The Great Whites of Adelaide Hills

 

The climate is cooler in Adelaide Hills as we rolled into Hanhdorf, a quaint tourist hot spot.  Beautiful rolling green hills in early November and little lakes dotted the landscape on our drive up to the first stop, Nepenthe.  Nepenthe, a 100k case producer, had affordable sparkling chardonnay that proved to be a crowd pleaser with our friends in Sydney.  Nepenthe introduced us to the potential of the whites in Adelaide Hills.  Our next stop was a relatively new winery: The Lane.  The Lane was created in 2004 from a family winery that sold their first wine making holdings to Hardy's (Australia's dominating wine and spirits co.).  Instead of going into retirement, the family reinvested into the winery creating a state-of-the-art facility and restaurant on premises. The white label wines were fun and fruity with an elegant mineral/acid finish.  Most notable in that range was the Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio/Semillion called Finn on the Off The Leash label.  Finn has a floral/fruity aroma similiar to a young viognier with a taste of passionfruit & tingling acidity that persisted on the finish.  Our cellar door server, Allister, gained enthusiasm as he watched our faces light up in delight when tasting Finn.  He brought over rainwater and prepped our next taste series: The Black Label.  

Bearing the namesake of the winery, the black label wines have a serious backbone brought about with the use of neutral oak and characteristic long tingling acidity.  The Lane's 2009 pinot grigio has a disarming aroma of raspberry cream & lemon/lime with loads of fresh tingling fruit on the back end. wow!  With cellar door prices ranging from $20(AUD for Finn), $39 (AUD black label chardonnay) to $65 (AUD black label "reunion" shiraz), The Lane has competitive pricing for high-end wines.  My palate exploded with joy on trying their 2008 "Gathering" Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion.  This wine is proof of the 10+ year aging potential of Sauvignon Blanc.  The style is a must try for anyone interested in the future of alter-chardonnay fine white wine. Of course, I'm not the only person who thought highly of "Gathering," Wine Business Magazine gave it a glowing 96 points.

Shiraz from Adelaide Hills does not have the characteristic thickness/raisiny style of the Barossa. As for the Shiraz from The Lane, this persisting minerality and acidity turned out to be a good thing.  The 2007 "Reunion" black label shiraz had the longest elegant finish of all the shiraz I tried this year in South Australia.  Of course, it's not all about finish: complex and tight berry flavors on the front palate gave a hint at the 15+ year aging potential of a wine under stelvin cap. 

If you are excited about these wines, make note: the 2008-2009 vintages for white wines were phenomenal and the 2007 red varietals showed excellent aging potential. On the "Black Label" the longitude and latitude points are printed on the back.  Here are the positions of my top two:

2008 Gathering Sauvignon Blanc Semillon ($35 AUD)
35 0'40.44"S | 38 50'9.38"E

2007 Reunion Shiraz ($65 AUD)
35 0'36.25"S | 38 56"E

Delicate Wines by Rugged Aussies!

Dan Standish is a winemaker superstar in The Barossa, I called him on the pay phone and he quickly set up an appointment with his partner, Fraser McKinley at the winery that produces Massena and Standish Wine Co. wines.

Fraser, a burly Aussie in a red tank top, greeted us with a friendly smile and a line of fine wines inside their stone house winery.  Standish makes a wine called "The Relic," and we tried the 2007, it had that classic Barossa syrah feel but with a more delicate nature.  I felt like this was a wine that will show perfectly in the 2011 season as it hadn't quite developed fully.

Armed with a paint-bucket spitoon, Fraser enlightened us about the region, making recommendations about where we should go next: Rockford(purchased their 20 yr tawny!), Torbreck & Henske (in Eden Valley, just to the East).  We finished early so Fraser could head off and not miss the Melbourne Cup!

The Holy Trinity: Pesto, Risotto Cakes & Dukkah

Lucky for us, it was Monday and The Vintner's Restaurant had a light crowd and seated us at 7:30pm.  With a wall of the best local wines and a simple menu, we requested a vegetarian entree par the chef's descretion.  Out came a plate of bread, local olive oil and a popular addition called Dukkah which is a crushed blend of fennel, coriander seeds and sesame seeds.  Holy shit! Delicious!  Next, the pumpkin risottos balls and our recommended wine in a decanter: Laughing Jack 2005 Shiraz.

I'm happy I remembered to photo this dinner, it was one of the most memorable dinners ever.  Shawn Kalleske makes Laughing Jack and you can literally call him and go to his house to try his wine. The very next day, I called... and called, and then it occurred to me that Tuesday Nov. 3rd is the Melbourne Cup, Australia's official excuse to take the day off! Poop.  No more Laughing Jack for Madeline.