"TORB’s September SA Sojourn" – (The 2006 South Australian Tour Diary)

Click here for Chapter 4

Chapter Five – Tuesday – Barossa Valley

As we had a relaxing day yesterday and behaved ourselves last night, (partly thanks to two bottles of wine being corked!), Brian and I were in very good shape when we met up this morning. The big question was "had the Pie King had a few cleansing ales last night, and watched satellite TV until all hours of the morning?" We were both amazed when he arrived early to pick us up. He didn't look hung-over which was a big surprise (and will no doubt be an even bigger surprise to the Pie Queen when she reads this chapter.) According to his Pieship, he didn't even have a single "cleansing ale” before bed. Poor thing must be getting old.

Our regular breakfast spot (almost across the road from the 1918 restaurant), after many years under the same ownership, has changed hands. Their coffee and dishwater had a lot in common. The bacon and egg roll was ok, but certainly nothing to write home about. Tomorrow we will be looking for a new place for breakfast. After this very disappointing start, and distinct lack of caffeine, we stopped at the Tanunda bakery, and dear readers, you will be amazed to know that the Pie King and his Apprentice didn't look longingly at the pies when we walked into the bakery. We all managed to fit in a couple of cups of coffee; the coffee here is certainly quite reasonable. One of us, a little piggy who shall remain nameless, also managed to fit in a poppy-seed streusel bun; now those are really good stuff, and the only place I can ever find them is in the Barossa.

In May 2004 John and I blew into Maggie Beer and had one of life's interesting experiences; the sort that you never forget and continue to laugh about. Here is how it went. As the first wine was poured our host proceeded to tell me exactly what I would find in the glass. Obviously I look like I cannot work it out for myself.   After sniffing the wine a few times I said to our host, “This wine is oxidised.” She looked at me with a straight face and said…………….

…..Wait for it………

…..It’s coming………

“Yes!” And then proceeded to tell me more about how good the wine was.

For those who aren't familiar with the name Maggie Beer, it is a household name in Australia, not just in culinary circles, but a name that is well-known to anyone who enjoys good food. The Beer’s purchased a farm in the Barossa in 1973 and the tradition was born. The farm is now known as Pheasant Farm, and the most famous of her original products was the pheasant farm pâté, which can be found in almost every supermarket and deli in the country. The range of products is growing exponentially and now includes Verjuice, an assortment of sauces and pastes, to name just a tiny number of the items that now have the well-respected Maggie Beer label. The reason for the success of the label is quite simple; the products that Maggie produces are all first-rate. She is also very credible on TV.

       Prior to opening - the cleaning must be completed

Even though our first visit was not exactly a raging success, the place intrigues me and for some time I have been wanting to do a proper feature on it for the Tour Diary. As I know the US importer who handles their wine, I asked him to try and line up an appointment and proper introduction for the visit. Unfortunately, due to his business commitments and more importantly, birth of a child, he had more important things to do and it fell through the cracks, so I sent off a fax and arranged it myself.

We met with Diane Thompson who is the cellar door manager. I have now realised that the only way to do a meaningful story on this place is from a completely different angle. Although they have been viticulturalists for over thirty years, the emphasis at this property is, first and foremost, food. The grapes and their by-products are a complimentary "bolt on" activity.

There were two synergistic reasons behind the decision to go into the wine business. Firstly, they could see the writing on the wall and knew one day it may not be easy to sell all of their grapes. Secondly, vertical integration of wine with food made a lot of sense when you own a restaurant.

Beer Brothers Cuvee Molto sells for $33 at cellar door. It's an N. V. sparkling wine with a bready, yeasty bouquet. The palate is fresh and lively with yeast and citrus flavours. Lingering nicely, it's a good food wine and rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Beer Brothers 2004 Barossa Shiraz sells for $13 at cellar door. The fresh fruit literally almost leaps out of the glass. A clean and fault free wine, it is driven by pure fruit which delivers an interesting combination of berry flavours with mid-palate chocolate; the minimal dusty tannins does not provide much length, but it certainly has loads of flavour. Ample-weight with a soft consistency, seamless structure and harmonious complexity, it's a very easy-drinking, inoffensive bistro wine and is rated as Acceptable with **** for value.  

Pheasant Farm 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz sells for $20 a bottle and is sealed under cork. The bouquet shows ripe fruit with both earthy and dusty notes. Well-balanced with enough fine, unobtrusive, powdery tannins to hold the wine together, and provide a supple consistency and backbone, this medium-weight wine, like its predecessors, is food friendly. Cherry, milk chocolate, subtle coffee and blackcurrant flavours provide an agreeable complexity. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Pheasant Farm 2003 Home Block Shiraz sells for $35 and is sealed under cork. The bouquet was reticent showing only some sawdust oak and menthol/mint. Abundant powdery tannins combine with fresh acid and distinct fruit to form an ample-weight, firm, and solid wine with an agreeable complexity. Blackcurrant, milk chocolate, dark coffee, and dried herb flavours linger well, and this wine will be ideally suited to robust food. Rated as Recommended with ** for value, drink over the next five years.

