As far as wine is concered in australia. I expected everything to be big, overoaked, jammy, and alcoholic. Basically Stags Leap distract but with Shiraz. Not to be the case, the wines are flavorful, complex, and lucky enough that the shiraz can hold just about any oak treatment you can throw at it. They are known for big, complex wines, but have a finesse style about them that makes them very appraochable. I also feel that novice wine drinkers would gravitate twords a wine like these as apposed something light like a Pinot Noir. What i'm saying is if you want to get into wine, as an austrailan, drink barossa shiraz of course. As an amerinca who wants to get into wine, look for wines from Paso Robles or Dry creek valley in Sonoma. Look for Zinfandels, Syrahs, and GSM style blends in the 20 dollar range. avoid some of the higher tannic italian style wines, or wines from other countries unless you know anything about them. markups are insane for wine across oceans, so even though its french, odds are its going to be much less quality than a similar priced wine from the states.
First off i'll start with my case of wine that is coming home with me. as pictured
The case contains
St Hallett 2001 Old Block Shiraz (Top wine from my winery and drink now)
St Hallett 2006 Old block Shiraz (Another top wine, let this age)
Lengmeil 2009 Freedom Shiraz (vines planted in 1846)
Lengmeil 2009 Orphan Bank Shiraz (awsome Shiraz)
Yalumba 2006 Octavius Shiraz (benchmark wine from oldest winery)
Yalumba 2006 Moppa Springs Granache (drink now)
Yelland and Papps 2009 Divine Shiraz (great wine from a great guy)
John Duval 2009 Entity (John Duval is another great winemaker)
Rusden 2007 Zinfandel (drink soon)
Radford 2008 Bush Vine Shiraz (only Eden Valley Shiraz, stands out)
Rockford 2009 Basket Press (Old School Shiraz from Old School winery)
Rockford 2009 Cab Sav (Great example of Barossa Cab)
Retail Price: more than your weekly paycheck
My Price: not nearly your weekly paycheck
Why take a case of wine home if I may end up back here. Because in 20 years time when I'm a real winemaker, i'll find a case underneath a lot of cases and it will contain one or more of these wines. This case is a drinkable momento from my time this vintage. Its a representation of the best 12 bottles I could aquire while being here. Also it is hard/impossible or very expensive to get some of these bottles in the states. Every time I get to open one of these bottles its a sensory overload of nostalgia for an awsome time in the Barossa Valley. Also important to note, that when 2012 St Hallett wine becomes availible for purchase (just as 2011 Elk Cove and 2010 Domaine Serene) i'll have to hunt down bottles that I helped make, and lucky for me, I have insider knowledge on which vineyards were the best in each of those years. If your lucky enough you might get to try one of more of these bottles.
disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on the South Australia Wine industry, and really only know the Barossa Valley. I've tasted many but definitly not all of the wines produced in the valley. What I want to type out more for me are my favorite wineries for the wine, for the experience, for the view. I mean lets face it, most wine drinkers only care if they do or do not like the wine, its price, and their tasting experience. If by chance any novice wine drinkers to the Barossa Valley were Traveling through the Barossa Valley, this could be used a rough guide as to where to taste for the day/how to spend your day.
Notable Barossa Wineries for their wine.
-St. Hallett: Duh I have to shout out to St. Hallett, that being said, I think we produce some excellent wine in both the Old Block Shiraz and the unique Granache Shiraz Touriga blend.
-Lengmeil: There Freedom Shiraz contains maybe the oldest vines in the world, its awsome, and the cellar crew takes as good of care of their grapes/ferments/wines as possible.
-Hently Farm: impecable vineyards first with some lots going to their own product which is also kept in a unique style.
-Rockford: Old School winery that makes awsome wines
-Henshke's: Because they have a fasination with Pinot Noir, and the Hill of Grace vineyard under their production is the most beautiful vineyard you could ever see
-Yalumba: oldest winery in the Barossa, large production but have the time/funding/and vineyards to produce top wines
-Yelland and Papps (if open): Great small winemaking program, great tasting experience on the side of their house, ironically almost in the shadow of penfolds giant facility.
Elderton (top range)
Artisans
Taste of eden
The last two on that list are winemakers studios of sort, where many different labels are poured. I've elaborated before that those places are the best to gain a good feel for the area due to the many different styles poured in using similarly sourced fruit.
Now remember, most wine drinkers care less about the product (as long as they like it) and more about the experience of tasting. The tasting experience itself can make or break the wine. By far and away the most pleasent tasting experience in the Barossa Valley is at Two Hands winery. They sit you down, usually outside, give you a few bits to eat, and present each wine over the course of 45 minutes or so. Very well done. Another notable tasting experience is at a winery known as Tscharkeys, with their beautiful cellar door and outside patio. Both of those must not miss on a beautiful day.
Oh, and dont miss fermentAsian for dinner in Tanunda. Get some sort of reisling from the menu, its extensive and fair priced.
I havn't spent a lot of time in the other winegrowing regions, but these are some of the highlights we/I came across in the other regions.
skillagolee
Knapstein
O'leary Walker
Crabtree
Adelaide hills:
Shaw and Smith
Petaluma
Ashton hills
MclarenVale:
Oliver Taranga
Chapel Hill
Samuels Gorge
And if you somehow make it out to Langhorn Creek, check out Bremerton, Rusticana, and the Winehouse
I take it most of the previous readers lost interest beyond this point, but if, you perservered through the litarary nightmare that is "the bottom of the bottle" you will now be rewarded with the beer insite South australia. If your seeking out beer, number one by far and away is Beirhaus in Lobethal. the Brewer knows what he is doing, and to quote matt "the top five australian beers are at the Beirhaus" (his opinion of course) Goodesons Brewery down in MclarenVale is nice. If you ever find yourself wondering through Radelaide, which is the the rad version of adelaide, and beer is what you seek, you must frequent the Wheatchief Hotel. Its a pub run by two beer loving lesbians, so you can only imagine the ecclectic mix of people that frequent. They have 10 or so beers on tap, ranging from Mikkeller to Local Beirhars beers. They also have a very extensive bottle list that contains.... wait for it... Bear Republic and Sierra Nevada. and they have a Hoppinator. I'm going to miss the Wheatchief. Also gotta give good mention to Barossa Valley Brewery right here in Taunda. They make a nice beer, and are one the right track. However, they serve their beer in wine glass, and have more of a cellar door feel than a brewery. Be more of a brewery please, and cater to beer drinkers, not wine drinkers.
If you are traveling to south australia, there is a plethora of very yummy wine and beer to drink and consume. Good food to find if you know where your looking, and
There are no spirits worth talking about in South Australia, and its expensive. sorry
South Australia doesn't seem so far as it did 5 months ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment