It's one of my dreams come true! The adventure of a lifetime. The chance to explore one of the hottest new viticultural areas of the new world - Australia. Now, when I mean new, I mean in the minds of the American mind. You see, Australian wines are a fairly new frontier to us Americans, but in reality, current day vineyards date back to the mid- 1800's. That's right, while you have heard and probably drank a glass or two of Yellow Tail Chardonnay; in fact some of the oldest and finest vineyards in the world belong to Australia. More on this subject in a moment.
First, let me tell you what has to be done to supplant yourself into the middle of Australia's vineyard heartland. For me, it was a ticket that originated in Knoxville and sent me to Atlnata, Los Angeles, Sydney and to my final destination of Adelaide. The journey from my front door to the hotel in Adelaide took 32 hours, which meant that I left Knoxville on a Thursday and arrived in Adelaide on a Saturday. Adelaide is 13 hours ahead of Knoxville.
Adelaide is a city of about a million people, located in the region of Southeast Australia along the coast. It is a very clean city, and it is thriving in the art and culinary scenes. And, it is the only city in the world to be surrounded on all side by public parks. It reminds me alot of a small town in Claifornia, with it's fresh breezy winds and quaint downtown.
It didn't take long for our group to get to work. Within an hour of checking into the hotel, we were on the bus and on our way into theAdelaide Hills. There we stopped at the very small winery called Aston Hills. Their main focus is old world varieties, including Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We started with a non-vintage "Salmon Brut" sparkling, which is 100% Pinot Noir. Gorgeous salmon color, dry, very intense and complex. The 2005 Riesling was beautiful, along with the barrel-fermented, oak aged Chardonnay. He makes two Pinot Noirs, of which the 2005 Estate was quite good but the 2004 Reserve was the quality of a very good Premier Cru burgundy. We finished with a 1998 Cabernet Sauvigon/Malbec/Shiraz sparkling red that was out of this world. Hopefully a case or two will find its way to Ashe's in the coming months. Our next stop was to Cleland Wildlife Park, where we got the opportunity to see and pet both Kangaroos and Koalas. It was a beautiful park located just outside of Adelaide. For dinner, we met on the roof of our hotel and met the owners of Clos Clare and Lunar. Clos Clare is from the Clare Valley, and really makes only one wine - Riesling. And, arguably Australia's finest Riesling. We tasted the bone dry, minerally, stoney 2005 and a just bottled 2006. Next, we tasted the first release of Dan's newest project, Lunar. From the Barossa Valley, which is located about an hour outside of Adelaide, the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon was very good, but it could not stand up to the deep, complex, yet well-balanced 2004 Shiraz. Total production for the winery is 500 cases, so we will see if we can get a case or two. So, the first day was quite full and yet tomorrow morning we are off to Kanagroo Island and the winery Cape d'Estaing.