A few of my own Barossa Secrets.

I seem to have written a lot of blog entries recently on the McLaren Vale region, which I obviously love, so thought it was time to give my own region a bit of coverage. The Barossa is home to an astounding amount of wineries - some long established, others much newer. There are so many to choose from but of course, I do have my favourites; favourites to take my visitors to, for not only wine, but perhaps for the gardens or historical buildings (Rockford, Yalumba, Henschke), and my own favourite wines (Soul Growers, McLean's Farm, Loan, Hart of the Barossa, Kurtz, Michael Hall, Tim Smith, Gumpara, Wroxton). I often struggle to decide which bottle to open at night, when I am home and it's no wonder why. There is so much to love about the Barossa, wine-wise, but we also have an amazing array of gourmet goodies, and some much lesser known than the Maggie Beer range, or the meats from Schulz Butchers in Angaston, so I would like to share some of my favourite food places with you in this post.

Firstly, whilst many visitors to our area know of the Angas Park range of dried fruits, not many have discovered my ultimate favourite place to get special fruit goodies. A few kilometres out of Angaston on the northern side (the road to Moculta) there is a turn off onto a quaint country road called Gawler Park Road. Almost two kilometres along this road, on the left hand side, is a divine family business called Gully Gardens. The orchard has been tended for many, many years by the Steicke family (whom our family have known for a very long time) and they now have a gorgeous little shop (next to the same shed that I have sat in and cut freshly picked apricots for them) where you can buy their beautiful tasty produce, either dried or fresh.

Gully Gardens is owned and operated by Rick and Rosemarie Steicke with the help of their family. Some of their dried fruit specialties are apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears, prunes, minced products, confectionery, chocolate dipped fruit, goodie baskets and gift lines. Their fresh fruit in season includes apples, apricots, nectarines, peaches, pears and plums. They are open on Thursdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 3.00pm, Saturdays 9.00am to 12.00pm or by appointment. I highly recommend a visit there and as you will see from the photos with this blog entry, it is more than worth it.

Next on the list is Victoria and Frances McClurg's sensational Barossa Valley Cheese Company. Every time that I walk into this shop, it is a feast for the senses. Victoria, Frances and their small band of helpers make the cheese on-site and it really is an asset to the region, with the cheeses winning many awards already. The inspiration for this business was Victoria's travels through France, and she also did three vintages over there. She was incredibly impressed with France's love of cheeses so on her return to Australia she set about starting up her own gourmet cheese business, and this is the result of that, and her business partner and Mother, Frances, passion and hard work.

Their range of hand-made artisan cheeses include Vache Curd, Peri Feta, Babybert, Barossa Camembert, Barossa Brie, St. Kitts, Washington Washrind, Wanera, Petit Prince, and Petite Princess. The Barossa Valley Cheese Company is open Monday to Friday 10.00am to 5.00pm, Saturday 10.00am to 4.00pm, Sunday 11.00am to 3.00pm. You can visit their website here: www.barossacheese.com.au They are located at 67b Murray Street, Angaston.

Finally, my favourite place in Tanunda for a light lunch or coffee: Keil's Coffee & Fine Foods is a little cafe' at 63 Murray Street, Tanunda, and a visit to them is one of my daily habits (their fabulous coffee often helps me get through the day after only five or six hours sleep, when I am working at the Collective Barossa shop:)

They have the most divine range of home-made cookies, slices, cakes, wraps, quiches and other light and lovely lunches. Shortly, they will be also offering freshly made fruit and vegetable juices. Their coffee is sensational and they also sell bulk packets of it, and a small range of other goodies, such as olive oil and olives. I send a lot of my Collective Barossa customers there as it is only a few minutes walk, and some of them have even popped back into the shop to say thanks for the recommendation (a sure sign that I am on the right track when I say that Keil's is a great place for a cuppa and a bite to eat:). The staff are always friendly and though it's small, it's comfortable and cosy. Keil's Coffee and Fine Foods is open Monday to Friday 7.30am to 5.00pm, Saturday 8.30am to 5.00pm, Sunday 9.00am to 4.00pm. Closed on Christmas Day.

So there you have it, three of my favourite non-wine Barossa Secrets. Make sure you put them on your list when next visiting the region. You will love them all!