Beer Brothers 2003 Old Vine Shiraz sells for $49. An attractive, fruit driven bouquet that is clean and bright with plum, chocolate, vanilla and other assorted goodies. Creamy, drying, powdery tannins provide a firm structure, and supple consistency for this muscular-weight wine that has a good mouth feel and is well made. Plum, cherry, chocolate, coffee, mint and aniseed flavours linger nicely and have good length. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value.

Maggie Beer N. V. Dessert Pearls sells for $14.50 and is a non alcoholic wine made from sparkling Cabernet juice. It has a sweet and sour lemon tea like character and would be refreshing on a hot day. Other than that, it doesn't hold much appeal to me.

Overall the wines were good-quality, well made and food-friendly. They have been well targeted to their market.

For my money, one of the very best wineries in the Barossa is none other than Kaesler. When I was unable to visit in May, Reid was kind enough to send me a box of samples so that I could review a number of their current releases. Still, a visit to the Barossa wouldn't be complete without a visit to this winery and Brian and John had not had the opportunity of trying many of their current releases, so we decided on a quick visit. There were two wines that I had not tried so I concentrated on those while the boys rushed through the rest.

                   It's always fun and games at Kaesler

Kaesler 2006 Touriga Nacional sells for $20 for a 500ml bottle at cellar door and the wine is sealed under cork. Coming in at 19.5% alcohol, it's fortified. It shows some oxidative handling, together with spice and earthy notes. Driven by the purest of fruit, it is very sweet on the uptake with coffee and rancio characters. It's enjoyable, indeed dangerous wine and whilst I don't know how to rate it, except for saying that its lip-smackingly good. The Pie King’s comment, "oohhhh, this will make your head go funny in a hurry."

Kaesler 2004 Old Vine Shiraz sells for $60 at cellar door. The bouquet was brooding and tight even in a Riedel glass; some floral aromatics, and earthy forest floor characters were evident. At this time, the wine is all about structure. All the components are perfectly proportioned with smooth, tightly-grained tannins and pure fruit. The class is evident in the craftsmanship of this refined, tight as a drum, ample-weight wine that has a modicum of elegance but shows some warmth on the palate. Plum, blackberry, blackcurrant, dried herbs, and rich ripe chocolaty characters finish long. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, but that is not doing it justice as the wine has a mile of potential to improve as it reaches its peak around 2014.

We walked out of there with a smile on our face, and John put a small dent in his credit card. Brian and my credit cards both needed panel beating after we tasted their previous new releases.

As we didn't have any appointments until the early afternoon, we were able to free-wheel and pick and choose who we visited. Brian had a bottle of badly corked wine he wanted to get replaced, so we called into Charles Melton Wines next.

In the last 22 years since this winery first started, it has built a steady and respected reputation amongst wine lovers, especially those that prefer wines that are a little more elegant and less in your face than many of the other wines from the region.

The history behind how this winery came about is quite funny one. In 1973 two guys were on an around Australia trip in a Holden Ute, when it broke down in the Barossa Valley. They needed money to get the car fixed and as there were two jobs available, they flipped a coin to see who would take each job. The guy called Graeme got the job as a cellar hand, and obviously it didn't pay much, as six years later he was still in the Barossa when he moved to a new winery that had just been started by Peter Lehmann. Peter Lehmann can be a stubborn old coot and refuse to call his right-hand man Graham, and decided that he was a Charlie. As they say, the rest is history.

In some ways, Charlie is a man that bucks the trend and does his own thing. His Rose of Virginia is hugely successful amongst rosé lovers and whilst some people were pulling out old vine Grenache, he was busy planting Grenache. For many years, the majority of wineries in the Barossa have used Shiraz for their flagship wines. Charlie has been using a Rhône blend as the basis of his famous Nine Popes. Truly a man who does his own thing.

In the middle of September, one wouldn't expect the weather to be so cold that a fire was required to keep the cellar door warm. Whilst it was pleasant to look at, fortunately the smoke made it a little difficult to smell the wine.

Charles Melton Sparkling Shiraz sells for $49.90 at cellar door and has spent two years on lees. It is a blend of wines from 2001 2002 and 2003. Unlike most other wines which use some form of fortified wine for the dosage, they use other non-fortified red wine. A very-drinkable wine of medium-weight and showing some elegance; it has a mouth-filling structure which delivers sweet raspberry and strawberry on the uptake, with a solidly flavoured smoky mid-palate, together with cherry and milk chocolate on a drying finish. Rated as Highly Recommended with (just about) *** for value.

Charles Melton 2003 Shiraz is sealed under cork and sells for $41.90 at cellar door. The bouquet is very subtle and restrained. Pure, deeply-seated fruit combine with fine, dusty tannins to form a tightly-structured wine that is elegant, has a solid backbone, and almost lean in weight. Ripe fruit on the uptake, it has a savoury, off-sweet mid-palate and herbal characters (which are not unattractive) on the finish. A very good result for the vintage, it is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

Charles Melton 2003 Nine Popes sells for $45.90 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. The bouquet showed earthy, dark chocolate which led to a chocolate palate with aniseed, blackcurrant, mulberry and dried herbs. A medium-weight, firm and solid wine that is still tight; the structure is harmonious and the complexity is well developed. It's a credible wine and is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

It was a very pleasant visit to the winery and Charlie has two new Dalmatians, a black and white, and a brown and white. They have also built a new veranda/deck where people can have lunch. The winery will have local, home-made produce including (unfortunately) pies. It is designed for a quick bite to eat, with a glass of their wine, rather than all afternoon dining experience. The view is marred by the staff car park, and whilst you can easily put up with that, all the “junk” nearby is not an attractive vista.

