Adelaide area wineries Dec 2024
Cellar Doors
Tasted Thursday, December 26, 2024 - Tuesday, December 31, 2024 by graemeg with 133 views
Introduction
This was mainly a family trip so wine-related matters were secondary. Even when we did visit it was pretty cursory normally and I didn’t usually interact with the staff as much as I normally might, nor did I seek out anything other than mainstream wineries. Everyone pours in decent stemmed Riedels these days, which is wonderful.
Flight 1 - d'Arenberg (8 Notes)
26-Dec-24 At “The Cube”, the combined museum/gallery/tasting space. $20/adult entry fee, not refundable. Even for non-winos there’s enough to amuse (and visiting the gents toilet is a must). Tasting room on the 4th floor was very busy on Boxing Day afternoon. Decent Riedel glasses & reasonable pours. Despite sixty(!) different table wines for sale covering 30+ varieties, there are only 2 official flights – white/rose & red – of five fairly entry level wines. With fewer people and some persuasion (if you wanted to buy something expensive) I’m sure they’d pour a bigger range. I also include notes from wines we bought but drank later. Every wine they make hails from McLaren Vale bar the pinot noir and sauvignon blanc from the Adelaide Hills.
Flight 2 - National Wine Centre (5 Notes)
27-Dec-24 Located in the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide, this is more a commercial/conference space with a few broad historical exhibits, a lot of it as much about wine making generally as about the history of Australian wine specifically. But there is a tasting section, with dozens of oenomatic machines set up to dispense from a selection of a hundred-odd wines. Stick in the supplied plastic card, select taste/half-glass/full-glass for the wine/s of your choice and pay at the bar when you return the card. Broad range of wines arranged by weight/style, plus some ‘icons’ (Hill of Grace at $55/25ml if you want it). Most of the wines were around $6 or so for a taste. I just picked a few I’ve not tasted much before or was especially interested in. A good national selection too – this isn’t SA-focussed by any means.
Flight 3 - Seppeltsfield (7 Notes)
30-Dec-2024 Nearly a quarter-century since I was last here. Now a vast tourist attraction. Tasting room was apparently fully booked for the day, but luckily the situation seemed to have changed after we ate lunch. $15 refundable fee. Seventeen table wines for sale (plus a dozen or so back vintages), along with a dozen fortifieds, although I think they let you buy a tawny from your birth year if you really want and have the $$. Your fee gets you a choice of six from the ‘tasting menu’ comprised of three whites, moscato, rosé, four reds, four fortifieds. And for an extra $100 you can get 10ml of the 100-year-old Para, 1924 vintage – same volume rate as the full bottle price.
Flight 4 - Penfolds Magill Estate (8 Notes)
31-Dec-2024 The spiritual home of Australian wine, in many ways – also a quarter-century since I last visited. New buildings – a lot of it unrecognisable from 2000! There’s a set tasting menu of 7 wines for $15 (refundable) but for a range of extra cost you can taste some flagships including Grange ($50). There are 46 table wines on offer to sell – I’m sure they’ve most of them under-the-counter for pouring if push comes to shove. As a note-taker I was asked if there were other wines I was interested in tasting, so they seem to have just the right attitude. It’s actually good value, what they pour, even if the selling prices are understandably at about the highest retail level. Also there’s a range of Cellar Reserve wines that you don’t see elsewhere. Plus other exhibits, a full line-up of every Grange vintage, etc. Recommended without hesitation.
2015 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Footbolt
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, 14.5%} Some agng from appearance and the chocolatey with red jam nose. Palate is furry in texture, with maturing blueberry and raspberry fruit flavours. Low dusty tannins, medium acidity, not entirely natural. Maturing nicely, but sound and competent rather than exciting in any way. $32 from the cellar door which is reasonable value.
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2024 d'Arenberg Riesling The Dry Dam
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/27/2024)
{screwcap, 10.5%} Pale straw. Fresh nose of custard and stewed apples. Palate is off-dry, with spritzy acid, though it fades quickly. Light/medium weight. Lusciously sweet mild honey flavours, although it doesn't quite have the depth of flavour to be really great. Just cloys a little on the short/medium finish. $22 at the winery yesterday.
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NV d'Arenberg Nostalgia Rare Tawny
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/30/2024)
{375ml, screwcap, 21.5%} Murky tawny colour. Caramel, camphor, antique shop aromas. Warm, fumey, vanilla, burnt honey, follows the nose. Quite pointed, with high acidity, warmth on the full-bodied palate. About fully sweet, but balanced enough. Does cloying fractionally at the end of the otherwise long finish.
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2022 d'Arenberg Pinot Noir The Feral Fox
Australia, South Australia, Mount Lofty Ranges, Adelaide Hills
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, A$34} Earth, roses and cherry. Little oak. Gentle tannin, medium acid. A light-bodied wine that avoids sweetness or coarseness. Finishes a little short, but fair value for the price. Not for cellaring.
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2021 d'Arenberg Mencía The Anthropocene Epoch
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, A$32} Charry character, with heavy dark fruit. Not raisiny, but a bit of a bruiser. Low tannin, medium acidity, medium weight. Big wine for a simple meal.
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2020 d'Arenberg d'Arry's Original Shiraz/Grenache
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, A$22} 75% grenache manifesting as a sweet red jam character. Dusty strawberry fruit, mild dusty tannin, medium weight wine. Not much oak evident. Decent length – a good for the price; a bit simple but nothing wrong with it. Was a time this used to age really despite humble price; haven’t had it for years though!
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2021 d'Arenberg Shiraz The Footbolt
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, A$22} Also sweetly fruit-driven (after ‘Original’), with more obvious powdery tannins and medium acidity. Avoids crudeness. Medium weight, with red fruit and blackberry characters. Short/medium length. Has also dumbed down a bit since the 90s – used to be an ‘old vine’ cuvee but not now. Despite the commercial volumes of this they claim there’s still a decent proportion of foot-trodden fruit in here. I’d still drink within 7/8 years of vintage though.
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2018 d'Arenberg The Galvo Garage
Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, McLaren Vale
(12/26/2024)
{screwcap, A$32} Bordeaux blend 70% CS. Standard new world cab blend, blackcurrant, gentle oak, soft powdery tannin, low/medium acid, medium length finish, quite well-balanced, medium-bodied effort. Has come together nicely over the years – ready to drink I reckon.
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