Fire, Flood, Pestilence

Skyline Restaurant and Bar Adelaide 

https://www.skylinerestaurant.com.au/rydges-south-park-adelaide.html

South Australia is renowned for its excellent cuisine and its production of award winning fine wines.

We had not been there long but we already had plenty of evidence which would render that fact totally irrefutable.

We had seen a fully sustainable Aquaponic garden in an ordinary home in Glenelg producing fresh produce on a scale that none of us had ever seen before from a household back garden or indeed even an allotment.

We had visited one of the most extraordinary fresh produce markets that we had ever seen anywhere and we had indulged in fine wine tastings which were produced in vineyards just a few miles from where we were staying.

We were in no doubt at this point that South Australia must surely be the gastronomic capital of Australia. 

With this in mind we booked a first table meal at the Skyline Restaurant Adelaide which was a short walk from where we were staying. 

The Skyline was recommended as having one of the most sought after views in Adelaide and as Adelaide's sunsets are renowned nationwide, this was the perfect option for us on that very warm evening in South Australia.

The Skyline is located on the top floor of the iconic South Terrace building in Adelaide's CBD.

The panoramic views of the Southern Parklands and Adelaide Hills through the 360 degree glass facade were spectacular. 

And the sunset really was as glorious as it had been described. The colours were as rich and as intense as sunsets we had seen in the desert a few weeks before; whether this was as a result of the hot day we had just experienced or whether this is a regular occurrence in South Australia, I do not know but I can honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen anywhere.

Of course the food and Barossa Valley wine was perfect but by now we expected no less from this extraordinary area of Australia.

Definitely add the Skyline to your tourist schedule if you ever visit Adelaide. You will not be disappointed. 

Friday 31 January 2020

Drive to Lyndoch 

Our brief interlude in Adelaide was coming to a close. We were due to collect our hire car back at the airport at 12:00 pm then we would be driving to our new Airbnb accommodation in the town of Lyndoch in the Barossa Valley. 

If you are hiring cars anywhere in Australia and New Zealand always opt for one of their deals. There tends to be a substantial surcharge on the hire rate when you are dropping a car off in a different location from where it was picked up so when hiring this car I researched offers that waived that surcharge even though the hire rate appeared higher. We paid less than £200 for this vehicle for a week which was extremely competitive at that time for a four wheel drive SUV in that area of Australia. 

As we had been ultra efficient in our packing and clearing we still had an hour before we were due to leave so my friend and I decided to go back to the Central Market and stock up on some nice bread, cheese, fresh fruit and veg for our picnic lunch later and possibly dinner that evening in our new accommodation.

The first thing we noticed when we left our building was the drastic change in temperature. Not only was it no longer violently hot but it was now cool bordering on cold.

It hadn't rained, so to our knowledge the air hadn't been cleared but the weather had definitely changed.

Temperature reports from the previous day ranged from 44c to 49.7c whereas it now felt as if it had dropped to 20c or lower.

It was still very hot when we walked back from the restaurant at approximately 11:30 pm so between then and 8:30 am the following morning, the temperature had dropped 20 to 30 degrees. 

There were lots of people out and about which was very different from the previous day and some were carrying umbrellas so rain was clearly expected at some point. 

It was lovely going back into that wonderful market and seeing all the fresh fruit and vegetables stalls being replenished for the day.

We also noticed that there were quite a few people in cafès and restaurants having what looked like breakfast parties. We saw at least two group events with balloons, cards, streamers all celebrating together over breakfast. Such a lovely way to start a special celebration day. 

After a delicious breakfast of excellent coffee and home produced croissants, we picked up a few essentials (and a few indulgent treats) for later consumption as well as a selection of dips which we were tempted by as we walked past the stall.

These were not just your common or garden hummus, taramosalata, tomato dips but there were so many others, from anchovy to smoked salmon, aubergine, artichoke, red pepper. You name it, they made it.

These dips were all locally made and the few we sampled were absolutely delicious. We would definitely enjoy eating those later with the sour dough bread and butter head lettuce we had also bought. 

As soon as we got back to our flat we had one final check then we booked our cab and set off for the airport where we picked up our four wheel drive SUV ready for our road trip adventure from Adelaide to Melbourne via the Barossa Valley and the Great Ocean Road. It was going to be another amazing week.

Seppeltsfield 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seppeltsfield_(wine)

Our next stop was the Seppeltsfield Winery in Seppeltsfield which is known "as one of Australia's oldest wineries and was founded in 1851 by Joseph Ernst Seppelt".

"Joseph Ernest Seppelt, was a Prussian merchant who sold such commodities as tobacco, snuff and liqueurs, who emigrated to Australia from in 1849.

He did this to break free from political and economic unrest in Prussia (now Poland) and was was intent on growing and selling tobacco in the 'new world'.

