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

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Chapter Six – Wednesday – Barossa Valley

After a big night out last night, the boys thought I had taken pity on them when I had told them our first appointment was not until 9.30 am and I was happy to accept their gratitude for the late start. The reality of the situation was a different matter. I had actually requested our first appointment be at nine o'clock, but Greg Hobbs had asked if we could make it a half an hour later.

We were certainly not going to go back to our old spot in Tanunda for breakfast and having previously eaten at Blonde Coffee in Angaston it was a much safer bet, and they know how to make a good cup of coffee. The menu is fairly eclectic. It's not your typical bacon and eggs type joint. They do have toasted sandwiches, and although the sandwiches are pre-made (and toasted to order), they are very tasty. Unfortunately there is no tomato juice; in fact their selection of juices is very limited, which is a shortcoming in a place that is open for breakfast. They do have lots of soft drinks and different types of mineral water, as well as muffins and all sorts of other goodies.

Whilst we were waiting for our breakfast to be served, guess who walked in? None other than Greg Hobbs; our first appointment had come in for a caffeine fix and it turns out that his daughter works here.

I had a toasted scrambled egg, bacon, tomato and cheese sandwich which was cooked to perfection.

The Pie King being his usual healthy self had a bottle of full strength Coke for breakfast as well as some other perverted form of 3% fat-free food.

After breakfast we headed out of Angaston, went past Yalumba and continued in the general direction of the Eden Valley. For those that don't know about Hobbs Wines, Greg Hobbs is a small producer that owns the property directly across the road from Chris Ringland. Many of the vines on Greg's property are over a hundred years old and he is not exactly a large producer. Quantities produced range from 100 to 300 dozen bottles per label. The winery specialises in two different types of wine; dessert wines, many of which are in a drier style and whilst they are by definition different, they are high-quality and generally most enjoyable. He also makes three reds; both the sorts of wine I would be happy to buy for a special occasion, but the sort of quality wine you would like to be able to drink every night.

Although this was the middle of September, Greg’s shed is at the top of a hill is exposed to the elements so we certainly felt the cool temperature. Still, it's easier to warm wine up in your hands than it is to cool wine down quickly.

Hobbs 2004 Shiraz Viognier is a Shiraz-based wine with 4% Viognier; it sells for $110 a bottle at cellar door and is sealed under cork. A hundred and thirty cases have been produced and the wine was matured in a combination of new and old French oak for two years. The wine had been bottled three months previously. Whilst the bouquet was completely closed due to the temperature of the wine, there was either a touch of VA or lifted alcohol, but the quality of the wine was obvious from the first sniff. A beautifully-balanced and perfectly constructed wine, it is backed by smooth, fine, tight dusty tannins and pure fruit. Black cherry, chocolate, hints of dried herbs and blackberry; the perfectly ripe fruit produces a flavour profile that is off sweet with almost no sign of Viognier flavours on the palate. And ample-weight, supple wine with a solid and tight structure that shows elegance, it's already showing signs of harmony. Once it has had time to loosen up, it should be sensational and the only criticism is that there is a touch of warmth. Rated as Excellent with ** for value; drink from 2011.

Hobbs 2004 Shiraz sells for $130 a bottle at cellar door and is sealed under Cork. The wine has been cropped at 1.5 tons to the acre and was matured in 100% new French hogsheads. Approximately 230 cases were made. The bouquet is sensational and driven by the purest fruit with hints of vanillin oak. A complete wine that has been impeccably built; it is perfectly ripe with no black flavours. Blueberry, mint, chocolate and a hint of dried herb/cigar box and loads of coffee flavours; it finishes very long. An ample-weight, firm wine that is backed by smooth, fine and tight, dusty tannins; the acid is fresh and lively but should settle in time and the pure, deeply-seated, strong and persistent fruit completes the package. A bloody sensational wine that is all class, there is nothing blousy or overblown and it shoots down the palate with sniper accuracy, and whilst it is all about structure now, it will be terrific in time. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2014 and beyond. This was one of the best wines of the trip.

Hobbs 2003 Shiraz is sold out but was kindly opened up by Greg so we could see a comparison between the two vintages. The brooding bouquet reminded me of a spoilt brat not wanting to come out of his room. The wine maintains excellent balance between smooth, tight dusty tannins, fresh acid, and pure, persistent fruit. The palate is dominated by coffee oak over savoury fruit with mulberry, blackcurrant, dark chocolate and eucalyptus flavours which finished long. Ample-weight with a very firm consistency, solid structure and well-developed complexity the wine needs time to show its best and whilst it is slightly warm on the palate, it is leaner than the 2004, which is a better wine. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value, drink from 2009.

