The Bigot Bros™ Turbocharged 2008 Victorian Tour – Chapter One

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Introduction

(Readers Feedback Feature is at the bottom of the story)

The last time I did a tour of the wineries from western Victoria to the north east was in 2004, so this trip was well and truly overdue.

When I was making the appointments for this trip one thing became immediately apparent. Unlike some wineries in South Australia that feel like they are doing you a big favour by seeing you, or not even responding to your requests to visit, all the wineries I approached, virtually without exception, welcomed me with open arms.

                                      (Cranky) Muscat and Tokay want to come too 

In the Barossa, you can drive out of one winery door and drive into another one next door. It's easy to drive across the whole region in about 30 minutes and go past countless wineries. The same cannot be said for the Victorian wine regions.

If you examine a map of the wine regions of Victoria, you will see that over half the state contains wineries. It can easily take twenty minutes to drive from one winery to the next, and during the trip we passed through thirteen wine regions, so planning a trip here takes much more precision than planning trips to other areas.

Last year a map of the wineries of Victoria arrived in the mail. The Wine Map of Victoria had been prepared by Max Allen. I took one look at it and thought “ho hum” - who needs a bloody map of Victorian wineries. The last time I planned a trip there I used the magazine, “Wine Regions of Victoria” that is available free from the Victorian Tourist Information service. In January when I started planning this trip, the first thing I did was order the current magazine. I planned to use the current magazine together with Halliday’s Wine Companion to plan the trip. I guess it's a case of you get what you pay for. Although the hundred and seventy one page book is very useful, the wineries have to pay a fee to be included, so in a case like the Pyrenees, only twelve wineries are listed, yet in Halliday's Companion the same area has twenty-eight wineries listed.

It didn't take long to realise that The Wine Map of Victoria was a godsend, and absolutely mandatory for planning a trip to the Victorian wine regions. By the time I had finished planning the trip, the map had holes in the folds and Halliday's book looked like a phonebook that had come from a public call box (for those who are old enough to remember them), but I had formulated a plan which would ensure an effective use of time and would avoid backtracking. (Remember that backtracking and time comment. )

In the last Tour Diary, I complained that I had a driver that would not drive and a bag carrier that wouldn't carry bags, so I was determined not to let that happen again. When I invited my good mate Brian to come along on the trip, I suggested we take my dog-mobile, but he decided taking his partner Andrea’s turbocharged Subaru Liberty would be a better idea. For some reason, although I volunteered to drive on a number of occasions, he never took me up on the offer, so my cunning plan worked.

All up, from the time I left home to the time I got back home I had covered 2930 km, or for those who are metrically challenged, 1820 miles. That is a lot of travelling in a short period of time so I and was delighted Brian was doing the driving.

The TORB Rating System has been used throughout these notes. If you are unfamiliar with the TORB Rating System, it worth spending a minute or two becoming familiar with it; click here for details. It is important to understand that I am a very hard marker.

Tuesday – Day Minus One

I arrived in Canberra in the late afternoon to a very warm reception from Brian’s two Weimaraners, and he and Andrea were pleased to see me as well, but Andrea didn't try to lick my face, and Brian didn't try to jump all over me which is just as well.

Brian and the dogs- I wonder what he is watching? ..............

When I arrived, Brian put me straight to work picking tomatoes and chillis and given the number of tomato plants and chilli trees he has, he could just about employ a full time picker.

The dinner preparations were a joint effort between Brian and Andrea. Brian had bought half a cow in the form of three New York cut steaks that were about three inches thick. He did a perfect job of barbecuing them; they were crisp on the outside and pink all the way through, and cooked evenly too. That's quite a feat. Andrea stir fried three different types of mushrooms which was dressed with lemon juice and Italian parsley. The different combination of flavours and textures was to die for. Some of the tomatoes I had just picked were used in my favourite dish of the day. Cherry tomatoes dressed with basil, finely chopped garlic, balsamic and olive oil. Oh so simple yet oh so tasty.

A man is not a camel and cannot live by bread alone, and for health reasons only, after we had consumed a bottle of Sparkling Shiraz, we opened a bottle of Magpie Estate 2001 The Election Shiraz. The wine is drinking superbly. A full-bodied wine driven by rich, ripe fruit, the tannins have softened nicely, and whilst there is a fair amount of oak, there is more than enough fruit for the task. A thoroughly enjoyable wine that went brilliantly with the steaks, it's at its peak now and rated as Excellent.

Wednesday – Day Zero – The Drive to Ararat

Now that I have completed many of these trips I am cognizant of the fact that my cholesterol will take a beating, my liver a pounding and my belt will put in for over time. With this in mind, Brian and I had our last healthy breakfast of the trip (Brian’s comment when editing:  That is not quite true, we had a healthy breakfast in Heathcote at the Emue Inn, but Ric had other things on his mind at the time so probably has forgotten. Ric’s response: Brian considers croissants health food!). This may sound peculiar, but you haven't tried it don't knock it. Brian hates milk because he was brought up on a dairy farm (and eggs because they also had a chook farm,) and I avoid milk because when I was in primary school, at play break I was forced to drink milk that had been sitting in the sun for hours. YUK! Some years ago when Brian suggested I put orange juice on my muesli instead of milk, I gave it a shot and found I actually liked it. That's what we had for breakfast. And a couple of good belts of espresso coffee.

We loaded up the car, and it was fully-laden. Besides our bags, we had two reasonable sized car fridges that between the two held over a dozen bottles of wine. Both were full with aged bottles of (red - tautology) wine, and as the bottles were standing upright, we had no concerns about sediment going through the wine, or the wine being subject to heat.

Whoever said getting there is half the fun was smoking dope. Sitting in a passenger seat driving down the Hume Highway and watching the same scenery for 1,000 kilometres is about as exciting as a visit to a geriatric home to see an old great-aunt. At least there was there was virtually no traffic and although they were road works from Coolac to Holbrook with loads of stops, most of them were short, so the delays were minimal.

As usual, we stopped at the bakery in Holbrook (should be called Hole Brook) for an injection of caffeine and play lunch. The espresso coffee was okay, but not quite as good as our last visit. Naturally, being a bakery Brian had a meat pie, which he said was just average, and I had a ham and salad wrap which was tasty and filling. Whilst we were stretching our legs and walking around the miniature railway track, I decided that I had to come up with a cunning plan to avoid pie shops.

The highway bypass around Albury has finally been opened and cuts a bit of time off the journey. We thought we would stop for lunch and petrol in Euroa but after having a look at what was available in the way of places to eat, decided that whilst the car could handle the BP juice, we couldn’t handle the food and had better keep going. We always split the expenses, so it was my turn to pay for petrol.

