2 weeks in Australia with a stopover in Singapore
Singapore, Sydney, Adelaide, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills
Tasted Friday, June 14, 2019 - Monday, July 1, 2019 by retired_and_roving with 1,395 views
Introduction
This trip started with a group of our friends deciding that we should do a wine tasting trip to the Barossa Valley. After agreeing on dates for the wine tasting portion, we added on a stopover in Singapore and a week in Sydney on the front end. This was our first visit to Australia, and we were excited to explore the country and learn more about Australian wines. We fell hard for the beauty of Sydney and the friendly open nature of all the Australian people. If you haven't been there - definitely one to add to the bucket list. From a wine perspective, I was interested to learn about a lot of producers whose wines you rarely see in the US. My experience with Aussie wines has been fairly minimal and often had left me somewhat underwhelmed. The good news is that a lot of exciting things are happening down there with younger winemakers interested in making more balanced wines. With the warmer climate, the wines here are always going to have a lot of fruit, but the sweet spot for me was where they are able to balance this by retaining the acidity and the complexity of the old vines alongside the fruit. I was really surprised to learn how many really old vine (100+ year) vineyards exist in South Australia. For the places we visited this was more the rule than the exception which was pretty cool.
Flight 1 - 36 hours in Singapore (4 Notes)
We flew to Sydney on Singapore Airlines using points and took advantage of their stopover option to break up the journey. 36 hours in hot/humid Singapore after the 18 hour direct flight from Newark was a great way to wring out the jet lag.
Our plan for Singapore was all about eating at hawker centers as well as taking in some sights. We landed at night and after checking in and a quick shower we headed out to take in the sunset views a Marina Bay Sands Sky Deck. Then on to Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center - for dinner at Best Satay #7 and #8 for some awesome prawn, beef and chicken satay with Tiger Beer. Back at the hotel we hit the lounge to enjoy some wine. 
Day 2 - we were up bright and early to visit the Gardens by the Bay - Floral Fantasy, Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. We passed on the Super Tree Grove & Skyway as the line was quite long and it was really hot outside. Lunch today was at the Maxwell St. Hawker Center at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. From there we headed over to Chinatown to walk around and browse the shops. Retreating from the heat - we decided to go the Ion Center on Orchard Rd. for a bottle of wine at Sky Bar. Great views of the city and blissfully air conditioned. A short nap was in order before making our way to the Newton Food Center for dinner - tonight we tried the Tiger Prawns and Chile Crab from the Alliance Seafood stall and more Satay from TKR along with the requisite cold beer. Really fun! Back to the hotel lounge for some more wine after dinner. The next morning we had an early flight to continue our journey onward to Sydney.
Flight 2 - 6 days in Sydney (16 Notes)
Wow - Sydney is a gorgeous city! We arrived at night to enjoy the beautiful harbor view from our hotel room at the Shangri-La - just breathtaking. 
Winter weather in Sydney felt like October weather in NYC - which is to say pretty awesome - bright sunshine and cool temperatures (mid 60's during the day down to the 50's at night). We spent the week doing a lot of walking, eating and climbing with a day trip to the Blue Mountains.
Highlights included:
-Cliff walk from Watson's Bay to Bronte Beach with a lunch stop at Iceberg's in Bondi Beach. Stunning views and a great stretch for the legs after all that time on the plane.
-Climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge - so much fun!
-Blue Mountains day trip with stops at Featherdale Wild Life Park, Scenic World Rainforest, Megalong Tea Rooms. A long day with a two hour drive - but well worth the effort to see the gorgeous scenery and meet the local wildlife - koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, dingos etc...
-Morning tour of the Opera House followed by a long walk through the gorgeous Botanical Gardens.
-Wandering around Kirribilly and Lavender Bay neighborhoods on the other side of the bridge with a visit to Wendy Whitely's secret garden and a stroll through Luna Park.
