November ‘23 Barossa Trip

[ticklenow1]

Good evening fellow forumites.

This is a bit of a read, but worth it (I hope) if you are thinking of heading down to the Barossa Valley

I was in the Barossa a couple of months back for Rockford Black Magnum Golf Day. We only got to a couple of wineries back then. We didn’t get to taste the ‘20 Rockfords suite of wines as they hadn’t been released yet. We did a tasting at Artisans of Barossa which was thoroughly enjoyable, but I didn’t take notes. We also managed a tasting with Brett Grocke at Eperosa. Brett is one of the Barossa’s true nice guys and deserves all the accolades that are going his way. His ‘21 vintage wines are exceptional.

So we headed down again last week from the pleasant weather on the Gold Coast to the freakishly hot weather in the Barossa. It tipped the scales at 39 degrees on Friday. I skipped the morning walk that day! Luckily most of it was spent in air conditioning.

I will say that I didn’t take notes and am only going on memory. We don’t go crazy visiting wineries and only do 2/3 a day. We like to explore and enjoy the culinary delights of the Barossa as well.

We arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday afternoon, picked up the rental car and headed straight to the Adelaide Central Markets. They really are a culinary treat. We had a beautiful very late lunch at Lucia’s. Quite authentic Italian food. We then proceeded to buy enough cheese, small goods etc to feed a small army. I’m sitting eating some amazing pate and smoked cheese as I type this. We had coffee with some friends in Adelaide and headed out to the Valley about 6pm. We arrived, booked into our digs and decided to walk to the Tanunda Pub for a feed. Char was closed and we didn’t want to go too far. The arancini balls were first class and the steaks were OK.

On Wednesday before lunch we headed to Rockford for a tasting in the Stonewallers Room. It’s always enjoyable going here as I’ll admit, I’ve got a very soft spot for Rockford. I’ve always enjoyed the wines and knowing a lot of the staff over the years, I’m probably a bit bias in reviewing their wines.
We tasted through the whole range. Once again, as was the case last year, we thought the Rod and Spur was the pick of them. Basket Press and Rifle Range are both slightly more brooding wines this time around. Probably due to the dry vintage. The ‘18 Dry Country Grenache is a more savoury/elegant style of Barossa Grenache and for my money, a lot better than the ‘17 of the same wine. One surprise for me was how much I enjoyed the Cane Cutters Semillon. An excellent desert wine.

After Rockford, we ventured to Pindarie for a late lunch. Being a bit of a pie connoisseur, we both decided to try the Saltbush Lamb, Quince, Rosemary, Potato and Capers Pie. Well, it was a treat. Probably the most expensive pie I’ve ever eaten, but well worth the price of admission. The Shiraz sauce was an excellent accompaniment to the tender chunks of Lamb in the pie. We decided to accompany the pie with the recommended Schoff’s Hill Cabernet. It’s quite a fruit driven wine, a typical Barossa Cabernet and a perfect partner for the Lamb pie. We decided against doing a tasting as we had other plans. The view from our table was fantastic. It’s well worth a trip out to Pindarie if you haven’t done it before.

After a couple of cleansing ales with Barry from Gomersal Wines, we headed to the Main Street of Tanunda and the Brothers at War tasting room. They have done a great job with the building and it’s a fantastic place to have a tasting or just a late afternoon glass of wine. We started the tasting with Kirsten but Leigh took over and it was an exceptional way to spend a couple of hours. We had great conversations to go with the excellent wines. We tasted:
2023 Nothing in Common Eden Valley Riesling. As good an Eden Valley Riesling as I’ve had in quite a while. Personally, I prefer Clare Riesling as I sometimes find Eden Riesling to be a bit flabby. Not this wine. Absolutely delightful and my wife, who is not a Riesling drinker, insisted we buy a few of these.
2022 The Other Half Eden Valley Chardonnay. 100% new French Oak, although the oak doesn’t dominate. I’m right into Yarra Valley Chards at the moment and this was a more old style Chardonnay. Bigger, buttery, nice oak and overall a good drop. Once upon a time I would have loved this, but just not my thing at the moment.
2023 Peacekeeper Grenache. Barossa and Eden Valley fruit. I buy this wine most vintages and also bought this one. Lovely nose from the whole bunch. Stalkiness, red fruit and violets. It just smells great. Probably needs a year or two in bottle to show it’s best, but a bargain all the same. Lovely wine.
2022 Fist Fight Shiraz. Barossa fruit and once again, such a lovely nose. So fragrant and just as good on the elegant palate. Beautiful soft tannins are an highlight. All the usual Barossa qualities in an excellent Shiraz. Great value at $38
2022 Single Vineyard Eden Valley Grenache. From the famed Stonegarden Vineyard. I have had some amazing Grenache from this particular vineyard and this is another one. The wine of the tasting for me. Just another level of precision and elegance from the Peacekeeper. Stunning wine and although not cheap at $80, it’s worth every cent and a few bottles went on the order.
2021 Single Vineyard Eden Valley Shiraz. Gee this was good too. 80+ year old vines. I’m a Grenache lover so was a bit torn with this one. It was every bit as good as the Single Vineyard Grenache. On the lighter side of Barossa/Eden Shiraz and all the better for it. So elegant and well balanced. Nothing seemed out of place. The best Shiraz I had this trip. My wife disagreed….
2021 Single Vineyard Barossa Shiraz. A bit more brutish than the previous wine. Comes from the Hobbs Vineyard at Bethany. This is what you expect from a top class Barossa Shiraz. Lots of dark fruit, chewy tannins and oak not dominating the fruit. Very good and my wife’s favourite. Drinking the Eden and Barossa Single Vineyard wines was very similar to doing a tasting of the Sons of Eden Remus and Romulus. One elegant finer boned shiraz and one a bit bigger and bolder.
We had a fantastic cheese platter with the tasting. A wonderful French soft cheese and some delicious local hard cheeses. Apex Bakery bread topped it off. A great tasting and highly recommended. Thanks Leigh for taking the time and keeping the doors open well after closing time.

We headed to The Club for dinner with Barry and partook in a couple of his wines:
2003 Gomersal Shiraz. The first wine made when the winery reopened. Starting to show some age and very typical of the dry vintage. Still hanging on though.
2005 Gomersal Shiraz. One of my favourite Gomersal wines. Still powering on and a wine I have drank many times. Fruit still going strong and tannins just poking through. It’s medium to full bodied and while not a behemoth, still packs a punch. No alcohol heat whatsoever and went really well with a big slab of fillet steak.
The food at The Club is OK. About the same standard as the Tanunda Pub. My steak was decent, but the wife’s Salmon parcels were quite dry. Barry had swordfish which he said was excellent. There was a quiz night on, so a bit of fun was had.

