Barossa Valley

Day 23

We had a short plane ride from Launceston to Adelaide. We entered a new time zone which was 30 minutes earlier than before. How strange to jump 30 vs 60 minutes.

We got our rental car and headed north to Barossa. Remember that great tip about using your outside arm as the one with the turn signal? Well, in Adelaide, we rented an MG mini-SUV (about the size of a Honda CRV). MG puts their turn signal on the LEFT hand side of the steering column, so Pat was once again cleaning the windows as he changed lanes! Cheryl thinks that it is a lot funnier than Pat does.

Traffic was heavy around 5pm (no surprise) as we headed North for the Barossa (“bah-ross-ah”) Valley. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Embers Pizza and headed for our lodging, the Stonewell Cottages in the town of Tanunda.

We’re booked in Spa Suite #2 – sounds swanky. It was a quaint little cottage in a vineyard by a lake. They provided lovely breakfast fixings for every day (including the ducks – see picture below)!!! While it is “self-serve”, Pat doesn’t mind.

Day 24

Our driver, Bob from Bosnia, arrived at 9am to take us to Henschke Winery. Their story begins back in the 1860’s in the Barossa’s Eden Valley with Johann Christian Henschke. Today, the fifth generation, Prue & Stephen Carl Henschke, continue to run the winery with the help of their 3 children (sixth generation.) The designation of Barossa Valley from a wine perspective actually covers two adjacent areas – Barossa Valley and Eden Valley.

Prior to going to the vineyard, we had to give our shoes a bath. This is a measure to help prevent phylloxera from spreading. Some of the vines here are over 160 years old. This is unheard of in Napa where vines are typically replaced when they’re about 40 years old as yields start to decline. The picture below with the label on the post says “Grand Father’s, 1860” and then the number of the row, which is 13. Grand Father is the name of the vineyard. In Barossa, they actually have classifications by age, as indicated on the gold plaque below. “Old Vine” is over 35 years old, but they go all the way up to “Ancestor Vine”, which is one that is over 125 years old!

To help combat the 100+ degree temperatures, we were offered a refreshing sparkling wine as we toured the area. Many of the vines were already picked. However, in the last picture you can see this 100 year old vine was laden with fruit.

After an in-depth tour of the various vineyards and varietals, we headed back to the winery for our fabulous tasting and lunch.

Initially, we tasted the four different wines, starting with the older vintage and then the newer one of each type. We then had the opportunity to try each of the wines with a chef prepared course.

The first course was a Kingfish crudo with grapefruit and fennel. It was paired with the Riesling.

The Cabernet Sauvignon was paired with a portabella mushroom cap that was seasoned and roasted, then topped with taleggio cheese that was melted. So simple, but so delicious, and went great with the cab.

The carpaccio, with arugula and parmesan paired very well with the Shiraz.

The final course was a slow-cooked duck tart that we both agreed may have been the best preparation we ever had when it comes to duck. It was amazingly tender from the “slow cook”. And of course, the Shiraz pairing was excellent.

You may ask “Shiraz? I thought it was Syrah? Or is this a different grape? Are the Aussies just trying to be difficult?” The answer is that they are the same grape, and the difference in spelling and pronunciation likely comes down to a mis-communication back when Australia was being settled. Many German immigrants came to Australia to escape religious persecution in the early- to mid-1800’s (primarily, Lutherans). They brought their German whites, like Reisling, but also brought some Bordeaux and Rhone varietals, that they may have picked up in South Africa on the way to Australia. Anyway, upon landing, the British Customs Agents likely interpreted their pronunciation of “Syrah” as “Shiraz”. In German, the letter “S” has more of a “Z-sound”, which the Brits may have heard as “Sh”. Anyway, enough of the phonetics …

After our fantastic 4+ hour experience at Henschke, we quickly returned to our home base and changed for a wine dinner at a local hotel, Kingsford Resort. Tonight, we enjoyed the Icons of Penfolds tasting experience, which was supposed to be 7 wines, but our host, Rick, ended up pouring us a few additional wines to try. Penfolds most famous wine, “Grange”, was included, and we tasted the 2020 vintage.

After the tasting, Rick turned us over to the Kingsford restaurant staff for a multi-course dinner paired with Penfolds wines. We enjoyed the meal, although we were both a little iffy on the oysters (we ate them but didn’t love them). Our favorite course was the lobster in beurre blanc with roe.

Getting taxi service in Barossa can be iffy, so we had to wait a while for a ride. While we waited, we wandered down to their duck bowling lanes and played a few games.

As an aside, Penfolds (or rather their parent company) recently (in 2023) purchased Daou Vineyards in Paso Robles, in the Central Coast region of California. In June 2024, we visited Daou and had a fabulous experience on their beautiful property (pictured below).

Day 25

This morning, we headed to Thorn-Clarke’s Cellar Door.  We attended an Australian wine dinner at Chez Francois in 2022 with our friends Kathy and Andy, while Sam Clarke (the second generation owner) was there promoting his winery.  Since we were now in his neck of the woods, we decided to visit. We enjoyed a tasting of several different wines. Afterwards, Pat hit a bucket of balls at three targets in a field below. The balls really sailed in the dry desert air, and the elevated platform didn’t hurt either. 

