Hacker wrote:Mrs Hacker and I are currently staying at Lost Farm, and have played both courses. Difficult to say which is ‘better’ as each have their own style. Lost Farm is generally an easier walk, both have generous wide fairways and LF has less undulating greens. Barnbougle greens have many ridiculous swales, but on the plus side they are fun to putt on. Lived up to my nickname today and was soundly beaten by Linsey-Anne.
As a golfing experience on a world scale it is hard to beat Barnbougle, way underpriced compared to say Pebble Beach/Spyglass.
Will visit Delamere tomorrow.
We must have just missed you. We played Tuesday/Wednesday. We also stayed at Lost Farm. The restaurant was exceptional and the wine list was decent too. We paid $152 for a 2013 Moss Wood Cabernet and $147 for a 2010 Katnook Prodigy. Both exceptional wines. Both wines were put into decanters and left to air. Those prices are more than reasonable as both those wines RRP is over $100. Food was really good and fairly priced as well. The Cape Grim beef is actually farmed next door to the Golf Courses. Pretty much all of the food is locally sourced.
I enjoyed The Dunes more than Lost Farm. Both are amazing courses but The Dunes had much nicer scenery and felt a bit more special if that makes sense. Both courses have generous fairways and while there are some long par 4's, there are plenty of opportunities on the short holes for birdies. I agree with Dave about the greens though, way too many elephants buried in them for my liking and it took some of the enjoyment away. It was like being at a Putt Putt course on some of them. Having said that, I had no 3 putts at the Dunes at all and only a couple at Lost Farm. Being only $116 to play courses of that standard is pretty damn good. The staff are super friendly and nothing is a problem.
I would recommend if anyone is going down there to go during the week. It's much quieter and you can play at a leisurely pace and relax. Barnbougle is an exceptional golfing complex. Well worth the trip for keen golfers.
We visited only two wineries. First up was SInapius. Vaughn kindly opened up for us on a day when they were closed. Having the owner/winemaker going through the wines is always a bonus as much more info can be obtained. Wines were not cheap, but were all of a good standard.
2006 Extra Brut - Not as creamy as I'd like but still a very decent wine. 3/5
2016 Clem Blanc - A blend of Riesling, Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Gerwitz. I quite liked this. Easy to drink and a nice complexity. 3.5/5
2016 Home Vineyard Chardonnay - Excellent wine and very easy to see why JH rated it so highly. Very clean and linear but also just the right amount of oak. The first bottle we tried had been open 4 days and was still very good. A second fresh bottle really showed the crisp nature of the wine. I bought a 6 pack as I thought it was an exceptional Chardy and the pick of the wines by a mile. 4.5/5
2016 Esme Rouge - 100% Gamay. Wonderful nose but I think it suffered from only being bottled the week before. Very closed and I'd like another look in a few months time. 3/5
2016 Home Vineyard Pinot - Extremely light colour, even for a Pinot. Not a lot of complexity and a bit light on for my tastes. 2.5/5
2015 Enclave Pinot - Darker than the Home Vineyard, but still light colour. Much better wine too. More complexity and plenty going on. More fruit and a lovely nose. Red fruits, cherries and quite big tannins for a Pinot. Made to age. Not sure it's worth the $80 asking price, but very good. 3.5/5
Our second winery was Delamere. We didn't try all the wines, only the ones that interested us. Neither of us are really bubbly drinkers, so we didn't bother tasting them. The cellar door hand did say that the sparklers are Delemere's specialty.
2014 Naissante Riesling - Actually was quite good. Plenty of fruit but quite a long finish. 3.5/5
2016 Chardonnay - Once again (like Sinapius), the pick of the wines. Nice restrained use of oak. Stone fruit predominant on the nose and palate, but the oak really evened the wine out. Very good. 4/5
2016 Naissante Pinot - Light colour and not much going on. Cheapish Pinot and it showed. 2.5/5
2016 Pinot - A big step up from the Naissante. Darker, brighter colour. Wonderful nose and enough going on to be interesting. Probably not as good as the SInapius Enclave, but it's $30 cheaper too. Red fruits dominate and the tannins are quite supple. 3/5
At the restaurant we had
2013 Moss Wood Cabernet - Yes it's infanticide, but we were both curious. It was actually very drinkable. Decanted for a couple of hours. Tannins were big, but well handled. Each glass got better and better. This will be a wine that will age gracefully, but drink better than young Moss Wood's I've had in the past. 4/5
2010 Katnook Prodigy Shiraz - I honestly thought this was Cabernet at first. Didn't really have the Coonawarra nose until it had been open for a couple of hours. Supple tannins and plenty of fruit and oak. Not disjointed at all and the balance was good. Will only improve into the future. 4/5
In our room we had
2005 Domaine A Cabernet - Wonderful wine and the pick of the 4 wines we drank. Opened up very pongy and I thought it was tainted in some way but after an hour or so it really started to sing. By the end I was trying to get every last drop out of the bottle. The nose opened up beautifully. The palate was showing some aged characteristics but with enough fruit to make it perfect. 4.5/5
2013 Yalumba Cigar Cabernet - Bought at a local bottle shop so we could kick back and relax in our room. Nothing special, though it did improve with air. Once again, I didn't find it very regional at all. 3/5
A great 3 days were had and we were extremely lucky with the weather. Beautiful sunny days and the wind didn't really pick up until the back nine on both golf days. A very highly recommended golf/wine trip. Next golf/wine trip will be to Queenstown to tackle Jack's Point.
Cheers
Ian
