney!!!
Picnic at Hentley Farms
This was crush time and every winery was quite busy…this is Henchke winery
Kathy getting ready at Hecnhke….one of our favorites
A new type of glass cork/seal being used at Henchke…..they say it is better than a cork or screw top….of course, it takes a special bottle…$$$
Picture of the “Hill of Grace” vines…only 151 years old…..the bottle sells for USD700….no we did not taste:(((
Happy couple at Henchske Winery in Barossa Valley
Harvest time at Hentley Farms in Barossa Valley
Schu Am pork neck, Adelaide Hills oyster mushrooms, toasted buckwheat and savoy cabbage……lunch at Seppeltsfield
View of Barossa Valley
Look at that red soil
View from our room at Mt Surmon in Clare Valley
Mt Surmon…our room is off to the left by the car
Kangaroo in Mt Surmon vineyards
View from Paulett where we had lunch in Clare Valley
Mitchell Winery cellar door in Clare Valley….Kathy’s favorite Riesling…..Mystic is well stocked now:)))
Mitchell Winery vineyards
John taking notes from Tegan at Kilikanoon Winery in Clare Valley….a wow winery, one of my favorites in all of Australia!!!
Great wines and our final restaurant in a vineyard!!
Prawns sautèed with garlic and cherry tomatoes
Figs wrapped with prosciutto stuffed with 3 cheeses…blue, Gruyere, and goat ….yummers!!
Pasta with prawns et al in fennel sauce
Pork Loin lunch
Skillogalee vineyard
Vineyards at Skillogalee
