Wine tasting in Adelaide

After a great few days exploring Sydney and visiting with friends, we boarded a plane and headed to South Australia and the town of Adelaide.  Adelaide is the 5th most populated city in Australia.  We had originally intended to rent a car, but after our adventures driving in wine country in Yarra Valley, and since we didn't end up going on the hot air balloon ride, we decided to explore the option of hiring a driver for 2 days.  After a little bit of searching, we discovered David of Top Notch Wine Tours, and he was available, so we booked it!  What a great decision.  He was incredibly knowledgeable of the areas and wineries, and as nice as could be.  M was able to send him the list of places he'd researched, and David paired that with some of his favorites to put together a fabulous couple of days exploring the area.  

He picked us up at the airport, and off to McLaren Vale we went!  This area is about 35km south of the town of Adelaide, and as with most of Australia, very well known for it's SHIRAZ!  With a Mediterranean climate, it has marine influences as it sits along the Gulf St. Vincent.

First we stopped by Oliver's Taranga, which we just loved.  The wines were great, and the cellar door manager was very personable.  It's amazing what a positive (or negative!) affect the person pouring the wines can have on your experience.  Since this was our first stop, we didn't want to get too ahead of ourselves...but we did buy a bottle to enjoy while in Adelaide that week.

Next David took us to one of the more well known, popular wineries in the area, Samuel Gorge.  It was incredibly busy that day with lots of visitors as well as bottling, etc.  Back to my earlier comment about how often times the person makes the experience?  The couple of wines we got to taste were fine, but not our favorites.  I'd love to try this place again if we ever get back over there.

Lunch at Salopian Inn was next.  What a beautiful, quaint little spot!  We wanted to try kangaroo, as people kept asking if we'd had it, and it was on the menu, so we went for it!  Apparently you have to cook it just right.  This one was braised, and it was just delicious!  We also ordered steamed pork buns and a salad.  Everything was just wonderful. 

Who knew kangaroo tail had a bone?!

After lunch, we headed over to Goodieson brewery to check them out.  Jeff and Mary Goodieson, the husband-wife team, were both there bottling and brewing at the same time.  The additional guy who was working there stopped what he was doing to come show us their beers.  He was from Chicago, so fun to talk about the US for a few minutes.    

Two more wineries before the day was over.  First, Mollydooker.  We loved both the view and the wines.  They make a ton of different ones, and about 80,000 dozen cases a year.  We've found them several times here in DC in stores and on wine lists - and it's always quite the excitement when that happens!  

Finally we stopped by Kay Brothers.  They've been around since the late 1800s!  This was a bonus having David with us - they were closing up, but stayed open and spent time with us.  

Thanks for the action photo, David!

After a beautiful, warm day in McLaren Vale, David took us back into Adelaide where we checked into our Airbnb.  This was our first experience with Airbnb.  It was fine - nothing fancy, more like a college apartment.... but it was very convenient, and had a washer/dryer.  At the halfway point in the trip, this was crucial.  We did some laundry, checked in with our email and social medias, and relaxed a bit before heading out to dinner.  The town of Adelaide is very quaint and walk-able.  We had dinner at a small tapas restaurant, Udaberri. We ordered a few meats and cheeses to try, and sampled some local beers, too.  We turned in pretty early as David was coming bright and early the next morning!

Day 2 and we were off to 'the Barossa.'  The Barossa Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions, about 56km (35 miles) northeast of Adelaide.  According to Wikipedia, "many of Australia's largest and most notable wineries are either headquartered or own extensive holdings in the Barossa Valley, including the well know Penfolds."

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Our first stop of the day was Two Hands.  These wines, especially Gnarly Dudes and Bella's Garden, can be found around the states relatively easily.  The cellar door manager was fantastic - hilarious, knowledgeable, and great to spend an hour with.  The tasting was beautiful, and included many of their specialty wines.  My favorite was Sophie's Garden, as well as the Ares Shiraz in their Flagship series.  What a great start to the day.

PLUS they had 2 beautiful pups wandering around!

Stop #2 was at Greenoch Creek Winery, per David's suggestion.  A teeny tiny little tasting room in a basement, the ladies who were working there were very nice, and the setting was beautiful.  However, the wines were not our favorites.  

