TORB's 2003 South Australian Tour Diary
Chapter Four - Tuesday - McLaren Vale (Click here for Chapter Three)
Like yesterday both John and I are up bright and early because our first appointment is at 9.00 and today I act the role of a caring friend as John acts the role of a caring father as we both take the fourteen year old trainee brain surgeon to school and just for the record, she does have a name, its Hosanna but trainee brain surgeon sounds easier to pronounce.
We have three appointments today, all with small wineries that I have never been to and the rest of the day is “where shall we try next” so it promises to be fun.
Through out this chapter there will be some photos of historic nature and they were all taken at the site of a new winery CD that is under construction. The site was so good that I took loads of pictures for inclusion in the diary. They will all make sense by the time you finish this chapter.
Who has every heard of Gemtree let alone tried their wines? On Auswine Forum there have been some very positive comments in the past so it was time for me to check them out. The Gemtree vineyard operation is no Johnny come lately company and has been building for well over 20 years as grower. The original owner/operators also had decades of experience in the industry prior to purchasing their first vineyard. The company is owned by the Buttery family and the founder’s son, Andrew is the General Manager whilst his sister Melissa is the viticulturist (and she is married to the winemaker) so its a real family opeation.
They have almost 360 acres under vines in three major sites and started off only utilise 2% of the production for their own wine. The rest of the production is sold under contract. In 2003 they crushed about 100 tonnes of fruit which will yield about 7,000 dozen bottles that represents about 8% of the vines production and is primarily Shiraz based. Once again, we have an experienced grower starting to make their own wines and normally in these situations the wine is very good and the price reasonable. We met with Andrew Buttery and his wine maker, Mike Brown at Kangarilla Winery where they make their wines and Mike assists in the production of Kangarilla wines as well. The first vintage was made in 1998.
Gemtree 2001 Tatty Road is a blend of Cabernet (44%) Merlot (40%) and Petite Verdot which sells at for about $20. Impenetrable dark purple in colour, the aroma is lifted and shows rose petals, perfumed notes, blackcurrant and subtle American oak nuances. The tannins are almost creamy, the acid fresh with ample weight deep fruit to balance. It exhibits great mouth filling fruit intensity and could be described as a ‘black fruit wine,’ almost into the prune spectrum with tarry notes and aniseed that finishes respectably. Rated as Recommended with **** for value, it should peak about 2006 or beyond. The fruit for this wine comes from two family owned vineyards.
Gemtree 2001 Uncut Shiraz sells for $25 at CD. The wine is matured in 65% French oak and the balance is American. Colour is deep impenetrable purple; the wine has a lovely nose showing sweet fruit, violets, liquorice and hints of mint. On the plate the tannins are dusty and drying but because of their creamy nature they have a very enjoyable feel (as the actress said to the Archbishop – or is that ex GG-:) the acid is refreshing and combines with pure obvious fruit to produce a muscular weight wine with harmonious complexity that’s well made with a good balance. It’s worth noting this is a single vineyard wine with vines that are 40 years old and dry grown.
Flavours are dark chocolate, black cherry and a touch of mint which has big intensity without excess flab or weight. Rated as Recommended with **** for value now, the rating may improve as it matures over the next few years.
Gemtree 2001 Reserve Shiraz will sell for less than $40 when it released later this year. The wine has a similar bouquet to the Uncut Shiraz but is matured in 100% French Oak and as a result it shows more structure and elegance. The wine is muscular in weight, the almost creamy tannins, unobtrusive acid and pure deep fruit provide an excellent structure which will become seamless as the wine ages gracefully to its maturity in 2007 and beyond.
The quality fruit brings a sophisticated and harmonious complexity to the plate flavours of aniseed, chocolate and cherry. Rated as Highly Recommended now with *** for value, the rating should increase as the wine ages and will be sold both in Australia and in the US so look out for it when it’s released. There are only 250 dozen and they will sell fast.
Gemtree Summary – Three wines and some barrel samples indicate a few things about this operation. Firstly, they have access to good fruit and secondly, they know how to use it. This is a quality operation and a winery to watch - not in the future, but now!
The view at Maxwells where we met Mark Day 1
The second appointment was with Mark Day who owns a winery called Koltz, another new boy on the block which started in 1995. The vineyards are located at Blewitt Springs and at McLaren Vale. Current production is 3,500 cases and the wine is sold in Australia, the US and the UK.