Our original plans changed, so we used a tip from a couple we met in Tasmania and booked lunch with wine pairing at Hentley Farms. That turned out to be the perfect addition to our itinerary. We were there 3.5 hours. Sean challenged us to provide an in depth description of this meal. If you would like to skip this commentary and go right to the pictures, hit the button:

Cheryl: Everyone knows I am a picky eater. If I would have reviewed the menu in advance, I may not have been as open to the experience. However, the menu is seasonal and based on available local farm ingredients so it is always different. We had a strong recommendation and I decided to be open to the experience (besides if I didn’t like the bite I was having, I could wash it down with some stellar wine).

Pat: While certainly not a picky eater, I am “selective” when it comes to seafood. I always expect a tasting menu to have one or multiple seafood courses, most of which I would never order as a main course, or even an appetizer. However, with a tasting menu, it will typically be a small bite. Try it, you may like it. If you don’t, just move on.

An overall comment to the entire meal would be that a beautiful presentation was critical to Chef Kyle Jones. Prior to each course, we were presented with our wine and a detailed explanation of the varietal and any specifics to the pairing with the course. Each course was presented with unique plating and explained by one of the chefs. To begin, we were provided with warm cloths to wash our hands. Now we were ready for our unique experience.

The starters were paired with two different Reislings. Although we are not big fans of Reisling, the 2019 Reisling worked well with the food. The dip with the pumpkin seeds added a nice crunch to vegetables, which we really enjoyed. The one bite Madeleines were savory, but the star of the first course was the ground pork on the stick (yes an actual twig from a tree). The meat was warm and juicy with a delightful sauce to compliment it.

The Garganega, an Italian white grape, was paired with the Kingfish soup. The fish was light and delicate, the fresh peas were crunchy and the soup was warm and rich. Each bite was wonderful. They invited us to pick up the bowl at the end to finish the broth because it was “the best part”. We both finished every last drop. Cheryl can’t say that the wine was amazing with this course. She really just focused on the star of the show.

For the 3rd course we had a glass of Chablis. Wasn’t that the wine our parents drank in the 70s and 80s? Cheryl’s not sure she has ever had a glass of Chablis. But what is Chablis.? Well, it’s actually made from chardonnay grapes. Chablis is unique, because it is not aged in oak barrels, so it doesn’t get that “buttery” flavor. Also, while chardonnay can be produced anywhere in the world, only the Burgundy region of France can produce Chablis (similar to how only the Champagne region can produce “Champagne”; everything else is just sparkling wine). It was paired with a crabmeat macadamia nut pancake. They invited us to use our hands and provided us with warm cloths for cleanup. While the bite was good, Cheryl found that the crabmeat got lost, surrounded by the chickpea and macadamia nut pancake. The Chablis paired well but wouldn’t be our “go to” wine.

The 4th course was one of our favorites! The Viognier was magical with the beetroot, raisins and sunflower seeds. By the way, Cheryl really is not a fan of beets or raisins, but this preparation was perfect. Pat being Ukrainian, grew up on Olga’s Borscht, and who (other than Cheryl) doesn’t like raisins?

The 5th course was Cheryl’s least favorite. We had a Grenache which was nice, but she didn’t care for the texture of the duck in cabbage. It reminded Pat of dolmades, the stuffed grape leaves from Greek cuisine, even more so than stuffed cabbage, because of the tightness of the duck and the way the cabbage was prepared (more texture than traditional stuffed cabbage).

The 6th/7th courses featured the amazing wines – The Beauty and The Beast Shiraz wines. The Beauty was more delicate and was served in a pinot glass, whereas The Beast was big and bold and was served in a Cabernet Sauvignon glass. Both were the stars of the meal. The 6th course was “pan bread”. It was baked in cast iron and when it was presented, they removed the lid and the most amazing aroma surrounded us. It was paired with a French onion butter topped with black sea salt. It was soft, sweet and delicious. The 7th course was the wagyu which in our opinion was tough – something wagyu should never be. This is the only plate Cheryl didn’t finish. But that was okay because she had room to finish the bread. While not overly tender, it was cooked nicely (a nice “mid-rare” as Gordon Ramsay would say), and Pat thought it was well seasoned.

The 8th course was paired with Clos Otto Shiraz served with the fig leaf sorbet and chickpea cup. The wine is an intense and beautiful Shiraz (yes, we bought some). We both enjoy different favored sorbet, and fig was certainly unique. The bay leaf granita was crunchy and very unusual in a good way. The chickpea cup was a miss for Cheryl. The cheese in it was funky and not her favorite.