In 1850, he and his family settled in Klemzig but a year later, once they discovered that the land was not suited to the cultivation of tobacco, he and his family decided to settle in the Barossa Valley instead.

In 1851, Seppelt purchased 158 acres (64 ha) of land for about £1 an acre which he called Seppeltsfield.

He soon discovered that, as was the case in Klemzig, the land in the Barossa Valley was not suited for growing economically useful tobacco.

But this time, rather than move to yet another region of Australia, the Seppelts decided to grow wheat instead.

This proved very successful and, due to the high demand surrounding the gold rushes of the 1850s, they were able to sell it at a very high price.

With money in his pocket and his knowledge of liqueurs gained from his days as a merchant, Seppelt decided to try his hand at wine production.

The Seppelts' vines succeeded immediately so much so that it led to Seppelt submitting a contribution to the Wines and Spirits category at the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition in 1866.

By 1867, Joseph Seppelt had begun construction of a full-scale winery, and by 1878, the port store cellar was completed.

In 2006, the cellar held approximately 9 million litres of fortified wine.

Sadly Joseph Seppelt did not live to see the completion of his winery, as he died in early 1868 but his eldest son, Oscar Benno Pedro, continued with his father's vision and earned the winery a reputation for high end quality wines and a reputation for being, "the iconic winery of the Barossa".

Apparently the Seppeltsfield signature wine is the 100-year-old Para Tawny.

In 1878, to celebrate the completion of the cellar, Benno, selected a 500 litre barrel of his finest wine and declared that the barrel would be allowed to mature for 100 years.

And so the "Seppelt Para 100 year old Tawny Port" was born.

Every year since 1878, the winery has set aside more of its finest wine for 100 years of barrel maturation.

In 1978, the first bottles (750ml) of this 100-year-old wine were released.

Seppeltsfield is the only winery to have notable amounts of wine set aside in consecutive vintages for over 100 years, and nowhere else in the world does a winery annually release a commercially available wine which is a century old.

In 2009, the wine was priced at $1,000 per half bottle (375ml). Originally released in 750ml bottles and 375ml half bottles, the wine is now available "in 375ml and 100ml formats".

We did, indeed purchase a very good bottle of Tawny Port from Seppeltsfield but alas it was not 100 years old.

Our Resident Kangaroo 

After our wine tasting at Seppeltsfield it was time to check into our new Airbnb accommodation in Lyndoch.

It had been cold and rainy ever since we left Adelaide just after lunch. The drastic change in weather in less than 24 hours was extraordinary. 

We arrived in Lyndoch about 25 minutes after leaving the Seppeltsfield Winery but it took us a while to find the house as it was set back from the road and the driveway and car-port were hidden behind a large hedge. 

The accommodation had a self check-in key box which appears to be standard practice in both Australia and New Zealand. 

We had paid very little for this accommodation so we didn't know what to expect. When we opened the door and walked in we couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how much space we had there.

We had an entire bungalow to ourselves with two large bedrooms one with an en-suite bathroom, there was a good sized well equipped kitchen and a large open plan living area. 

We paid almost the same rate for this per night as we had paid for our terrible Bondi studio. We had either been extremely lucky or Barossa Valley accommodation is very reasonably priced. 

An added bonus to this accommodation is that while we were sitting at the table enjoying our delicious Central Market delicacies over a lovely glass of Yalumba Viognier, we noticed a large beige kangaroo right outside our living room window.

We couldn't quite believe it. We had seen quite a few of them on the sides of the road and in fields since arriving in the Barossa region earlier that day but to have one in our front garden was quite extraordinary. 🦘 

Saturday 1 February 2020

The Barossa Farmers Market 

During our time at the Yalumba Winery the previous day, we started chatting with the very gregarious young manager who was serving our wine.

She gave us quite a lot of information about the local area and when we told her how much we had loved the Central Market in Adelaide and the Re Store in Perth, she suggested that we should visit the Barossa Farmer's Market which was held in Angaston from 7:30 am to 11:30 am every Saturday morning. 

We definitely planned to do that so we set off after our morning coffee and arrived back in Angaston at around 10:30 am.

We only had an hour at the market but it was perfect as this was a proper farmer's market so it wasn't massive; the stall holders really were selling their own wares. Either produce from their own gardens, baked goods from their own kitchens or good quality home produced cosmetics. It was wonderful.  

I read later, on the Barossa Farmers’ Market website, that around 50 local farmers and food producers sell their fresh seasonal produce and locally made food and beverage products direct to consumers every week.

The produce ranges from fruit and vegetables to meat, eggs, dairy, ready meals, bread, cheese, alcoholic beverages, confectionery and many more items.

The market’s breakfast bar is also open each Saturday morning serving coffee and a food menu featuring seasonal local produce from the market stallholders. We treated ourselves to a delicious and very substantial breakfast there that morning. 