Brian handed over his corked 1995 Nine Popes, and it was a pity I didn't have my camera ready when the staffer took a sniff of the wine; the expression on her face made sucking sour lemons look pleasant. Needless to say, it was replaced with absolutely no fuss.

I had a corked Orlando 1996 Limited from the night before that I wanted to get replaced so we dropped into the Jacobs Creek visitor centre on our way to the next winery. The replacement didn't go to plan and is a story in its own right. We then headed next door to one of the slickest cellar door operations in the area, Grant Burge Wines. Many years ago, I was highly critical of the native animal reserve at the front of the Grant Burge facility. It turned out that the reserve was not owned and operated by Grant Burge, it actually belonged to the next-door neighbour, Jacobs Creek. No matter who owned it, it was not a good look. Protecting native animals that have been injured is admirable, but the facility needs to be more than just a fenced in paddock, and this is even more so when it is so conspicuously public. On this visit, there was a sign on the block stating that it was owned by Jacobs Creek, but more importantly, the animals have been removed; hopefully to a more hospitable location.

The Grant Burge cellar door, besides looking like a class act, is one of the few that offers every single wine on the menu for tasting. The staff are professional servers and are good at their job. When they don't know the answer to a difficult or obscure question, the sort that I am likely to ask, but the average consumer is unlikely to even think about, they go and find out. I have also noticed that when people arrive at this cellar door, if there is a shortage of staff at the counter, other staffers seem to miraculously appear, as if from nowhere. In the past, the only gripe I have about this winery was their insistence on using revolting, microscopic tasting glasses, however the good news is that at long last, they have upgraded the quality of their glasses. They are the same shape as the standard tasting glasses used in many wineries, but they are still a fraction smaller. Unfortunately Grant Burge is still one step behind in the glass stakes, as many of the wineries are now moving to Riedels.

Grant Burge 2004 Miamba Shiraz sells for $18.50 at cellar door. The bouquet is ripe, soft and fruit driven. Dusty tannins combine with pure, persistent fruit to form an ample-weight, soft wine that is easy drinking with loads of flavour. It's sweet on the uptake with cherry, redcurrant, chocolate and dried herbs; it lingers well. Rated as Recommended with *** for value (or **** if on special.)

Grant Burge 2002 Holy Trinity is a GSM blend that sells for $31.95 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. A clean, modern wine that is well balanced with nothing sticking out; the tannins are unobtrusive and the pure fruit delivers plum, meat, spice and blackberry flavours. It's medium-weight, solid, elegant, harmonious and a very easy-drinking, food friendly wine that the masses will love. From a personal perspective, whilst there is nothing wrong with the wine, indeed everything is right, I found it so clinical that it was boring. Rated as Recommended with ** for value.

A working winemakers hands. Any guesses as to whom they belong to?

Grant Burge 2002 Abednego is an SGM blend that sells for $49.95 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. There is some clever winemaking at play here; the smooth, tight, dusty tannins combine with the pure fruit to form a wine that is already almost seamless. The bouquet shows blackberry, meat, spice, plum and pepper whilst the palate has redcurrant, milk chocolate, spice and charcuterie characters. Almost lean in weight, it is tight, elegant and has a diverse complexity. A fine wine that is very European in style, it's rated as Recommended with ** for value and should hit its straps around 2010.

Grant Burge 2004 Filsell Shiraz sells for $29.75 at cellar door. The bouquet is black with mint and eucalyptus. A pleasant flavour profile is created by the plum and dried herbs but it finishes short with nothing on the back palate. Smooth, dusty tannins, and pure fruit combine to form an ample-weight wine, with a supple consistency, solid structure and agreeable complexity, it is rated as Acceptable with ** for value. (Brian's comment: There are a number of fairly glowing reviews of this wine around, this was the second time I’ve tasted this wine, the first time blind, and both times I’ve been disappointed in the result (it's too austere and short), especially given it was a pretty good vintage in the Valley.)

Grant Burge 2001 Shadrach is sealed under cork and sells for $39.95 at cellar door. This Cabernet Sauvignon contains 18% Barossa fruit, 22% from the Adelaide Hills, and the balance from Coonawarra. The bouquet is typical of a varietal Cabernet with attractive perfumed fruit. Blackcurrant, herbal cigar box, and chocolate characters are truly varietal and finish with long, dusty, drying tannins, but the wine needs time for the fruit to surface. A very credible wine, it is rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value and should best be consumed in 2010 or beyond.

