Barossa and Clare Valley trip

[Croquet King]

Hi All,

I haven't been around much this year due to work commitments but just finished and am having some time off.
I'm heading down to the Barossa and the Clare Valley over the New Year.

I've read the past threads on trips but was wondering if anyone has any recent tips.
The only wineries I'm locked into are Rockford and Riesling Freak. Apart from that wouldn't mind finding a few different wineries away from the majors.

Cheers

[ticklenow1]

Get in contact with Brett Grocke from Eperosa. He does tastings at his new winery by Appointment. Great bloke and nice wines too.

Standish is a must do. Dan's 2016 wines are incredible. I think he is Appointment as well.

Tomfoolery has a new cellar door. Chippy's wine are very good and his Cab Franc is worth the drive alone.

Sami Odi. Fraser is making some excellent wines but tastings are harder to come by. If you can catch up with him, do so.

If you like the bigger style wines, Ballycroft and Gomersal are worth tracking down.

Artisons of Barossa is a great set up. Some really nice wines from 8 or 9 producers and quite often on weekends, a winemaker is serving the wines.

Some others that we have been to recently that are also worth a visit are Charles Melton, Torbreck, Turkey Flat, David Franz and Burge Family Winemakers.

There are just so many in the Barossa and it's hard to get the mix right sometimes. I personally tend to stay away from the bigger producers and stick to the smaller ones. I am starting to really like the Eden Valley reds and my next visit will explore that further.

Cheers
Ian

[dave vino]

This..

Artisons of Barossa is a great set up. Some really nice wines from 8 or 9 producers and quite often on weekends, a winemaker is serving the wines.

Probably one of the best bang for buck stops in the Barossa at the moment. Genuinely good producers all together under the one roof.

[Rossco]

For Clare have a look for:
Wines by KT
Clos Clare (younger Barry boys)
Mount Horrocks
Vickery (have they got a cellar door open yet?)
Koerner
Skillogalee
jaeschke's hill river estate
Tonic wines


for Barossa:
100% on David Franz, its a must.
Artisans are good as there are a number of winemakers in one spot.
Don't forget Dutschke as well as Kalleske.
Marco Cirillo from Cirillo Estate makes some great wines with REALLY old vines.
But one guy I really want to have a chat with is Alex Head from Head Wines. Cracking grenache
Gibson is always good as well.

[Scotty vino]

Visited Barossa in july and CV last month

Barossa;
tscharkes. do yourself a favour. great stuff and insane VFM.
Izway. Small producer taste with the maker. etc great stuff.
Artisans no brainer.
Riesling freak no brainer.
Rockfords (get in on the stone wall tasting if u can the museum cellar is eye watering).
Elderton. new cellar door is excellent. epic see thru glass cellar will make you very envious.
Hewitson. Another really smart cellar door. great open deck off to the side you wont wanna move with the view of the vineyard.

CV;
Head into Tim McNeil. He's making some fantastic rizzas. VFM central.
+1 on KT and MT horrocks. Also Pauletts, wilsons, Adelina.
Also Mitchells is a winner.

[Hunter]

Tom foolery forsure. And buy some monkey buisness!

[Mark Carrington]

Another vote for Dutschke (drank St Jakobi ‘02 last night-an excellent bottle) & Skillogalee -lovely location for lunch.

[Matt@5453]

This..

Artisons of Barossa is a great set up. Some really nice wines from 8 or 9 producers and quite often on weekends, a winemaker is serving the wines.

Probably one of the best bang for buck stops in the Barossa at the moment. Genuinely good producers all together under the one roof.

I've heard its changed hands, going full restuarant soon and the end of the artisans cellar door concept.

[Croquet King]

Day 1 report - we just arrived and went to look around. By chance went to see if anyone was at Rieslingfreak and ended up having a tasting at Michael Hall. Bloody brilliantly. The winemaker Micheal Hall was there and spent an hour with us running through his wines. They share a cellar door with Rieslingfreak. Similar philosophy.

Wines either at about $30 or $50.

Favourites were an Eden and an Adelaide Shiraz. Both modern and feminine styles. They had a stonewell Shiraz but that was big and heavy, still nice but not the style I like.