Hobbs 2004 Gregor Shiraz sells for $130 and is sealed under cork. Sniff, sniff, hello; what's this? I want to crawl into the bottle to find out. All I need is a few hours, a chair and a good book and I sure I could work it out. The floral aromatics are incredible and offset with coffee oak. Driven by the purest fruit that is deeply-seated and strong, the plum, blackcurrant, mulberry, chocolate, mint and pepper flavours finish incredibly long. Tannins are fine and silky. An ample-weight wine that is tight as you can possibly get, the structure is solid, layered and almost seamless. A long-term wine with a sophisticated complexity that is all class, and whilst it's more showy than the 2004 Shiraz, it's a standout wine and I certainly was guilty of not spitting every drop. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, the rating should improve as the wine reaches its peak around 2014 and beyond.

Hobbs 2005 Semillon sells for $39 for a 375ml bottle and is sealed under screwcap. The wine came from 60-year-old vines that were cane pruned and left on the vine for two weeks, then hand-picked and semi-dried on racks. The residual sugar is 220 g/l and it’s only 8.6% alcohol. It is picked early so they can maintain a good level of acid but this process yields only 200 litres of wine from a ton of grapes. (A normal white wine would yield about 750 litres of wine.) As you can see, it's not your average traditionally made sticky. The bouquet shows lovely aromatics. The delectable mouth feel is enhanced by the apricots, lime and dominant peach flavours that are very tasty. Whilst there is a big whack of sweetness, it is offset by the acid and a match made in heaven for blue cheese. It has a silky consistency and is simply fantastic. Rated as Excellent with *** for value.

Seen in the spare bedroom at the Pie King's Place.............

Is he going through his second childhood or has he been to the sex shop?

Hobbs 2005 Frontignac sells for $39 for a 375ml bottle and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet shows citrus characters. It's very sweet on the uptake with citrus, passionfruit, and apricot flavours it finishes with clean, fresh acid. The consistency is slightly soft and I can't help feeling we could have done more with this wine. Rated as Recommended with ** for value, it's possible the rating may improve with a bit of bottle age.

Hobbs 2005 Viognier sells for $39 for a 375ml bottle and is 10.2% alcohol and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet is subdued in comparison to the previous wine and shows very little. With 230 g of residual sugar it is very sweet on the uptake with apricot marmalade and I found that it didn't have a huge amount of complexity. It is clean and well made, lingering well and may develop with a little bottle age. Rated as Recommended with ** for value with possible room for improvement.

Hobbs 2005 Grenache sells for $39 for a 375ml bottle and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet is pleasant and shows strawberry and Ribena. The palate is very unusual showing Ribena dominant characters that finish clean and linger beautifully. Blue cheese enhanced the sweetness of the wine. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value.

No doubt about it. Greg Hobbs makes some of the best red wines in the Barossa and his dessert wines, whilst different to most others are not half bad either. I'm not sure how 2005 rated as a vintage for his dessert wines, but from my perspective a number of previous examples have been better, although it must be said the Semillon was very good. The two top reds are stunning and certainly worth buying for a special occasion.

From there, it was back down the hill towards Seppeltsfield, to one of the most respected winemakers in the Barossa, Rolf Binder. Formerly known as Veritas, the winery is now known as Rolf Binder Wines. Apparently there was some confusion with the name in the US, so a name change was required. As well as making wines under his own label, Rolf is in partnership with Noel Young, a UK wine retailer and a number of excellent wines are made under the Magpie Estate label. If that is not enough to keep Rolf busy, he also does a fair amount of contract winemaking. In a period of less than six years, the winery has gone from a tiny old building, which was located around the corner from Langmeil, to a medium-sized, state of the art winery which is located on the corner of Seppeltfield and Stelzer Roads in Tanunda. When the winery was first built, it was a reasonable size but within a very short time, a large barrel storage shed was added.

       You have to admire Rolf's sense of humour

Fate appears to be against me, because it seems no matter what time of the year I visit, Rolf seems to be overseas. There is no truth to the rumour that as soon as he hears I am coming, he decides to leave town.   In past years, in Rolf's absence, we have been very ably looked after by Jonno, the cellar door manager. When I made the appointment this time, Rolf told me, “Jonno was now Julie.” When we arrived at the winery, having taken Rolf's comments literally, I expected to find Jonno had undergone a sex change. Much to my surprise, Julie turned out to be a totally different person, much better looking than Jonno, and an incredibly efficient one. The front doors were being varnished and the smell pervaded the tasting room, so a table had been set up in back of the winery, all the bottles had been opened, and all we had to do was get stuck in the line-up. And what a line up it turned out to be.

J.J Hahn 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon (1979 Vines) is sealed with a cork. The bouquet is very dusty and shows true varietal characters with pure fruit below. Almost powdery, fine, tight tannins combine with deep, pure fruit to produce a muscular-weight solid, firm wine that has a harmonious construction and whilst it seems almost lean, it also shows some elegance. The balance is excellent with nothing poking out and is further complemented by the mouth feel. Blackberry, current, chocolate, and loads of coffee; the wine needs time for the fruit to surface and it seems to be in a bit of a hole at the moment. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, it should peak around 2011.

J.J Hahn 2004 The Reginald sells at the winery for $25 a bottle and is sealed under cork. When I tried this wine, I had no idea of the grape varieties and thought it was probably a GSM blend. It turned out to be a Shiraz Cabernet. The nose is ripe and almost syrupy strawberries and a touch of spice. Smooth, unobtrusive tannins hold the wine together and allow the fruit to do the talking. The fruit is slightly jammy, with raspberry, chocolate, coffee, eucalyptus and then it reverts back to coffee. Although it is medium-weight, it seems almost lean and has a supple consistency. A very-easy drinking wine that is completely inoffensive, it is rated as Agreeable with ** for value; I am not sure what they are trying to do here, and whilst it may be popular the masses, it certainly doesn't do much for me.

Rolf Binder 2004 Christa Rolf is a Shiraz Grenache blend that is sealed under screwcap and sells for $20 a bottle of the winery. The bouquet shows a touch of spice with earthy notes and red berry fruits. A minimal amount of smooth, dusty tannins allows the distinct fruit to dominate and delivers flavours of raspberry, chocolate, dried herbs (oregano) more chocolate and black coffee. A medium-weight wine with a supple consistency and harmonious structure, and whilst it's a little simple, it's well and truly drinkable and a good bistro wine. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value, it's a “grey suit” wine and will get lost in the crowd.

The large line up of wines is dwarfed by the array of barrels

Retro 55 2004 is a Shiraz/Cabernet/Grenache blend (50%/30%20%) that is sealed under screwcaps and has been made for Rolf's UK agent. It's a new range of wines, so it is possible that we will see more of them in the future. Raspberry jam, hints of white pepper and milk chocolate on the bouquet leads to a palate that is savoury with red cherry, milk chocolate, white pepper, and blueberry flavours that finish clean and dry. The tannins are unobtrusive but well and truly there and enable the wine to sit well in the mouth. Just ample in weight, it is a very good food wine and perfect for the cafe culture. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Rolf Binder 2004 Cabernet is sealed under cork. The bouquet is restrained but did show some sweet fruit. Loads of dusty, very drying tannins dominated the deeply-seated, almost lean fruit but it should have enough power to eventually punch through the tannins. Completely off-sweet; chocolate, blackcurrant, herbs and cherry flavours linger quite well, and there is a slight, bitter almond taste on the tail. Ample-weight, the consistency is firm and the complexity agreeable but the wine needs time for the fruit to surface and if it does, it will be very good. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, drink from 2010.

Veritas 2004 Shiraz Malbec is sealed under screwcap. Very pleasant aromatics; floral notes with black characters delivers a palate of black plum, aniseed, dark chocolate, and subtle red and blue fruits which finish long and persistent. Silky tannins combine with pure fruit to form an ample-weight, supple wine that has a harmonious character and an agreeable complexity. Very quaffable and most enjoyable it is okay now but will improve in the mid-term. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value and at $18, this is a real bargain!

Veritas 2004 Shiraz sells for approximately $20 and is sealed under cork. The bouquet shows ripe plums with hints of herbs and is replicated on the palate with ripe, sweet fruit with savoury aspects. Loads of dusty tannins and pure, strong fruit produce a chewy, muscular-weight wine and whilst the fruit dominates there is heaps of tannin to support a long finish; it needs a good steak. Rated as Recommended with **** for value.

Rolf Binder 2004 Heinrich is a Shiraz Grenache Mataro blend that is sealed under cork and sells for $25 at cellar door. The bouquet showed pure raspberry with subtle charcuterie and white pepper. It sits well on the mouth and is very clean and modern with smooth, unobtrusive tannins and pure fruit to the fore. Raspberry, meat, bacon, chocolate and all sorts of other good things will ensure that this is a real crowd-pleaser and people will love it. Just ample in weight with a supple consistency and a diverse complexity, it is rated as Recommended with **** for value.

At one particular stage in the tasting, I asked John what wine he was on and I thought he said, "Call Girl." When I questioned it he said, "No, Call Bag - same idea only older.”