Grant Burge 2001 Meshach sells for $89.95 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. The bouquet showed a touch of VA but it is it an attractive and clean, showing plum, blackcurrant, chocolate and menthol; there is a lot happening here. A very-well made and impeccably balanced wine with smooth, tight, dusty tannins and pure, deeply-seated fruit. It is tight, sophisticated, and the class is unquestionable; it's an ample-weight baby that needs time to grow up. The attractive mouth-feel is enhanced by the gun barrel straight tannins that support plum, blackcurrant, chocolate, mint and dried herb flavours that finish long. Rated as Excellent with *** for value; drink from 2014 and beyond.

The portfolio of wines available from Grant Burge is large and there is something for everybody's tastes. If you want a crowd pleaser, they have it; if you want a serious long-term wine that's available too. They are continually playing with new blends the new labels, especially with the Rhone varieties. The only criticism I have is that some of the labels do not appear to be stylistically consistent from year to year.

After depriving the Pie Addicts a lunchtime fix for two days, there was no way known to mankind that I was going to get away with it for a third day; one would have a better chance of winning the lottery! I didn't even get a vote or a chance to voice my opinion about where we should have lunch. I think the boys had secretly got together behind my back and conspired to form a plan that would ensure they got their evil pie way. Brian drove straight to the Tanunda Bakery. On past trips, I have tried their attempt at sandwiches and bread rolls, and as much as I hate to admit it, a pie is a better option here. I ordered a potato pie. It certainly could have been hotter and it was also very bland; it’s rated as Just Edible with ** for value. Brian enjoyed his pepper steak pie. It was a little different to most as the pastry was fillo rather than that heavy soggy stuff that is generally used. His Pie Worship indulged in a chicken pie and a traditional meat pie with sauce. His Pie Lordship proclaimed from upon high, "this chicken pie is fantastic. Why didn't I get two of them?"

Our next appointment was with Dan Standish who is one of the new breed of talented, young-gun winemakers in the Barossa. Dan first shot to prominence when he was making the wines for Torbreck. You don't get a gig like that unless you have real talent. Whilst Dan was at Torbreck, he started doing his own thing and over time laid the foundations for his own business. As well as being one of the two partners in the Massena label, he makes wine for his own family’s label, as well as doing contract winemaking. He is a busy boy, but let's go back to the beginning.

Dan was born and bred in the Barossa and according to him "was brought up in the vineyard." Dan’s parents must have believed in child labour, as by the time he was six years old, he knew how to prune vines. Either that or they spotted his natural talent and wished to foster it from an early age. After Dan left school, rather than going to Roseworthy, like the sons of many growers and winemakers, he went to Adelaide University and studied chemical engineering. Once he completed his degree, he moved to Sydney and worked in his chosen field at a medical company. After six months, Dan came to the realisation that he didn't want to spend the next 40 years of his life sitting behind a computer in an office.

Jaysen Left and Dan at the far end of the table

He chucked his job in and moved back home for a few months. His parents, very sensibly, didn't want him free loading and insisted that he paid rent, so that meant that Dan had to get a job. He started work as a cellar hand at Bethany.

Dan and a guy called Jaysen Collins drove up to the Clare Valley together to work the vintage at Taylors. The plan was hatched and the Massena label became an embryo. Eventually, the first wine that they produced was called The Moonlight Run in honour of the regular drive to Clare, whilst they were working the night shift.

Dan decided to expand his horizons and moved to the US, and worked in both the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Dan is the first to admit that he is a self-taught winemaker and feels that the lack of technical training, in his case, is actually an advantage. The reason for that lies in his background and degree in chemical engineering. Naturally enough, the science of winemaking comes easily to him had whilst he knows the limits, he is keen to experiment and try new things. That experimentation has led to some very ordinary wines, but he has also led to a very valuable storehouse of knowledge.

Dan started making wine in 1998 and wound up working for Torbreck for seven years, and left on very amicable terms in 2005. According to Dan, Dave Powell at Torbreck was incredibly supportive whilst he was working at Torbreck, and even assisted him when he first started making his own wines.

Right through our conversation, the wines from the Rhone kept on cropping up. When I asked him why he was making wines in the style, he told me he had never planned to do so. Dan likes to make wine that he likes to drink. That means his wines need to have backbone, be spicy, savoury, and have good primary fruit characters. Dan described wines that had massive amounts of new oak and all primary fruit characters as "not real wines."

Currently, Dan makes wines for Mount Billy and Maggie Beer, but it doesn't end there. He is also making wine in Japan from an indigenous grape.

In terms of growing the business, Dan is basically happy at the size he is today because it gives him time to experiment with wines from other regions. Whilst his first objective is to produce wines that he likes to drink, his second objective is to make sure the quality is not just maintained, but if possible improved.

The Standish label is pre-allocated and sold out on release. The Massena label is exported to the US and Europe.

With the exception of the Howling Dog, the rest of the vines that Dan is dealing with are between 80 and 150 years old. His philosophy is to get the balance right in the vineyard and add as little as possible to the wine when it is being produced. At one stage, the subject of closures came up and Dan gave us his thoughts. Although he admits that corks do have problems, he is not convinced that red wines age well under screwcaps and also thinks there is “an attrition rate” for wines that are sealed under screwcaps too. He is a fan of the new technology from Cork Supply that delivers corks that have been placed in a pressurised container and blasted with steam and ethanol. Apparently this patented process removes the volatile compounds and leaves the cork in its natural state. Whilst it is not perfect, it does reduce the incidence of TCA significantly.

