Well we have been back for a few days and all in all we are doing well, 15 hour time difference became 16 on Sunday but none the less the adjustment to Eastern Time is over.
During our trip that took us from Sydney to Melbourne to Adelaide and then to Brisbane (with many stops in between) we got to take advantage of the wine regions we drove through. Geelong, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills and Barossa. While this trip was not about wine, life is, so we spent good amounts of time coifing, sipping and buying. Below is a list of the wines we brought home (3 seperate planes trips too, well 4 if you count the deboard/customs/re-board in Vancouver on the way home) none of which got damaged or stolen in their travels. We will not talk about the brutally dishonest duties on the importation of wine beyond the personal exemption level other then to say it is a corrupt system. A few notes about our choices first off. With so many wineries in Coonawarra and Barossa in particular we made the logical choice of asking everyone and anyone that seemed tuned into wine where they would go in those areas, for the most part we got the same 4 for Coonawarra and for Barossa we generally had a consensus as well. On top of that Pettavel in Geelong and Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills were also mentioned (actually so was Ashton Hills Vineyard but their Cellar Door was closed everyday but weekends). The list for Coonawarra was: Zema Estates, Majella, Wynns and Balnaves. For Barossa the list was: Two Hands, Torbeck, Bethany, Rockford, Turkey Flat and Penfolds. At each cellar door we tried anything that was recommended, unique only to cellar door sales and/or tasted outstanding, we tried to limit ourselves to just 2 bottles per vineyard and only failed twice (4 at Petaluma and only 1 at Penfolds). The Petaluma decision was easy, we could have actually brought home 24 of the “Tiers” as it was simply outstanding, but their Bordeaux style Coonawarra was outstanding and their single vineyard Project-Co was both unique and delicious. As for Penfolds’ we simply felt that the price on the Magill Estate Shiraz (original Penfolds’ vineyards) warranted nothing further, plus we can get Granges at home. So below are the list, I do not want to discuss dollar figures as I may leave that for another day or post, but needless to say nothing was cheap…
2006 Two Hands’ Bella’s Garden Barossa Valley Shiraz
2006 Two Hands’ Lily’s Garden McLaren Vale Shiraz
2007 Petaluma “Project -Co.-” Chardonnay
2005 Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay
2005 Petaluma Tiers Chardonnay
2005 Petaluma Coonawarra (unfiltered), Bordeaux Blend
2006 Torbreck The Factor, Shiraz
2006 Torbreck The Struie, Shiraz
2005 Majella The Malleea, Cabernet Sauvignon – Shiraz Blend
2005 Majella Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Messenger, Cabernet Sauvignon (single vineyard)
2006 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Coonawarra, Cabernet Sauvignon (vintage release)
2006 Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon
2006 Balnaves Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz
2005 Pettavel Southern Émigré, Shiraz – Viognier
2004 Pettavel Platina, Cabernet Sauvignon – Cabernet Franc
2004 Zema Estate Family Selection Cabernet Sauvignon
2004 Zema Estate Family Selection Shiraz
2006 Turkey Flat Barossa Valley Shiraz
NV Turkey Flat Pedro Ximénez
2001 Rockford Shiraz VP
NV Rockford P.S. Marion Tawny
2004 Bethany GR9 Reserve Shiraz
NV Bethany Old Quarry Tawny
NV Bethany Old Quarry Fronti
