Langhorne Creek

18/3/2015

It was raining a bit last night, but everything seems water proof and the outside of the van got a bit cleaner.

I had a cappuccino at TheHaus in Hahndorf and was planning the route and the day there. Hahndorf is really touristy but nonetheless got some flair, worth a visit.

I checked out a few wineries in Langhorne Creek – a wine region that produces fantastic big reds.

Rusticana

Their are mainly known for their horseradish and mustard, but started doing wines about 20 years ago as well. Lovely place, wonderful stuff (stocked up quite a bit) and some big reds – their 2010 Zinfandel is unbelievable 17% alcohol, the 2010 Durif 16%. But despite the high alcohol content, they are surprisingly balanced. Rusticana apparently means horseradish in Latin.

Path up to Rusticana's tasting room

Compelling range of wines, including the 2010 Zinfandel and 2010 Durif

A huge burnt out gum tree - also the motif for the logo on their wines

Bleasdale

Family owned winery, established 1850 and hence probably the second oldest winery in South Australia. Wide variety of wines, some great Malbecs, Shiraz and blends. They used to do a lot of fortified wines in the first 100 years but due to lower demand, it gradually declined. I had a long discussion and learned a lot from one of the family members that did the tasting for me. Took a bottle of their Malbec with me, so I've got quite a bit of stock now in the van for Melbourne... I had a look around in their old winery afterwards, they have a huge red gum tree lever press (impressive!) – from 1892! Incredible huge piece, look at that 3.5 ton heavy leaver! The vats, the huge barrels that contain the fortified wines and tawny ports are interesting as well.

Left and right you see the Red Gum Vats for the fortified wines

What an awesome ad: 'You're lucky. We didn't drink it all ourselves."

The huge press, see the massive lever sticking out to the right?

Press from another perspective, built in 1892 from a massive Red Gum

The specs

The Winehouse

I'm staying at a free camp site tonight and found really nice spot. After a light lunch I continued on foot to the Winehouse – a cellar door that houses 5 different wine labels. Spent probably 2 hours there discussing wine with Ben, one of the wine makers and when he had to leave for a meeting continued to talking wine with the wife of a winemaker. Was very interesting and I got a lot of tips where to go to in Coonawarra and Tasmania.

Two wines, made by John Glaetzer (former winemaker at Wolf Blass who won the 3 Jimmy Watson trophies in a row for the Black Label), called John's Blend, need to be mentioned here. The Shiraz spends 28 months (!) in oak barrels and the Cab Sav apparently over 3 years. John's motto is “no wood, no good” - but they were a lot more approachable that what I thought as John uses good quality oak barrels, not wood chips.

Another interesting one was a sparkling Montepulciano – definitely the first one I tried. Not bad! My favorites though were the 2012 Ben Potts “Lenny's Block Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon” and 2009 John's Blend South Australia Margaretes Shiraz. Yummy!

Food is good, wine is better

2008 John's Blend in the 35th vintage in a nice magnum bottle

Treating myself to an afternoon snack after another tasting marathon, featuring a recently disgorged 2008 John Glaetzer & Ben Potts: Langhorne Creek Blanc de Blancs

I went back to the camper van, played a bit guitar, chilled out a bit and had a snooze, before walking to the local Hotel. They had Schnitzel night today – unbelievable $14 for a massive chicken schnitzel with fries, vegetables and sauce. And wines for $6-8 per glass, which is super cheap too. A glass of wine in Australia is 175ml, not the 125ml that you get in Austria.

A perfect spot for the night, only 300m away from wine tasting, and 800m for the pub ;-)

I've also noticed in my Vivino profile, that I'm now an 'Ambassador for Australian Shiraz' – meaning that I've rated more than 100 Australian Shiraz's in this App. Happy Days – when can I start my detox?

Just realised that I'm one month on the road now – I've left Perth/Freo on 18 February 2015. What an amazing month that was! I've met and got to know some amazing people like Bill & Mary-Jo in Margaret River, Faraz in Cape LeGrand NP, Alex & Bill in Clare Valley. I've seen many stunning places, tried fantastic wines, great local foods and made many unforgettable memories like swimming with wild sea lions at Baird Bay or the ridiculous comedy shows at the Adelaide Fringe festival.

Adventure, here I come!

Distance traveled: 50km