We met at Vintners Bar and Grill in Angaston, and the tasting took place there.

The first wine we tried was the Massena 2004 The Moonlight Run which is sealed under cork and sells for $26. Unfortunately it was very slightly corked so I cannot provide a complete tasting note but even with this dud bottle, the quality was obvious and I would think it would rate somewhere around Highly Recommended with **** for value.

Massena 2004 the Eleventh Hour sells for $30 and 600 cases have been produced. Very smart winemaking at play! It stops just short of being overripe and has a delightful mouth-feel, excellent balance and construction. Ripe, off-sweet black cherry, black plum, spice, pepper, chocolate and earthy savoury flavours work together harmoniously and form an ample-weight, supple, tight wine, that is certainly food friendly. Rated Highly Recommended with **** for value, drink over the next five years.

Massena 2004 the Howling Dog Durif sells for $35. The wine is produced from six-year-old vines and 600 cases have been produced. The nose was brooding but it showed black characters with spice and blackberry. This is simply a lovely wine. The smooth tannins creep up slowly and are perfectly matched to the deep and strong fruit. The structure is strong and the mouth-feel noteworthy. Off-sweet with rich chocolate with surprising peach characters showing up, there is also blackberry, and blueberry. A full-bodied, supple and tight wine with a well-developed, diverse complexity, there is nothing aggressive about it, but it does need time. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, drink from 2010 and beyond.

As if these guys haven't got enough to do, as well as making their own wine they are importing a few lines as well, but there is a definite cunning method to this plan. Dan and his business partner, Jaysen Collins felt they had developed an expensive habit called Rhone blends, so they decided to do a little bit of importing too. Now, instead of just importing for their own consumption, the majority is sold and helps to finance their habit. We were lucky enough to try their champagne.

Vilmont NV Champagne sells for $70 a bottle. Only 9000 cases have been produced for worldwide consumption, which is small by Champagne standards. The bouquet is yeasty and bready, with hints of lemon and apple. The palate is very fresh, and whilst it's lighter in weight than many, it has some mid-palate fatness too; it’s elegant and has good length. With yeast and apple flavours dominating, the combination is attractive; it is sweet on the uptake, off-sweet on the mid-palate and finishes to lemon. It's highly quaffable but maintains good depth and complexity. The broad mid-palate is not at all flabby and it finishes clean. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value and give it a couple of years and the rating should increase.

A good line-up of wines! Dan is a talented winemaker and it shows in his product. He seems very content with his lot in life but like so many talented winemakers, he has that gut-busting desire to continually make better and better wines.

There are not too many things in life you can bank on, but one of them is that when you go to the Saltram, you can bet your life there will be a reasonable line-up of new wines to taste. This winery is no Johnny-come-lately. In 1844 William Salter purchase land in the Barossa and built a stone house. It was called Mamre Brook after Adam's spiritual home in the book of Genesis. In 1862 William and his son produced 8000 litres of wine which they called No 1 Shiraz. Saltram No 1 Shiraz, until a few years ago was still the flagship wine from this winery, just as the Mamre Brook cottage still stands on the site today.

In the last hundred and forty-four years, there have only been eight senior winemakers involved in the production of their wines. To celebrate this monumental achievement, a few years ago the Saltram Eighth Maker Shiraz was launched. Only the best grapes available to the property are used for is wine and it is intended to rival the best wines made in Australia today.

Of the eight winemakers, three names stand out as legends. Firstly, four generations of the Salter family and secondly Peter Lehmann, and finally, two generations of the Dolan family with the current incumbent being Nigel. The association of famous wine industry names does not end there. In 1882, Thomas Hardy who at that time was a prominent wine merchant, undertook to buy all of Saltram’s wines. Leslie Salter became good mates with Ronald Martin of ‘Stonyfell’ when they attended Roseworthy together. Martin bought a third share of W Salter & Son in 1920 and in 1941 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Martin’s family's operation. The two businesses worked in tandem.  The winemaking was carried out at Saltram, and Stonyfell was being used for maturation and bottling.

By 1979, things were pretty rough in the wine business and in a well documented story; Peter Lehmann jumped ship and started his own winery. The next 20 years were very turbulent with many staff changes, management changes, and even change of ownership. One thing happened in their 20 year period that was to be, in many ways, the saviour of the reputation of the company. Nigel Dolan, who had actually been born in the Mamre Brook cottage, became the senior winemaker.

The winery wound up being owned by Wolf Blass and today it's part of the Foster's operation, but unlike many of the original Wolf Blass operations, to the outsider at least, it looks like they left Dolan pretty much alone, and allowed him to do his own thing. The original brands under this umbrella certainly don't seem like they are part of the Blass and then Foster's empire, truly maintaining their own sense of identity.