After a lazy morning walk and breakfast, we headed to a good old friend of ours winery, Ballycroft. Joe Evans is one of the true characters of the Barossa and has worked at some of its most loved wineries before branching out on his own. Stints at Greenock Creek Wines, Rockford and Murray Street preceded his own adventure at Ballycroft. I can still remember his wife Sue’s cheese (also called Ballycroft) from the early 2000’s. Amazing stuff and sorely missed. The old cheese factory was Joe’s tasting room for many a year. Joe and Sue are almost fully self sustained with solar and a huge battery supplying all their power along with their trusty Nissan Leaf, which when plugged into their house, powers it at night. We hired an electric car this trip (only because it was the cheapest!) and we charged it at the winery. They have a couple of Tesla chargers. One other thing I admire Joe for is the fact he has never changed one bit. I’ve been lucky enough to know Joe for almost 20 years and he’s still the same passionate bloke and he makes the wines that he wants to drink. Not what some wine critic demands be made, or what the latest fad is. He makes unashamedly big wines. The fruit does the talking here. Joe get his Shiraz, Mataro and Durif off his own vineyard beside the winery and Cabernet and Monty from Langhorne Creek.
2022 Small Berry Montepulciano. Lovely BBQ wine that I reckon would be great with a short stint in the fridge. Only 13% alcohol and just such an easy drinking wine. Would be a perfect food wine as it would go with so many different types of food.
2020 Small Berry Mataro. A big full bodied wine. Honestly, too big for my palate but my wife loved it. Needs a big Thomahawk steak.
2019 Small Berry Cabernet. I really enjoyed this and the following wine. Lots of dark fruit, silken tannins and oak there, but not sticking its head out.
2020 Small Berry Cabernet. A touch fresher than the ‘19, but more fruit driven. My wife preferred this over the ‘19. A bit denser, bigger than the ‘19.
2020 Small Berry French Oak Shiraz. Joe has done really well with a troublesome vintage. Not a bad vintage, but very dry. All of Joe’s Shiraz vineyards are dry grown, so he (and all dry grown vineyards) is at the mercy of Mother Nature. The French Oak Shiraz comes from the bottom half of the Shiraz Vineyard. From memory, this was picked before the top half. Dark fruits, beautiful tannin and a lick of oak. A full bodied wine and one for lovers of that style. I pretty much always prefer this over the American Oak Shiraz that was the next wine we tasted.
2020 Small Berry American Oak Shiraz. Low yields from the dry grown vineyards and the dry vintage meant that these are in short supply. Once again, a big full bodied wine. Dark fruits, coconut and biscuit oak and those lovely Ballycroft tannins come together with great balance.
2020 Small Berry Shiraz/Durif Pressings. Gee this was impressive. Joe grabbed one from his cellar and gave it a quick decant and into our glasses (high quality Riedels inhabit Joe’s tasting room). Joe only got a very small amount of Durif off his vineyard so rather than having his usual straight Durif, all the grapes (110kg only) went into this mammoth wine. 100% new American Oak and the fruit has lapped it all up. Power, but still with finesse. Dark chocolate and darker fruit. We both loved this. The highlight of the tasting and bottles are headed our way.
After a very enjoyable tasting, we adjourned with Joe and Sue to the Greenock for a long lunch. Joe took along our two favourite wines of the tasting, the French Oak Shiraz and the Shiraz/Durif Pressings. They went so well with a massive Porterhouse Schnitzel. Many laughs were had and empty bottles created. It’s always great to catch up with the Evan’s. The Greenock (tavern) is probably one of the best pub feeds you’ll come across. It never fails us and is a must visit every year. I’m told Friday and Saturday nights the place is humming and bookings for a meal are essential.

We had booked a tasting at Kalleske and had to ring and put it back an hour. The lunch had put me in a meat coma so We only tried 3 wines at Kalleske. Cameron looked after us very well.
2022 Old Vine Grenache. Being a Grenache lover, I was looking forward to this. I wasn’t disappointed. A touch of sweetness and just a damn good Barossa Grenache. Medium bodied, fine tannin and no oak influence. The pick of the wines for us both.
2020 Eduard Shiraz. We both found this a touch disjointed. Dark fruited and medium to full bodied. Just couldn’t get my head around it.
2019 Johann Georg Shiraz. Kalleske’s flagship wine of their oldest Shiraz vineyard. Super dark colour. Meaty, plummy but still showing its undoubted quality. I wouldn’t buy it at the price, but I can see why many would.

It was getting late so we headed back to our accomodation for a freshen up before heading to Fermentasian for dinner. Pretty much everyone who heads to the Barossa would no doubt know about Fermentasian. Great food, great wine list and matching service. The Berkshire Pork Belly with ginger and orange sauce would be my death row final meal. I just love it. But all the food is excellent. We took along a 2022 Yarra Yering Light Dry Red Pinot Shiraz. I had a bottle at the Exeter Hotel (thanks Danny!) back in September and just loved it. So I tracked down few bottles down and I thought it would be a perfect accompaniment to the food. It’s delicate, has a lovely floral nose and just drinks so easily. Still packed with flavour, it has an elegance about it.