Then we checked in to our accommodation at the Angaston Masonic Hall and headed off to Eperosa.

This has to be the find of the trip. Brilliant. This was recommended to me by Frasier McKinley from Sami Odi and also Michael Hall.

Brett Gronke is the owner and winemaker. Cellar door is the working winemaking facility. Purpose built. Hard to find but do yourself a favour and get a mixed 6 pack.
Again very modern style of Shiraz. Had a nice GSM and a GM.
Spent about an hour and a bit a bit going through his wines. Seriously good stuff.

Heading out for the day - day 2 update later.

Apologies about the writing as I’m doing this on my phone.
Got 3 of each to try at home.

[Croquet King]

Day 2 report

We had a car and driver today so went to
Thorn-Clarke
Artisans of Barossa
David Franz
Tsarchke
Atze’s Corner

Thorn Clarke - ok nothing stood out. Cellar door was nice.

Had lunch at Artisans. Wow. Excellent venue and menu. The place was packed. All dishes we had hit the spot and was pretty good value.
Then did the tasting and preferred the Sons of Eden Romulas and Remus as well as the Pumpa.

David Franz was a bit of a let down. Tasting was nice but I didn’t enjoy any of the wines. Seemed over extracted, porty and overly funky. Charged $20 for the tasting and didn’t buy anything.

Tsarchke - had a tasting with the wine maker Damien. Really interesting chat about sustainability, how he’s built his cellar and why his wines are so cheap.
Almost the best value wine I’ve tasted. Got 4 of 3 wines to try at home. Wines were literally flying out the door. Every person who can in left with at least a dozen.

Final stop was at Atze’s Corner and the winery of the day. Nice new cellar door and had a tasting with the owner and viticulturist who had just employed a perm winemaker. He had others make it for him previously.
Wines are at $25 and $35 then his icon series of 3 Shiraz at $60, $100 and $150.
A few different grape varieties but again more modern style of Shiraz.
Talking with someone involved in the winemaking process just makes the tasting so much more interesting.

Dinner at Roaring 40’s pizza and then home to fall asleep. A big day.

Day 3 plan is Rockford, Rolf Binder and Charles Melton.

[Mark Carrington]

Looking forward to next report.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Me too! Especially since I've been to all three - though it was a long time ago.

[Croquet King]

Day 3 report

Slight change of plan with a call to John from Rieslingfreak and a tasting at 11:30.

Not really sure how to describe it but absolutely brilliant. Mark ran us through the tasting and we had all the current vintage wines.
It was just us at the cellar door and we stayed for about a hour and 15.
The 2013 aged release (number 6) was a standout amongst very good wines. The German inspired number 8 was dry on the palate and a relatively sweet palate.
I was so so on this but was wondering how it would age and then he opened a bottle that was almost exactly like number 6 on the nose but finished like the 8.
It’s was the 2013 number 8 German style. We’ll blow me down I loved it.
He’s put 6 aside for me until I try others in the Clare over the next few days.

Next stop Rockford. It pains me to say this but I was disappointed. Busy cellar door and rushed through the tastings. They seemed to have become a victim of there own success. Standouts were the black Shiraz which is a favourite of mine and the rifle range and rod n spur.
Left feeling flat.

Next stop Charles Melton. Looking for something to eat but they don’t serve anything at all. I’d knew they didn’t do a full meal but thought they still did something light.
All the wines seemed old barossa style. Hot jammy and over extracted black fruit. The Nine Popes was a clear standout though.

Didn’t make it to Rolf Binder but might be back in a few days to see Frasier from Sami Odi as he’s back from holidays.

Leaving tomorrow and heading to Clare. There are 12 wineries open on New Year’s Day, not sure which ones yet.

Standouts from Barossa in order
Eperosa
Rieslingfreak
Michael Hall
Atze’s Corner

[pc79]

This: typical Rockford experience, sadly. The same deflated feeling I've had after visiting the past 4 times.

Next stop Rockford. It pains me to say this but I was disappointed. Busy cellar door and rushed through the tastings. They seemed to have become a victim of there own success. Standouts were the black Shiraz which is a favourite of mine and the rifle range and rod n spur.
Left feeling flat.