We stopped for lunch at Nagambie, where we played “greasy spoon roulette”. On the main drag, there are a number of take-away food shops, many of them in the same small block, and after much deliberation, we picked what we hoped was the best of a bad lot. I ordered a hamburger with bacon, egg and cheese, fully expecting it to come with the full accompaniment of salad which is normal practice in most civilised parts of Australia. Apparently in this part of the world, unless you specifically ask for the individual salad ingredients, all you get is lettuce. No tomato and no beetroot; that is positively un-Australian and made even worse by the fact that on the window, the place in question advertises that it sells real Australian hamburgers. My hamburger was about half the thickness of normal. Brian ordered a hamburger with bacon and what he got was a sweetish bun with a patty of meat, a piece of bacon and some lettuce. He also ordered wedgies. To me, they tasted like they had been cooked that morning and had been kept in the warmer ever since. They were luke warm. If you happen to find yourself in Nagambie at lunchtime, the “Fish and Chippery” is not the place to go. (* See Readers Comment  from Andrew at end of page.)

When I planned the trip, there were two possible options for covering Bendigo. Option one was the northern and central part of Bendigo. Option two was the southern and central part of Bendigo. We wouldn't have time to cover both in one day. When I sent the plan to Brian, he agreed that option one was the better alternative but suggested said there were two wineries in the southern part of Bendigo that he would like to visit. He suggested we could cover those two by going a little bit out of our way on the drive down to Ararat. (The plan I had sent him had the opening hours for the weekend included for each Bendigo winery.)

Andrea's car has a built-in satellite navigation system and Brian's new phone, of which he is most proud, also has a sat nav facility. The problem with the satellite navigation system in Andrea's car is that I think they bought the map and software from a Taiwanese army disposal store. (Brian’s comment:  The maps are 2006 Whereis, Subaru version, the 2007 is available, but I’m too stingy to upgrade when the 2008 should be out soon. Ric’s response: The operative words are “Subaru version” – I rest my case!)  On numerous occasions, as soon as we got on to back roads, as far as the sat nav system was concerned, we were driving through paddocks on roads that were nonexistent. The first time this became apparent was when we cut off the highway to take the back roads into Bendigo. Brian, being smarter than the average bear (even if the average bear is named Boo Boo), had programmed the trip down into his phone’s sat nav system. So, as soon as the car’s sat nav showed us having joined that great African tribe (The WhereTheFucRWee’s), he cranked up his phone’s system to get us out of trouble. And that was where the fun began. It was not uncommon for one system to tell us to turn left and the other to tell us to turn right. And then, Brian would blame me as a navigator, if we took the wrong option. He said, "Let’s get this straight. The driver sits behind the wheel, and the navigator sits in the other front seat. You are in the other front seat and navigating is your responsibility."

I didn't bother reminding him that if I am the navigator why did he have control of both GPS systems, and why wouldn't let me bring my TomTom, which is superior to both of his systems.

After taking a few minor wrong turns, and hurtling down dirt roads at a speed that kicked up a dust storm that could been seen from the moon, we eventually arrived at the first winery (Bress) to be greeted by a sign that said they were only open over the weekend. Curses! Brian hadn't noticed that the opening hours I had listed were only for the weekend, so it was off to the next winery, BlackJack Vineyards. Dear reader, you can probably guess what happened when we got to BlackJack. Not impressed! It was also only open over the weekend. I am glad that Brian did not plan the whole trip. (Brian’s comment: If Ric can have cunning plans to avoid things, so can I.  Ric does all the organising, I tag along and enjoy the benefits and I think this makes sure that’s the way things will remain. Ric’s response: Bugger and there I was thinking I was being clever!)

The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived in Ararat a little earlier than originally predicted. We had arranged to stay at the Ararat Orchid City Motor Inn. It’s a fairly new **** motel and well priced at $98 per night. It's everything you would expect and more. Unlike most motels, the lighting is excellent and bright lights mean that you can actually read in comfort. The windows facing the main street are double glazed which cuts down truck noise dramatically. They must be doing something right, even on midweek night they are often full.

When we checked in, we asked where we should have dinner. The answer was either the RSL club or Sicilian's.

It turned out that the last time I was in Ararat (4 years ago) I ate at Sicilian's. It looked like nothing had changed since my last visit. The place was just about full, and on a Wednesday night, that's a fairly good recommendation. We asked if we could be BYO and were told that it was $10 a bottle. No problem. Brian thought it would be a good idea to condition our palate to the local environment so he opened a Dalwhinnie 1996 Moonambel Shiraz. The wine is holding up magnificently. The tannins still have a fair amount of grip, the acid is fresh and the fruit is deep, strong and persistent. Whilst the wine is only just ample in weight, it finishes with excellent length and persistence. A lovely wine, it is almost elegant; the palate has a touch of pepper, blueberry spectrum fruit and black fruit flavours underneath. With a little time, the wine softened significantly and by the end of the bottle it was seamless. Rated as Excellent.

We decided to share a small, thin crust pizza for a starter. It had a hairy fish, olives, capsicum, tomato, cheese, mushroom and loads of meat. It was lip-smackingly good. For a main course, Brian had a lamb shank which was served on potato mash and a rich, reduced sauce. I had spaghetti marinara. The spag was al dente, and the sauce, whilst tasty, initially did not seem to have enough flavour. Unfortunately most of it was at the bottom of the dish and it hadn't been tossed thoroughly, but as I got into the food, the true flavour emerged. Brian's meat was literally falling off the bone and he thought the dish was delectable.

The food service was adequate but cafe style rather than restaurant level. They also have a funny system in this place in relation to drinks. You have to go to the bar and purchased the drinks yourself, and then take your drinks back to the table. Our waitress did not come back and offer us dessert, so having got fed up with waiting I went to the counter to enquire what was available. There was a display of cakes on offer but nothing was particularly appealing to me, so I asked the young lady if they had any gelato. Her response was, "What's that?"

There is nothing pretentious or elegant about Sicilian’s but the food is honest, reasonably priced, well cooked, and tasty, but make sure you are hungry when you arrive. It certainly is filling. The cost of dinner was $54; cheap!

Thursday – Day One – The Grampians

Breakfast in a strange town is always a case of potluck, and the smaller the town, the greater the chance of getting potted rather than lucky. We went to the Waacks bakery for breakfast. Finding it didn't sell tomato juice was not a good start. We ordered two short black espresso coffees. When they arrived they were virtually cold.

The breakfast options were fairly limited. I ordered a bacon and egg toasty, and asked if I could have it on wholemeal or brown bread. The assistant looked at me rather strangely and said, "What - not white!" Brian ordered a ham, cheese and tomato toasty and got something with egg on it. That one went back as well as the coffee. The second coffees arrived and were only marginally hotter than the first lot. As you can see from the picture, the food was not exactly the most appetising delight.

We went next door to Bella C’s café to try our luck again. The coffee here was not quite as hot as it should have been, but it was certainly a hell of a lot better than the dicky wacker bakery.

