The Barosa Valley - wine country (from Steingarten Lookout)
After a few stops at various lookouts we headed towards our first planned stop. Before we got there though, we spotted Jacob's Creek and decided to pop in. Jacob's Creek is one of Australia's largest wineries. We weren't really looking for a big, corporate facility with 100,000 liter vats, but it was right there so, what the hell...
It turned out to be just marvelous! They have a giant, modern tasting room that is clearly set up to serve hundreds of patrons coming off of many buses. Today, it was just us and one other couple. We were served by a super-nice woman from Hong Kong who was kind enough to throw in a couple of bonus offerings. The grounds were also beautiful. The absolute best part for both of us, though, was the tasting vineyard.
Jacob's Creek Winery and Cellar door
Because of Phylloxera, most SA vineyards are pretty strict about not allowing the public to roam among their vines. Jacob's Creek, however, set aside a special non-commercial plot for just this purpose. Best of all, we were told to try all of the grapes we wanted. Each row had a different varietal.
Oh, boy! Maryanne, in an attempt to be scientific about it, figured out that it would be most effective for us to walk down every other row. That way, each right and left hand would be able to pick a new grape. Thus, the right hand was Shiraz, the left was Malbec, etc. There were a total of sixteen types to try.
It was really interesting to sample the raw grape and try to correlate it with the wine that could be made from it. Firstly, wine grapes are all different and they are all delicious, way better than the red and white seedless from the grocery store. I would pay extra to buy a bunch of Pinot Noir grapes at the store if they had them. I liked Shiraz, Pinot Noir and Voignier. Maryanne liked Semmilon and Sauvignon Blanc.
Another interesting thing about the tasting vineyard is that it is sacrificial. The vineyards around here all have problems with Rainbow Lorikeets. These nectar and fruit-eating parrots are a real nuisance to the wine growers. As a result, most of the vines in the Barossa are covered with nets to keep the birds out. The small Lorikeet population at Jacob's Creek has figured out they are allowed in the tasting vines and so they don't feed off of the other vines so much, which are also not netted. That's win-win for everybody, because it keeps the birds off of the money-making vines and encourages them to hang out near the tasting center and gardens, where their calls and antics help to improve the atmosphere. The birds, of course, are in heaven with all of those yummy wine grapes to feed on.
Seppeltsfield - famed for its Tawnies (Ports)
And no, not our rental car! I Wish!
At our second stop, Seppeltsfield, I quickly came to realize I was getting the short end of Maryanne's and my designated driver agreement. Don't get me wrong. The Margret River Valley has some good wine, but nothing like the Barossa with their abundance of mature vines. I had to take my four little drops and watch Maryanne swirl whole mouthfuls of the stuff. When our English bartender learned that Maryanne really likes Port, he let her try a whole long line of their Tawny offerings. (Port outside of Portugal is required to be referred to as something else, usually Tawny Port or just Tawny, in the same way that Champagne not grown in France is called sparkling wine – it's the same production process, though). He topped it off with a little splash of their hundred year-old Tawny. I only got one drop of that, but it was gooood! Maryanne was very happy.
David Franz Winery and Tasting room
Chateau Tanunda - it even has a croquet lawn if you have time to dally!
Was the biggest building in the Southern Hemisphere when completed in 1890
We stopped at a couple more wineries and then finished the day at the one everybody at the other vineyards recommended, Yulumba. It is a beautiful estate set high on a hill overlooking both the Barossa and Adelaide Hills wine regions. Yalumba is the only winery that has their own cooperage. We got there just at closing, which was too late to see the cooperage, but I think the woman at the tasting room made up for it by finishing Maryanne's flight off with the rest of what was in the day's opened bottles. We got some food, just to help soak it up.
Yalumba Winery - another beautiful setting to linger at
As we were relaxing, I kept thinking about the cooperage tour we missed. I imagined some sweaty, Teamster type leading us through the process, “Foist, ya get ya hoops from the cohnah ovah theah. Don't fuhget ya hammah, cause ya gonna need that next. Then, fah ya staves, ya come ovah heah wheah we keep Yulumba!” I swear, Maryanne did 99% of the drinking.
{Maryanne: I really did 'win' on the driver/taster front since aside from glut of options the smaller driving range, ALL the tastings in South Australia have been extra generous, we assume due to the lull in visitors. Additionally we were too cheap to pay for the 'extra driver' so Kyle was the designated driver for BOTH our days of touring the wine regions... Poor Kyle.}
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