The next morning I ran into Leigh from Brothers at War and had a coffee and a chat at Darling Cafe. Friday was stinking hot and not really red wine drinking weather. We only did the one tasting at Cirillo. Marco has the oldest Grenache and Semillon vines in the world. His vineyard is immaculately cared for as well.
Marco is also another great character of the Barossa. He also happens to make great wine as well.
2019 1850’s Ancestor Vine Semillon. I don’t often say this about Semillon, but this will be hard to keep my hands off as a young wine. No doubt it will age well, but it’s just so good now. Light on its feet, light on the palate, it’s just fantastic.
2022 1850’s Ancestor Vine Rosato. Made in the European style, it’s a pale pink but a bit brighter than a French Rose. Strawberries, berries and a great summer drink.
2022 The Vincent Grenache. Made from 100+ year old vines. Marco might not like this term, but it’s a go to quaffer in our house. At $25 it’s a steal. Most wineries would sell a wine of this quality for double the price. Marco certainly knows how to make Grenache, that much is clear.
2023 The Vincent Grenache. Literally filtered only a couple of days prior so not a great time to try this tank sample. But you can see it will also be an excellent wine. To me, not quite at the 2021/22 level, which were both excellent wines, but excellent all the same. I’ll be buying…
2017 1850’s Ancestor Vine Grenache. 2017 was not a great year for Grenache in the Barossa. Only my opinion and I’m sure many will disagree. But this is sensational. Lighter than normal for this wine (I have bought and drank many vintages going back to 2004) and a little shy on the nose. But so full of fruit and only the slightest of slight hint of pepper from the wettish vintage. In my experience Barossa Grenache doesn’t do as well in the wet vintages (Marco proved me wrong later on). But this is a great wine. So elegant and it’s all about the old vine fruit. Plenty coming my way along with the Semillon.
2022 Single Vineyard Shiraz. Fruit driven Shiraz that will please Barossa Shiraz drinkers. Excellent VFM here.

It was then off to a very long lunch at Grant Dickson’s Otherness in Angaston. I have been before and wasn’t sold the first time around, but we are now! Just amazing food, fantastic service and a beautiful little setting. Grant was an amazing host explaining his wines and lots of Barossa information. We would highly recommend a visit here. We had a few wines.
2022 Otherness ‘Urth” Clare Valley Riesling. 60% fermented in tank and 40% in old oak. I enjoyed this so much, I ordered a six pack sent home. So crisp and fresh. I prefer aged Riesling, but like the above Semillon, I don’t think the six pack will last through next summer.
2022 Otherness “Detroit” Shiraz Cabernet. Made by Marco Cirillo. Beautiful fruit driven wine. Easy to drink. Medium bodied and everything you’d expect from the classic Barossa blend.
2019 Cirillo 1850’s Ancestor Semillon: as above
2011 Cirillo 1850’s Ancestor Vine Grenache. Marco took it as a bit of a challenge when I said I didn’t like any Grenache (SA) from the 2011 vintage. Extremely wet year, yet somehow Marco has made a gem. Pretty much every ‘11 vintage Grenache I have tried from the Barossa or McLaren Vale has been a pepper bomb. I remember at one certain winery I tried their ‘11 GSM and thought it faulty. I asked for another bottle to be opened and found it worse! This is a triumph. I would more than happily drink and buy this any day. It has aged so gracefully. Only light to medium bodied, it’s full of grace and charm. Fruit is starting to fade and some aged notes are there, but the bottle disappeared in no time. Just amazing.

Our last night in the Barossa was spent at Vintners with some wonderful friends. Once again, what an incredible meal. The steak was cooked perfectly and the accompanying sauce was so well matched to the meat. The pork dumplings to start were so moreish. If dining there give the Blue Swimmer Crab Pasta a go, it’s out of this world good! A couple of wines to finish our trip with.
2012 David Franz “Georgie’s Walk” Cabernet. Named after David’s daughter. I bought a 6 pack on release and this was the next to last bottle. Quite closed on opening, but once it opened up in the glass it showed quite well. Medium bodied only, fruit still just hanging on. Should develop a bit further. Very enjoyable and the last glass was easily the best.
2016 Yangarra Ovetelli Grenache. Sees no oak, only ceramic amphora. Wonderful wine. Light side of medium bodied. Colour has developed slightly. It’s in a fabulous spot now. Perfect balance and a treat to drink.

Sadly that was the end of our trip. I seem to enjoy the Barossa more and more every time I venture down there. Apologies for the long winded jibber jabber….

Cheers
Ian

[phillisc]

Thanks Ian, lovely read
Won't be buying much from Rockford this year, but will pick up a few of the 2018 Dry country.
Have got some of Eperosa 2021 releases.

Cheers Craig

[mjs]

Ian,

Must have just missed you at Otherness. We were there later on Friday afternoon. Had a great tasting as well, will report in my other B21/AH6 trip thread

Cheers, Malcolm

[WineRick]

Great read.

[JamieAdelaide]

Sounds like fun.

[Michael McNally]

Great read thanks Ian!

Cheers

Michael