Jan 30, 2013

WineWalkabout Shaw & Smith Adelaide Hills



Simple elegance. Yeah that’s it! Simple elegance. That is how Koala would describe his experience at Shaw & Smith in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Set in some rolling lawn areas with vineyards to one side, some gum trees to the other and a small lake for that added touch. It is just visual elegance. The tasting room is also very simple yet elegant. Two sides of floor to ceiling glass to be able to enjoy the view and a series of tables set to help achieve that. It’s a classy setting with a well put together pairing of some lovely Adelaide Hills wine, cheese and crackers for your enjoyment.
All the while, a knowledgeable individual will guide you through the experience with as little or as much input as you need.
If you are on a date and wish to impress? Take them here! Head on up to the Adelaide Hills and enjoy this elegant experience, rain or shine it’s worth it.
If the date goes well, and you get married there is no need for an invite, a nice bottle of something from Shaw & Smith will do nicely. Oh, do remember there are two of us.


Happy Wine Adventures,
Cheers,

WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala

Jan 29, 2013

Kiwi and Koalas WW_12




So with mouths still going mmmmmm the bottle is empty. This week’s WW standout is a J. Lohr Vineyards 2006 Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon. Deep dark-colored with a red-purple hue. Ripe fruit aromas of black plum and a hint of raspberry infused with a hint of chocolate and hazelnut from long maturation in French oak barrels. The rich tannin structure of this wine activates the palate and welcomes pairing of a great week night dinner. Maybe it was the pairing of good BBQ steak but this tasted like a 7 and is ***. So get you some of this and enjoy with dinner.

Go on!

Two tasting rooms to visit; one at 6169 Airport Road, Paso Robles, CA 93446 and the other at 1000 Lenzen Avenue, San Jose, CA 95126.
Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Daily.
(closed New Years Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day)

Happy Tasting Adventures,
Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala

Jan 25, 2013

Mobile (mind) blogging; Does it work? Testing Testing!


One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Yep, as little tackers we saw it happen on July 21st 1969 at 4;30pm Koala time and 7pm Kiwi time on black and white TV's. We grew up in a time when 45s and 33's were what you listen to music on. Reel to reel was out, 8 track was going out and cassette tapes ruled the cool kids cars. CD's did not exist yet. The transistor radio on 'am' was still the place to get your tunes and an older mates or your older brothers drivers license (no photo ID back in the day) was how you got beer at the drive thru bottle'o.
The gang had a predetermined meeting place to start the weekend routine so everyone knew where to be to plan the next gathering. You had to plan to be spontaneous. Now this may give you the sweats, we had no mobile phones.

Yeah you let that sink in a bit. Once we left the house there was no way to communicate! There were also no message machines other than mum or dad writing a note and sticky taping it to the fridge. We all met at the predetermined location (pub) every Friday at between 5-7pm to plan the weekend activity unless one had been planned at an earlier gathering for that time slot. It seems to us that this commitment to some basic schedule, to be connected to the group, made us more reliable. We could not just change plans at a whim. In order to be a part of the group you had to be respectful of others time and participate or move on. Now people moved on from time to time and that was fine but for those that stayed life long friendships that bind across long periods of time and different continents were formed. The type where even decades later you can just slip back into hanging out like no time has passed.
Where are we going with this you ask? Down a wombat warren it seems, as this started out as a test of mobile blogging. While there are some editing features that are very difficult without a mouse a basic post with some pictures is very doable.
Amazed at what was about to happen it seemed appropriate to give some basis of perspective of who we are and what we grew up with, to where we are now. Sending words out into the world using a small hand held device with no wires that can be read instantly globally. An impossible fantasy that even the best sci-fy had not dream't of yet, and here it is a reality. We now live in a world of instant global communication with pictures and video that can splash one's latest achievement or failure or most embarrassing moment to tens of milions of people in a matter of seconds. Given our colourful youth we are grateful this did not exist while we were growing up. A lesson from those who know very little, but see what might have been if things had been different when we were young. For your own good.

Don't drink without pants!

(this was posted by computer)
Happy Adventures,
Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala




It seems that you can come back and edit the drunken posts as well. Nice!