- Museum of New South Wales -
Restaurants we tried:
Fred's in Paddington - loved this place - great vibe in a lively neighborhood, with really good lighter styled food and a nice wine list
Bentleys - went here for the wine list as suggested on wineberserkers and had a nice bottle of Sami-Odi - food was quite good too
Sake - quite popular and lively with a Nobu styled menu -
Mr Wong - fun, lively down a little alley - neat old warehouse building - great dumplings
Cafe Sydney - had lunch here to enjoy the views - in the old customs house at Circular Quay - very sunny - seemed like a popular spot
Rock Pool - Steak house in an old historic building - bustling - deep wine list but a pricey
Lucio Pizza in Darlinghurst - a much more casual option but the pizza here was really good - don't go for the wine but Love Tilly Devine wine bar is just a few blocks away
Love Tilly Devine - a funky natural wine bar down a back alley - cozy and hip (very Brooklyn in feel) - we popped over here after having pizza at Lucio nearby to share a bottle
Bondi Icebergs in Bondi Beach - don't go for the food (although the salads weren't bad) or the wine - go for the views - looking out over their swimming pool onto the surfers waiting for waves to roll in was a great way to spend an hour!
Flight 3 - 5 days of Wine Touring - Adelaide, McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills
The genesis of the trip was the decision to tour the Southern Australia wine regions with a group of eight friends. All but one of our visits were planned in advance based on research, recommendations and past experiences. We tried to include a mix of new up and coming winemakers as well as some of the more established well known brands. In particular we were interested in discovering wines that are not broadly imported into the US market. Logistically we decided on 6 nights/5 days. The first two and last nights would be spent in Adelaide and the middle three in Barossa Valley.
Lodging:
Adelaide - Mayfair Hotel - very comfortable newly renovated rooms - friendly service, good breakfast - centrally located.
Barossa Valley - Lanzerac Country Estate - five room inn with breakfast included, comfortable rooms, breakfast included
Driving Service: We used Scott Ninnis at Premium Wine Tours (scott@premiumwinetours.com.au) - who provided excellent driving and logistics support for us at a reasonable rate for the week. He arranged for a mini-bus that comfortably accommodated our group of 8 and all of our luggage. He was very reliable, timely and personable - when we were running late he made advance calls to ensure that the next appointments knew what was happening and when we had a gap in our schedule arranged to have an additional appointment to fill in our open slot. While we had arranged all our appointments in advance, he also provides the service of booking appointments for clients. Highly recommended!
Flight 4 - Lunch at East End Wines - Adelaide (2 Notes)
On Sunday, we met up with our friends in Adelaide to start the wine tasting portion of our trip. The Adelaide Botanical Gardens was our meet up location and after a brief stroll around the gardens we visited the National Wine Center of Australia which is located in the Gardens. There is a museum of Australian wine here - that covers the history of the wine industry as well as a multi-media display of all the grape varieties grown in the county and the various wine making regions. Down in their tasting room they offer 60 different wines poured by the glass from Oenomatic Tasting stations. The energy was pretty low here though - so we decided to pass on the tasting and move along to have lunch and wine at East End Cellars.
East End Cellars is a great spot located on one of the small lanes in Adelaide. Half wine store/half casual restaurant - you can purchase your wine for in house consumption with a small corkage fee. They have an extensive selection and also a reserve room with more expensive wines and back vintages. More than half of the reserve room is dedicate to European wines but we were here to focus on Aussie wines - so quickly honed in on the vertical of Rockford Basket Press.
Lunch is ordered at the counter and then brought to the table. Our group of 6 shared a large charcuterie and cheese board and a selection of sandwiches. Our '98 Rockford Basket Press was decanted while we worked on the white wine. Wine service was knowledgeable
and very professional. Food was simple but quite tasty. This is a great spot! Highly recommend.
Flight 5 - HellBound Wine Bar - Adelaide (2 Notes)
After lunch we strolled around Adelaide and met up with the remaining part of our group before heading out for some pre-dinner cocktails at HellBound wine bar. A really cool little place located downstairs of the main shopping drag. Service here was very friendly and their wine list is quite interesting if a bit on the young side. Another great addition to the itinerary for anyone visiting Adelaide.
