Friday, January 31, 2014

By Jingo! It's Australia Day - let's run for the hills!


"Now listen,
Oh we're steppin' out.
I'm gonna turn around,
Gonna turn around once and we'll do the Eagle Rock.
Oh momma!
Oh you're rockin' well!
Hmm yeah you do it so well.."

 

Well, January 2014 certainly has proved to be a challenging month in many ways, certainly not helped by the spate of fires throughout the state of South Australia, some of which were far too close to my home in the Barossa Ranges - one at Eden Valley and two fires three days prior to that one, even closer, at Flaxmans Valley. In the thirty years I have lived in this region, I had never seen anything like it, nor felt the fear of a bush/grass fire, so personally. A blood red sky at night did nothing for my fast dwindling sense of safety. Personally, I think there is no overreacting in situations like this - better to get out and be safe than the alternative. Needless to say, a girl needed a bit of a distraction from reading the CFS warnings, stories of loss, and having two evacuations, desperately. 

So when I was reminded via a Facebook event notice that there was an Australia Day long weekend of fun at By Jingo Wines I literally did hop in the car, take a magnificent and relaxing one hour drive south through the winding roads and pulled up to the fabulous shed cellar door in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, in a scream of dust! The look on John Gilbert's face as my Honda screeched into his driveway was priceless. I hadn't seen him for about six years, so a visit was long overdue. He's my kinda wine guy - unique, down to earth, honest and fun!

John's mate, Luke, took charge of the vinyl (yes, vinyl!) on the day and the tunes were fabulous! After a fine platter we were all enjoying the tunes and doing our own Eagle Rock with a glass of By Jingo in hand. The lovely hostess with the mostest, Annick, served all day long with a genuine smile and her equally lovely offsider, Elizabeth, were simply fabulous company and new friendships were made and many laughs had. 

Pop over to the By Jingo website to see what they do, as it will be worthwhile. It's hard to put into words just how different the beat of their drum is to many other smaller wineries - from the amazing location just a few kilometres out of Mt. Barker on the Wistow/Strathalbyn road, to the chooks casually strolling around the lawn, to the amazing vegetable patch, to John and Annick's terrific personalities..... oh, and of course the incredibly different and delicious wines. These guys do things with style, no doubt about it, and that is why even when I am no longer involved with the wine industry, I will still class them as great friends. I admire them. Their passion and dedication to making unique wines is 10/10. Personally, my favourite is their Barossa Shiraz. Just astounding wine! I think it will always be one of my favourites. Check out the photos below and do keep an eye on their website or Twitter or Facebook pages to keep up to date with happenings. 

Cheers for now,  

Marie







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