WineWalkabout visits Smith & Hooper in Wrattonbully



Koala was wondering how many folks out there are familiar with a place called Wrattonbully? This is on everybody’s list of wine areas to try right? No, well it should be! Wrattonbully? Where the hail (told not to use the word hell. What the hell!) is Wrattonbully you ask? Wrattonbully is a secluded area of World Heritage-listed ancient geology, originally settled by hardworking farming pioneers, and more recently chosen for its ideal viticultural attributes and just up the road from Padthaway. Padthaway, yeah that helps heaps you say. The Wrattonbully wine region is located in the Northern end of the Limestone Coast area in the south eastern part of South Australia. See the map

Basically behind the Famous Naracoorte Caves. Wrattonbully contains similar soil types to its more famous neighbor Coonawarra, with large areas of the famous terra rossa soil over limestone ridges. These ridges are found throughout the region often on quite high well drained ground. In the early 1990s these soils attracted the interest of winemakers from both Coonawarra and Padthaway where the terra rossa ridges had largely all been planted. Many of the ridges in Wrattonbully showed very similar characteristics to the best vineyard sites in Coonawarra and Padthaway. This combined with the availability of good quality underground water, and available licenses for irrigation, together with a similar climate to Coonawarra, led to a remarkable large scale planting program. Wrattonbully has almost 50 grapegrowers, and close to 20 wine producers in the region. One of these growers / producers is Smith& Hooper.

The potential promised by the large tracts of outstanding terra rossa soils over limestone is now beginning to be realized in wine quality. As the vineyards mature and winemakers begin to understand the unique characteristics of Wrattonbully and its fruit the quality just continues to get better. Over a six year period 1994 to 1999 saw a planting boom in Wrattonbully with over 1800 hectares of vineyard established. The varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Chardonnay represented 95% of the planting area with others like Tempranillo also being planted. Koala was lucky enough to meet and drink with the Smith & Hooper vineyard manager James and then visit the vineyards and get a fabulous (possibly soon to be famous) tour from Dan the Viticulturist. As validation of the fact that this area is starting to hit its stride is that even pitted against the finest wines from the region (and they are incredibly fine), these Wrattonbully gems came through!  Double Gold was awarded to the Smith & Hooper (part of the Yalumba family vineyards) 2009 Cabernet Merlot and Gold to the Smith & Hooper 2010 Reserve Merlot. Koala had a taste and agrees that these are some fine wines.

Dan was full of information and took Koala on a fantastic tour that was very enlightening. Now Yalumba /Smith & Hooper is no small business albeit family owned, but it could do business almost anyway it chose, and sell it through big marketing spin. You know using flashy ads touting their great caring and the such with windblown long blonde haired busty sheilas and ripped blokes in budgie smugglers. While visually engaging that is not necessary. You see as Dan toured Koala around the area he pointed out the massive old beautiful River Red Gums. These majestic trees were spared when the old time sheep farmers cleared the area for grazing but they would leave one every few hundred meters or so for some shade. Now there are vineyards all around and when they planted they chose to leave these beautiful trees. Not only that but they have created a natural habitat buffer around these trees to help keep them healthy. Those that are dying of old age have replacement trees planted and are cared for as significant habitat for local critters. They have even removed vines from areas that are not up to their standards (they could still sell the grapes for profit but choose not to) and are creating native flora and forna reserves. Some of significant size!

The area is an exciting one that is really starting to show its stuff and Koala can’t wait to go back and check the next offerings and to taste the good things to come as well as revisit some current favorites  Look so here’s the thing, if you find any wine with Wrattonbully on the label, particularly Smith & Hooper, give it a shot. This area is destined to be one of the great wine regions just as its neighbor. Keep an eye out for these wines, you may be very pleasantly surprised! Koala 'recommends' you do!