Flight 6 - Dinner at the Playford Hotel Restaurant - Adelaide (5 Notes)
Through advance research, this place was identified as one of the better restaurants in Adelaide for both food and a great wine list. Unfortunately for me, I am not sure it delivered on either front. We did the seven course tasting menu - which was probably a mistake given the group's collective jet lag and the fact that dinner lasted for over five hours. The service here was well meaning, but somewhat incompetent - both from a food and wine perspective. The food was very stodgy and heavy - not at all modern or light. The wine list was just okay - not terribly deep or interesting. Don't get me wrong - we still had a lot of laughter and fun together as a group - but the collective feeling was that this was not a place to recommend.
Menu:
-Amuse Bouche - Beef Carpaccio, Mushroom Mousse, Bento Box of Kingfish, green apple & yuzu (this was by far the best course)
-Mussel Pie with Kohlrabi topping
-Mushroom Pithier - so heavy
-18 hour Pork - dry & unchewable
-Waygu Beef with Broccolini & potatoe gratin
-Mango sorbet with crunchy mango
-Panacotta ice cream with lemon
Flight 7 - Brash-Higgins - Mc Laren Vale (12 Notes)
Our tasting itinerary began with a morning visit to Brash-Higgins. our group of eight met Brad and Nicole at their winery in McLaren Vale and had the pleasure of tasting through most, if not all of their line up. This was a really fun and informative visit. Brad is a former NYC somm who moved to Australia over 10 years ago, and became a winemaker. His passion for wine, creativity and zest for experimentation came through in spades and I really enjoyed our time with him. A particular highlight was when he decided to give us an Amphora tasting of the 2019 Nero d'avola - my first time trying wine directly from Amphora. He further surprised us when he dove his arm down into the vessel to show us all the skins and seeds. Brad's wines all had a lot of freshness and vitality which made them very approachable and interesting. A great visit!
Flight 8 - Bekkers (5 Notes)
Our second stop of the Day 1 in McLaren Vale was at the Bekkers winery. A very beautiful and modern property with a lovely tasting room. The winery is run by Toby and Emmanuelle Bekkers. They are primarily a mailing list only operation, and I don't think much if any of their wine makes it to retail in the U.S. They use traditional wine making techniques with 15-20% whole cluster and a long slow, cool fermentation. Their tasting room is basically a glass cube that looks out onto the vineyards - really cool. Wines were served in Gabriel Glas stems, and accompanied by a lovely set up of cheese and crackers. Toby and Emmanuel were very gracious and welcoming, despite the fact they were flying out that even to head back to France for a few weeks. A lovely visit and highly recommended for the wines, people and setting.
Flight 9 - S.C. Pannell (12 Notes)
After a quick lunch stop off at a local bakery for sandwiches and Australian meat pies it was time to head to S.C. Pannell, our third stop of day. This was a much larger operation than the previous two visits with a spacious cellar door area set up to receive a lot of guests. Inside is a long bar tasting room with a large outdoor deck with tables overlooking the vineyard. We did our tasting with one of the tasting room staff and did not have the opportunity to meet with Steve, the owner/winemaker. It became clear quite quickly, that he is another curious and creative winemaker who likes to experiment with many different varieties. They were very generous with the tasting and poured 12 wines, and did not even make it through the entire range. The tasting here was less structured than some others and a bit more raucous. There were some ceremonial robes and crowns on display in the tasting room- and let's just say we were encouraged to try them on and silliness ensued. I am not sure that I was left with a distinct impression of the wines here given the broad variety and differences in style across the range. Some of the wines seemed more lean and fresh and others were very forward with lower acidity. A fun visit, but less impactful for me than others visited this day.
Flight 10 - Yangarra (11 Notes)
Our 4th and final visit of our Day 1 in McLaren Vale was to Yangarra Estate. The winemaker, Peter Fraser, really pulled out the stops here and put on a fantastic tasting for our group. They set up a private tasting room for our group - with 3 stems for each person. We got to taste through the majority of the Yangarra Estate line-up as well as the three Hickinbotham wines. Peter was a very gracious host, that spent a lot of time with us talking through his wine making philosophy and thoughts on the various wines. I was very impressed with the Yangarra wines, they all seemed to achieve a lovely balance of aromatic fruit buffeted by fresh acidity. The grenache wines here in particular were just lovely. The Hickinbotham wines are a bit more of full throttle style, which while very well made are not really in my wheelhouse. This was a really outstanding visit!