Recent Ratings and Awards - July/August 2010

The end of July always signifies the release of the James Halliday Wine Companion. We submitted four wines for the 2011 edition and again, received some very encouraging and rewarding scores, which I will place at the end of this blog entry.

We also quietly released our Karra Yerta 2007 Shiraz Cabernet, which was featured in The Big Red Wine Book recenty. This particular wine was also reviewed by Philip White in "The Independent Weekly" 22nd July, 2010, the review of which is published below.

2007 Karra Yerta Wines Shiraz Cabernet

$25; 14.5% alcohol; screw cap; 93++ points

Made by hand by James Linke, with fruit from the Barossa floor and the Karra Yerta Vineyard on the wind-whipped Flaxman’s Ridge, this lissom red comes from a different era.

It is nothing like the industrial mono muck that the modern industry churns out.

It has intensity but modesty, extreme confidence, but elegance. It has no jammy, gluggy aspects, but rather a slender, refined, supple form, with a bouquet that simply oozes good health and living berries.

Amongst all that fresh ripe fig and prune, mulberry and blueberry, there’s a tantalising hint of Brazil nut. It’s like fruit cake mix before it hits the oven.

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2011 Wine Companion results

Karra Yerta Wines was rated a four star winery which is a terrific rating for someone as small as us, with not a great deal of history and a very small range. Our wines submitted for this edition were scored as below:

Karra Yerta Wines 2007 Shiraz Cabernet
Rating 92 Drink 2017 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Shiraz Cabernet 2006

Rating 91 Drink 2016 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Eden Valley Riesling 2009

Rating 91 Drink 2017 $25 Date Tasted Feb 10

Karra Yerta Sparkling Shiraz NV
Rating 89 Drink 2015 $35 Date Tasted Feb 10

Heading south to Cadenzia Country.

"Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favourite things...", so sang the Lennon Sisters.

In desperate need of a short break (also known as 'market research') and a breath of fresh sea air, I took it upon myself to indulge in a few of my own favourite things last weekend. I took a road-trip to see my Southerner friends on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Despite having some of the world's best wines at my fingertips here in the Barossa and Eden Valleys, every now and then I get an urge for something a little different. In winter I crave the divine red wines from the McLaren Vale region, and in summer, some of the equally extraordinary rieslings from the Clare Valley. I see no reason why I must have one favourite of anything when there are so many delicious wines available to me, most within a few hours drive. And so, off to the Vale I went.

Getting away early was impossible, as I was late to leave the shop due to tying up loose ends, and it was quite a treacherous drive from Tanunda to Clayton Bay on the winding, branch-scattered roads in the pitch black night. But I arrived safely, armed with some of my own regions finest wines - a Kurtz Family Vineyard GSM and a Tim Smith Shiraz, plus one of Karra Yerta's own museum stock 2005 Eden Valley Rieslings. My lovely hostess for the night, Annabelle, had waited patiently for my arrival, and had the glasses ready. The storms hit sometime around 4am but by then we were sleeping peacefully, ready to hit the road to McLaren Vale early the next day.

The early start failed dismally, so knowing that we had already missed the wonderful Willunga Market, we took a scenic route through the winding hills past the quaint tiny villages of Finnis and Ashbourne, before detouring through a special little area called Kuitpo Colony. What an amazing and beautiful part of the world! You can read more about Kuitpo Colony here: http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080571b.htm

A quick drive past the Lazy Ballerina cellar door, one of my favourites in the region, to McLaren Vale saw us land at the lovely pair of stores, Fall from Grace, and Blessed Cheese. Gill Gordon-Smith is the owner of Fall from Grace and stocks an incredible array of international wines. I left with a most interesting bottle of French Shiraz. The photo here is of Blessed Cheese, a delightful licensed cafe which has the most amazing array of goodies, as you can see.