Happy Adventures,

Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala

WineWalkabout visits Smith & Hooper in Wrattonbully



Koala was wondering how many folks out there are familiar with a place called Wrattonbully? This is on everybody’s list of wine areas to try right? No, well it should be! Wrattonbully? Where the hail (told not to use the word hell. What the hell!) is Wrattonbully you ask? Wrattonbully is a secluded area of World Heritage-listed ancient geology, originally settled by hardworking farming pioneers, and more recently chosen for its ideal viticultural attributes and just up the road from Padthaway. Padthaway, yeah that helps heaps you say. The Wrattonbully wine region is located in the Northern end of the Limestone Coast area in the south eastern part of South Australia. See the map

Basically behind the Famous Naracoorte Caves. Wrattonbully contains similar soil types to its more famous neighbor Coonawarra, with large areas of the famous terra rossa soil over limestone ridges. These ridges are found throughout the region often on quite high well drained ground. In the early 1990s these soils attracted the interest of winemakers from both Coonawarra and Padthaway where the terra rossa ridges had largely all been planted. Many of the ridges in Wrattonbully showed very similar characteristics to the best vineyard sites in Coonawarra and Padthaway. This combined with the availability of good quality underground water, and available licenses for irrigation, together with a similar climate to Coonawarra, led to a remarkable large scale planting program. Wrattonbully has almost 50 grapegrowers, and close to 20 wine producers in the region. One of these growers / producers is Smith& Hooper.

The potential promised by the large tracts of outstanding terra rossa soils over limestone is now beginning to be realized in wine quality. As the vineyards mature and winemakers begin to understand the unique characteristics of Wrattonbully and its fruit the quality just continues to get better. Over a six year period 1994 to 1999 saw a planting boom in Wrattonbully with over 1800 hectares of vineyard established. The varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Chardonnay represented 95% of the planting area with others like Tempranillo also being planted. Koala was lucky enough to meet and drink with the Smith & Hooper vineyard manager James and then visit the vineyards and get a fabulous (possibly soon to be famous) tour from Dan the Viticulturist. As validation of the fact that this area is starting to hit its stride is that even pitted against the finest wines from the region (and they are incredibly fine), these Wrattonbully gems came through!  Double Gold was awarded to the Smith & Hooper (part of the Yalumba family vineyards) 2009 Cabernet Merlot and Gold to the Smith & Hooper 2010 Reserve Merlot. Koala had a taste and agrees that these are some fine wines.

Dan was full of information and took Koala on a fantastic tour that was very enlightening. Now Yalumba /Smith & Hooper is no small business albeit family owned, but it could do business almost anyway it chose, and sell it through big marketing spin. You know using flashy ads touting their great caring and the such with windblown long blonde haired busty sheilas and ripped blokes in budgie smugglers. While visually engaging that is not necessary. You see as Dan toured Koala around the area he pointed out the massive old beautiful River Red Gums. These majestic trees were spared when the old time sheep farmers cleared the area for grazing but they would leave one every few hundred meters or so for some shade. Now there are vineyards all around and when they planted they chose to leave these beautiful trees. Not only that but they have created a natural habitat buffer around these trees to help keep them healthy. Those that are dying of old age have replacement trees planted and are cared for as significant habitat for local critters. They have even removed vines from areas that are not up to their standards (they could still sell the grapes for profit but choose not to) and are creating native flora and forna reserves. Some of significant size!

The area is an exciting one that is really starting to show its stuff and Koala can’t wait to go back and check the next offerings and to taste the good things to come as well as revisit some current favorites  Look so here’s the thing, if you find any wine with Wrattonbully on the label, particularly Smith & Hooper, give it a shot. This area is destined to be one of the great wine regions just as its neighbor. Keep an eye out for these wines, you may be very pleasantly surprised! Koala 'recommends' you do!


Happy Adventures,

Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala

Jan 21, 2013

WineWalkabout WW_11



The wine that stole our hearts but not our wallet this week is from Shale Oak Winery in Paso Robles. It is a lovely drop this 2009 Petit Verdot. Inviting on the nose with a sweetness of molasses and some vanilla, it falls on the palate with full flavors of dark fruits, cherries in particular, with some noticeable fine tannins with some oak to carry you off to the finish.  A wine that is looking for some spicy nibbles to keep it company and make you smile. We give it a 6 and it is ***. A great wine to have with some zesty Italian or BBQ on any night of the week!


Tasting Room is open 10am to 5pm, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We have been to the tasting room and this is what we had to say. Shale Oak Winery!