Flight 11 - Sami-Odi (2 Notes)
Day 2 - leaving our initial base in Adelaide, today we would transfer to the Barossa Valley with our first stop at Sami-Odd. We discovered this winemaker through some very positive reviews on the wineberserker site and so glad we did. This was definitely one of my favorite visits of the trip, Fraser is an absolutely delightful young winemaker. His small winery is located right behind his house and is organized in a visually stylish way that befits his origins as an art student. You can see the care he takes in the design of his labels as much as he puts into the crafting of his wine. He is very humble and gracious and we all really enjoyed our visit with him. His wine is pretty much fully committed to his mailing list and he really had none to sell, so it was particularly special that he made time to see our group of eight and open his current vintage little wine and HD for us. The fruit for Fraser's wine comes from the 100+ year old vines in the historic Hoffman-Dallwitz vineyard. He has also recently planted some vines on his own property with old vine cuttings from other Barossa Valley vineyards - although these have not yet yielded fruit.
https
Flight 12 - Cirillo (5 Notes)
An unplanned stop on Day 2 - as we ended up having an extra hour in our itinerary between Sami-Odi and lunch at Vintners. Our driver Scott, is good friend of Marco, so he called to see if he could accommodate us at the last minute. Cirillo specializes in very old vine Grenache, with some of the vines dating back to 1850. Marco's family immigrated from Italy after WWII and settled on this farm. Today he runs the estate and is the winemaker. He enjoys wines made in the old world style - preserving the acidity and meant to be consumed with food. His wine is made using carbonic, no crush, no malo, some whole bunch but mostly destemmed. A real character, Marco was quick with the one liners and we had a nice visit here.
Flight 13 - Lunch at Vintners (3 Notes)
One of the winemakers we were visiting suggested having lunch at Vintners, a great recommendation. This is a modern styled dining room with a great wine list and very professional service. The lunch menu here is a la carte so more flexibility in ordering depending on how hungry you are. The food was excellent. The husband and I decided to go a bit lighter and split a bitter green salad, roasted jerusalem artichoke and gnocchi with guanciale and kale. We paired with this some bottles purchased on earlier visits including the Cinsault from Brash Higgins, a library bottle from Yangarra and a Ruggabellus from the list. This was a producer we were interested in that we had not been able to schedule an appointment with.
Flight 14 - The Standish Wine Company (4 Notes)
Our 4th stop of Day 2 - was the The Standish Wine Company to meet with Dan Standish and his wife. No formal tasting room - we meet in the winery and tasted through the range of wine. A lovely young couple, Dan focuses on viticulture and winemaking and his wife runs the marketing side of their business. The wines here are more of a full throttle style, with riper fruit and lots of power. An enjoyable visit.
Flight 15 - Vino-Lokal (4 Notes)
Our final stop of Day 2 was at the Vino Lokal tasting room, which represents a group of growers from the area, pouring their wines by the glass in tasting flights. This is a stylish little place with extremely comfortable bar seats and friendly knowledgable staff. They also serve small bites and I highly recommend the Kimchee Popcorn - insanely good.
You can choose one of their pre-chosen flights or create your own. I decided to create my own as I was interested in tasting through the Spinifex wines, a producer that we were not able to include on our itinerary. Flights come served on a wooden board with tasting notes for you to take home with you. A great little place - highly recommend.
Flight 16 - Dinner at Musque (1 Note)
Musque is a modern styled bistro in downtown Tanunda. Clearly the end of a long day, as I took no notes on what we had for dinner and I really cannot remember. I believe we shared a bunch of plates for the table and the food was good. I do remember the wine which was a lovely magnum of the Brash Higgins 2010 Omensetter. 
Flight 17 - Henschke (10 Notes)
We started Day 3 with a vineyard walk, tour and tasting at Henschke. This was one of the visits the group was most looking forward to and we were not disappointed. Emmalee Guerra, the Henschke Brand Ambassador met us at the winery and joined us on our bus for a drive up to see the Hill of Grace vineyard. Prior to heading to the vineyard we all needed to do a foot wash in an antiseptic bath to reduce the risk of bringing Philloxera into the HOG vineyard. As we were driving up the road to the vineyard - we had a thrill - a mob of kangaroos was hopping through the field/trees - for a few of the group this was our first spotting of kangaroos in the wild - pretty awesome!