Mark is an amiable sort of guy with a wealth of experience. He makes the wine at Maxwells and has also completed quite a number of vintages in Italy and France. This broad range of experience has had an impact on the wines he is making and his future stylistic direction. None of the wines are big in your face bruisers, they have some elegance and style without being wishy washy. Mark also uses traditional methods with everything from feet crushing some of the grapes to the use of basket presses and only sulphur is added to the wines, nothing else. They are in the process of building their own winery at their Blewitt Springs property and don’t currently plan to be a big player and production is about 3,500 cases.
Koltz 2001 Laughing Frog which is a Merlot (80%) Cabernet blend which sells for about $26. The bouquet is slightly lifted but soft and reasonably aromatic and shows dark chocolate and cherry. I am not a fan of Merlot or predominantly Merlot based wines but this one even I could enjoy. The dusty tannins are velvety and unobtrusive which provides a supple, silky consistency with medium weight fruit giving the wine a sophisticated refined complexity and an almost elegant structure. It’s a damn good Merlot blend with a lovely palate of cherry and chocolate that finishes long and would be suit a large range of food. It stains the glass with a light tinge. Rated as Recommended with *** for value it should peak in a couple of years.
Koltz 2001 The Carbine which is a Shiraz (75%) Cabernet blend that sells for about $23. The wine is bright vivid dark purple and has a lifted aroma showing very floral, almost perfumed soap characters and cherry fruit. A well made medium weight wine with an almost seamless structure that’s a little elegant but not wimpy. The pure deep persistent fruit provides a refined and sophisticated complexity which comes across as blue berry, cherry and dark chocolate that fill the mouth and compliment the creamy tannins (lovely tacticity) and refreshing acid which finishes with good length. It’s another food wine and is rated as Recommended with **** for value now but the rating should improve over the next couple of years as the wine peaks.
Koltz 2001 Shiraz sells for $24 at CD. Initially the wine had some bottle stink but that blew off fairly quickly and showed the similar stylistic lifted nose of the preceding wines. Tannins in this wine are silky so the mouth feel is great, and that feeling is made even better by the pure persistent mouth filling fruit flavours of chocolate, cherry and blueberry which are more intense than The Carbine. A stylish mid weight wine that just slips down and would disappear in no time at all, its refined sophisticated complexity is supported by the supply and silky consistency with just enough tannins to tie the package together. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, there is no sign of heat from the 14.5% alcohol.
Koltz 2002 MSG (Mourvedre 40%, Shiraz 40% Grenache 20%) has just been blended but does not have a name yet and is expected to sell for about $20 when it’s released. When we tried the wine it had not been cleaned up yet but still showed well. The up front sweet raspberry from the Grenache moves through to chocolate on the mid palate and then onto black fruit, all of which manage to fill the mouth and finish with good length. It’s a medium weight wine with a well developed harmonious complexity and is rated as Recommended with **** for value.
Koltz 2002 Il Misto is an unusual blend (for Australia) of Sangiovese (45%) Cabernet (30%) and Nebbiolo (25%) and will sell for about $20. A Shylock wine - a pretty dumb nose that doesn’t give much away but it does have a distinctive flavour profile. Initial sweetness goes into cherry and chocolate whilst it fills the mouth and changes to savoury characters which tail off to a long drying finish. Reasonably fine drying tannins provide a solid structure and the ample weight fruit allows for a developed level of complexity. This is a love it or hate it style and I don’t have enough experience to judge it.
Koltz Summary- All the wines are stylistically consistent. They are all well constructed and balanced and are all made with food in mind. This winery should do very well in the future as their prices are also very reasonable.
Although it’s not quite pie o’clock John is feeling the urge and so his car automatically (on autopilot) heads for the nearest bakery. The lad really must be sick, it’s only an order for one single solitary pie, and the bakery will be in recession if John keeps this up. He is single-handedly going to wreck the South Australia bakery business unless he gets his consumption back up however the milk board will still be happy as he consumed the mandatory large carton of Farmers Best Ice Coffee. My salad roll and bottled water wasn’t bad.