My experience a little while back:
Next up was another disappointing experience with Rockford. Whilst the cellar door staff were great, accommodation and knowledgable. Throngs of tourists, and a rush through the 'on tasting' range which excluded the wines I have in my cellar and therefore most interested in tasting and purchasing (the Rifle Range Cabernet, Basket Press Shiraz and sparkling Black Shiraz) meant that I was left quite underwhelmed by the experience.

[George Krashos]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

[Hacker]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

George I think the Rockford Cellar Door is very small and can't cope with the adoring fans. It needs to be double or triple the size. Luckily the Stonewallers cellar door is just right.

[Croquet King]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

Artisans of Barossa was just as busy but they managed the tastings much better.

Rockford just seemed very commercial.
Cellar door staff were good and did the best they could.

I was talking to some of the smaller wineries I visited and the feeling was that due to the success Rockford has had they are in a no mans land. (Not small and not big)
Maybe they were jealous, who knows.

I only started buying Rockford about 5 years ago when I returned back to Aus.
I have a lot of it at home and have access to a dozen basket press and a dozen black Shiraz each year through friends who are old stonewallers.
I’m not one yet and given that no one ever loses their stonewallers, who knows if I’ll ever make it.

[Croquet King]

Day 4 report - travelling from Barossa to Clare

We managed 2 wineries today
Shut the Gate
Skillagalee

Both were ok. Pleasant cellar door experiences but wine not to my liking.

In the afternoon we went for a drive to Burra to see an ex colleague of mine. Great little town with a heap of history.
Went to the local and had a steak schnitzel for dinner.

[Croquet King]

Day 5 report - A big day

My wife drove today so I was on tasting duties all day.

7 wineries plus lunch. Tastings kept very tight.

Jaeschke’s Hill River Clare Estate - Riesling’s from the last 4 vintages. Very light, not much acid. Drink now style.

Pikes - nice new cellar door. Traditionale Riesling well made great acid, in balance and will cellar. The Merle is there premium Riesling was lighter on the palate but a long and rounded finish. Will get some Traditionale to cellar.

Reilly’s - nice quaint cellar door. Wines ok.

Paulettes - nice new cellar door with a great view. Standout Riesling of the day. The 2017 Polish Hill River was beautiful. Great structure, acid and a nice long finish. Will age. They had the 2011 of the same wine for tasting and backed up what I thought. Buy the current release and put it away. Luckily I have a 6 pack of the 2008 at home.

Went to lunch at Skillagalee. Fantastic meal. If you are here then make sure you book.

Eldredge- Spring Gully Riesling light floral and drink now. Blue Chip Riesling was more sherbet and cities but not a lot of acid.

Sussex Squire - didn’t like the name but went anyway. Had a nice little tasting with the winemaker. His passion is shiraz. He buy’s fruit from polish Hill River for his Riesling but he focuses on red wines.
Really liked his Riesling and made to age.
His Shiraz was also a hit. Quite a lot of blue fruit with good tannins.
Got 3 of each sent home to try.

SevenHill - last winery and got there at about 4:45 just before they closed. Tried the premium wines - they had a 2018 and a 2011 on tasting of the Riesling. Very good wines. Well made and drinking well. Also tried the 2014 St Ignatuis Cabernet blend and the 2014 Brother John May Shiraz. The Shiraz was beautiful, great fruit structure, long and soft tannins. $110 a bottle.


Overall summary of Clare

I sort of knew it but now it’s confirmed that I really like the Polish Hill River sub region.

In order my preference is
Rieslingfreak No 6 (aged) and No 2
Paulette Polish Hill River

These were well in front of any others.

Then Pikes Traditionale and Sussex Squire Polish Hill River.

Unfortunately Wines by KT and Time McNeil were both away so I couldn’t taste them.

Hope this is ok as it’s been typed on my phone after a long day.

[Mahmoud Ali]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

I was wondering about that myself. It also occurs to me that it is the popular cellar doors with traffic that tend to have restaurants.

I visited a long time ago, in 1995 and 2001, and both times Rockford and Melton were rewarding. Rockford was already quite busy with people clamouring for the '98 Basket press, including foreign cellar hands from other wineries who were begging for a bottle. At this point, while tasting the whites I said to the person serving me "I guess since you're sold out there won't be any Basket Press to try?" She replied "Don't worry, there is an open bottle here under the counter, I'll pour you some when you're ready."

