Wine Tasting in the Barossa

The close of our time in Adelaide was actually spent in its environs - the nearby wine region of the Barossa Valley, one of Australia's premier wine-making regions. Best-known perhaps as the home of Wolfblass, Penfolds, Jacobs Creek, and Yalumba (Yellow Tail), Barossa is the third wine-making region I have visited this year (Bordeaux and Napa being the previous two), and it proved to be as different from them as they are from each other.

Suffering an incredible heat wave (15 days in a row over 35oC, over 40oC while we were there) and moderate, but long-lasting drought, the whole region was like a desert. Dry, yellow grass covered fields along dusty roads. Thin, thirsty animals grazed some of the fields. The vines, clearly watered, ranged from lush and green - the technical term being vigorous - to sad and suffering. The towns were small and mostly quiet. They seemed to be simple country towns.

There were lots of wineries. So many. Some huge - like Jacobs Creek, the vineyards of which seemed to be everywhere, labelled with large, commercial signs - and some tiny. We did lots of tastings. One that was set up by my wine-business brother, Scott, was at Grant Burge. We got great treatment and tried almost their whole list of potential wines, including some fortifieds. We checked out Wolfblass and Yalumba (where Yellow Tail is made) but bypassed Penfolds. Yaldara actually gave us a semi-cool tour of their cellar. Busy with vintage (the period during which the grapes get picked, pressed, and fermented), most of the wineries were too preoccupied to give tours. Or too self-important.

Traveling with my old travel companion, Alex, Megan and I got to learn so much more about wines. We talked and talked and talked. Well, actually, we mostly asked questions and let Alex do the talking and explaining. And I think we actually got better service at the tastings because the people there could clearly see how much Alex knows about their trade. One place even offered him a job.

A few newly-discovered likes: Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc, Tempranillo (a spanish red), unwooded chardonnay, Shiraz-Viognier, limestone Shiraz, and frontignac (a sweet white grape that can be made either as a table wine or as a dessert wine).

Now we're back in Sydney for one night, hoping to get a good night's sleep before our full five days of surf camp. Surf's up!