Enough of this fun and frivolity! It was time to get down and get serious and go taste some wine. Our first appointment was at Mount Langi Ghiran. The winery is a fair way out-of-town but these guys actually work for a living and start at 9 a.m. so naturally we were waiting for them when the cellar door opened.

The current vineyards were first planted in 1963 and up until recently, the winemaker was the respected Trevor Mast, who at one time actually owned the winery but finally had to sell it. It was then subsequently resold to the Rathbone Family who gave the winery a new lease of life. Since they have taken over, they have cleaned up the Shiraz Trophy at Australia's most prestige wine show, the National Wine Show in Canberra, for the last three years. Dan Buckle is the winemaker but unfortunately he was unable to meet with us.

The early morning vista driving to Mount Langi was spectacular. As the mountains first came into view the tops were completely covered in cloud, but as our trip progressed, from each new angle we were shown a different perspective and a different amount of cloud cover, until by the time we finally got there, the cloud cover had just about completely dissipated. On the other side of the road we watched the grace of the wind farm turbines on the hill tops effortlessly turning in seemingly never ending rotation. When we turned off the main road towards the winery the canopy of the trees over the black top reminded me of a military wedding with all the soldiers crossing swords as the bride and groom walk through. The interplay of the early morning light of shadows and bright splotches made one feel at peace and left you in no doubt that all was well in this part of the world. It would have been much more romantic sharing it with a good sort rather than with Brian.

On previous visits the tasting took place in a quaint little house that was perched on the lower part of Mount Langi, and the view was spectacular. It certainly added to the atmosphere. The quaint little house is no longer used for general tasting as they now have a brand new, ultramodern cellar door facility. The view is good, but unfortunately not as spectacular as it was from the old house. We were looked after by Hannah Cody.

Mount Langi 2005 Sangiovese sells for $25 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The inviting bouquet is earthy with both sweet and savoury nuances; perfumed camphor/menthol notes emerged. The wine is balanced but seems a bit austere. It's a lean wine with a supple consistency, solid structure and an agreeable complexity. The flavour profile is very savoury with loads of sour cherry and aniseed. It demands food and is rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Mount Langi 2006 Bradach Pinot is sealed under screwcap and is only sold at cellar door only for $28. The bouquet is attractive but without a huge amount of complexity; its showing lifted strawberry with varietal Pinot characters. Grippy tannins combine with crisp, young acid and juicy fruit to produce a just medium-weight, supple wine with a solid consistency and an agreeable complexity. Strawberry, cherry, and some black spectrum flavours were floating around below the surface and it finish with reasonable persistence. A good Pinot for the price; it's rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Mount Langi 2004 Cliff Edge Shiraz sells for $25 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The wine has an amazing dark purple colour. The bouquet shows delightful, juicy-fruit driven characters with a hint of white pepper. Smooth, powdery tannins combine with pure, deeply-seated fruit to form a well-balanced wine with unobtrusive acid that lifts the finish. Pepper, black fruits (blackcurrant), and vanilla flavours are very savoury, and despite the juicy fruit there is nothing sweet about it. It’s medium-weight with a supple consistency, a tight, solid, harmonious construction and the length and persistence of its finish makes it eminently drinkable. Rated as Recommended with *** for value.

Mount Langi 2004 Langi Shiraz sells for $55 and is sealed under screwcap. The bottle had just been opened; the bouquet was very reticent but did show delightful aromatics with perfumed, subtle nuances and a pinch of white pepper. There's a lot going on here. An impeccable construction has been achieved by the combination of fine, tight, drying tannins and pure, deeply-seated fruit which produce a just ample-weight wine with a supple consistency and a tight, solid structure that shows a modicum of elegance. The complexity is both diverse and harmonious. The palate profile is savoury with black cherry, sour cherry, black pepper, a hint of liquorice, and milk chocolate flavours which finish very long. The hundred percent French oak is matched perfectly to the wine. A top-quality drop with fantastic appeal, it is rated as Excellent with *** for value and should enter its peak drinking window around 2014.

Mount Langi 2001 Cabernet Merlot (45%) has just been released, is sealed under cork and sells for $35. The bouquet is sweet showing lots of plum, mint, and vanillin oak. The puckering tannins are still tight and a bit fierce; they successfully manage to bury the fruit. The palate profile is both sweet and savoury intertwined, leading to coffee oak on the finish. It's still a baby and needs time for the tannins to integrate and the fruit to surface. I am not sure which way it will go. It will either be terrific or terrible. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value and by 2011 one should have a better understanding of its direction.

With the exception of the Cabernet, all the wines were consistent across the range and Dan Buckle's positive influence is blatantly obvious. It looks like Langi is getting back to the point where you can buy anything with their label and know that you have a good quality wine.

When I visited the region in 2004 I went to a relatively new winery called Kimbarra and was reasonably impressed with their offerings, so thought they were worth another visit. The wines are made by Ian McKenzie and the cellar door is located in the offices of a company that sells building products as well. I actually had to move away from the counter as the lady who was serving us was wearing overpowering perfume.

Kimbarra 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $26 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet showed cedar and perfumed talcum powder nuances. A medium-bodied, solid wine with a supple consistency that is backed by dusty tannins and fresh acid, the complexity is uncomplicated. It's sweet on the uptake with savoury, sour cherry on the mid-palate and lots of spice on the finish. It's an easy-drinking wine but lacks varietal definition. Rated as Agreeable with ** for value.

Kimbarra 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon sells for $22 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The wine has a pleasantly perfumed bouquet but the palate seem to have a green streak through the wine, possibly from unripe tannins. It was medium in weight with a hard consistency and solid structure. Rated as Acceptable with ** for value.

Kimbarra 2004 Shiraz sells for $24 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet shows perfumed fruit with vanillin oak. Sour cherry, vanilla and aniseed flavours finish with reasonable length but the wine would be enhanced by oily food. The dusty tannins produce a slightly hard consistency in this medium-weight, solid wine that is uncomplicated. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value.

Kimbarra 2005 Shiraz sells for $24 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The wine has a very attractive fruit driven bouquet which leads to a palate showing red cherry, vanilla, and milk chocolate with hints of liquorice. Its savoury with pure fruit driving the wine but it is backed by fine, drying tannins, and has an almost seamless structure. Medium-weight with a supple consistency and an agreeable level of complexity it is a good food wine. Rated as Recommended with *** for value. Drink over the next five years.

This was a disappointing stop and the only wine that I would remotely consider up to scratch was the 2005 Shiraz. Unless their wines improve, they will have trouble staying alive in this tough, competitive market.

Four years ago I called in on Simon Clayfield, of Clayfield Wines not knowing what to expect, and was very pleasantly surprised. A follow-up tasting at Wine Australia in 2006 confirmed my thoughts on Simon's ability to make quality wine, so I was looking forward to another visit.