After that, we headed further north to find another friend who was to accompany us to a lovely lady's thirtieth birthday at Port Noarlunga. A fine night of fun and music was had by all. I must say that the Southerners really do turn on the hospitality and despite the chilly night, it was perhaps the most enjoyable, and warmest, in every way, party that I have ever attended. Thank you, Laura, and to Robyn and Mick also:)

The next morning after the mandatory recovery breakfast of cheese rolls with ham, tomato, lots of cracked pepper and a wee glass of pear cider (to cleanse the soul), we headed to Yangarra Estate Vineyard where we were given a tour of the recently opened cellar door ,and a tasting of the delectable Yangarra wines by the very charming Manager and Winemaker, Peter Fraser. All of the Yangarra wines are delicious but my personal favourite was the 2008 Cadenzia, which I haven't stopped raving about since my return. For more information on the McLaren Vale Cadenzias please go here: http://www.mclarenvale.info/go/special-features/varietal/cadenzia/cadenzia

Dragging ourselves away from the cosy Yangarra Cellar Door, with its luscious leather seats and wood fire, was extremely difficult, but one has to do what one has to do. So to the chorus of clinking bottles, Annabelle and I headed back to the Bay via the Meadows market, another little country town event where you can buy all sorts of plants, jewellery, fruit, vegetables and many other goodies. The sun was shining, taking just enough chill off the air so that it wasn't unbearably cold, and it was a magnificent afternoon for a drive, back to the Barossa via the Bay.

I arrived home just after dark, with some fine McLaren Vale wines in my back seat, a warm heart from the kindness shown by the Southerners to their Barossa guest, and a mind full of wonderful ideas to utilise in the Collective Barossa shop over the coming months. It really was a great little short break and has given me much faith in the future of the South Australian wine industry, and the potential for all areas, if we are willing to work together. I have the world at my fingertips, or should I say the glass? Either way, it's time to pour another glass of that magnificent Yangarra Cadenzia. Try it, I promise you won't be disappointed.

The W Files: Winter, Wine, Wine Front & Walsh

Winter has hit the Barossa Ranges. It's magnificent. Rainy days, freezing nights, and the daily evening drive up to the Ranges, via Mengler's Hill, is always challenging in the thick pea-soup fog. I simply love it! This area never ceases to amaze me with its natural beauty no matter what season it is but in the winter it really puts on a show. If you are out and about early enough in the mornings, as you drive into Angaston, the gullies fill with mist and it really does look like there are oceans between the hill-top ridges. It is also the season for home-cooked farm-style meals and lots of red wines. Divine.

So it's no surprise that June is the release date for a very special book written by two passionate wine appreciators, Campbell Mattinson and Gary Walsh. Their job must be rather intense working their way through numerous tasting samples submitted to them throughout the year, but somehow they seem to survive, and come up with a terrific guide for the punters. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that Karra Yerta has an inclusion in the 2010/2011 edition. The Big Red Wine Book is available from any good book store for around $24.95 and you can also follow the guys on their Twitter site or become a member of their website, The Wine Front.

We suggest that you grab a copy of this book as soon as possible as there are some sensational recommendations in it (more than one thousand!), but in the meantime, here is the review that Gary wrote on our newly released 2007 Shiraz Cabernet. For your information, 93 points falls into the 91-94 point category which is described as 'Excellent. Better than excellent. Hunt out a good price and buy up'. We also featured in the Best Red Blends over $20.

Karra Yerta 2007 Shiraz Cabernet
Price: $25
Region: Barossa Valley, Eden Valley
Alcohol: 14.5%
Seal: Screwcap
Value: 4/5
Auction: N/A
Score: 93/100

Only 170 dozen of this wine produced.
2007 Release.
It's not a big wine but it's full of flavour and charm. It's beautifully made too. It tastes of chocolate, florals, menthol, blackberries and pepper spice. There's a nice clip of cedary oak too. Chewy tannins add texture and it has a long, chocolatey finish. Lovely quality and lovely to drink. Walsh describes it as 'a real elbow tilter'. DRINK 2010 - 2017.

Old wines, new reviews and other news!

Now, while I am on a roll, on the writing front, I will add an entry on two fabulous recent reviews we received, plus another snippet that is wine-related. One review is from Julian Coldrey, the other from Jeremy Pringle (both Brisbane-ites) and the final person to rate a mention, is Sydney-sider, Andrew Graham. All three of these fellows have been mentioned by me before, and again, I thank them for not only being great advocates for the wine industry, but also for their support and encouragement of small wineries. Sometimes when you are so small, as we are, it is hard to get people in the media world to try your wines, let alone get a response out of them. These three guys are totally awesome and on behalf of the entire Australian wine industry, I thank them all for their passion and integrity.