Following Greenoch, we had one more stop before lunch - The Willows Vineyard.  The quaint little house where the cellar door was located was very unassuming and comfortable.  They have a small production, so don't have too many visitors - this was one of David's suggestions.  We loved both of the Shiraz's we had, and REALLY loved their sparkling Shiraz!  We grabbed a bottle of that to take home.  Apparently the Aussies drink a lot of the chilled, sparkling Shiraz at holidays and get togethers.  We totally wished we could have brought home enough to have at Thanksgiving, but our suitcases were already getting a little full. 

Finally - lunch!  And, of course, a tasting too.  We headed to First Drop Wine's Home of the Brave Tapas Room.  The restaurant and tasting room are in a 1930s still house.  They have several different flight options to enjoy during lunch.  We loved everything - great spot.  Especially the sign painted behind the bar!

After lunch, we went to Langmeil Winery. They are the "home of what they believe to be the world's oldest surviving shiraz vineyard: The Freedom 1843."

We tried a little bit of everything there!  The lady in the cellar door was as nice as could be.  They had a ton of different Shiraz to try, and they were all great.  

Finally, David took us to the Artisans of Barossa tasting room.  "Artisans of Barossa is a group of like-minded producers with a common goal to protect and promote small batch, sub-regional wine making. We are six individual wineries, with different wine making styles representing the breadth and diversity" of the Barossa Valley.  It was fantastic.  The guy who helped us was hilarious, and incredibly knowledgeable.  We ended up buying several bottles from them - everything was so good - and different from what we'd tried at the previous places.  Plus the views were beautiful!

It was the perfect end to our South Australia wine tour.  That night we wandered around the town a bit more, and found a little spot around the corner from our apartment for dinner.  We had kangaroo again!  This time in a bolognese sauce that was good, but not quite as good as the day before.  After a stop for ice cream, it was time for bed - off to Perth in the morning!

Stop #3 - Sydney!

With a grin still on my face and happy heart from a night full of laughs and stories in Yarra Valley (and a slight headache from the wine!), we moved onto the next leg of our journey - Sydney!  

We arrived, dropped our stuff at the hotel, and headed out to explore.  When we got there, it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. 

It was just before their version of Veteran's Day, so there were lots of activities happening - including this military band performing for workers on their lunch breaks on Martin Place. 

We decided to join one of the free walking tours to get a good overview and lay of the land.  It started at City Hall/St. Andrews Cathedral.  These trees with purple flowers were everywhere, and so beautiful!  The pictures don't do it justice. 

We walked through the Sydney Queen Victoria Market...

and through Hyde Park, over to St. Mary's Cathedral. 

The park was beautiful with huge, gorgeous trees.  About this point the rain started...

We got a big kick out of their 'Christmas tree' that was being put together piece by piece in Martin Place.  We walked by this tree each day we were in town, and they made VERY little progress...

There was a really cool alley way with an art exhibit hanging in it - it's 100s of bird cages!  They even pipe in bird sounds...

At this point of the tour, the sky literally opened up and it poooouuuured.  We didn't have any kind of rain gear with us, so we dropped off the tour (with most of the other people), ducked into a restaurant, had a pint and waited for it to slow.  

That evening, after the rain had settled, we headed over to the Surry Hills area of Sydney for dinner. Surry Hills is a neighborhood that's full of bars, galleries, restaurants, and shops, and I think would be a really fun area to live in. 

We went to Porteno first, which is a very popular restaurant in town.  It's owned and operated by 2 of the more famous chefs in town.  Then we wandered over to Dove and Olive, had a few Aussie beers, made friends with the bouncers and learned all about their crazy strict alcohol rules, and turned in for the night. 

Saturday morning, despite the gloomy, chilly day, we boarded a ferry and headed to Manly Beach. 

We walked from the bay to the beach, and around the streets of the town a bit.  Despite the weather, there were lots of folks out getting brunch or coffee and wandering around. 

Then we met up with our tour group - we were going on Dave's Brewery Tour! 

First stop - Nomad Brewing. 

We got to taste several different beers that they make, and have a behind the scenes tour, and get to know what they're all about. 

Second stop was Modus Operandi Brewing Co. for lunch and a few tastes.  Everything was delicious - definitely the favorite stop of the day. 

Finally, we ended the tour at 4 Pines Brewing.  It was a great tour, and a really nice way to get a good feel for Sydney breweries, even in the rain!