I used to think that Simon was a really good guy, but as soon as we walked in the door he insisted I taste his Sauvignon Blanc. I was no longer so sure of his geniality. The bouquet shows abundant passionfruit with grapefruit characters. The palate is very fresh and clean and further lifted by the acid. The palate flavours follow the bouquet, and the wine is not a bad palate cleanser.

Simon had been to a Beefsteak and Burgundy Club dinner the night before and wasn't quite at his best on this beautiful morning. He did happen to say, "I am not sure if I have short term or long term memory loss; I can't remember."

Simon’s property is only five acres so he uses a combination of home grown and purchased fruit. When it comes to buying fruit, he is wired into the industry and seems to come up with some amazing parcels. Simon is clearly a talented winemaker and anything with his label is going to be worth drinking (with the possible exception of the Blanc mouthwash made for White Bigots. )

Clayfield 2004 Massif Shiraz sells for $24 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap and there are just over 200 dozen left. The wine has a very attractive fruit driven bouquet which leads to a palate of red cherry, vanilla, chocolate and a hint of liquorice. It's very savoury. Fine, drying tannins combine with fresh acid but the pure fruit is doing all the talking. It's medium-weight with a supple consistency and almost seamless structure. It has a very agreeable complexity and is highly drinkable. It's a good food wine too. Rated as Recommended with *** for value; drink over the next five years.

Clayfield 2005 Massif Shiraz sells for $24 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. This is the sort of wine you just want to sit and sniff all day. Subtle aniseed, vanilla and juicy-fruit aromas deliver plum, spice and blackberry flavours that finish long and with terrific persistence. Just ample in weight, its supple, harmonious and the fine, dusty tannins provide a solid spine for the pure, deep fruit. A damn fine wine for the price, its rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value. Drink over the next five years; it’s guaranteed to be a big hit and will sell out quickly.

Clayfield 2004 Black Label Grampian Shiraz sells for $42 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. I had the advantage of trying this in the morning and then again later that night. The bouquet is similar to that found in the 2005 (see next note) but it seems to be leaner with earthy, mushroom notes and a hint of soy sauce. Silky tannins combine with fresh, crisp acid and pure, deep fruit to form an ample-weight, firm, solid, tight and elegant wine that is seamless. The complexity is well developed with cherry, blackberry, blueberry and noticeable oak characteristics on the palate. The wine is currently shut down and has gone to sleep, but still is able to achieve a rating of Excellent with **** for value and it should enter its peak drinking window in 2012 and beyond.

Clayfield 2005 Black Label Grampian Shiraz sell for $45 at cellar door (and in Melbourne) and is sealed in a choice of either screwcap or cork. The bouquet was tight but showed lovely aromatics with beautiful perfumed fruit and hints of coffee oak. What a swell drop. It is tight and an absolute baby with a mile of potential and whilst it's a bit lean at the moment, it needs time to fill out and get past puberty. Driven by deeply-seated, strong, pure fruit which is lifted by youthful, crisp acid, this ample-weight, firm and solid wine has an intricate complexity and shows some elegance. Plum, pepper, spice, coffee oak and liquorice on the finish completes the package. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, the rating has a mile of potential to improve as the wine peaks between around 2012 to 2017.

Clayfield 2004 Blue Label Pyrenees Shiraz sells for $55 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. This wine is made from the three best barrels of fruit which is sourced from low-yielding, young vines grown at one of the most famous Pyrenees vineyards. The bouquet is high-class. An excellent balance and construction has been achieved by combining silky, tight, fine tannins with unobtrusive acid and pure, deeply-seated fruit. Blueberry, red cherry, milk chocolate, and aniseed flavours are intertwined between sweet and off sweet characters and finish dry and with wonderful length. A medium-weight, supple wine with a tight, elegant and seamless structure which is further enhanced by a harmonious and sophisticated complexity. A delightful, classy wine, it needs time to gain further complexity and open up. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, the rating may increase as the wine reaches its peak drinking window around 2014.

Things can be pretty tough for those engaged in the farming business, and as the extremes of climate become more pronounced, the situation is getting harder and harder for grape growers. In September and October 2006 Simon’s vineyard was hit with severe frost three times. As a result the complete crop for his property was 15 kg of grapes. That's no misprint, they got one bucket of grapes.

Some time ago Simon went through the vineyard and graded each and every vine from zero to five with five being a mature vine producing good fruit. The results were then transferred and mapped to a colour-coded chart. This enabled Simon to see whether there were anomalies in the vineyard. The chart also showed a lot of misses. They have a thousand vines to replant; that will eventually increase production by 25%. With the drought, frost and other nasty ecological events, Simon hasn't had time to do it up until now. Let’s hope the weather lets him get it done soon.

We tried barrel samples of the 2006 and 2007 vintage wines. (The 2007 have been made from purchased grapes.) There was absolutely nothing wrong with the samples we tried, but from Simon's point of view there will be very limited quantity; 2800 litres from 2006 (300 cases).

Simon openly admits that he cannot survive on estate grown fruit, especially given the fickle nature of the weather over recent years. However, when it comes to sourcing grapes he certainly knows what he's doing, and that applies to his winemaking skills as well, so that anything with a Clayfield label is as safe as houses.

We then had to make a quick dash down the back road to Great Western for our appointment at one of the oldest wineries in not just in the region, but in Australia. Since 1866 Best’s  has only had two sets of owners.

 Henry Best kicked it off and as soon as he purchased the property he planted 20 different varieties of grapes! In the 1920s, the Best family sold their “Concongella” holding to the Thomson family. The current patriarch of the family, Viv Thomson is a fourth generation viticulturalists, and his son Ben, now manages the three vineyards. Viv’s wife Christine is actively involved in assisting in the business too. In an interesting twist of fate, during the Depression the family’s winemaking business went into receivership in 1929. In 1930, in a never say die attitude, some of the family members purchased land near the Murray River and named it Misery Farm. They were back in the wine business and things soon improved. By the late 1930s they had managed buy back Concongella.

They have vineyards in three locations. The home property is located at “Concongella” in Great Western. “Salvation Hills” is at Rhymney Reef is just up the road and St Andrew’s at Lake Boga is over two hundred kilometres away. Each vineyard makes different characteristics and options available to the winemaking team.  The vines range in age from babies to about 140 years old.

Our appointment was with Viv who took us through the winery and the vineyards, and their relatively new winemaker, Adam Wadewitz took us through an array of wines. Our arrival interrupted Viv’s lunch. Viv being the sort of guy that he is, immediately asked us if we wanted to join him and his wife for an omelette. As soon as Brian heard the word egg, he immediately went a light shade of green and politely declined Viv’s kind offer.

Viv is a gentle, very quietly spoken, sprightly chap that in some ways seems almost shy, but he is incredibly hospitable. His level of energy is amazing. After talking with him for some time I was left with the impression that Viv was a deep thinker and didn't rush into anything, or indeed with anything. He is the sort of fellow that retains his cool in a crisis, and when necessary, manages to get things done quickly, quietly and calmly. We started off doing a tour of the old underground cellars. You can see where Charles Best engraved his initials in a cellar support column in 1897. As well as the old barrels in the cellar, there is a collection of Best’s wines going back about 50 years.