The first review was published on Julian's website, Full Pour, and featured our 2005 Karra Yerta Wines Bullfrog Flat Shiraz: http://fullpour.com/2010/05/karra-yerta-bullfrog-flat-eden.html

Karra Yerta Wines 2005 Bullfrog Flat Shiraz

There's a reason why I've not posted recently, and it's not entirely related to a lack of time. I have indeed tasted several wines this week. And they were all crap. Which does wear one down after a while. The point of my drinking, or so I have convinced myself, is to enjoy moments of abstract sensual pleasure. I drink wine for the same reason I listen to music; to hear, feel, disagree, discover. In other words, I drink to experience beauty. So a series of ugly wines gives me absolutely nothing to write other than tiresomely self-reflective introductions like this.

Anyway, it's Saturday night and I'm worth a good wine. So out popped this sample from my tasting pile, a wine that has been waiting a few months to be experienced. I tasted the companion Barossa Shiraz a few weeks ago and found it intensely pleasurable. So it was with pleasure that my first smells and tastes of this wine revealed a similarly characterful, regionally-driven wine. Which you prefer may simply come down to your passion for one region's flavour profile over another.

Fabulous aromas of dirt roads and crushed stone, along with warm blackberries and well-judged, nutty oak. This is one to smell through the course of an entire evening, and to watch duck and weave through its full range of expressions, including the merest hint of aged leather. To be sure, there's a lot in here, yet it's not a self-consciously difficult wine. It just is, with a sense of easy, natural vibrancy that speaks both of its origins and its intent.

Entry brings dense, liqueur-like fruit into focus at the temporary expense of some minerality, but the latter is flung back into the picture on the mid-palate, which is the wine's high point of complexity. The structure is notable at this point, with firm underlying acidity and plush tannins keeping things in shape without ever seeming like the main event. A bit of vanillan oak pokes out its head through the after palate, but this wine is and remains all about spectacular fruit character; squashed blackberries and stones and dusty summers.

What a treat. This is easily a $40 wine.

Price: $A25
Closure: Stelvin
Source: Sample

Posted by Julian on Saturday, May 22, 2010

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The second review was published on Jeremy's website, Wine Will Eat Itself, and featured our (Museum stock left only) 2005 Karra Yerta Wines Barossa Shiraz: http://winewilleatitself.blogspot.com/2010/05/2005-karra-yerta-barossa-shiraz.html

Karra Yerta Wines 2005 Barossa Shiraz

Barossa 14.6% Screwcap $25 Source: Sample

I've been known to swoon over Karra Yerta, so I'll warn you now; I'm going to do it again. This is precisely the sort of wine that reminds me exactly why I do what I do. A wine that created a palpable sense of excitement as I drank it.

The amount of evolution that it underwent over the course of 5 hours in a flat bottomed decanter was stunning. I enjoy the fact that wine is a living thing. It's the subtle movement of a bottle's attributes which create so much of the interest and joy I derive from this strange and entrancing liquid.

Sweet blackberry & red cherry berry fruit along with earthy notes and bottle age leather & truffle. Soft and plush yet detailed, with a velvet entry quickly being pulled into a formation of real conviction. There's a fair bit of coffeed tannin ready to see the fruit through a few years yet. More plum and red cherry than raspberry with savoury dark chocolate adding another distinct layer of rich flavour. Some rusticity with a slightly ferrous edge. The finish seems to linger for an eternity. This is simply, seriously gorgeous stuff. The acidity is integrated but still fresh and I loved the tannin presence and chewiness. As it breathed, the wine loosened up, adding a sexy hint of liqueur cherry that offset the earthy depth perfectly, and all the complex components came together into one cohesive and beguiling identity.

It was a privilege to drink, especially given that very little museum stock of the original 64 cases remains. Look out for the next release. I can hardly wait.

Winery Website- http://www.karrayertawines.com.au/

Posted by Jeremy Pringle on May 28, 2010

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Finally, not a review, but still a terrific snippet of news is that my new business, Collective Barossa, featured in an article written by Andrew Graham, in the current edition (June/July 2010) of Gourmet Wine Traveller. It's a wonderful article and describes just what the Collective Barossa shop is all about. Grab a copy tomorrow, turn to page 15 and see what Andrew so kindly wrote about us. In the same edition, there is also a fabulous article on Riesling which is one thing I always like to see:)

Cheers for now, it's time for my final effort at writing for the day - our first ever newsletter for Collective Barossa:)