Sips & Swallows From Down Under

Yes, it is a really, really long trip. However, I was well fortified with books, magazines, movies and Tylenol PM. Throw in a little of that delicious airline cuisine that they feel compelled to wake you up to serve, and Australia here I come!

My primary destination was Melbourne. However, if I was going to be in Australia I was certainly going to add some wineries to my itinerary.

A red wine called Grange is one of Australia’s — and the wine world’s — great red wines. It is made by Penfolds, a winery whose history dates back to the mid-1800’s. Although they are now part of a corporate family of wines, the winery began with vine cuttings brought to Australia by the English doctor Christopher Penfolds. In 1951 Chief Winemaker Max Schubert made a wine he christened Grange Hermitage. The name has now been shortened to Grange and it is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest wines. It is mainly Shiraz and I had the pleasure of tasting the 2003 vintage after seeing a collection of every vintage of Grange in the winery’s cellar. Needless to say the wine was extraordinary with complex aromas and flavors of tar and blackberries. Although the wine is delicious now, the incredibly long finish indicates the wine should age nicely for decades.

Driving on the left side of the road and navigating without a GPS, somehow I was able to arrive at the Shaw+Smith Winery in the Adelaide Hills. It is a more modern facility nestled into the hills east of the city of Adelaide. After walking the vineyards amidst the almost ready to harvest Shiraz grapes, we tasted their delicious Sauvignon Blanc, M3 Chardonnay and Shiraz.

My last stop took me north to Australia’s answer to Napa, the Barossa Valley. Much less commercial than Napa, the Barossa Valley is home to many wineries in a very rural setting. (Watch for the yellow kangaroo crossing signs!) I visited the modern, sleek Jacob’s Creek Winery. The Jacob’s Creek wines are widely available in the US and provide quality quaffing at a reasonable price.

I also enjoyed the 2007 St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon with grapes sourced from the Coonawarra region. I also took a drive to enjoy the spectacular views from the hilltop Steingarten Vineyard. The Steingarten Vineyard is planted solely with Riesling. It was planted to mirror the German Riesling vineyards, which many of the Barossa winemaking families claim as their heritage.

I only enjoyed a very small snapshot of the huge winemaking capabilities of Australia. However, this small sample certainly made me eager to experience more even if I have to fly for 21 hours to experience it!

(Newtown resident and oenophile Steve Small is the general manager at Yankee Wine & Spirits on Queen Street.).