Whilst we tried the wines, Viv left us in Adam’s capable hands. Adam originally hailed from McLaren Vale so it was a natural progression for him to start his winemaking career at Wirra Wirra in 1998. He then moved to Brokenwood (Hunter) and subsequently to Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills. It was then on to Shadowfax Geelong). He also completed a couple of vintages overseas. In 2006 he was just about to start a new job at Cullen when he was approached by Viv Thomson, and the rest, as they say is history.

Best’s 2006 Pinot Meunier will be released in (about) August and is sealed under screwcap. The Meunier grapes were planted in 1867. There were also to clones of Pinot Noir planted at the same time. In 1987, seven rows of Pinot Noir were isolated and kept apart. The bouquet shows black fruit with forest floor characters, a hint of eucalyptus, and what appeared to be almost petroleum like notes. Fine, unobtrusive tannins combine with fresh acid and distinct fruit to form a lean wine with a supple consistency, solid structure and well-developed complexity. It's savoury with blackcurrant and aniseed flavours that finish clean and with good persistence; the flavours hang around the palate for ages. A very drinkable wine, it needs time to show its best and is rated as Highly Recommended; it should enter it peak drinking window around 2009 and beyond. This wine has already picked up a trophy and a gold medal.

Best’s 2004 Merlot sells for $25 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. Adam is trying to make a serious wine with this Merlot and readily admits that making good Merlot is extremely difficult. He said, “We only use what we think is up to scratch and that makes things hard and untidy when you get to the crux of the matter and see how much is left over, but it really benefits the wine.” The pleasant, perfumed bouquet shows plum and mulberry characters. The solid backbone of fine, tight tannins is perfectly matched to the fresh acid and pure fruit. It’s savoury on the palate with black fruits, vanilla, liquorice, and chocolate; not your typical lolly water Merlot. The consistency is supple and this is a “real” wine. Rated as Recommended with *** for value, drink over the next five years.

Best’s 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is sealed under screwcap and will sell for $26.50 when it is released in (about) August. The bouquet screens varietal Cabernet characters with dusty notes and mint. There's loads of juicy-fruit with tons of tannins that need time to resolve. It has all the components of a terrific wine. It's varietal, youthful and fresh, with blackcurrant, mint, cigar box etc. It's muscular-weight, firm, rock solid and has a well-developed complexity. A veritable babe in arms, it is rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value and should not be touched until at least 2012.

Best’s 2005 Bin 1 Shiraz sells for $25 at cellar door and is sealed under screwcap. The first bottle opened was not particularly pleasant on the nose (or on the palate). I was reasonably certain it was a defective bottle and Adam kindly opened up another one. The second one was much better which only goes to prove that screwcaps are not infallible and that bottle variation is possible. The second bottle’s bouquet was tight and unyielding but showed glimpses of liquorice and blackberry. Fine, dusty tannins are well matched to the pure fruit and fresh acid. Lovely, juicy and spicy fruit drives the wine and delivers blackberry, liquorice and clove flavours in a combination of savoury and sweet nuances that linger well. Ample-weight, its firm, solid and has a well developed level of complexity. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, it should peak around 2012.

Best's 2004 Bin 0 sells for $42.50 at cellar door and is sealed under cork. The bouquet is tight, clean as a whistle, and shows subtle spice and attractive fruit. At this stage the wine is all about structure, and it’s splendid. Just ample-in weight the consistency is supple, the structure tight, solid, and the complexity is both well developed and harmonious. Dusty tannins back the pure, deeply-seated fruit which delivers chocolate, black fruits, aniseed, and vanilla flavours that are off-sweet with a slightly bitter, very long finish. The tannins are currently linear across the palate and need time to fill out. It shows some elegance and is definitely worth buying. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the wine has a mile of potential and should start to peak around 2012 and keep kicking until 2019 plus. I'm glad this wine is so good as I already have a six pack in the cellar.

 Adam Wadewitz - advertising a past employer is ..............................

Best's 2005 Bin 0 will be released later this year and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet is more open and vibrant than the 04 and shows bright, spicy fruit. All the components are there with pure, deep, expressive juicy-fruit that delivers spice, black cherry, mulberry and liquorice flavours which finish very long. With loads of flavour, it is more open and expressive than the 04, but the 04 has a tighter structure. Ample in weight the fine tannins provide a firm but supple consistency, solid structure, and the complexity is harmonious. It's a great example of vintage difference. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, its peak drinking window will probably be around 2012 to 2017, and once it reaches that window, the rating will improve.

Best’s 2005 Thomson Family Shiraz will be released towards the end of 2008 and is sealed under screwcap. The aromatics are stunning and expressive; they scream quality but will need time to open up. A perfectly structured wine that is backed by fine, tight tannins, fresh acid and pure, deeply-seated fruit, it finishes with excellent persistence. The top-quality fruit delivers multiple berry flavours in the blue, black and red spectrum, together with liquorice and plum, and whilst the oak is very noticeable at this stage, there is more than enough fruit to sop it up. It maintains an excellent balance of fruit sweetness which is offset with a savoury and spicy finish that lingers for ever. It's ample-weight with a firm consistency, and a solid and harmonious structure. A stunningly, good, tight wine that shows elegance and class, it is a complete, fine wine. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, drink from 2015 and beyond. Brian said "This is the best young wine I have tried in a long time."

During our conversation with Viv, we discussed the recent vintages, and like all conversations with farmers, the conversation turned to the weather. In November 2007 the vineyard was hit by severe frost. How severe is severe? In this case minus 4 degrees Celsius. That had significant and unfortunate repercussions. Viv took us into the vineyard to show us.

The first problem is that severe frost causes a low bud burst. That in turn allows more sunlight into the canopy which makes the buds a lot more fruitful. That's a short term issue which can be rectified. The long-term damage that severe frost can cause is a greater concern.

Viv showed us some 30 year old vines where the frost had been so severe that the trunk of the vines had either split or had chunks of dead wood in the middle of them. Some vines are so badly damaged that drastic action is needed to be able to save them, if they can be saved at all. Some need to have the trunk cut right back to the base and the vine virtually has to start from scratch. Where they are not as badly damaged they can be cut right back and new canes trained.

What I asked is how long it would take for the vines to recover, the answer was, "I don't bloody well know. There are only so many hours in the day and it requires a huge amount of work to go through and fix them all. Up to 25% of this vineyard is affected. The upside is that we can handle a bit of global warming. Our best years here are the warm ones.”

Whilst we tasted the wines, Viv said, “The philosophy in making the Best Thomson Family Shiraz is to make the best wine possible from the best available grapes, but it’s only produced in years when there is enough available fruit that is seen as special.”  Viv also told us they try to make each new wine just a little bit better than the last one, and from what I can see, they are succeeding.