Ferry back to the city and time to get ready for dinner. 

While we were back in the hotel, we saw more news coverage of the awful Paris attacks.  When we walked down to dinner, the Opera House was glowing in red, white and blue in support.  

We had very special dinner plans - we were meeting more friends of mine!  Nick and Dave, who I met ages ago at my first CMAA conference, both live in Sydney, so we were able to spend a fabulous evening together! 

Dave attended most of the conferences over the years, plus had a quick DC visit one evening in between a whirlwind golf tour, so I had seen him a few times over the years - I hadn't seen Nick since 2007!  It was like no time had passed at all. 

Dinner with the harbor and Opera House in view, drinks just next door, retelling old stories, meeting a new girlfriend, and reconnecting.  It was a fantastic evening in Sydney - only complete with a little photo shoot in front of the Opera House!

Sunday was another gloomy day with sporadic downpours.  Luckily, we were able to still wander around town and explore some of the neighborhoods. 

We stopped to get Aussie Pies during a break in the rain - I had the steak and mushrooms and M had one with curry, 'Tiger Style' - topped with peas, mash and gravy.  They were delicious, and perfect on the cold day. 

After lunch, we went to the fish market.  It's supposedly the 'second largest in the world after Tokyo's.'  Well...either we missed something, or the marketing is a big of a stretch, because it was a bit disappointing after visiting the market in Tokyo last year...

Finally in the afternoon, the rain stopped, so we were able to walk around the grounds of the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens. 

That evening, Nick met us for dinner and we went to this delicious Malaysian street food restaurant, Hawker.  He's just recently moved to Sydney from Melbourne, and his family hadn't made the transition yet...so he was thrilled to get out of the apartment for dinner!

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Then he took us to this wild ice cream shop N2 - where they use liquid nitrogen for the ice cream!

Walking back to the hotel that evening was another memorial to the Paris attacks - City Hall was shining bright in red, white and blue lights. 

Monday we woke up and were THRILLED to have a beautiful, sunny day!  Finally!  Luckily we saved a few activities, hoping for sunshine.  First, we rented bikes and biked across the Harbor Bridge!  

Someone (not me) is afraid of heights...and we were both quite proud that he made it across the bridge!  The bridge itself is massive - there's a pedestrian lane, car lanes, trains, AND a bike lane.  

They flew the French flag on the bridge the whole time we were in town. 

Back across the bridge, we returned our bikes and raced down to meet our morning tour of the Opera House.  I'm so glad we made time for this as it was one of the coolest things we did on the trip. 

In 1956, the New South Wales government held an open-ended international design competition.  The wining design was originally discarded, and a loan juror didn't like any that had been selected so went back through the discard pile to discover the drawings.  According to the Opera House website, "The design solution and construction of the shell structure took eight years to complete and the development of the special ceramic tiles for the shells took over three years."  The building finally opened in 1973.  

The glass is designed so that if you're inside, taking a photo of the skyline at night, it will not reflect back on you as it is all slanted just slightly. 

After the tour, we jumped on a bus and headed to Coogee Beach to meet Dave for lunch.  We ducked into the Coogee Beach Hotel, which has 4-5 different restaurants.  We sat at an open window just overlooking Arden Street, the main drag, and the beach just on the other side.  The day couldn't have been prettier.  

Also - small world - as we're sitting there, a group of men in blazers walked in... and I instantly recognized one as one of our current members!  Not wanting to interrupt (and I'm in shorts and sneakers!), I decided to simply send an email after the fact and mention what happened.  About 30 minutes later, as we were finishing our lunch, they came walking right by our table so I had to speak!  We were both totally shocked to see the other one 1000s of miles away!

After lunch, we went on the Coogee to Bondi Beach walk.  The 'cliff top coastal walk' stretches for 6km with stunning views of beaches, houses and more. 

We ended in the famous Bondi Beach, where we found a pub for a snack and few beers - we'd worked hard for that!

Our last night in Sydney we headed back down to Chinatown to the original restaurant from the owners of Hawker, Mamak for Malaysian food.  It was just as good as the night before.  Luckily the line wasn't too long, so we were able to sit pretty quickly - we'd heard the lines could be crazy!   It was absolutely delicious.  As you probably guessed, we headed back to N2 for another round of ice cream! 

After a fabulous few days in Sydney, it was time to head west.  Next stop - Adelaide!