The final course was paired with a Botrytis Viognier dessert wine. Also called “Noble Rot” wine, it’s made from grapes that have been exposed to Botrytis cinerea fungus. This mold “attacks” the grapes, causing them to concentrate both sugar and flavor. As the mold shrinks the grapes, the sugar is concentrated into a smaller amount of remaining juice. It results in an intense wine that is typically enjoyed in small quantities at the end of a meal with dessert. The blackberry gelato with honey creme was a wonderful combination of flavors, followed by the wattleseed ice cream and caramel with fermented mushrooms (who can believe Cheryl ate that???). Wattleseed is an Aboriginal food source from the Acacia tree. It’s flavor profile is a blend of coffee, chocolate, and hazelnut. Cheryl really enjoyed the tea at the end with all of the sweets. The meal was a culinary delight and one that we’re glad we didn’t miss.

Sean, hopefully, you enjoyed our report and will leave a comment below.

After lunch, we visited the Cellar Door to order some of the wonderful wines we tasted. 

We previously had made a guaranteed reservation for dinner prior to booking our lunch, so we had a light dinner at Char Barossa. 

We ended up buying several cases combined from the wineries we visited and look forward to welcoming any and all or our “faithful blog readers” to join us after we return to drink some of these delicious wines.

Naturally, you may wonder how expensive it is to ship wine from Australia and how long does it take. First, they say it generally takes about 3 weeks (so plan on 4 weeks). From a cost perspective, it’s actually quite reasonable if you buy 4 cases – which lowers the cost to about $20 per bottle. But the best part is that if you ship wine internationally, you don’t have to pay the GST (sales tax) or the WET (Wine Equalization Tax), which combined are quite steep. On a premium bottle of wine, you may save 30% vs what an Aussie would pay. Add in the current strong USD vs the Aussie Dollar, and it’s a great time to buy Australian wine. So we did.

Day 26

We headed to Adelaide this morning. We attended the 9am Mass at St. Xavier’s Cathedral.  It was a nice church, but not particularly outstanding in any of the architectural or decorative aspects. And while cathedrals are impressive in their size, they generally have terrible acoustics (except if they have a grand pipe organ). St. Xavier was no exception.

We then caught “brekky” at The Original Pancake Kitchen. It was a happening place with a musician jamming on the keyboard for our entertainment, including an interesting interpretation of Fur Elise, which started traditional, then morphed into a jazzy, ragtime finish. 

After breakfast, we headed for the Adelaide Oval for the “Footy” game (Australian Rules Football) between the Adelaide Crows Football Club and St Kilda Saints Football Club of Melbourne. The game includes running, dribbling and kicking the ball down the field.  To score, you have to kick it between the middle 2 goal posts for 6 points or if you hit the post or go between the outer posts it is 1 point. We found it interesting that the team fight songs were “Oh When The Saints Go Marching In” and the music from The Marines’ Hymn (From the Halls of Montezuma…) with different words.

The game was very different and fun to watch. The field is about 3 times the size of a US football field. The game is four 25-minutes quarters with only 4 substitutes. As a result, the average career of a player is 30 games, or about 3 years. There are some “ironmen” who make it to 100 games or more, but that is a rarity. The average salary for a player is A$425,000 (about $275k US), although some will make over A$1 million (about $625k US).

Pat described the game as chaos, chaos, chaos, then civility, followed by more chaos. Repeat. When the ball is in play, the defending team attempts to catch an opponent before he can “pass” it or kick it away. A pass is done somewhat like an underhand volleyball serve – you have to “punch” the ball, not actually throw it. Players try to get off a kick, which is similar to a punt in US football. These players are amazingly accurate, despite running full speed and being hounded by the defenders (it’s a very physical game with no pads). And they have “booming” legs – which is why so many US colleges and several NFL teams have Aussie punters.

After they kick the ball, if the first player from either team catches (or intercepts), play essentially stops (the “civility” part), and the player who caught the ball is given a wide berth to make the subsequent kick. If he is within range of the goal, he can try for points. If too far out, he’s looking to advance the ball to someone on his team closer to the goal. Players can also score “on the run”, kicking the ball anywhere between the posts (including a bouncing ball). When running with the ball, you have to bounce it once every 15 meters. That turned out to be a rare occurrence. Not sure we saw anyone bounce the ball more than 2 times, and actually there were very few bounces overall, as the players try to advance the ball primarily through passes or kicks.

Pat loved watching the referees signal scores, which look a bit like doing a “quick draw” with your “finger gun” – one “gun” for an outside score (1 point), and two “guns” for an inside score (6 points). This is then followed by waiving one or two white flags to further signify the official result. Scores get rather high – often well over 100 for both sides.

Pat really enjoyed the game. It was fun to watch. He’d like to gain a better understanding around individual and team strategy, and thinks it would have been fun to play as a “yute”. Now, he’s too fragile and the recovery time from injuries is too long. He said he’s seen games on cable back in the US, so he plans to make a point of seeking out an occasional game.

Following the Footy game, we went to the Adelaide Botanical Gardens to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. Cheryl has seen his work in Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Columbus, Seattle and Phoenix, and we’ve seen individual pieces in many places, such as the Bellagio Hotel lobby in Las Vegas. This exhibit didn’t disappoint. His unique style was incorporated into the gardens as if it grew there. 

After the Botanical Garden walk, we headed back north to grab a quick dinner at a hotel close to our cottage, then it was home to pack. Tomorrow is a travel day, so no late night partying for us.