Happy Tasting Adventures,
Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala

Jan 19, 2013

WineWalkabout visits the Victory Hotel, McLarenVale




Picture from and of The Victory Hotel
Most are familiar with the good old Aussie pub, whether they have had a drink in one or not. The Victory Hotel is no longer one of these. Recommended to Koala by one of the regional wineries were Koala had been tasting some wine (yeah, go figure eh), he took the opportunity to go have lunch there. Look he needed to feed his Mum and Dad before the old folks got all wilty (ok, it was Koala getting wilty), so lunch it was. While looking relatively old town pub like for the most part from the outside, it is not that way on the inside. Doug Govan took over the Victory in 1989 and it has become a beacon for good food and wine lovers, or so they say. Turns out they have a great menu with a large variety of offerings as well as a great wine list to be explored. You can’t go wrong. 
On what was a spectacular day sitting out on the verandah enjoying some local wine and the best Whiting Koala’s Mum and Dad had had in a while and a fantastic hamburger for Koala all washed down with some great wines by the glass and a beer for Dad, all was good with the world. The view from the verandah is spectacular. 
You can see from Sellicks beach all the way down towards Maslin Beach on a clear day. Koala gives The Victory a hearty ‘recommend’. The Victory Hotel Circa 1858 is a great place to share a good time with family and friends over a drink or two and a good meal.

Now while all that is good there is more. The Victory also has vineyards as well as, to quote the website “The Victory Hotel has three self contained, one bedroom cottages overlooking the vineyards and sweeping coastline. Located approximately 100 metres from the pub, the only other inhabitants are the families of kangaroos that wander through the surrounding 165 acres of private, native woodland.”
Nice! The Rudderless vines are all grown on the five acre estate vineyard surrounding the Hotel. Now Koala wishes he had done some homework as this would have made a difference in his travel plans. Maybe next time. A place to eat, a place to stay and some wine to taste! There will be a next time and maybe Koala can drag Kiwi along for the Adventure.


After lunch you should go down to Sellicks Beach and go for a long walk on what has to be one of the best beach’s around.

So stop by and have a good feed and some refreshments and tell em Koala sent you!

Bon Appétit!

Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala

Jan 15, 2013

The Menzies / Yalumba in Coonawarrra



Planning a visit to the wine regions of South Australia was a daunting task. Planning a trip to a region that you have not been to is even more daunting. I had tried to book a couple of places with no luck but was able to get connected and booked with the Menzies Retreat at the Yalumba Cellar Door in Coonawarra. People say (you know, people) that things happen for a reason, and even though my heart had been set on another place to start with this worked out perfectly.

Whatever the reason, it happened, and it could not have been better. The Menzies Retreat is a super nice well equipped, beautiful, comfortable, serene and magical place to stay. It all fell into place when I was put in contact with Claire Gleeson, the Menzies Wine Room and Retreat Manager. Claire took care of all the details and the stay was brilliant. The resort is a two bedroom large apartment style place immediately adjacent to the cellar door. This roomy, fully self contained B&B has everything anyone could need with the only possible thing missing being a washer and dryer.

The Menzies Retreat is a truly wonderful place to spend some time barbecuing on the deck or sitting on the bench out in the native scrub listening to the birds and trying to catch a glimpse of the local wallabies. If you prefer to look at nature thru the window, you can make an espresso with the fancy coffee maker or have a glass of wine and sit inside and look out into the scrub or the vineyards or both even at night with the exterior spotlights. I barbecued the first night and we ate out on the deck while enjoying a glass of fabulous Yalumba wine, the Menzies it was. Just by chance (if you believe that)! The place is totally stocked for breakfast and that’s just what was needed prior to venturing out into Coonawarra to try some of the other area wines. One has to do the work you know.

Checking in was a breeze and Claire had set up a tasting of some Yalumba wines for us. She had also brought along the vineyard manager James. This is also where I  was introduced to the Wrattonbully area wines (story here).
Claire and James put on a fantastic tasting of some of the Smith & Hooper wines from Wrattonbully as well as some of Yalumba’s premium wines. The tasting was done in the Menzies Retreat which just added to the atmosphere and special nature of the tasting. 