We pulled up to the HOG vineyard which is bordered by the Henschke family chapel at one end and the ruins of a Post Office on the other side. The vineyard itself is less of hill than I presumed it would be. We had the opportunity to walk among the 1860's vines and take pictures. Next we headed back to the winery for a tour of the old cellars then on to the tasting room to go through the line-up of wines. It was a great morning and a highly recommended visit. Really enjoyed learning about the history of the family, visiting the vines and tasting the wines.
Flight 18 - Chris Ringland (4 Notes)
2nd stop of Day 3 was a visit to Chris Ringland. Chris makes his wine at his property, but he has built a second home next door to hold tasting visits and entertain guests. A super modern and stylish structure with great views out over the vines below. One of the largest tables I have seen made from a single piece of wood - just gorgeous! Chris had some treats in store for us today as he concluded the tasting with a surprise - opening his '95 Three Rivers. It was great to get his insights about winemaking and the Barossa Valley. All spent some time talking with him about the work he has been doing in Spain. A really special visit!
Flight 19 - Hobbs (4 Notes)
Our 3rd stop on Day 3 and I have to say one of my favorites of the trip. Greg and Allison welcomed our group onto the covered porch of their home where we did the tasting. We just hung out and chatted like we were old friends - so welcoming and easy - just had a really cozy feel about it. The sun was starting to set as we sat there and Greg spotted some kangaroos in the field - so he beckoned us all over to come and watch as they made their way out of the trees across the property. Unfortunately most of their wines had already sold through - so we only got to taste four of the wines. I found his amarone styled wines really interesting and also particularly enjoyed the viognier. They are part owners in Vino Lokal though, so we were able to swing by there after and taste some of the wines we missed. Highly recommended - lovely people, tasty wines!
Flight 20 - Vino-Lokal (2 Notes)
Back to Vino-Local again today, to finish up our Hobbs tasting with a few bottles from the wine list that Greg & Allison had sold through and were unavailable to taste.
Flight 21 - Around the Fire (2 Notes)
Lanzerac has a large common area with a wood burning stove which was a nice place to gather between tastings and dinner. While our bodies were clamoring for a nap - we knew that the jet lag effect would cause this to be a really bad idea. So we rallied on and shared a few bottles around the fire.
Flight 22 - Dinner at Appellation (1 Note)
Tonight we had dinner booked at Appellation a Relais & Chateaux property. Normally they have a more formal multi-course tasting menu but we went on local's night where they offer a more abbreviated version. The place was packed - nice to see in a small town on a Weds night. Group was slowing down as we only managed to share one bottle amongst the eight of us. No notes or pictures taken on the food here but I do remember it was enjoyable.
Flight 23 - Eperosa (7 Notes)
Day 4 started with a morning visit to Brett at Eperosa. Fraser from Sami-Odi had recommended that we include a stop at Brett's on our itinerary, so we were looking forward to this. Brett has a small new winery (built in 2016), with the standard tin roof styling that is common across the valley here. His facility is completely off the power grid, built partially underground with solar panels for power. He farms organically and uses a low intervention approach to wine making. He cited Thierry Allemand as his inspiration - and looks to make wine as much in this style as possible. Brett is a super nice and charming young guy, who is dedicated to his craft and is making some lovely wines. He tries to sell most of his wine direct to clients and I don't think much if any is imported to the US. A really great visit.
Flight 24 - Seppeltsfield World War I Tasting (5 Notes)
As a group we decided to do the Seppeltsfield World War I tasting - which we booked in advance. So glad we did this, as this was really unique and how often do you get to taste wines this old. This operation in much larger and more commercially geared for larger groups than many of our other visits, but with this tasting led by the knowledgable Nigel Thiele, we had private room and a barrel tasting - so still felt quite personal. The para wines are a Shiraz/Grenache blend blend, the fruit is picked as for dry wine, then partially fermented. Fermentation is arrested at 11 Bomb - then fortified with brandy spirit up to 17% ABV. Given the Angel's share (3% lost annually), the 1914 is currently at 21.3%ABV. The warehouse holds casks dating back back to 1878. It was fun to find your birth and/or anniversary year casks for photo ops. Also of interest, were the royal casks dedicated to Prince William, Harry, George etc...