Saltram NV Sparkling Shiraz Cabernet sells for $16 at cellar door. It greeted me with a spicy nose and sweet red berry fruit which translates to an intensely sweet palate, with rich chocolate and there is no doubt many people will love it. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, I am not one of them.

Pepperjack 2004 Shiraz sells at cellar door for $20. The bouquet showed a hint of VA, with plum, spicy pepper and chocolate. A well-balanced wine backed by dusty tannins with slightly sharp acid; it's off-sweet on the uptake with sweet fruit on the mid-palate and they combine to rifle across the palate with red and blue spectrum fruit that holds one's interest. Medium-weight with a supple consistency and diverse complexity is rated as Recommended with **** for value, based on the Street price.

Pepperjack 2004 Cabernet sells for $20 at cellar door. A varietal Cabernet nose with blueberry, vanilla and eucalyptus notes. Lean in weight and backed by dusty tannins, the persistent fruit delivers blackcurrant, cigar box and dried herbs with a bitter chocolate/coffee finish that is also a little green. The consistency a supple and the complexity is agreeable, and those that like a leaner style of varietal Cabernet will enjoy this wine. Rated as Acceptable with *** for value.

Mamre Brook 2004 Shiraz sells for $24 at cellar door. The nose was attractive and fruit driven. Ample-weight with a supple consistency, solid structure and agreeable complexity, smooth, dusty tannins seem to have a slightly unripe component. With plum, blackcurrant, chocolate, and coffee flavours, whilst there is a distinct green streak through the wine, it is still very enjoyable. Rated as Acceptable with *** for value.

Mamre Brook 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $24 at cellar door. The bouquet doesn't seem like a truly varietal Cabernet, it's more like a nice red. Very, drying almost puckering tannins makes me wonder if there is enough fruit below the surface of this wine for it come into balance. It seems a little under-fruited and is medium-weight; it’s rated as Acceptable with *** for value.

    Brian looks like he needs a caffeine fix to stay awake ....

Metala 2002 Black Label Shiraz sells for $50 at cellar door. The bouquet is dominated by coffee oak, blackberry, mint and blueberry. A well-made wine that is perfectly balanced and constructed, with smooth, tight, fine dusty tannins and pure fruit that is off-sweet on the uptake with red, blue, and blackberry flavours leading to a coffee finish. Medium-weight with a solid structure, supple consistency and a harmonious construction, this is the best vintage since 1998 and is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value (based on the street price of $44) and should hit its straps around 2010 and beyond.

Saltram 2003 No1 sells for $60 at cellar door and happened to have been released the week previously. The bouquet was typical of the No1; dominated by quality oak with good fruit below, and there are also attractive perfumed characters. Abundant, powdery drying tannins combine with fresh acid and pure, persistent fruit to form a full-bodied, firm, solid and tight wine. Whilst the wine is all class and has all the components, it is the worst possible case of vininfanticide and needs to reach about 10 years of age for the oak to be absorbed and for the wine to gain further complexity. Needless to say, it is not for the oak-a-phobic. Rated as Excellent with ** for value.

Saltram 2002 Eight Maker Shiraz sells for $200 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. It opened with some pongy reductive characters but quickly blew off to reveal real complexity. Chewy, dusty tannins combine with pure, deep fruit that delivers blueberry, cherry, plum, coffee and chocolate flavours that finish with excellent length, but the wine needs ages. Ample-weight with a solid, tight and elegance structure, the consistency is supple and this is a seriously good wine that should be very long-lived. Rated as Excellent with * for value, it should enter its drinking window around 2015. If the rating improves to Outstanding, it will look like better value.

There was certainly an interesting range of wines here. The Pepperjack Shiraz was the pick of the lower cost wines. I must admit I was disappointed with the Mamre Brook 2004’s, especially the Cabernet which in a good year can be fantastic. It looks like this may have just been me, because both Jeremy Oliver and Campbell Mattinson both rated it pretty highly, and the former raved about it. All I can do is judge what I found in the glass and I doubt my palate was off, because the other wines were certainly as expected. Possibly it was bottle variation, certainly in the 2003 vintage there was a fair bit of variation between the samples that I tried.

The top wines are certainly all very good and a credit to the winemaking talents of Nigel Dolan. A little less oak in some of the wines would certainly make them more appealing to a bigger market.

As usual, the staff are extremely professional, very helpful and very friendly. It is certainly worth a visit and they make a fine cup of coffee too, and naturally we availed ourselves to a cup.

We had time for one more winery and decided to head to Gibson’s Barossa Vale Wines. Most people probably don't know that Rob Gibson has been the chief viticulturalist for both Penfold and Peter Lehmann; now you don't get a gig like that unless you know your apples from your pears. They make three ranges of wine, the Loose End series, the Barossa Vale range and the top end Gibson Reserve Range. They produce approximately 4,000 cases of wine year, the majority of it coming from their own, estate grown fruit.