The Menzies and the Cigar were my favorites, and bottles were purchased at checkout to take back to California to share with that Kiwi if he can behave. While talking with Claire and James, I was impressed by their passion for what they do and a pride for whom they do it for. The Yalumba Company is Australia’s oldest family owned winery and there must be something more than stuff to their success. We can only surmise, that the family has inspired the people that work for them to have a passion for what they do that is rare, and that it is these amazing people of Yalumba that feel a part of the legacy and of the future, that makes this such a successful and innovative company. See a small list below.

Coonawarra is not the only place that Yalumba operate and we are looking forward to meeting more of the people and places of Yalumba.


Look, I could go on and on about how great the Menzies Resort is, but it would just end up sounding like a travel brochure, so to sum it up; We fell in love with the Menzies and highly recommend it as a “must stay” when in Coonawarra. If I thought it would make a stronger point it would be highlighted or underlined. It seems like a side note and that is definitely not the case, but the wine was excellent. All the wine tasted was good and very good a couple were exceptional. Top wines, top place and top people. It can’t get much better!


Happy travels,

Cheers,
WineWalkabout
Kiwi & Koala


The following list of some milestones in Yalumba’s history is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  


1849 Samuel Smith, former Dorset brewer obtains 30 acres of land just above Angaston from John Howard Angas. He names the property Yalumba, an aboriginal word meaning "all the land around" and, together with young Sidney, builds "Osborne Cottage" and plants his first vineyard.

1855 Samuel Smith exhibits his first wine - red and port at the Angaston Show.

1860 -1876 Yalumba becomes a significant purchaser of grapes from other local growers. The descendants from these early growers are still supplying grapes to Yalumba to this very day.

1883 Yalumba wines shown at Calcutta Exhibition boasting that they have been awarded prizes for 'full-bodied wines' at London, Paris, Bordeaux, Philadelphia, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

1964 British Wine and Food Society includes its first Australian wine - Yalumba 1961 Carte D'or Riesling - on its list.

1966 Sir Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, announces that the 1961 Yalumba Galway Vintage Special Reserve Claret was the best red wine he has ever tasted. From this, began "Signature Series" wine.

1986 First vintage of The Menzies Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is released.

1988 Yalumba controlls its own vine propagation by producing rootstocks free from virus and phylloxera. These vines are being planted out in the Company Vineyards, as well as being passed on to growers.

1998 Yalumba is a finalist in the Ibis Award which acknowledges the outstanding efforts of Yalumba in integrating wildlife conservation with successful, commercial, sustainable farming.

1999 Final plantings of 328 acres of vineyard at Wrattonbully (see upcoming blog), in the Limestone Coast region, south-east of Adelaide is undertaken.

2001 The Menzies Wine Room and Vineyard opens in Coonawarra.

2004 Agreement reached with ENTAV International for Yalumba Nursery to receive authentic French clones.

2005 Yalumba launches Vitis - a total quality environmental management program for their vineyards and for their growers.
ISO14001 Enviornmental Management System registration, covering processes involved in receival of grapes, winemaking processes, the filling, packaging, storage and distribution of red, white, fortified and sparkling wines, and spirits.
Yalumba becomes a finalist in for the Business Leadership Award for outstanding achievement in the promotion and facilitation of greenhouse gas action within the industry.

2006 Yalumba is honoured as Australia's first 'Leader' under the Australian Government's Greenhouse Challenge Plus Programme, with a recorded decrease of 9.5 per cent in greenhouse emmissions for every litre of wine produced at Angaston.
2007 Yalumba recognised by the US Environmental Protection Authority with a Climate Protection Award for their whole-of-business Environmental Mangement Programme. A first for the world wine industry.

Jan 13, 2013

New Years 2012, Dinner Fandango




Selecting a restaurant for New Years dinner was not an easy choice. We did not want something too fancy, but it had to be very good. Plus it had to be close enough to our final drinking venue so that we could avoid a bunch of hoons on the road. That meant that selecting an untried place was just not going to happen. Yeah yeah we know, there are ways to research new places and be pretty sure, but we didn't want to. Some say we were being a little boring. Yeah whatever. We prefer to look at it as being certain of a great meal, and being well taken care of. We chose a place that that we have all eaten at a number of times over the years and have always enjoyed. This year’s restaurant of choice was Fandango Restaurant located in Pacific Grove, California. The menu is a blend of Mediterranean and European style cuisine, well presented and always delicious. Fandango also has a great wine list that will make anyone happy and allows for the selection of any of their great dishes to be paired perfectly.January 2013 marks Fandango's 26th year in business!