Such an interesting tasting, as the historical events of world war I were conveyed while we were tasting each vintage. Port is not my really my thing, so a few sips of each were enough for me, but it was really fun to contrast the flavor profile differences from each vintage. A worthwhile tasting for history and wine buffs!
Flight 25 - Lunch at Hentley Farm (8 Notes)
Our third stop on Day 4 was for the multi-course Discovery menu at the Hentley Farm restaurant. A beautiful modern yet rustic dining room - our table afforded us the view of the glass fronted kitchen - so we watch our meal being prepared by the team of chefs. The food here was delicious and innovative, the service warm and professional. We chose to do the wine pairing alongside our tasting - as a way of exploring this producer's wines while enjoying our lunch. Lunch here is an elaborate affair with many treats along the way - took about four hours from start to finish so plan accordingly. The sun was setting beautifully as we left lunch and headed back to the hotel.
Menu:
greens, jersey cream, chive - simple & delicious!
hen egg, quinoa, curry spice
zucchini, potato, rye
radish, peppers, aged cheddar
oyster, red wine vinegar
kingfish, citrus, wood sorrel, apple
tuna, chicken liver, sunflower, iceberg, walnut
squid, xo, dash
kangaroo, miso, macadamia - a first for me and a bit odd
lamb, harissa, turnip
"egg", yoghurt, passionfruit, poppy seed - totally AMAZING!
quince, jasmine, fig leaf (no photo)
sweet potato, muntrie, wild fennel, brioche
assorted popsicle
kitchener bun
Flight 26 - Dinner at Ferment Asia (4 Notes)
This place has a crazy deep wine list and really flavorful Asian cuisine. A collaboration between sommelier husband and chef wife - this should be a stop added to any Barossa Valley itinerary. Thursday night and every table was full - including a private room filled with a tasting group of Valley winemakers - some of whom we had met with this week. They stopped by our table to visit and we each shared some wine with each other. Very fun and congenial evening with really delicious Asian cuisine.
Flight 27 - Shaw & Smith (10 Notes)
On Day 5, we packed up and headed out of the Lanzerac Estate in Barossa for a day in the Adelaide Hills. Our first stop of the day after about 1.5 hours in the bus, was Shaw & Smith. This is also a much larger facility, with ample parking for buses and a seemingly large cellar door. The property looks to be very new and modern with beautiful views out over the vineyards. We had booked a private tasting, so were escorted to a large room with big leather couches and our tasting of 10 wines pre-poured. They also served each of us a cheese and cracker plate to accompany the wines. Our tasting was led by one of the tasting room staff. I enjoyed quite a few of the wines, as they seem to be made a lighter style. I would say that while this was a pleasant and well run tasting, it lacked some of the more personal aspects of previous visits where we interacted directly with the owner/winemaker.
Flight 28 - Lunch at Lost in a Forest (3 Notes)
One of the Adelaide Hills producers we had read about and were interested in trying, was Ochota Barrels. They do not have a tasting room, but are part owners of the restaurant Lost in Forest - which features their wines. So in lieu of a tasting, we booked a lunch at Lost in a Forest. What a cool little quirky place this was. Housed in an old church, serving wood fired pizza and a small cool wine list. The staff and clientele were total hipsters, straight out of Williamsburg Brooklyn. I loved the cool eclectic vibe here - very fun. Unfortunately, they had very few Ochota Barrels wines left to try as they were sold through - so we tried a few by the glass and ordered a bottle of Sami-Odi to accompany our delicious pizzas. 
Flight 29 - Ashton Hills (5 Notes)
After lunch we headed over to Ashton Hills, a producer specializing in Pinot Noir. This was another funky little place, with a really laid back vibe in their tin cabin styled tasting room. Adelaide Hills has a cooler climate, so this is pinot noir land. They also had the most adorable dog that totally bonded with my husband. A nice visit.