Magpie Estate 2005 Call Bag is a Grenache Mourvedre blend that is sealed under screwcap. A very youthful, sweet, fruit driven nose with contrasting earthy, meaty notes. Pure, deep, strong fruit and plentiful, silky, creamy tannins produce a muscular-weight wine with a supple consistency, layered structure and diverse complexity that has a delightful mouth-feel. A lovely blend, it's black and meaty on the uptake with dark chocolate and herbs on the mid-palate and whilst it’s basically savoury, the package is completed by a secondary layer of Grenache character running right through the wine. With the Mourvedre dominating, this is a delicious wine and is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value; it should peak around 2010+.

Magpie Estate 2005 The Schnell is a Shiraz Grenache blend that is sealed under screwcap. The nose shows definite reductive characters which are noticeable on the palate too. A medium-weight supple wine that it is almost seamless, it lingers well on the palate and has good punch for the fruit weight. It finishes with drying tannins but there is a slightly nasty aftertaste. Not for me, it's rated as Acceptable with ** for value. The other wines in the line up were far better.

Shaving Barrels

Magpie Estate 2004 The Sack Shiraz is sealed under screwcap. A youthful, fruit driven nose with attractive perfumed floral aromatics, it has violets and dried herb characters. The bouquet promised a lot but unfortunately it wasn't replicated on the palate. Plums, violets, blackcurrant, liquorice, chocolate and meat flavours finished dry with a hint of bitterness. With plenty of the drying tannins, the wine finishes with good persistence and if the fruit surfaces from below it will be very good. Medium-weight with a diverse complexity, it is currently rated as Agreeable, but that rating is as deceptive as the wine has a mile of potential, and I would like to see it again around 2010 by which time it should be substantially better.

Magpie Estate 2004 Election Shiraz is sealed under cork. Initially the bouquet was very restrained and the wine needs time to breathe. Abundant, dusty, drying tannins combine with pure, strong fruit; there is heaps of everything in this full-bodied, firm and solid wine. Rich, ripe plum, juicy-fruit, liquorice, black coffee and chocolate flavours finish with both good length and persistence. There is nothing subtle about this one, it's an in your face style, but I love it. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, drink from 2011+.

The very capable Julie who did a great job in looking after us

Veritas 2004 Bulls Blood is Shiraz Mourvedre pressing blend, it’s sealed under cork and sells for $40 at cellar door. Abundant dusty, drying tannins currently bury the deeply-seated fruit. With plum, chocolate and meaty flavours it is rich and ripe, and the fruit rides the long tannins into the sunset. Ample-weight with a supple consistency, its solid and tight and the wine needs time for the tannins to integrate. A very credible drop with a big future, it is rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, but the rating should improve as the wine matures. I have never had a bad one of these, some a better than others, and this vintage will be one of the good ones.

Rolf Binder 2004 Heysen Shiraz is sealed under cork. John summed up the “reticent” bouquet beautifully when he said, "It will take a few years before this is comfortable nudging up in front of people." It has an excellent structure and all the components are there to ensure a big future; tight, smooth dusty tannins and pure, deeply seated persistent fruit. A muscular-weight tight and classy wine, this is a quality drop that tried hard not to show much, but the breeding is evident. Plum, blackcurrant, chocolate, coffee and dried herbs complete the package. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2013 and beyond; this is the best wine under this label to date and my pick of the line up.

Rolf Binder 2004 Hanisch Shiraz is sealed under cork. A serious, brooding bouquet but there is lots below the surface. It sits beautifully in the mouth and is perfectly structured and balanced with abundant, powdery tannins and pure, deeply-seated fruit that finishes with excellent persistence. Plum, coffee, blackberry, dark chocolate and a hint of bitter char on the finish that should recede with time, the fruit is currently buried by the tannins and the wine needs time for all the components to come together and show its best. Muscular-weight it is almost seamless already and is rated as Excellent with *** for value, but the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2014 and beyond.

What an outstanding line up of wines, it is the best line up from Rolf that I have tasted. I would gladly purchase any of the top end wines and some of the lower-priced wines represent excellent value for money. In the past, I have had a feeling that Rolf may have been stretching himself a bit, but clearly he is back on track and the quality of the wines have never been better.

As an aside, if anyone wondered what happened to David Farmer (of Farmer Brothers fame), he now has an office in the winery, where he runs his own business, and when things get busy in the winery, he sometimes helps out at cellar door.

Julie is a fantastic addition to the winery, and if you visit, you will be well taken care of by her.

Unfortunately it was pie o'clock, and I got shanghaied by the driver and driven directly to the bloody Tanunda bakery; I did not pass go, did not collect $200. These guys have been plotting behind my back again. This time, I didn't have a tasteless potato pie, I noticed they had some pre-made bread rolls, and whilst I normally avoid those, it was the lesser of two evils. I ordered a ham, cheese and salad roll. The Pie King had his usual two pies and daily iced coffee milk. Yesterday, he thought his chicken pie was fantastic, they were completely full of meat, so he ordered two today. Unfortunately today’s were completely full of gravy and had very little chicken in them. I told him to stop complaining, because if you balance them out, they were average. Surprise, surprise, he failed to see the humour in my comment.