Mahmoud.

[JamieBahrain]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

I draw a Barossa mud-map for mainland Chinese friends and I recommend a visit to Rockfords for an instagram/ wechat moments snap before quickly moving on to destinations where the ambience offers a relaxed experience.

Stonewallers is great but the basic cellar door reminds me of Sovreign Hill.

[Diddy]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

I think the criticism was leveled at the 'experience' and not the winery.

I'm inclined to agree that it's not the greatest experience if you're shoulder to shoulder with bus loads of punters.

[phillisc]

I'm curious as to how you can criticise a winery for having a busy, popular cellar door ...?

I think the criticism was leveled at the 'experience' and not the winery.

I'm inclined to agree that it's not the greatest experience if you're shoulder to shoulder with bus loads of punters.

Over the journey in my experiences Rockford has got busier, and busier and busier
The CD in the 80s whenever I dropped in, at any time of year you could let a gun off...often just myself and maybe 1-2 others, with Robert always in attendance.
In the early 90s still quiet during the week, but a few more on weekends, even when the Stonewallers started it was still quiet.
I have found particularly over the last 15 years its getting more chaotic and in my last visits (post 2015) I have been sitting in the Stonewallers garden up to 30 minutes after my scheduled time (first world problem )
I think the issue is that Stonewallers who may just visit once a year want to spend time tasting, and often an hour or more, and why wouldn't you in such nice surroundings, and that they often bring friends to say look at the experience that is offered and naturally things back up and there are only so many hours in the day and only so many staff on hand...I'm sure if their trading hours were extended these would be filled up.

I agree the 'public' CD is bonkers, although handy for casual purchases if in the Barossa and haven't made an appointment. Guess they could set up a couple of trestle tables and market umbrellas in the courtyard.

BTW finally going up next week...hopefully it won't be 40+ as has been the case in the last few days in Adelaide.
Cheers
Craig

[Scotty vino]

I went to Rockford CD 4 times last year amongst others.

First time it was busy so they asked me and my mate into the overflow CD next door.
It was just the 2 of us and the attendant. No pressure methodical tasting.
Second visit was a bit of a fly by with my son in tow. It was busy in the standard cellar door.
To their credit the staff spotted me lurking in the back and made some space for me pretty swiftly at the tasting bench.
I didn't feel rushed and honestly could've stood in the corner all day although my son was having none of it.
Third visit a buddy and I rolled in on a friday around midday and the place was dead empty. A few people rolled in during the tasting but it was slow and easy going. Had a long discussion about the chance discovery of some 'lost' 98 BP which became the wine makers stock release.
Fourth visit was my first Stone Wall experience which was quite relaxed with no pressure.
A lot less people with time to swan around the place and take it all in.

End of the day I don't really give two hoots how busy a Cellar door is.
Sometimes it actually adds to the atmosphere and ambience.
For me it's about the wine and the good attitude of the staff. And that's 2 things Rockford have in spades.
I've tasted at many other cellar doors, being the only group and in attendance, and had some pretty shabby experiences.
Bad attitude, no knowledge of the product, disgruntled attendant, 'Why the f#%K are u here '? etc etc.
One, which will remain nameless, still remains on my black list.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Well said Scotty.

[JamieBahrain]

A few people rolled in during the tasting but it was slow and easy going. Had a long discussion about the chance discovery of some 'lost' 98 BP which became the wine makers stock release.

Drinking amongst a football like crowd aside, the old chestnut, 98 BP wienmaker's reserve- lost barrel or lost bottles? Always seemed a lost barrel to me side by side despite Robert's assurances they were identical!

[Scotty vino]

A few people rolled in during the tasting but it was slow and easy going. Had a long discussion about the chance discovery of some 'lost' 98 BP which became the wine makers stock release.

Drinking amongst a football like crowd aside, the old chestnut, 98 BP wienmaker's reserve- lost barrel or lost bottles? Always seemed a lost barrel to me side by side despite Robert's assurances they were identical!

correct weight at randwick.