The old and the new at Gibson's

Gibson Barossa Vale 2004 Wilfreda is an SMG blend and sells for $24 at cellar door. The bouquet is attractive and shows interesting complexity with raspberry, chocolate, meaty notes, vanilla and coffee. Unobtrusive, silky-smooth tannins combine with fresh acid and pure fruit to form a clean, modern medium-weight, supple wine with a harmonious nature. Raspberry, spice, pepper and liquorice flavours finish with good length, and the only downside is the flavour profile is a bit simple. A good party wine or crowd-pleaser, but it's better than that description, and it's also food neutral. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Gibson Barossa Vale 2004 Shiraz sells for $36 at cellar door. Long, fine, tight tannins combine with pure, persistent fruit to form a well-structured wine that sits beautifully in the mouth. Coffee, plum, black chocolate and eucalyptus finish with excellent persistence and very good length. Ample-weight with a supple consistency and a solid, tight structure, and well-developed complexity, it's a good wine that shows some elegance and is worth seeking out. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

That was our last winery for the day and we headed back towards town. Everyone has heard about how bad things are for grape growers, and on the way back to our hotels we were to see a stunning example. On one side of the road, there were some glorious, gnarly old vines and on the other side of the road a whole paddock of grapes that had not been picked the previous year. You could see the dried bunches of grapes still hanging, and needless to say, it had not been pruned, so it was not going to be picked again this year. That means two years without an income from this paddock.

(Left) Barossa Semillon - about as saleable as pork at a Kosher deli but the old Shiraz vines (right) are worth a dollar or five

Whilst we were gazing over the vines, a local old-timer cocky came over and had a bush yarn to us. It turns out the old vines are 93 years old and by chance, the fruit goes into Gibson's Old Vine Shiraz. The un-picked crop, which was obviously very heavily cropped, turned out to be Barossa Semillon. Let's face it, who wants to buy Barossa Semillon, let alone over-cropped grapes. The next vineyard was Sauvignon Blanc; what a wonderful grape variety to grow in the Barossa, about as popular as Shiraz from the south of Tasmania. When you have varieties planted in a region that are not suitable for that area, no wonder people have trouble moving the crop.

We had a fabulous dinner planned for that evening. The Pepper's Hermitage resort was in the process of undergoing a renovation/make over and included in that makeover is a name change to Peppers the Louise. It's a boutique hotel with only fifteen suites available. When we arrived, the makeover was still in progress and the car park and entrance to the hotel looked like a construction site. However the common areas, like reception and the restaurant were finished. As part of the new look The Appellation restaurant has been able to attract the highly acclaimed Mark McNamara as the Executive Chef.

When we were planning the trip, Rick Burge suggested that we eat at Appellation and he would arrange a special menu for us, so we were looking forward to it with great anticipation. We arrived a little early, which is not unusual, and Rick arrived a little late, which is also not unusual. Whilst we were waiting, we had a seat in the bar and as there was going to be so much wine consumed, I was quite happy sipping on a glass of mineral water and perusing the extensive wine list. They certainly had a comprehensive and eclectic wine list and whilst many of the mark-ups were as you would expect in a restaurant of this calibre, some defied logic. There were a few examples of relatively good value, and some that were comparatively (to the majority) just ridiculously expensive.

When Rick arrived, we were ushered into the smaller of the two rooms. Being able to divide the restaurant into two completely self-contained areas is an excellent idea. In our small room, there was only ourselves and one other table occupied. In the larger, main room there was a large party of people (American visitors) who were employed in the wine business and were the guests of Barossa Valley Estate. Although they were reasonably noisy, it made no difference to us as the closed door filtered out the majority of the sound.

The decor is elegant and stylish with white tablecloths, white plates, excellent glassware and thick carpet to help deaden the sound. Right from the very start, the service was impeccable.

Rick had arranged for us to bring our own wines, and although he said he would bring them all, that was not on, and the three of us had each brought one of our own as well. As it turned out, that was quite fortuitous. We were going to have an eight-course degustation menu, and Rick had arranged for the food to be matched to our wines (or at least the ones he was bringing, the general theme being Italian).

As we had planned for this to be a top night, what better way to start off than with a top wine, which was kindly provided by Rick; a bottle of 1996 Dom Perignon. The bottle was opened and the sample poured into Rick’s glass. He took a sniff and handed it to me with a completely blank expression on his face, giving absolutely nothing away. I took one sniff and uttered a few well chosen four-letter words; it had enough cork taint to ensure that it was not going to be drunk by me. Not a good way to start.

The Pie King has never drunk Dom, and although it was corked, he had to give it a go. Unfortunately, although he expended a great deal of mental energy trying to convince himself that it was not badly corked, and then when that didn't work, trying to become the equivalent of a wine alchemist, after three quarters of the glass, he finally, and reluctantly, conceded defeat and slid his glass to the centre of the table. I have never seen the Pie King cry, but he came mighty close to it that night.

The next wine opened was a white which was also kindly brought by Rick, a Livio Felluga Terre Alte. Guess what? The cork taint on this one was even worse! A few more well chosen four-letter words were uttered by Rick, but as it was a c-through, I was unmoved.

The first course arrived which was a terrine of tomato jelly with avocado and fresh lime. As you see from the picture, the presentation was stunning. It also tasted as good as it looked.