The Entrance to Paxton's Offices 1
Our
next appointment was at Paxton Vineyards. Paxton’s
are probably the largest viticulturalists in the area. They manage a total of 580
acres of vineyard which is a hell of a lot of vines. Of that 580 acres,
Paxton actually own 160 acres and most of
these grapes are sold under contract to major producers like Southcorp, 
BRLH and Wirra Wirra. In 1998 they decided to experiment
and make started to produce their own wine. I was lucky enough to try the 2000 Shiraz
which is still available in limited quantities and the upcoming 2001 which will
be released later this year.
Unfortunately the Paxton brothers heard I was coming to town so they quickly skipped town but arranged for Toby Bekkers their Viticultural Manager to show us around. Whilst we were waiting for Toby to come in from the vineyards, John noticed a tree with some Pink Lady Apples. John is one that will never pass up free food (even when it’s occasionally healthy) so he asked the office lady if the apples “were free” to be eaten and was informed that the birds ate most of them. As an apple lover myself I decided to grab one too, and it was delicious, there is nothing like the freshness of produce that has just been picked. It seemed a crying shame to leave those wonderful apples to the birds; now back to the wine.
Toby arrived and due to a change in circumstances our visit was going to have to be split into two, the first part was tasting their wines and later that afternoon I was to return for a tour of the vineyards. This operation is not set up for visitors who want to taste wine. We went with Toby to get the wine from the shed and then went back into the main offices to taste it. An opener and glasses were eventually found, but a spittoon was a lot harder to locate. Finally an ice bucket was rescued from under the house or some other equally unlikely spot. However all this will change when Paxton opens its new cellar door facility which looks like it will be pretty special, but more on that later.
Currently Paxton only produce one wine, a single vineyard Shiraz. The first vintage as produced in 1998. We tried the current 2000 Shiraz (some is still available via mail order) and the 2001 which will be released in July.
Toby getting the wine samples from the Paxton’s storage shed 1
Paxton 2000 Shiraz retail for $33 (mail order) and only
400 cases of the wine was produced from vines that are about 40 years old. A
beautiful bouquet with intense blackberry, some obvious but not obtrusive oak
with cherry and chocolate. The standout features on this wine are the great
mouth feel which is provided by the smooth slightly dusty tannins, the great
length finish provided by the deep pure intense blackcurrant, black cherry,
liquorice, chocolate and almost prune spectrum fruit flavours that are anything
but dead fruit. All in all it’s a beautiful palate that’s muscular in weight
which is almost seamless already but has the solidity and length required to
ensure the wine will last. The complexity is well developed, harmonious and has
a spark of cleverness about it. Rated as Highly
Recommended with *** for value, the rating should improve as the
wine matures around 2006.
Paxton 2001 Shiraz will sell via mail order and should be released in July 2003. The wine spent 18 months in oak, a combination of French (55%) and American; total new component was 50%. The vines are 40 years old and cropped at two tonnes per acre.
More floral notes than the 2000 but still shows blackberry, chocolate, liquorice and leafy minty characters. On the palate the flavour profile is interestingly complex with great tasting savoury chocolate, cherry and blackberry, it’s a pretty ‘slick’ palate. The smooth but dusty tannins, pure deep persistent fruit of ample weight provides a solid structure and foundation that is almost seamless. Complexity is harmonious, well developed and refined. Rated as Excellent with *** for value it should peak about 2006. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has been to McLaren Vale and has seen how much vineyard acreage that the Paxton’s own.
Paxton Wines Summary - Having large quantities of your own vines to choose from certainly helps and it shows in the end product. More on the Paxton story later in this chapter.
Rumour has it this was Colin Kays last car 1
The
first free choice visit of the day so it doesn’t take a second thought, we are
off to Kay’s Amery. I first visited and bought
wine here in 1977 and I don’t think anything has changed since then. The old
adage, if its not broken don’t try and fix it works perfectly here (bad pun
intended.) This winery has been going for over 110 years and is the oldest
family winery in McLaren Vale. None of the wines made here are for the faint of
heart, they all are big reds with lashings of rich ripe fruit and oak. The
Block Six and Hillside Shiraz are both still in barrel so we didn’t have an
opportunity to try them.
Kays 2001 Shiraz sells for $22 at CD. The wine was bottled about two months ago and was kindly opened by Colin for us to try, so it is totally shut down. On the palate the wine has good flavour intensity showing black berry, dark chocolate and liquorice. The body weight is ample, the consistency firms with a solid structure and a more than agreeable level of complexity. Like all Kays wine, it good honest well-made wine and good value to boot. Rated as Recommended *** for value at $22 it should peak around 2005 and is well worth buying. The wine should be released in the next few months.