What was unusual was the John also had a short black coffee, but what was even more unusual, was watching him add his iced coffee milk into his short black coffee. But, the lad must be sick; either that or he made a horrendous mistake. The iced coffee milk was a reduced fat version. 

No comment about my bread roll! I don't mind coming to the bakery for play lunch, because they do a good short black coffee and the poppy seed streusel buns are terrific, but lunch two days in a row here is a bit much.

A trip the Barossa would not be complete without a trip to Burge Family Winemakers. I guess one of the reasons I like Rick Burge is that I truly appreciate his individuality and eccentric attitude towards life, as well as his ability to make some outstanding wine. Rick quietly plods away doing his own thing, never afraid to try something new, or buck convention; he is truly his own man. In many ways, this winery flies below the radar, but they consistently put out high-quality, well-made wine at a reasonable price.

If I ever walked into this winery, and there wasn't some new, bizarre experimental blend, I would be quite shocked because Rick is always trying new things and defying convention.

When we arrived at the winery, Rick was sitting there with a glass of red wine, enjoying a pasty, and reading the paper. Unfortunately the addiction to meat pies and their derivatives are catchy; I am glad I was vaccinated as a child.

Prior to tasting the wines, we discussed the 2007 vintage. Even at the very start of the season, it was not looking good. There was no rain over winter and as a result, Rick went through and pruned the bud numbers substantially. In an average season, his acreage normally yields about 70 tonnes. At this point, he said he would be happy with 25 tonnes and that equals one tonne to the acre. (As the season unfolds, as we now know, things have gone from bad to worse in many of the wine regions around Australia. The cooler areas, like the Yarra Valley and Coonawarra have all but been wiped out by frost. In January, some of the warmer areas like the Barossa have had huge amounts of rainfall which has led to some berry splitting, which may reduce crops further.)

Burge Family 2004 Zi-N-C is an experimental wine made from Zinfandel, Nebbiolo and Cabernet and sells for $15 from the winery. The bottle had been opened for a while and was slightly oxidised. Unobtrusive powdery tannins combine with tangy, almost sharp acid and obvious fruit to form a lean, supple wine in a spicy, fruity style; it finishes with good persistence. And inoffensive quaffer, it would be perfect at lunchtime and needs greasy food. Rated as Acceptable with *** for value.

Burge Family 2000 Garnacha is a past vintage of dry grown Grenache and sealed under cork. The bouquet is slightly stinky and showed meaty notes. The structure is good with dusty tannins, balanced acid and distinct fruit which combines with charry oak characters that is still noticeabl, but the fruit is good considering the vintage. With little sweetness on the uptake, the mid-palate is sour and it finishes with chocolate and herbs. A medium-weight, solid wine; it is rated as Agreeable.

Burge Family 2004 Garnacha sells for $25 at cellar door. The bouquet shows dusty oak with sweet fruit, earthy characters, and chocolate. The lively acid sticks out a little at the moment but is well-balanced to the abundant, dusty tannins and deep, strong fruit that is off-sweet; the main layer is very spicy with chocolate, and the under-layer shows some red berry spectrum sweetness to add further interest. Ample-weight, this is a blood seriously structured infant that needs time to come to maturity; it has loads of potential. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2010+. Seriously good value for an Oz Grenache!

Burge Family 2004 D&OH is a blend of 75% Shiraz and 25% Grenache that sells for $22 at cellar door. Lifted floral petals vanilla, sweet berry fruit and milk chocolate aromas lead to a palate that is completely savoury that finishes clean and dry. An excellent food wine with cherry, chocolate and dried herb characters; it’s a medium-weight, modern Barossa style that is well supported by abundant, dusty, linear tannins and pure, deeply-seated fruit. Rated as Recommended with **** for value, the rating is bound to improve as the wine matures.

Burge Family 2005 D&OH is a blend of 75% Shiraz and 25% Grenache and will be released in March 2007; it is sealed with a screwcap and will sell for $25. The lifted, floral aromatics vault out of the glass and reveal earthy notes below. A beautifully structured, clean, modern but very interesting, medium-weight, solid, tight wine with a touch of elegance. Violets, blackberry, dried herb and aniseed flavours complete the picture. A veritable baby that was showing brilliantly considering it had been bottled a week previously, it is also food friendly and rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value.

Burge Family 2004 Olive Hill is a SGM blend, sealed under cork; it sells for $32 at the winery. A well-crafted, clean and modern wine supported by smooth, dusty, drying tannins. The fruit is distinct and deeply-seated, but not overly generous. A medium-weight, solid wine with a diverse and refined complexity, it is also elegant for a Barossa SGM. Cherry, liquorice, and pepper flavours are an unusual combination, but it works magnificently and finishes long and classy. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value.