Flight 30 - Penfolds (8 Notes)
An amazing private tasting with Andrew Baldwin, one of Penfold's winemakers. We started our visit off with a tour of the facilities and the bins. It was interesting to learn that the various Bins (caves in the underground section) that are used in the wine names - actually refer to the place where the barrels were stored. The bin area is huge and currently is being used for private functions like weddings and parties than for storage of barrels.
We did our tasting in the Yattarna tasting room and were delighted to see the aged treasures that Andrew had pulled for our tasting. I really knew nothing about Penfolds other than Grange, so was really interesting to learn about the breath of their product line and to taste a variety of these wines. Highly recommend.
Flight 31 - Dinner at Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant (4 Notes)
Following our tour and tasting, we walked over to the Magill Estate Restaurant for a tasting menu dinner. The restaurant is quite elegant, with professional wine and food service, a very deep list of Penfolds wines (although no bargains to be had here) and lovely food. As with most of our tasting menus - the snack course ended up being about six different bite sized dishes. By this point in the trip - my ability to really focus on the food had diminished - so I don't have any photos to share. I did take a photo of the menu. Loved getting to taste some nicely aged versions of the St. Henri and the 707. A really fun last evening for the wine portion of our trip!
Flight 32 - Overnight layover in Seoul & Asiana Airlines 1st class (3 Notes)
We did a great points redemption via Chase points to United booked on Asiana. Business class from Sydney to Seoul - then first class from Seoul to JFK. My first time in first on an Asian carrier - and wow - this was super nice! Huge seats, great service, caviar and champagne - great food and a comfy bed. I understand they are discontinuing this product as of Sept 1st - but I am glad we got to try it while we had the chance.
Closing
A really great trip! We totally fell in love with Sydney and the Australian people and hope to have the opportunity to visit again. Could actually see ourselves trying to live here for a few months once post retirement.
Also had an amazing time hanging out and bonding with our friends during the second half of our trip - lots of laughs and great memories!! Finally really interesting to learn about a wine region that I hadn't explored much. I feel like after our intensive week, I have a better grasp on producers, varieties and styles. I am not sure that I would go so far to say I fully converted, given the climate the wines here are always going to be more fruit forward than their European counterparts. But there are a lot of younger winemakers, really committed to making balanced and interesting wines, that showcase their terroir. Particular standouts for me were Fraser at Sami-Odi, Brett at Eperosa, Bekkers and Brad at Brash-Higgins. Also fun to visit and experience some of the old guard - Penfolds, Henschke, Chris Ringland and Seppeltsfield.
I highly encourage anyone considering a trip down under to go for it - we had a highly memorable trip. Also loved going during their winter - June in Australia is like October in NYC.
If anyone wants anymore details feel free to reach out.
2016 M. Chapoutier Condrieu Invitare
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
(6/15/2019)
From coravin pour by the glass list at the Four Seasons Hotel bar (Singapore). A bit too cold to start. Some oakiness on the nose and palate. Not as distinctive as many Condrieus, but enjoyable with some minerality on finish.
Read 4 Comments / Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue
2017 M. Chapoutier Côtes du Rhône Blanc Belleruche
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône
(6/15/2019)
From the wine list at the Four Seasons Hotel Bar (Singapore) from 375 - nose of stone fruit and white flowers. Quaffable daily drinker with stone fruit and light spice.
Read 1 Comment / Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2017 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Blanc Les Jalets
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage
(6/16/2019)
From the wine list at the C’est La Vie Sky Bar (Singapore). After lunch at Maxwell Street Food Center we decided to escape the heat and humidity and retreated to the lovely views and air conditioning of the sky bar at the Ion Center. The nose on this was open and full of yellow stone fruit. Drinking really well for such a young wine this was waxy with white peaches, apricot and a nice mouthfeel. Enjoyable.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue
2013 Cavallotto Piemonte Pinot Nero Pinner
Italy, Piedmont, Piemonte DOC
(6/16/2019)
From the wine list at the Four Seasons Bar (Singapore) - a new one for me Pinot Nero Blanc. Nose was minimal. On the palate this was pretty lean and racy with lots of minerals. Tasted almost Chablis like. Very refreshing given the hot weather, but not particularly memorable.
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue