Well the Nathan's have been and gone and I hope they enjoyed their stay. It is now Wednesday so by now I think they are winging their way from Darwin over to Cairns in Queensland.
Here is the first part of a report I posted in the
Pacific Forum about our trip down to the wine country.Yesterday (Friday 10 Feb o6) I picked up Terry and his lovely wife Lilieth (hope I spelled that right Terry) to do some travelling and tasting in the lovely McLaren Vale wine region just South of Adelaide.
It started off as a cloudy day but as we got closer to the area the sun had come out and it turned out to be a perfect day for simple touring and sightseeing.
I came in through Clarendon and then turned off Kangarilla Road into what was laughingly signed as Douglas Gully Road. Oh boy, talk about lost. I went every which way until finally Lillith spotted that I had somehow gone a full circle and was back on the Kangarilla Road! After that I gave her the map and she did a wonderful job of keeping us pointed in the right direction. Better than his satellite Nav system says Terry, and yes, he got just the response he deserved for that one.
Once we got on the right road we made it to the
Woodstock winery. I was designated driver so I only drank the water but Terry and Lillith tried some reds but not impressed enough to purchase any.
Then we entered their
Coterie and had a lovely shared Regional Platter. It had a range of local goodies including several different meats, chunks of quiche, creamy cheeses, olives, sundried tomatoes, capsicums, rocket, some quite tasty turkey pate and lots of triangles of pita bread to serve it on. We all enjoyed the range of tastes and flavours. If ever you pass through there check out really lovely paintings by a local artist. wonderful details and they seemed to capture the essence of the the natural environment portrayed.
Before leaving their lovely grounds Lilith took some snaps of Terry and I in the stocks they had set up in the gardens. Boy were they heavy to lift up and lock our legs into. Oddly enough there were 5 holes for the legs of miscreants? Woodstock have a good locality map on their site at the bottom of the
Contacts page.
Then it was on to
Kay's Brothers Winery. Coming up their sweeping drive Lilith spotted a koala sleeping at the top of a tall gum. Surprising to our International travellers I had never seen a koala in the wild, only ever in reserves or zoos so it was a big treat for me too. Kay's Brothers was an enjoyable Winery to visit. The Cellar Door host was part of the family and we had a good chat about wines and tastes. The tasters enjoyed their tipple and bought two bottles of McLaren Vale MGM 2002. MGM stands for the Merlot - Grenache - Mataro grapes blended into this red wine. The bottle claims, "Ripe mulberry, plum, dark cherry and liquorice aromas and flavours dominate this rich full bodied fruit driven red."
More info from their great
web site:
2002 KAYS AMERY MGM (MERLOT/GRENACHE/MATARO)
Vintaged from grapes grown on the Amery vineyard, our first Merlot/Grenache/Mataro was traditionally processed (open fermentation and basket pressing), then aged for 18 months in American oak casks prior to bottling under Stelvin screw caps on the 3.6.04.
June 2005 Tasting notes: Merlot is the main component of this soft, fruity, very approachable red and it has filled out wonderfully with a year in the bottle. Brick red in colour with a Grenache raspberry confection bouquet and a sweet, fruit dominant palate with an excellent balance between savoury meat and confectionery flavours. It is medium bodied with soft tannins and the Grenache/Mataro, add both weight and complexity. It is a delight to enjoy now (or over the next 3 years) - easy drinking but with plenty of character and interest. Decanting will bring out the best in this blend. 15% alc/vol.
They both remarked on the
sweeping views from the Cellar Door (and I hope to have pictures to share from them as soon as they get settled and near to the Internet). With such a lovely sunny day it was simply perfect and just as good as that photo shows.
We also visited Coriole Winery and d'Arenburg Winery before calling it a day and finishing off with a visit to the McLaren Vale Information Centre and then dropping into Hardy's Reynella on the way home. This report will be continued in the next post...