Now it was time to visit another famous wine growing region,
the McClaren Vale.. Located just 30
minutes south of Adelaide, we headed there on a beautiful and warm
Saturday. Based on tips from Steve our
tour guide in Barossa, and my friend John,
we targeted a few special cellar doors.
First up was Oliver’s Taranga. Wonderful wines and great hospitality, we
were their first before the bus arrived.
Next stop was Mollydooker!
Aussie slang for a lefthander, they have made an international name for
themelves in their 10 short years of business. So much so that Wine Spectator named one of their shiraz
wines as the #2 wine in the world in December! And a steal at $75 AUD ($60 USD). Limited to
one bottle per customer, we grabbed out share.
Thr staff here goes thru extensive conditioning to NEVER shake anyone’s
hand righthanded….only left. I thanked our hostess at the end and absent
mindedly offer my right hand…to which she responded, “you’re not gonna get me,”
and quickly offered her left hand.
Great wine does not have to be stodgy.
http://www.mollydookerwines.com.au/Portals/0/Press/2014.11.14_PR_Wine%20SpectatorTop10.pdf
Then onto Samuel’s Gorge, but we got a bit lost and stumbled
into Chapel Hill first. A cellar door
in an old church…now that’s a communion I will go for. We walked away with their spiritually
medicinal tawny pport.
We finished out McClaren visit with a stop at Graham
Stevens, and a visit with the man himself.
He has been making wine for 50 years, and loves doing it. And here on a Saturday it was just him
working the cellar door, His wines were
phenomenal, moderately priced and fun.
But don’t get your palate wet they are not exported. We walked away with 4 bottles including a
young fruity 2014 fortified shiraz…all for $82 AUD. ($66USD).
We left the Mc:Laren Vale and drove to a spot loved by the
locals, es,pecially on a warm weekend day.
The Victory Hotel sits a few km back from the sea but it situated high
on a hill overlooking it. A couple of
pints, some chips (fries) and a =view of sea, shared with many Aussies families
of multiple generations, made for a perfect afternoon.
The sea here is called the Gulf of St. Vincent and is part
of the Southern Ocean. We don’t learn
much about the Southern Ocean, but it is one of the world’s five oceans:
Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern. The Southern Ocean lies
between Australia and Antarctica, a distance of more than 2500 miles.
Continuing south we headed for Cape Jervis and boarded the
SeaLink catamaran ferry that would take us to Kangaroo Island for two nights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Island
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