Burge Family 2005 Olive Hill is a SGM blend, sealed under cork; it will be released in March 2007 and sell for $32. Again, wonderful floral aromatics even though it had just been bottled. Smooth, drying tannins are supported with fresh, crisp acid and the pure fruit seems almost lean but should fill out in time. Chocolate, blackcurrant/black cherry/mulberry, chocolate and dried herb flavours are off-sweet. Medium-weight with a diverse complexity, this wine will be worth waiting for and is rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value. Drink from 2011+.

Burge Family 2004 Draycott Shiraz sells for $42 at cellar door. Lifted, vibrant fruit with hints of coffee oak and earthy notes are found on the bouquet. Smooth, fine, tightly grained tannins are perfectly matched to the pure, deep fruit; the structure is impeccable. The palate is chewy with cassis, liquorice and tar flavours that finish long. Medium-weight with a supple consistency, this posh, refined wine is already showing signs of harmony and will develop well. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, the rating should improve as the wine enters its peak drinking window around 2012. 

Burge Family 2005 Draycott Shiraz was a finished tank sample and the wine was due to be bottled the day we tasted it. It will be released in March 2007. Pure, deep fruit seems more generous than the 2004 which makes for a slightly bigger, but richer and more generous wine. Construction is excellent; weight is ample and as one would expect, it is very tight at the moment. With a supple consistency, it sits well in the mouth and is off-sweet with black cherry, oregano, liquorice, tar and plum flavours. A bloody nice wine, it is rated as Excellent with **** for value and should enter its peak drinking window around 2012+.

When we visited Rick after the 2004 vintage, he wasn't all that happy with it and was a little pessimistic about the wines it was likely to produce. Certainly the wines that we tried from this vintage that Rick had produced show that that concern was unwarranted. The house style is 100% consistent and the quality winemaking is evident – in spades! Gone are the days of these wines being full-throttle, most are now medium weight and are all the better for it. Many are approaching elegant (by Barossa standards.) You can buy the Burge Family wines with confidence; it’s a case of some are better than others, but there are no bad (mainstream) wines here.  

By now, one thing is becoming abundantly clear, the 2004 reds from McLaren Vale seem to have more generous fruit than the 04’s from the Barossa. Many of the 04 Barossa reds seem almost lean by comparison and it will take some years for the fruit to surface in these wines.

One winery that has gained my continuing interest over the last five years or so is Dutschke Wines. A husband and wife operation, Wayne and Brenda make a good team. Besides producing the next generation of wine professionals and nurturing them, Brenda always comes out to greet visitors, something that is pretty rare in today’s world. Both of them are truly people persons. Not much has changed at the winery since my last visit, except for the addition of another budding wine professional, and both Samantha and Jackson are already learning how to meet and greet people and Samantha is already undergoing professional wine appreciation tutoring.

"The c-through is all right .............. but I much prefer the fortified - it's yummy!"

Dutschke 2004 The Willow Bend sells for $22 from the winery and is sealed with cork. A lifted, varietal Cabernet nose dominated the bouquet. A well-structured, solid, ample-weight wine that is backed by tight, fine, dusty tannins; it is clean, modern and should age well, but it needs time to come together and soften. A lovely drop that I would be happy to drink at any time; chocolate, plum, blackcurrant and blackberry completes the package. Rated as Recommended with **** for value, the rating should improve as the wine matures around 2010+.

Dutschke 2004 St Jakobi Shiraz sells for $30 from the winery and is sealed with cork. The bouquet is subtle but there is a lot happing. A well-balanced match between pure, deep fruit and fine, dusty tannins; the ripe plum, black cherry, char, tar, and chocolate flavours are mouth-filling, rich, and finish with respectable persistence. Yummo! Medium-weight, it’s almost seamless already and very scoffable. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, you can do far worse than having this in your collection. Drinking well now +.

Dutschke 2004 Oscar Semmler Shiraz sells for $50 at the winery and is sealed with a composite twin top cork (the ProCork ones with the little “condoms” on each end.) The nose was reticent but showed spice over black notes so it was no surprise to find a black spectrum palate with coffee oak dominating plum, tar, chocolate, and dried herbs. Its rich, and perfectly ripe and whilst it finishes long and persistent, it is still linear on the palate and needs time to fill out. Ample-weight and backed by tight, fine, dusty tannins and deep, pure strong fruit, it was sensational with runny Brie cheese. (I only tried the cheese after trying the wines.) Rated as Excellent with *** for value, drink from 2012+.

It was quite interesting when we discussed alternative closures with Wayne. He is not convinced that screwcap is the road he wants to travel and as he has heard excellent things about ProCork corks, has decided to go that way. He had no sooner told us how good they were and how he had not had any that were corked, when I said, “You have just jinxed yourself, this wine (St Jakobi Shiraz ) has low level cork taint.”

Brenda and Jackson ........................

Wayne could not/didn’t want to believe it, but when he opened another bottle, had to admit that the first bottle was mildly corked. Just goes to show, there is no perfect wine seal – yet, and there is unlikely to be one for some time, although Diam corks are looking better and better as time goes on.

We tasted our way through a myriad of barrel samples and a trip to this winery would not be complete without working our way through many samples of Wayne’s fortified wines. Wayne has been seriously bitten by the fortified bug but we had to wait to get to those. First off it was a new wine for Wayne, a Moscato which was designed for the US market in conjunction with their US importers. They wanted a “fun” wine and so the bottle is a vivid, light blue with sunflowers on the label. The brand is called “Fetish” and this wine is called “Field of Dreams” (or nightmares if you are a red bigot.) Wayne has been growing the stuff for years, so it was easy to get the grapes (in previous years they had been sold to Krondorf, Wolf Blass and Grant Burge), and as he was making some for the Yanks, it was even easier to just expand production, and hold some back more grapes for use under his own label for the Oz market. It is 8% alcohol.

Wayne has built a new barrel shed, and whilst that is not as surprise as winemaker’s barrel sheds seem to breed faster than bunny rabbits, what is different about this one is that it was filled with fortified wines. When I asked Wayne what he was going to do with it, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “I don’t know.” But he is obviously having a heap of fun making it. He then went onto say, “It wasn’t intended to be that way, but I just get a bit excited sometimes with fortified wines. When you find a patch of grapes that jumps out at you and ask to be made into fortified wines, it’s hard to resist. This is an investment in the future.”

Wayne is a bit like Steptoe; he is a first-class scrounger and horder, managing to “schnorrer” and horse trade all sorts of old material from a vast variety of sources. These have all found their way into his fortified barrel shed and will eventually be blended and added to other material to make the finished wine. You can never have enough old material when you are in the fortified business. In his shed he now has everything from fortified Verdelho to PX and everything in between. 

The next sample we tried was the 2006 Wally’s Paddock Fortified Semillon. It was glorious. Allspice and plum cake, Wayne told us his “secret” in making these wines so they can show their best. Don’t ferment too far before fortifying, that way you still retain as much natural sweetness as you can.

Wally’s vineyard is right next door to Wayne’s block and according to him Wally’s Paddock is a fruit salad vineyard that contains a little bit of just about every grape variety possible. Wayne has a great deal of fun playing in that paddock.

At one stage, Wayne mentioned that when it came to fortifieds, he was a bit of a Midas; he just has to keep adding to his stockpile. After having tasted our way through so many samples, it’s just as well he is not a rich man as all his money would be invested in fortified wines. If he won a big Lotto prize, like $22 million, I would be willing to bet that he would be knocking on Fosters door to buy Seppeltsfield before the ink had dried on his prize cheque.

After our visit, in correspondence Wayne informed me that they have bottled the 2005 Willow Bend and 2005 GHR ("Gods Hill Road") Shiraz under both screw cap and Diam cork; and there is a new 05 Cabernet called Sami (only 192 cases) which is all screw cap. The Russians still request cork, so they'll be receiving the Diam and everyone else will be screwing the tops off. Good move!!

That was our last appointment for the day and the last winery we visited, so it was back to our hotels but a day on tour would not be complete without a good meal and a few glasses of decent wine.  We took a taxi to Vintners Bar and Grill in Angaston. Recently Vintners was awarded the Best Regional Restaurant for 2006 and that makes it two a row as they also won it the previous year. The restaurant has an excellent wine list, but like the majority of good restaurants in wine regions, allows patrons to BYO.

To get our tastebuds going, we kicked off with dukka, olive oil and a plate of fresh bread and olives. Very tasty and just what we needed. The dukka was nutty and had loads of linseed.

We started off with a bottle of Foggo Black Myriah Sparkling Shiraz which Brian had bought at the winery a few days before, which was a very smart move. It was a glorious wine. The colours is unbelievable – just as purple as can be and at $29 it has to get **** for value. It is one of the best FRS around, but if you buy some, the new batch is very youthful and needs a year, or better still, a few years in the bottle. The wine has a good flavour profile without being simple or confected, characteristics that are often found at this price point.

On the menu was a dish that was listed as “salad of local squid with ….” I would like to know where they catch squid in the Barossa Valley?

For a starter, I ordered the blue swimmer crab in ravioli with roasted pumpkin and lemon butter sauce that was cooked to perfection. The flavours were very subtle, but the dish was well proportioned and balanced. The crab was succulent and sweet.

Brian had the squid salad with Asian greens and he wasn’t as impressed with it as he could have been. The dish was finished with toasted brown rice, which is a Thai speciality. Unfortunately Brian thought the dish was coarse and the rice not roasted enough resulting in dish that didn’t have quite the right texture and lacked the roasted flavour, but it still tasted pretty good.

His Pieship was happy with his starter, but that is no great recommendation as gastronomically, he is very easy to please, and the man judges all food against a Villie’s pie. At the table, I commented that John would be happy eating almost anything, except vegies, why he would probably even think a cow pat tasted good. As quick as a flash, Brian (the Pie Kings Apprentice) stood up for his mate and responded, “Not at all a fair comment on Johns taste…….. It would depend on how well the cow pat had been aged and if the dung beetles had had their way with it first.”

The next wine opened was an Orlando 1994 Lawson Shiraz and when I first sniffed it, I thought it smelt a little musty but could not believe another Orlando wine on this trip was suffering from TCA; two old bottles that had been lovingly cellared for years in two nights that had been wrecked by a tree bark plug that costs less than a $1.

The first good bottle of still red was a Petaluma 2000 Coonawarra. It had an unmistakably dusty Cabernet nose. It’s a lovely wine with a mouthful of tannin that supports the abundant and youthful primary fruit. Bordering on full-bodied it’s a baby with fresh acid; the palate is varietal with blackcurrant, cigar box and green bean. It’s off-sweet with brilliant colour which makes it more like a two year old rather than a six year old wine. The finish is very respectable with some herbal influence noticeable. For a dog of a vintage, this is a more than credible wine, interestingly enough it contains 50% Merlot which the highest percentage they have ever used under this label. It needs about another 10 years to show its best.

All through the magnificent degustation dinner we had consumed previously at Peppers, John was trying to convince us that we should tell Sue that he had a pizza for dinner that evening so that Sue would not feel bad about missing out on such a feast. Finally after hours of badgering, we agreed to back up his plan. When John next spoke to Sue, he told her the pizza story and she instantaneously responded, “Don’t talk rubbish, I am not completely stupid John.”   Our Sue is a wise women indeed…. but on the other hand, she did marry John!

For a main course both John and I had the terra rossa sirloin with bacon and cream of mushroom sauce and it came with a huge bowl of potato mash, but the pie scoffers decided we needed a bowl of chips too. Whilst that sounds like overkill, in reality it turned out to be a great idea as one of the vegies was cauliflower.   The chips came with a five spice seasoning which was splendid. The steak was rare; cooked perfectly; it was a soft as butter and they managed to keep it rare all the way through. The sauce was perfect and the mash creamy.

With the main course, we had a Reynell 1996 Basket Press Shiraz that was a good match and a delightful wine. (The marketing brains behind this label must have a PhD in confusion. It has also been known as Chateau Reynella and Reynella, sometimes with more than one label being available at once and different wines in the bottle for different markets. I gave up buying it as I could not keep track.) The wine is muscular-weight with fully integrated tannins which has left it seamless and harmonious. It’s now reasonably soft with a delightful off-sweet flavour profile. The only criticism is that it did not have much persistence. (Without the food, the Reynell seemed to have prominent acid although it was clean and fresh and it was much more into the sour cherry spectrum.)

The richness of the food lends itself to these sorts of wines and the Petaluma also went well with the food. Brian had a veal cutlet that was very good although the flavour (as one would expect) was delicate in comparison to our steaks.

It was Wednesday night and the restaurant was about ¾ full and if that is not a good recommendation, I don’t know what is. My only criticism was that after just over one hour after walking into the place, we had finished two courses (and the dukka) and the dessert menu was already on the table. With all that wine to get through, we were in no hurry, even if the staff were racing through the service.

When it came to order the dessert, naturally my cholesterol-challenged companions asked about the cheese plate. We got a big surprise, it was not a case of “a blue, a brie and a cheddar” – the cunning devils had substituted a camembert for the brie. At least, when we asked for more details on the cheese, they were immediately forthcoming with brands, states and even regions.  The boys selected a cheese plate to share and I had a Grand Marnier soufflé with macadamia nut ice cream and orange on the side. Wow, what a way to finish the meal. The soufflé was perfect. The ice cream was homemade and rich as Croises. The combination of sweetness of the soufflé with the slight tartness of the orange and richness of the ice cream was simply splendid.

So ended another day in the life of a wine tourist; I went to bed full and happy. There was more to look forward to tomorrow as we had saved some of the best experiences till last. The next Chapter will be the final one in this Tour Diary and covers a couple of standout experiences, so stay tuned.

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