Kays 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Sells for $22 at CD. Intense distinct deeply seated fruit is the driving force behind this wine which comes across the palate with sledgehammer subtlety showing blackcurrant, blackberry, chocolate and mint. It’s muscular in weight with a firm backbone provided by the dusty tannins that are approaching a creamy texture. In short, it’s a bloody good inky black dry red wine that should age well. Rated as Recommended with **** for value now, the rating should improve as the wine comes together around 2007.
Kays Summary – What can I say about this winery that hasn’t been said before? Nothing! Its reputation says it all.
Next stop was a quick trip to Wirra Wirra. Now once upon a time I used to like the wine style from here and looked forward to buying it but not anymore. Not because there is anything wrong with their wines, far from it, it’s just that I find the wines technically well made but not my style.
Wirra Wirra 2000 The Angelus sells for $46 at CD. The grapes were 50% from Coonawarra and the other 50% from McLaren Vale. The colour of the wine is crystal clean and the bouquet shows blackcurrant, vanilla and chocolate. It’s a technically well made clean wine with some refinement and an agreeable complexity showing blackcurrant, cherry and chocolate. This is an ample almost muscular weight wine with dusty drying tannins are and distinct fruit. Rated as Recommended with ** for value it should peak about 2007.
My opinion has not changed, but many people love the cleanliness of this style of wine.
Paxton's New CD Still Under Construction 1
We
then back tracked and visited d’Arenberg wine.
This winery has got a big reputation and is well respected but most of the time
I just don’t understand their wines, I see them but I don’t comprehend them.
d’Arenberg 2001 The Galvo Garage sells for $31.50 at CD. As the wine progresses through the palate it shows intensely sweet up front cherry fruit with blackcurrant going into savoury chocolate and finishing up to liquorice with a good mouth feel provided smooth but slightly dusty drying tannins. The fresh acid helps to cut through the initial overt sweetness. This is an ample weight serious party wine with the added benefit of having real ageing potential. It’s currently rated as Recommended with *** for value, the rating may go up as the wine matures around 2007. People will either adore or dislike this wine style.
d’Arenberg 2000 28 Road Mourvedre sells for $35 at CD. A lifted nose, bordering on VA with savoury meaty notes, menthol and eucalyptus leads to a palate of dark chocolate with some subtle mint on a long finish. An ample weight wine with solid structure the tannins are the standout feature of this wine; they are drying, puckering, dusty but smooth in texture and together with the deep fruit this would be an ideal combination to match with oily food, like pasta in an olive oil dressing. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.
d’Arenberg 2000 Ironstone Pressings is a GSM blend (70% / 25% / 5%) which sells for $60 at CD. Meat and chocolate dominate the bouquet and on the plate the flavours seem to be very subtle resulting in a wine that seems to be all about structure. Tannins are smooth but drying and puckering, the weight is ample and the consistency is firm but silky. I see it but don’t get it. Rated as Recommended with * for value it should peak about 2007.
d’Arenberg 2000 Coppermine Road Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $60 at CD. A true varietal Cabernet with dusty cigar box, blackcurrant and hints of spearmint leading to a palate of very sweet up front cassis fruit which turns slightly savoury in the mid plate and moves into chocolate on the finish. John said “I need a bilge pump to release the tannin grip and suck my face off the back of my head.” Needless to say, this wine needs a lot of time and is rated as Recommended with ** for value.
d’Arenberg 2000 Dead Arm Shiraz sells for $60 at CD. A wine that is similar to the Coppermine in structure, due to the charry oak I was unable to rate it.
Mini Rant
After typing up the tasting note for the Ironstone Pressing I went to the d’Arenberg web site to obtain the grape varietal percentages. Two things stuck out. The first is that we are talking about a wine that costs $60 a bottle, but d’Arenberg doesn’t feel that vintage specific information is important enough to be listed on their site. It’s all generic and whilst it’s possible the tasting notes are the current wine, how would anyone know, and this is even more so at vintage cross over times. Pretty poor form in my opinion.