Best’s also makes a range of low end, inexpensive wines (the Best’s range) and this range covers the majority of their production. We didn't try this range and stuck to the premium, Great Western range. On past visits to the winery, I have always been left with the impression that the cellar door's focus is on the Best’s range, although the Great Western range is available for tasting. As a result, the Great Western range does not shine as brightly as it deserves to, but smart wine lovers know all about it, and for good reason. We drove out from Best’s with a smile on our face. As it turned out, the 2005 Thomson Family Shiraz was the best wine we tried on the whole trip, although it's less expensive siblings were no slouches either.

Given my aversion to meat pies, and especially considering the Pie King was not with us on this trip, I made an executive decision to rename ‘pie o'clock’ to ‘hamburger o'clock,’ and even though it may not sound as good, the chances of my getting one of the latter and actually enjoying it was much greater than the former. And that is despite yesterdays disappointing result. We didn't have much time between appointments so our choice of location for lunch was the post-office come general store come greasy spoon at Great Western, or the post office come general store come greasy spoon at Great Western. No prizes for guessing which one we chose. As luck would have it, Brian had had a hamburger there on a previous trip and pronounced them well and truly edible. I am glad to report that unlike some of his Clare Valley winery recommendations, this was a good one, and the hamburgers were not only edible, they were enjoyable.

What can be said about Seppelt Great Western that hasn't already been said before? Anyone who is familiar with the winery will know that it is one of Australia’s iconic wineries and is steeped in a long, rich history. During my last visit to the winery, I was left with the distinct impression that Southcorp basically left Seppelt alone to get on with their knitting. The big questions on my mind were in relation to the impact on the winery caused by the Foster's takeover, and the later departure of Arthur O'Connor.

There's good news on both fronts. The strategic and winemaking directions that were outlined to me in 2004 have continued, and if anything, have been strengthened. Being in the middle of Victoria when your parent company is in the middle of South Australia has its advantages. The emphasis of making Seppelt a Victorian brand, with particular emphasis on regional aspects, has been strengthened. The winemaker, Emma Wood worked very closely with Arthur O'Connor between December 2003 and August 2006, and is proving to be up to the task of head winemaker.

We were lucky enough to have Emma hosting our tasting.

Seppelt has three ranges of wines. The Victorian Range is the entry level range. Above that is the Regional Range, and then at the top of the tree is the super premium range, the Vineyard series. In the Regional Range, a Silverband Sparkling Shiraz and a Silverband Shiraz have both been added. The emphasis here is on the Grampians.

As a lover of the old Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz, my first question to Emma was to tell me how the Silverband Sparkling Shiraz had come about and to explain the issues surrounding the unreleased vintages of the Show Reserve.

Emma was very forthright and open in her response. “The 1995 was not good enough and was never destined for release.

The Show Reserve bottles had been sealed with a crown seal that contained corked wadding. The 96 was an amazing wine but very variable, so it wasn't released either. The crown seal cork wadding problem (cork taint) was a big issue in 1997 so it wasn't released either. From 1998 to 2001 all the wines suffered from Brett so they didn't make the cut. If the wines are not good enough we will not release them. There was no Show Reserve made in 2002 as the quantity of fruit available was not sufficient. In 2003 it was seen as not being of sufficient quality.”

Any winery that refuses to release wines because they are not up to standard certainly gets a big tick of approval in my book.

The Silverband range of wines came about as a result of Seppelt's strategic focus on producing regional Victorian wines. Emma's exact words were, "The Silverband range was created to showcase a pure example of Grampian Shiraz.

The Sparkling Shiraz came about slightly differently. The best way of keeping hold of your really good parcels of fruit is to tirage them separately and hide them away. That happens an awful lot around here. We had all this really great stuff hidden away that no one was doing anything with, and here we are being the home of Sparkling Shiraz, so I said lets do something with it and make a non vintage wine. And that's how it came about. The average age of the material is six years.”

Seppelt 2005 Victorian Shiraz has an RRP of $15 and is sealed under screwcap. The wine has a Victorian appellation although over 80% of it comes from western Victoria. The bouquet showed slightly reductive characters but there is good fruit below. A fruit-driven wine that is just medium in weight, it has a supple consistency, and the unobtrusive, powdery tannins provide a solid backbone. An easy-drinking wine; the spicy, juicy, plummy fruit has a slightly bitter finish and the acid is also a little sharp on the back. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value.

Seppelt 2006 Victorian Shiraz will have an RRP of $15 when it is released on 31 March and is sealed under screwcap. The slightly rubbery nose does not show up on the palate. The juicy fruit is fleshy and sweet on the uptake with spice and savoury sour cherry characters; there is a hint of bitterness on the palate. Medium in weight, its supple, easy drinking, and with loads of fruit flavour, its good value to boot. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value, it’s more attractive than the 05.

Seppelt 2005 Victorian Cabernet Sauvignon has an RRP of $17 and is sealed with a screwcap. The wine has only recently been released. The nose is very dusty, leafy and varietal. A solid wine backed by very firm tannins, it needs time for the fruit to surface. It shows blackberry, aniseed, leafy notes and vanillin flavours. It's medium-weight, solid, tight and has an agreeable level of complexity. Rated as Agreeable with **** for value (on special), the rating will increase as the tannins soften and the wine matures.

Seppelt 2004 Moyston Cabernet Merlot has a recommended retail price of $25 and is sealed under screwcap. The slightly pongy notes blew off to reveal coffee and noticeably toasted oak. The palate shows chary oak which dominates the plum, blackcurrant and liquorice. Its medium-weight with a firm consistency and the smooth unobtrusive tannins provide a solid backbone for this wine which has an agreeable complexity. Agreeable if you don't mind charry oak. Rated as Agreeable with *** for value, and if you don't mind the oak you will rate it higher. (I can not be objective about this wine so it would be best to ignore my comments and rely on Halliday and Oliver who both liked it.)

There was no 2005 made.

Seppelt 2006 Moyston Cabernet Sauvignon will be released on the 31st of March 2008. It is sealed under screwcap. This is a better wine. It is varietal with mint and eucalyptus/gum leaf notes on the nose. The fruit comes from a 25 year old vineyard “just up the road.” An excellent balance has been achieved by the abundant tannins and loads of quality, pure, deep fruit. It is ripe and fleshy with rich chocolate, blackcurrant and mint flavours that finish with good length. A muscular-weight firm and solid wine the only thing this needs is time. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, drink from 2012 and beyond. If you are travelling Qantas Business Class you may see it on their wine list.

Seppelt 2005 Chalambar Shiraz has a recommended retail price of $25 and is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet shows noticeably chary/smoky oak with sour cherry notes. The wine has a good structure with powdery tannins that provide a firm consistency and solid backbone. The wine is tight, elegant and just medium in weight. It's almost lean in nature, linear on the palate and has good power and persistence. The sour cherry dominant flavour profile, and lighter style, makes this wine food friendly. Rated as Recommended with *** for value; drink from 2010.

