James had suggested before I came out that we should spend the Sunday visiting the Barossa Valley, one of Australia’s most iconic wine regions and just outside Adelaide and I had agreed this was a good idea.  I had been very conscious that I had in Tasmania, the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula, regretted not having set aside more time to visit wineries and sample wine, so when my last day in Australia arrived I was very happy that that is what we were going to do.

We started at Penfolds Magill Estate, only a few minutes from James’ house.  Penfolds is one of Australia’s largest wine companies and we used to drink a lot of their wines before the price shot up as they enjoyed success in the Chinese market.  The Magill Estate tasting room was very impressive, with displays of their wines (including many vintages of the iconic Grange, possibly Australia’s finest wine) and exhibits relating to the history of the company.  Private tasting rooms were very smartly appointed but I tasted at the public tasting bar.  The young bloke who gave me my tasting was both impressively enthusiastic and knowledgeable and the wines I tasted (8, I think) were very impressive.  Interestingly, many of them were unavailable in the UK (several only being available at the Cellar Door).  I was particularly impressed by a delicious Adelaide Hills Riesling and a couple of local Pinot Noirs, sufficiently so that a Cellar Reserve Pinot made the trip home with me!

We went on up into the Barossa and to a rather different operation at Jacob’s Creek.  Ultimately owned by Pernod Ricard, Jacob’s Creek proclaims itself as Australia’s biggest wine brand and whilst Penfolds targets a premium market, Jacob’s Creek aims very much at the mass market.  The visitor centre was, again, impressive and was very busy.  Again, I took a tasting.  Despite the mass market positioning of the wines they were good, if lacking the interest and absolute quality of the Penfolds wines tasted earlier.

James and Bev at Jacob’s Creek

We headed on to the town of Tanunda, where we were booked in for lunch at Ferment Asian, a south east Asian restaurant with a fantastic wine list.  We enjoyed a simply delicious lunch, with several very good glasses of wine.

After lunch, we visited one more winery, Seppeltsfield, best known for its sweet and fortified wines.  I tasted four fortified wines, matured in a solero system , two were very like sherry (one a fino style, the other sweeter and more like a PX sherry) and the others were a Grand Tokay and a Muscat, both wines for which they are well known.  I then went on to try three different tawny ports.  Australian tawny ports (of course we can’t call them port in Europe!) are a unique style and largely unavailable in the UK.  The best of these, the 1987 Para Liqueur Tawny was sufficiently good that, again, a bottle made its way home with me.

From there, we drove back to Adelaide at the end of a very enjoyable day indeed.  There’s no doubt that next time I visit Australia I will dedicate rather more time to wine!

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