Clare Valley

6/3/2015

After a tour through their vineyard, I had a lovely dinner with Alex & Bill yesterday and a detailed discussion about wine, the Clare Valley and about different avenues that I could take in the future. We tried the 2013 The Prince Shiraz – and I liked it a lot.

For dessert, Bill cooked some apples in a Clare Valley Riesling and served them with freshly whipped cream with a dash of 21 year 'Para' Port from Seppeltsfield. Amazing!

Seppeltsfield 21 year Para from 1992, and an amazing 1957 Para - Bill's birth year wine

It cooled down quite a bit in the valley, going down to around 10 degrees last night – so first time that I had the second blanked out.

The day started with an early breakfast followed by a visit of the Kirrihill wine making facility. They can process up to 8000 tons per year but have not yet ramped up to full capacity. Kirrikhill produces their own wines but they also produce wine for other vineyards that deliver the grapes to them. Alex took me around there and the people showed me the whole process, from receiving the grapes, getting the stems off, crushing them, open and closed fermentation, the barrel storage, etc. It was very interesting and we found some of Alex and Bill's wine in barrels there as well.

Delivery of the grapes - early morning

The stems and leaves that get thrown out

getting pumped into tanks for open fermentation

Open fermentation - helps to reduce the alcohol content a bit

with vineyards at the back

der Trester - the marc

Tanks for storage

The barrel storage

Alex with their Talbot's block: The Sultan - ripening in the barrels

The happy Austrian

After this interesting visit and background information on how wine is produced in Australia, Alex drove me to Sevenhill Cellars and introduced me to the lovely people there. Sevenhill Cellar is the oldest vineyard in the Clare Valley, established by Austrian (!) Jesuits in the 1851! They produce a lot of wine and a lot of sacramental wine for the church as well with the Jesuit Winemaker Emeritus, Brother John May, SJ, despite his old age, still involved.

I went through the extended tasting program with the two lovely ladies looking after me and engaging in a lot of interesting discussions – what an awesome start in the late morning. The absolute highlights for me were the 2014 St. Francis Xavier Riesling ($35 per bottle), their 2012 St. Ignatius – a red Bordeaux Blend ($40), the 2009 Brother John May Reserve Release Shiraz – what a bomb! ($85) and their 2008 Vintage Touriga ($45 for a small bottle) fortified wine. The Brother John Reserve comes from the old-vine Shiraz that have been growing here for over 150 years.

Brother John

Sevenhill Cellars offering of Secramental Wines

.... and that is only a little part of what I had to go through ;-)

Topography of Clare Valley - very beautiful and compact

The cellar

Most of the grapes have been harvested already this year due to the climatic conditions

Sevenhill Cellars church

St Marie

The owner of the bike must have had a good wine tasting as well and forgot where he parked his bike... been there for a while!

Quoting from one of their brochure: “Clare's ability to produce wines of great integrity is linked strongly to its favorable climate and topography for growing grapes. The region receives good winter/spring rain, with an annual rainfall of 700mm at Sevenhill, and the valley's elevation (400 meters above sea level at Sevenhill) ensures cool nights, a critical factor during the hot summer months of the ripening seasoning and harvest.”

I strolled through their gardens and vineyard after spending the almost 2 hours indoors for the tasting session and started my much needed walk to Clare, 6.5km perfect distance to reset the taste buds. I followed Alex's recommendation to go to the tapas style restaurant Mr. Micks in Clare. Great lunch, accompanied by some of Mr. Micks own wine.

As Alex finished working early today, she picked me up from there and we drove to visit some more cellar doors and try some more wine.

First stop after lunch was at Jim Barry's – they are known for their flagship wine – The Armagh – Shiraz, one of the very few wines that received a Langton's Classification of 'Outstanding' – but also coming at a price of $240 per bottle. The Cover Drive – Cabernet Sauvignon is another well know wine from Jim Barry, one I was introduced to by my site management team at my last project in the Pilbara. The Armagh was indeed outstanding!

The Armagh - oh dear!

An old Langton's Classification display

Next stop was at 'The Mad Bastard' – their wine labels underline the title. It was quite entertaining there and I'd like to quote one of the wine descriptions that they had sitting on the table:

Mad Bastard - 2009 Shiraz tasting notes

Mad Bastard

As my wine related taste buds (and my liver) needed a short break, Alex drove me to 'SugarRush', a small, boutique chocolate and coffee shop. We met the owners there and had a lengthy discussion that was continued at the evening event that I'll report about later. Their products are tailored for Australians, so most products are rather on the sweet side for me personally, but the Japanese 'Nama' Chocolates were an absolute highlight, both the green tea one and the Dark Nama. The shop is only open Friday to Monday, as the owners are producing Tuesday to Thursday. They can't keep up with the demand and many products are regularly sold out and due to the wide variety, some are only available every second week when they rotate the program. I wish them all the best in becoming an established brand here in the valley!

It is great to see such small, entrepreneurial business getting established in wine regions – having a coffee and some chocolates makes a day at a wine region even better and rounds the experience a bit.

These went very well with a tasty Cappuccino

After a refreshing shower and change of clothes we went to the 'reopening of the cellar door' at Kilikanoon winery. This exclusive winery has been give the title Winery of the Year 2014 by James Halliday – the is The wine authority in Australia. The wines and catering was excellent and there was an interesting mix of people there. Seeing the owner of Sugar Rush again, we engaged in a lengthy discussion about the chocolate business, differences between the Australian taste (aka Cadbury) and more international products.

Amazing wines and catering

Great to see Riedel Glasses at so many good vineyards in Australia too!

We had a late dinner at the Sevenhill Hotel – the oldest pub here, established over 150 years ago as 'Black Eagle Hotel' by Germans, with the name getting changed in the 20^th century to 'Sevenhill Hotel'. They have a wonderful selection of Clare Valley wines in their cellar, and rather middle-aged patrons of the pub, I was rather at the younger end of the spectrum.

Back at Talbots, I got treated to a dessert – 21 old Para Port from Seppeltsfield with Tim Tams.

What a sweet way to finish an intense day of tasting wines ;-)

Big & long day, I was happy to go to bed and enjoy a long sleep to be rejuvenated for the next day to come!

Distance traveled: 0km - first day with no driving!