Seppelt 2006 Chalambar Shiraz will have a recommended retail price of $25 when it is released on the 31st of March 2008 and it is sealed under screwcap. The bouquet has attractive perfumed notes and is consistent with the previous vintage. Fleshy, rich fruit provide some slight warmth on the mid-palate but it’s cuddlier than anything else. Flavours of cherry, chocolate, aniseed and mint produce a harmonious level of complexity. Medium-weight with a supple consistency, the wine is well built, balanced and should improve as it reaches its peak drinking window in 2011 and beyond. Currently rated as Recommended with **** for value, but that will improve too.

Seppelt 2005 Silverband Shiraz is sourced from Grampians fruit, retails for $35 and is sealed under screwcap. It has lifted perfumed floral aromatics. Although the bright, floral fruit is doing all the talking, the very fine, tight tannins provide a solid backbone and contribute to its excellent construction. With a power to (medium) weight ratio that would make a formula 5000 driver happy, it finishes with impressive length and persistence. It is elegant, tight, and linear and will be very long-lived. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value (it can be found for $30 which makes it even better value) and the rating should increase as the wine matures between 2013 and 2020+.

Seppelt 2006 Silverband Shiraz is sourced from Grampians fruit, is sealed under screwcap and is scheduled for release on 1 September 2009. The cedary oak is more noticeable on the bouquet but the fruit quality is still obvious. Whilst the wine maintains an excellent structure it is more showy than the previous vintage. Fine, dusty tannins combine with pure, deeply-seated fruit to form an ample-weight, firm, solid and tight wine with a well-developed complexity. The juicy fruit delivers sour cherry, rich chocolate and mulberry type characters that finish dry. Rated as Highly Recommended with **** for value, the wine should peak between 2013 and 2018.

The Silverband is not made to a formula and has less boundaries than the other wines in the portfolio. Its all about what the fruit is capable of producing. Whilst Emma doesn’t intend to polarise anyone, she will be trying new things, like whole bunch fermentation, to try and get the very best from the fruit.

When we got half way through the tasting Emma turned to us and said, “What we need is a seventeen course degustation menu to go with this lot.” Was that a threat or a promise? Damn, just a throw away line!

When we got to the Silverband and were discussing it and the previous wines, Emma said, “Tasting in this environment with these (Riedel) glasses means that you can be super critical, and from an industry perspective that’s fine as it is a perfectly normal environment to do that, but if you take them home and drink these more elegant wines with food, you will go ‘that was good.’ These wines don’t have the punch that gives them oomph and makes them stand out.

When I said that I found them to be elegant, have tight tannins and well constructed, in addition to being food friendly, Emma responded, “That’s everything that we would want them to be.” Both Arthur and I were acutely aware that we wanted to evolve the wines so they had better balance with less obvious oak and alcohol.”

Emma told us, “Contrary to popular belief, the grapes for the St Peters not only come from the St Peters vineyard at the front of the winery. It is made from the best estate grown fruit. The objective is not to make a South Australian look alike (which was the case in the 90’s) but a wine that is a high class expression of the Grampians. Its needs texture, layers and has to show super fruit.”

Seppelt 2004 St Peter's Shiraz is a back vintage and unavailable for sale; it’s sealed under screwcap and was kindly opened so we would be able to compare three vintages side by side. The bouquet of this wine was reticent as it had just been opened, but it did show noticeable oak characters. It was extremely hard to judge this wine has it is close down at present. It does show find powdery tannins, fresh acid and pure fruit. It’s medium-weight with a supple consistency and has an elegant structure. The complexity seems well-developed with blueberry mint and milk chocolate characters. Rated as Highly Recommended, the wine is undoubtedly significantly better than the rating indicates. Drink from 2016.

Seppelt 2005 St Peter's Shiraz has a recommended retail price of $70, is sealed under screwcap and is almost sold out. The bouquet is restrained. Fine, powdery tannins combine with pure fruit to form a medium-weight, firm, elegant and tight wine with a layered structure. Its excellent balance has been built with the long haul in mind. It's a very savoury with no sweet characteristics; cherry, chocolate, coffee and spice flavours finish admirably. Its medium-weight, elegant and rated as Excellent with *** for value. There was some debate between Emma and myself about how long this wine will last. Emma thinks it won’t last as long I do. We decided to meet in 2018 to see who is right!

Seppelt 2006 St Peter's Shiraz is sealed under screwcap and is due for release on 1 September this year. The bouquet is more expressive on this wine and also showed spicy, malty oak. An ample-weight, firm, solid and tight wine it has all the components in the right proportions. The pure, deeply-seated fruit is currently overshadowed by the fine, drying, powdery tannins and it needs time to come together. The fruit is fleshier and richer than the 05. This baby is like Martina Hingis. Her parents knew she would be great, the question was how great. Rated as Excellent with *** for value (now.) Think about it again in 2014.

Seppelt 2005 Benno Shiraz is sealed under screwcap and has a retail price of $55. We tried the 05 and 06 side by side. Both wines are very consistent with the 05 being closed down and the 06 showing more spice. It is muscular-weight, firm and solidly backed by blocky, dusty, drying tannins and deep, strong fruit. Loads of spice and rich, ripe fruit, the wine is more upfront than the St Peters and has blackberry and meaty flavours. Rated as Highly Recommended with ** for value, it should best be consumed between 2011 and 2016.

Seppelt 2006 Benno Shiraz is sealed under screwcap and will be released on 31 March has a retail price of $55. A muscular-weight firm and solid wine with a well developed complexity; the deep fruit is currently buried by the blocky, dusty, drying tannins. It is not showing as well as the 2005 but that is not surprising. It has all the right components and a better flavour profile than the 05, but needs time to come together. Blueberry, cherry, and milk chocolate flavours are delicious. It's a good-quality wine and rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, but the current rating is not indicative as it has a mile of potential to improve as it reaches its peak.

Seppelt 2005 Mount Ida Shiraz is sealed under screwcap and retails for $55. We also had the opportunity to try the 05 and the 06 side by side. The bouquet shows floral notes and coffee oak but was unyielding. Fine, dusty tannins combine with unobtrusive acid and deep, pure fruit to form a medium-weight, tight, almost elegant, layered wine with a harmonious nature. The palate shows savoury herbs, blackberry, raspberry, and milk chocolate/vanilla/coffee oak characters. Rated as Highly Recommended with *** for value, the rating may improve as the wine enters its peak drinking window between 2010 and 2015.