The Farmers’ Market started in 2002 as a not-for-profit organisation that supports small family farms, agricultural diversity and fresh, regional and seasonal choices for consumers.

It is a genuine community market offering real food from the homes and farms of the Barossa.

This is definitely something I would recommend to anyone on a Barossa wine tour, who enjoys home grown fresh produce and freshly cooked wholesome foods. 

https://www.barossafarmersmarket.com/

Jacob's Creek

https://www.jacobscreek.com/en-gb/about-us

After our amazing experience at the Whispering Wall we set off for Jacob's Creek. 

The Jacob's Creek cellar door was in a stunningly beautiful location. The glass structure we had our tastings in and the restaurant next door were encircled by glorious, picturesque vineyards. It felt so good just being there. 

Of course the excellent Jacob's Creek wines we tasted were all amazing so good that we ended up buying far more than we should have.

Although Jacob's Creek is virtually a household name in Australia and is one of the country's most exported wines worldwide, they were not at all corporate in their dealings with the many visitors arriving at their cellar doors every hour. This was certainly not the case with all the better known vineyards we visited. 

As is written on the History section of their website and in the booklet we were given when we made our purchases, this "iconic Barossa vineyard dates back to 1847 when Johann Gramp planted his first vineyard along the banks of Jacob’s Creek.

His vision was to create great tasting wines that reflect the true character of the grapes and the land".

To this day Jacob's Creek claims that they "live and breathe this original vision by producing wines that showcase how each grape variety expresses itself when shaped by the soil and the sun of Australia".

Their home is "built along the banks of Jacob’s Creek, which still flows through the heart of the Barossa Valley to this day".

From there, their vineyards "stretch from the Barossa to the Adelaide Hills to the Coonawarra, producing wine inspired by the Australian wine regions the grapes were grown in".

We had sampled wines produced in the Adelaide Hills region at the Wine Centre in Adelaide and we especially appreciated the Chardonnays and Pinots grown and produced there.

This wine region is "just a short drive east of Adelaide.

The numerous twisting hills and valleys provide a huge diversity of vineyard aspects, slopes, altitude, soils, water catchments and macro climates which therefore offer a wide variety of growing conditions.

Due to its high altitude, 400 - 700 metres above sea level, the Adelaide Hills region experiences higher rainfall and cooler ripening conditions than other South Australian regions.

It is therefore widely recognised as one of the premium cool climate wine regions of Australia, which is known to be perfect for growing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir".

St Hallett's and Calabria 

Following our rather negative experience at Penfolds, we unanimously agreed to focus on smaller wineries for our last two visits. 

St Hallett's was not exactly small but its cellar door tasting experience was intimate and personal. 

At St Hallett's we tasted six wines from what they called "the hero varietals" of the Barossa region: Riesling, Grenache, Shiraz and  Cabernet, including their signature Blackwell Shiraz. 

The Riesling and Ganache were my favourites so I bought the Ganache in the end but later regretted not buying both. 

It says on their website that "St Hallett's was established in 1944 by the Lindner Family,

Since then it was owned, or partly owned, by at least one member of the pioneering Lindners, who arrived in the Barossa from Prussian Silesia in 1838.

It took grim determination, heartbreak and near financial collapse for the Lindner family to make a meagre living (initially from ports, sherries and marsala) in their galvo shed in the middle of the Barossa.

But in time the vineyard grew, changed and reinvented itself, and they now feel that they have achieved a rare distinction as one of Australia’s most respected wine brands".

This was a delightful vineyard to visit, the wine was excellent and the staff were well informed and attentive. We all highly recommend a tasting at St Hallett's.

https://www.sthallett.com.au/About-St-Hallett

Calabria Family Wines

The Calabria Family Wines Tasting Room is located on the outskirts of Tanunda a short drive from St Hallett's.

The tasting area is accessed via their on-site restaurant which at first was a little off putting as we had to walk through tables of diners some of whom were having what looked like a work lunch event.

But once we arrived at the tasting area, our young server was so kind, generous and attentive that we immediately felt at ease. 

The added bonus here was that the tastings were completely free so we were under no obligation at all to buy anything there.....but of course we did.

I bought a wonderful crisp sparkling wine which we enjoyed a few days later in the Grampians. It was one of the loveliest sparkling wines we savoured anywhere in Australia.

Calabria Wines is definitely worth visiting. If you have time you should opt for the tasting menu at their restaurant the ‘Harvest Kitchen’, which overlooks their beautiful vineyard. We would have definitely done that had we known about it beforehand. 

What I found particularly interesting about the Calabria Wines website was the History in pictures section.

https://www.calabriawines.com.au/about-us

"Calabria was established 75 years ago, but with a story spanning almost 90 years".

As with Hallett's, "the Calabria journey was not an easy one but through determination, hard work and family vision, Calabria Family Wines has flourished to become one of Australia's top 20 wine producers".