This problem applied to all the reds I looked at on their site, and there were a few I glanced at which brings me to the second thing I noticed about most of the wines. Their drinking window recommendations are shall we say “interesting” some examples are as follows:-
d’Arenberg The Coppermine Road - Serve at room temperature 16-24 ºC, now or in the next 2-20 years
d’Arenberg The Dead Arm - Serve at room temperature 16 – 24 ºC. now or cellar for the next 3- 25 years
d’Arenberg The Custodian Grenache - Serve at room temperature 16 – 24 ºC. now or cellar for the next 3-20 years
d’Arenberg The Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier - Serve at room temperature 16 – 24 ºC. now or cellar for the nest 3-15 years
Does anyone else find this phrasing a bit strange, is this a case of tell people what they want to hear rather than the real story? “Now or in the next 2-20 years” does this mean there is a small window when the wine shuts down and should not be consumed If so it’s useless information as we don’t know the date the tasting note was made. Very slick marketing.
End of the mini rant and back to the story. Paxton's haven't even moved in yet but they can still party
At this stage, John and I took a short break
and went and did some shopping for dinner. Mine host had decided to cook a
roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for dinner so we went and bought the necessary
provisions. It was obvious that John has about as much recent experience in the
supermarket as I have in c-through wine. We then went back to his place, I
picked up my motorised roller skate and choofed off on my vinous way and John
went to pick up the trainee brain surgeon from school.
Haselgrove went into receivership last year but they are still trading and as I had a half an hour to kill and they were close to my last appointment for the day I dropped into their cellar door. This place looks more like a factory than a winery.
Haselgrove 1999 H Cabernet Sauvignon is listed for $30 at CD but there is stock with German labels from a failed export order available for $20. When I tasted this wine, the flavour profile totally threw me. The flavours of blackberry and strong pepper characters (with loads of cloves from the French Oak) are not usually found in the same wine. The pepper character is normally from a cool climate. It turns out the wine is a blend of fruit from Wrattonbully and McLaren Vale fruit. It’s a muscular weight wine that’s not exactly varietal Cabernet but does maintain an interesting flavour profile. Rated as Recommended with *** for value (at $20.)
Haselgrove 1999 H Shiraz costs $35 at CD. The wine is loaded with drying smooth dusty tannins and the blackberry, chocolate and liquorice fruit flavours are overshadowed by the cloves from the oak. It’s a very ordinary wine for the price and rated as (barely) Recommended with * for value. My mate Brian picked up a six pack of this for me (prior to me tasting the wine) for $90 and even at that price it’s about all the wine is worth.
Haselgrove Summary – Not surprised they got into financial difficulty and unless they improve their wine and value, they are unlikely to survive in the long term.
The Jones Block - Home of the Paxton Shiraz Grapes 1
Finally,
the last appointment of the day arrived. I met Toby again, this time for the Paxton’s Grand Vineyard Tour. Now this grand tour
is not like you get in an air conditioned coach. Toby and Alex, his wandering
Miniature Schnauzer and I piled into the company Subaru Outback which was a
real work vehicle, complete with strong aromas of chicken manure that had been
ground into the wagons carpet. This is a true all wheel drive working vehicle
and handles the vineyard terrain perfectly.
Whilst we did use some black top we seemed to spend the majority of our time on dirt weaving between the vines, up hill and over dale with vistas that most tourists to the area don’t get a chance to view. We started off driving down the home block past solid stubby vines that are over 100 years old, something that is not all that uncommon in the Paxton holdings.
Many times you have heard that great wine is made in the vineyard but growing the grapes to do that is no accident of nature. It requires dedication, hard work, experience and knowledge. A bit of cash helps too. Paxton’s look like they have all of those things.
Whilst we were travelling it was fascinating to hear Toby tell me all abut the care and trouble that is required to produce great grapes. This company has everything from gnarled old shiraz vines to lots of new vines with all ages in between; they are located in every imaginable place in McLaren Vale, from hills to flats, from deep soil on clay to soil on shallow soil on loam and all of these pockets require different care and water requirements. An ‘environo system’ which measures water content in the soil at various levels and locations that allows accurate and scientific water adjustment is also in place.
There is a very fine line between stressed vines which is good and overstressed vines which is bad. This system helps define exactly where that line is located. It’s this sort of scientific measuring that is helping all the wineries that buy from Paxton to be able to obtain better and more consistent grapes.
Water use is critical and expensive. This applies to almost all growers and in McLaren Vale they make extensive use of recycled ‘grey water’ which has been pumped up from Adelaide. The use of recycled water on the vines ensures environment responsibility and makes a lot of sense.