This long term existence is a double edged sword, as most folks tend to head out to find the latest hip happening place in town, but there is a reason this is year 26. Consistently good food in a nice comfortable environment (you can sit by a roaring fine if you like) with good service at hard to beat prices. A winning formula that has withstood the test of time. Happy 26th Pierre and Marietta!

As you might imagine Kiwi and Koala and Frog (French connection) all had wine representing their countries of origin plus a couple of Californian selections from Napa Valley and Paso Robles for consumption that evening!  The real question was what was a good number of bottles to consume? Settled on 1.5 bottles per drinker. No hangovers! We also did have a designated driver so we were all set.

http://www.yalumba.com/
As usual the meal was great (Kiwi and Koala both had their signature dish – rack of lamb) and the wines that were brought along to impress each other with were also top notch. The service was sublime with table timing about perfect.Table timing? You know it’s when you never need your waiter as they are there every time you want something (and your glass is never empty) but are never hovering.
Another great meal at Fandango Restaurant! Kiwi and Koala and Frog ‘recommend’ you dine here and tell ‘em we sent you.

Happy New Year,
Bon Appétit,

WineWalkabout
http://www.tablascreek.com/

Kiwi & Koala
And Frog

Meet Pierre and Marietta
223 17th Street Pacific Grove, CA 93950


http://www.bellwine.com/





http://www.mtdifficulty.co.nz/
Happy Anniversary!




Jan 10, 2013

Wine trends, low alcohol, who really cares?



We are constantly amazed at how recently many people are in the habit of checking the alcohol content on a wine label and using the number to decide on whether or not to drink it. They are using it as a factor to decide whether or not they may like it. How or why did this begin? Some have said this has soething to do with quality. There is a theory that they have (you know who they are) that it may have started sometime around the same time wineries started printing Alcohol Content as small and as hidden on a wine label as possible, like they’re embarrassed by it. We don’t subscribe to this theory. We believe it is part of the 'all natural all the time' movement folks, you know those hugging trees and shouting words like 'natural wine' as if wine was not a natural thing. Those people.


The alcohol by volume (ABV) only has a little to do with the quality of a wine in the big picture. It more than likely has gotten caught in the crossfire of the “all natural, gluten free, holistic, lunar cycle dance machine using cosmic energy” stuff that has become the latest battle cry.
Alcohol in balance with all the components of a wine is what it is. Alcohol in balance can be 15+ % and not degrade the taste of a wine and only neophytes, cork dorks, wankers and stupid people think so. Look, let’s get to the core of this.

Alcohol, ya drongo’s, is one of the reasons why we drink plonk in the first place. It’s not only one of the reasons, it’s probably one of the main bloody reasons. More isn't better, less isn't better, at least not by definition. It’s that you just don't want it to be the only thing you notice when you drink it. We all want the wine we drink to taste good to us, and if it has a good ‘Wine Something Magazine’ rating then let Dame Edna know. Unless there is a medical need to know, like Grandpa has reached that age where holding his liquor is an issue just don't worry about it. If the wine is way hot (mouth feel) because the alcohol levels are too high then it is not good wine. Don't drink it unless the goal is just to get pissed.

Looking afterward for curiosity is fine, but its just a piece of the 'what did I just taste' picture. One of our go to wines for BBQ has a 16.5% ABV and you wouldn't notice other than after two or three glasses.

Checking the alcohol on a wine bottle before drinking, is like the dog checking the fat content of the unattended BBQ steak on the coffee table. Why? He’s going to scarf it down anyway.
So let’s get over it and just drink up and hopefully enjoy the wine already.


Happy Tasting Adventures,
Cheers,

WineWalkabout
Sleeping off the high alcohol wine consumed at the BBQ lunch