Seppelt 2006 Mount Ida Shiraz is sealed under screwcap and is scheduled to be released on 31 March. The bouquet is very similar in style to the previous wine but shows malty oak. The rich, ripe, savoury fruit is fantastic and is impeccably balanced and matched to the youthful acid and drying, dusty tannins. Ample-weight, it is tight, elegant, layered, and harmonious and manages to show restraint. Rated as Excellent with *** for value, the rating may improve as the wine matures and enters its peak drinking window.

The Mount Ida comes from two vineyards in Heathcote that are located very close to Jasper's Hill. Once Fosters took them over they had no idea what to do with the brand. As Seppelt was all about regionality, it was a hand in glove fit and they asked for the fruit.

Seppelt 2005 Original Sparkling Shiraz is sealed under cork and has a recommended price of $18. It has been made from all Victorian fruit (mainly from the Pyrenees,) and that’s the first time for ages that has happened. The wine has seen only old oak. It shows good fruit sweetness and is more elegant than some of the previous vintages. The palate flavour is dominated by strawberry. It's medium-weight with a supple consistency and harmonious complexity. Very easy drinking, in fact it's too easy to drink and would be absolutely perfect on a hot summer's day. However I found the previous vintages more interesting. Rated as Recommended with **** for value.

Let's face it; everyone knows that I am a Fizzy Red Shit slut and adore good Sparkling Shiraz, so when Emma offered to open a bottle of the Seppelt 2004 Show Reserve Sparkling Shiraz, I didn't have to strain any brain cells before I said “Yes please”. Recently the winery wanted to check on its progress so they hand-disgorged a few bottles and we were lucky enough to be there at the right time. The wine will be released in 2010. The wonderful fruit delivers mulberry/blueberry, chocolate, spice and musk flavours. It's medium-weight with a supple consistency, a layered structure and harmonious complexity. This wine is worth hanging out for and just needs a bit of time. Rated as Excellent.

In case you are wondering what Brian and Emma are doing in this photo, they are having a “deep and meaningful” conversation about crimps and marks on screwcaps.

The direction the winery is taking is paying dividends. The three tier strategy is a good one and the winery is being smart with its winemaking plan. Rather than making revolutionary changes, they are making evolutionary changes which enables them to track progress and fine tune adjustments. The house style is becoming apparent and there seems to be a reasonable level of consistency across the brand.

Like many wineries in Victoria, Seppelt is keen to differentiate themselves from the South Australian blockbusters which are seen as the ‘typical Australian wine’ in overseas markets. Not that overseas markets would concern Seppelt as they don't export. However, in the Australian marketplace they are still keen to differentiate themselves by producing more elegant and food friendly wines that are seen as distinctly Victorian. The wines will be lower in alcohol with less noticeable oak influence, but lower alcohol is not the objective, it is a by-product of striving for more elegant and food friendly wines.

For my money, the middle tier Regional Range of wines offer the best value, although some of the Vineyard series wines are certainly worthwhile. Given the low production volumes of these wines, the cost is easily obtainable and they sell out quickly.

Emma went to a great deal of trouble in the arrangements for this tasting. It was a wonderful experience to be able to try all these wines and get a real perspective of the direction the winery is taking. In theory, if they keep doing what they are doing, over time the wine should continue to improve.

Originally we had planned to go to Garden Gully before Best’s, but a phone call from Best’s asked us if we could see them earlier as they were bottling that afternoon. As a result, by the time we got to Garden Gully at 4.20 pm it was closed, so we decided to have an early mark. On the way back into town Brian missed the turn to the motel (I foolishly thought that he knew where he was going) and decided to drive through to the other side of town. He suddenly realised that we were not very far from the cheap petrol place we had passed on the way back from Mt Langi Ghiran and as it was his turn to pay, it didn't matter that there was still a reasonable quantity of petrol left. Since he's retired and become a (self-funded) old age pensioner, he has to watch his pennies and is starting to turn into a chintzy bastard.

When I was arranging the trip and I was in e-mail contact with Simon Clayfield, I asked for recommendations for a good restaurant in Ararat. The answer was short and sweet. Basically there weren't any. The good news was that Simon kindly invited Brian and I to join himself and his wife Kaye at their home for dinner.

The kitchen come dining room is certainly worth seeing. The kitchen is huge. It contains an old Elmira (Canada) stove in absolutely mint condition. Judging by the fish tank on top of it I gather that it's not used for cooking. Either that or they served a lot of slowly boiled goldfish.   According to Simon they only use it occasionally in winter as its so effective in heating the house, they get too hot, and that would make it the worlds most effective fish tank heater!

Kaye had gone to a lot of trouble preparing dinner and her efforts were appreciated, even more so because she wasn't feeling 100% and was coming down with a bug.

The first wine opened was a Wendouree 1991 Shiraz. The bouquet showed very earthy mushroom type oak characters together with predominant mint. The bouquet was attractive and followed through to the palate with the addition of some leather like characters. The tannins have resolved beautifully and the wine finishes very long. Like all Wendouree’s, it is full-bodied and this one was rated as Excellent with out a shadow of a doubt.

For an appetiser Kaye had prepared a deliciously, tasty delight. Bagels and lox with a difference! The base was a baby pikelet with cream cheese; that was covered with smoked salmon, dill, capers and pepper. The sweetness of the pikelet contrasted beautifully with the sourness of the capers and the saltiness of the salmon which added up to a moreish combination that got the taste buds singing.

For some unfathomable reason the subject of conversation turned to Merlot and Simon immediately whipped out his last bottle of Best's 1995 Merlot which he had made when he was the winemaker there. The bouquet showed a combination of aged characters together with some varietal, fresh fruit notes. The tannins have fully resolved leading to a soft palate that contained both sweet and savoury characters that finished to chocolate, plum and olive character. The fruit was in good condition for its age and the acid was still fresh, not a bad effort for a Merlot of that age. Medium in weight, this wine was certainly atypical of Australian Merlot and probably well ahead of its time.

Kaye encroached on ‘secret men’s business’ and wouldn’t let Simon near the BBQ. Possibly she knows something we don’t!  (Simon later admitted his only recipe is for slow cooked goldfish.)  Kaye cooked the rare barbecue steaks perfectly. The steaks were served with julienne carrots, potato gratin, and asparagus and rosemary that had been wrapped in prosciutto and baked in the oven. Yummy! For dessert, there was cheesecake that was served with low-fat cream and summer berries that had been marinated in Shiraz. I normally don't particularly enjoy the cheesecake, but the addition of those marinated berries resulted in a spotlessly clean plate. (I refuse to admit enjoying cheesecake as if members of my family read this they will never let me live it down.)

As mentioned earlier, we did relook at Simon's wines over dinner to see how they had opened up during the day. As Brian was driving and I wanted to preserve my liver as we had a long trip ahead of us, both of us took it easy with the alcohol. Given Simon's delicate condition this morning, he was also restrained.

We had completed a successful day of wine tasting and ended it with a relaxing, enjoyable evening. One can’t ask for more. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the motel.

Stay tuned for the next chapter as it is not only a beauty, it's huge.

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