Paxton never standing still and are always trialling new things. We drove through miles of vineyards to what is generally known as the “Gateway Hill” into McLaren Vale. Perched on the side and the top of this wind swept steeply sloping hill with nothing between it and the ocean but the majestic views, is the latest vineyard trial site. The latest trial involves growing grapes in what amounts to rocks with a bit of soil, much like many of the vineyard sites in Italy and France. The vines are totally exposed to the rugged elements and sitting out there like a lonely shag on a very inhospitable rock.
Its felt these grapes will help provide some structure and elegance to the finished wines. If the trial works then more of these planting will take place.
The amount of work involved in managing these properties is not small. For example almost all vines under Paxton’s care are hand pruned. In the Jones block that would take a team of ten pruners almost a month to prune the vines. And that’s just one block, less than 10% of what they own and manage. If they were machine pruned, that block could be done by one person in a few days. However quality is of paramount importance to Paxton’s and they believe the cost of hand pruning is worth it.
As time goes on and contracts expire, it’s planned to bring back a higher percentage of grapes in house to make more of their own wine, a story not uncommon amongst growers but once the wine is made, it will have to be sold and Paxton’s have already thought that through.
The Future Paxton CD 1 One of Two Rooms in a Workers Cottage
Toby and I left the windswept hillside and headed back towards McLaren Vale turning off onto a side road and then onto a dirt driveway. As we rounded a bend a picture post card view was before us. A big old stone barn that must be one of the oldest buildings in South Australia had been rammed into the back of a hill. In front of it was picturesque cleared rolling low level hills moving onward and outward towards vineyards. To the left of the barn were two cottages of the same age and a Blacksmiths Shoppe. All in original condition with many artefacts and old bits of ‘antique junk’ just lying around and it’s less than a kilometre from the main road.
Alex jumped out of the wagon, something that Toby was a bit concerned about as the last time he was let out here he wasn’t seen for days and was eventually found playing with a local Jack Russell.
As we wandered around the site with
Alex feeling like he had been let out of jail and chasing all the smells, two
things were obvious. Firstly, it was a great location for a cellar door and
secondly, the atmosphere of the two cottages and Blacksmiths Shoppe were
positively alive, despite being in original condition and abandoned many
decades ago. 
Can you possibly imagine what it must have been like living
in a tiny two roomed workers cottage?
1
The Blacksmith Shoppe
Inside the Blacksmiths Shoppe – original artefacts and all
Major renovations have already taken place to the barn and eventually in time it will become the new Paxton Winery. Whilst it might not look like much from these photos, having seen the potential I can tell you it will be sensational. The Blacksmiths Shoppe and two settlers’ cottages will also undergoing renovation to showcase their original character. The sites views are also impressive and this cellar door should be a magical drawcard.
After trundling over this site it was time for Toby to head off so we all piled back into the wagon (and much to Toby’s relief Alex came too) and then we said good bye where it all started, at the Paxton Offices. The Paxton name may be well known to producers now but it will be heard by a lot more consumers over the next few years.
It was then back to John’s place where he had been slaving over a hot wine bottle for the balance of the afternoon and doing a bit of cooking whilst he was at it! At the appointed hour we all sat down to a delicious meal, the meat was cooked to perfection and didn’t need a knife (John is good at eating with his fingers.) The Yorkshire Pudding, much to everyone’s surprise actually tasted very good and as John had just received his daily (my monthly) cholesterol fix he was a happy man. The two bottles of excellent wine we consumed helped the mutual feeling of peace and goodwill towards all men (and his family too.) The man has hidden talents, no wonder Sue puts up with him!
Another day, another series of great wine experiences and this concludes Chapter Four but before I conclude as it was my last night in McLaren Vale and my good mate John would not be continuing on with me in my travels, it would be remiss of me not to thank John for putting up with me and to thank Sue for so happily allowing John to spend so much of his holiday time with me. They are truly two of the nicest most hospitable people you could ever wish to meet and they make the trip to McLaren Vale very special. Finally, I would like to thank John for allowing me to rib him so publicly and having the sense of humour to see the funny side and take it so good naturedly.
Chapter Five moves to the Barossa and should be up next week.
All feedback is welcome, click here to send comments.
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2003
