Just arrived back in Sydney from a loonnnnnggg weekend in SA. What a great place to visit (and I suspect live). Ended up buying 3 cases of wine and I tried almost all of the wines on offer at each winery (much to the frustration of our tour operator...)
Day 1 Barossa (McLaren Vale write up tomorrow)
Penfolds was our 1st stop. Private tasting tour where a wine educator took us through the Penfolds complex. It is gigantic. I can't remember all of the figures he threw at us but I'm sure the Bureau of Statistics want some of them back. We stood in one of the barrel sheds and it holds 1000's of Barrells of wine. As far as the eye can see its barrells and more barrells. Impressive winery. We tasted some of the wines in a private room which was nice but I just can't get excited about Penfolds wines. They stopped at St Henri (sighe). They do put their money where their mouth is though and I'm sure we need big players like Penfolds representing Aussie Wines. 6/10
Next stop was Keasler. We had lunch there and I'm not sure if it was the theme of the day but i had the biggest Venison shank I've ever seen. I could not finish it. Nice restaurant which had a nice fire going. Then we rolled along the path to the cellar door. Was impressed with the Bogan, Stonehorse was good but not great and I think the Cab Sauv was between good and very good. Purchased the Bogan and 2 Cab Sauv's. Old Bastard was not on offer for tasting. 8/10
Torbreck was next. A great list of wines and great staff behind the counter. Nice fresh cellar door and a welcoming feel compared to Penfolds and Keasler as all wines were on offer for tasting. Loved them all, even my wife purchased a bottle of "Steading" which is saying something about their reds (very much a White drinker). As much as I tried (and I insisted on trying the Runrig and Descendant a few times
) I couldn't pick the difference (except price). I can't recommend visiting Torbreck enough. Very friendly and generous. I even purchased a "Wine Dogs" book (in memory of Teal who was the vineyard dog). As you can guess, I left there in a good mood. I had never met Teal... 
9.5/10
Rockford soon changed that. Rockford was one of 2 wineries I was really looking forward to visiting (Kaesler was the other). Staff were almost rude and a very limited tasting range on offer (I can accept that wine runs out). Couldn't taste Basket Press and only had Magnums on offer for purchase (which I purchased). Before I get bombarded with people defending Rockfords, can I say I was disappointed in that I know I missed out on tasting some great wine in the Basket Press and it had been known for a few weeks there was none left (the Tour Operator didn't even know they were now open on Sundays!!). The lady who was "serving" us was more interested in talking to her sister and brother-in-law. Not once did she tell us anything about the wines.. 4/10
And then there was Charles Melton.. Disappointment gone, great service and great wines. Loved the Father-in-Law, loved the Rose of Virginia and in my view the Cabernet is their best.. Met the cats (at that stage I was asking the cats when their book was coming out..). Great log fire and great conversation with the staff. I liked the fact you could also order a full glass of the wine. I did try the Cabernet a few times and was very tempted to order a full glass but the tour operator was clock watching and wanted to get us to Kies. 9/10 (more subjective than objective I'd say). Not big but good at what they do and they enjoy people coming and trying their wines.
Kies was our last stop. I'm sure they cringed when we got inside and saw my big Barossa smile that had been building all day (read dark teeth and red wine stained smile). It was 4.59pm and they let us in. Tried all of their wines and some fortifieds (the frozen fortified is a must). They then offered to ship the wines we'd collected throughout the day with the ones we purchased from them and then we had a coffee to end the day. Great senes of humour and great service. Loved the Monkey Nut Merlot and their $25 Shiraz (can't recall the name but will know when my wine arrives...). 8.5/10
Loved the Barossa and had a great time. Will be back.