John had brought a Villa Giada 1998 Barbera d’Asti which exhibited a spicy palate with pure blackcurrant and chocolate. An ample-weight wine that was well backed by tannins that were resolving nicely, but it was still as fresh as a daisy. Recommended with ***** for value

The next course was West Coast scallops with a grapefruit butter sauce. The contrasting explosions of flavour in the mouth were brilliant. There was a huge amount of complexity in the flavour profile; top marks for this dish. It was also a reasonably good match to John's Italian wine.

Whilst on the subject of John, during dinner John slowly lifted his head up from his plate (he normally has his head about 4 inches away from his food so we can see what he is eating) and proudly, with absolutely no prompting, came out with another one of his deeply philosophical gems. "I am a one woman man.” That was followed by a pregnant pause and then, "She is the only one that will have me." And then his head slowly went down to look at what he was about to eat next. The Pie King is truly an amazing man.

The next dish was a crostini of local pigeon cooked in red wine and olive oil and finished with an assortment of herbs including parsley and thyme. (crostini (little toasts) is the style of dish with the prepared food served on a small toasted crusty slice of bread); the dish was chock-a-block full of flavour and surprisingly rich. The Barbera was absolutely a perfect match for this dish. The next wine was Vigneto Starderi 2000 La Spinetta Barbaresco which was also brought by Rick. The bouquet certainly grabs one's attention and has phenomenal complexity and seductive floral notes. John's comment was, "when you sniff it, you feel like you are being sucked into it." The palate was dominated by rich chocolate and although it didn't have a huge amount of persistence, it was a lovely wine. And ample-weight wine with a fatter palate than the next wine, its structure was a little lean but had excellent power to weight.

Prunotto 2000 Barbesco was brought by Brian. If anything the bouquet on this wine was even more floral than the last. And ample-weight wine with a classical structure ably supported by very long tannins. The palate on this wine was superior to the last. Dominated by violets and huge amounts of rich dark chocolate characters and blackcurrant, it was scrumptious. Although it was ample-weight and had top-quality fruit, it almost seemed to have a lean structure that was offset by incredible power.

The next dish was a casserole of wild hare with handmade egg noodles. This dish was very well cooked, almost to the point of being a ragout. The sauce was reduced until it became decadently rich and it exhibited profound power. The Barbesco was a perfect match.

Whilst we were drinking these wines, the subject of ratings came up and Rick said, "Americans love to rate everything, it's a pity that does not include politicians."

La Spinetta 2001 Barolo (Le Campe della Spinetta Vigneto) This wine was amazingly tannic but had wonderful fruit to back it up. A truly excellent wine, it’s a veritable baby that will just keep going for ever. It is almost austere at this stage, but give it time for the tannins to recede and the fruit to surface it will be a truly wow wine. As the Barolo opened up, it seemed to put on weight and really show its style. This was the best wine of the night.

Our next delight was a sorbet made from verjus with fresh herb and green tea; the herb being basil. The sorbet was exactly the way it should be; perfectly refreshing with zero sweetness.

That was shortly followed by pan-seared Hamlin Bridge venison served with wild mushroom and barley risotto. The risotto had hints of liquorice and espresso coffee. The venison was so soft you didn't need a knife to cut it. It just melted in your mouth.

Whilst we were talking, in casual conversation, Rick dropped an extremely interesting comment. "Less than 25% of the grapes grown in the Barossa wind up going out in a bottle, with a Barossa label on it." if we were talking about the Riverland, I would not have been shocked. As we all know, the huge amount of fruit from the Riverland winds up in cask wine or is sold as a product of Southeast Australia. But as the Barossa is such a premium and highly regarded area, this statistic was truly surprising.

When he attends these dinners, Rick is normally incredibly generous with the wine he brings, but on this night he was batting a thousand. Besides bringing two corked bottles of wine, he had intended to bring a 1975 Wyatt Earp Vintage Port, but he forgot to bring it. I think he needs a visit to Doc Holliday to sort himself out.

Luckily I brought my old standby favourite Morris Cellar Door Reserve Tokay or we would have had a dry argument over desert. I have consumed countless bottles of this wine and besides being a fine drop, it’s the best value for money Tokay around at the $30 price point.

Our next course was Ballycroft Annulet (a local cheese that is between three and five months old) which had been grilled over a pear. This dish was cooked perfectly, but unfortunately it was the one letdown in the whole meal. It just tasted very bland and ordinary and from my perspective totally missed the mark.

The chef made up with it on the next and final course. It was a chocolate tart with Shiraz sorbet. This could be summed up in one word, mind-bending. The Shiraz sorbet (on top of the chocolate) was sheer genius. I have never had a dessert like it. It was stunningly creative, having wonderful different textures with the cold of the sorbet, highlighted by the richness of the warm chocolate and the contrasting flavours of the bitter and sweet. They don't come better than this! The thermal dynamics of the cold sorbet on top of the warm chocolate, in itself would be an excellent subject for a PhD. 

The service was gold star, first class. In summary, it’s a class act.

This is still loads more of good stuff to come, so stay tuned.

Click here for the next Chapter

Click here for the previous Chapter

Click here for home page

Copyright © Ric Einstein 2006