This post follows on from A few days in the Coonawarra – Day one tastings and lunch
Eric’s Shed, the old tasting room – Brands Laira
We decided that a reward for looking after our grandchildren would be a second day’s wine tasting and lunch.
So after farewelling our daughter and family it was into the car for the 30 minute or so drive back to Penola. We made a quick stop to pick up a takeaway coffee from Bricks and Mortar which over our short stay in Mt Gambier had become a favourite.
Our second day in the Coonawarra was again with Coonawarra Experiences. When we arrived, Simon was there to greet us. He had put our first day’s purchases in our apartment and with that, we were ready to start the day.
Our Sunday tastings were arranged to be a little less hectic than our first day to allow us to recharge from the couple of days looking after our wonderful grandchildren.
Our first stop was at Patrick’s , a second generation family winery whose grapes are sourced from within the Coonawarra and the nearby Wrattonbully region. The winery is named after founder Patrick Tocaciu, who even a few years after his death casts a welcome shadow across the business. Today the winery is under the control of Patrick’s wife and son, chief winemaker, Luke. Luke is described as one of the Young Guns of wine being a 2022 finalist. The wines are a mix of more traditional styles and very modern styles. The contrast between Joanna Shiraz and the Eucalypt Cabernet Sauvignon could not be starker. Both were engaging but in completely different ways. The Joanna, whose name refers to the vineyard is a traditional shiraz style that was very pleasing to the palate, while the Eucalypt Cab Sav had the unmistakable flavour of Eucalyplt – very different and also quite pleasing. We also enjoyed the Reisling and the P-series Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot.
After a very relaxing hour or so it was off to our next winery, Majella.
Majella is located on a stunning piece of land with a modern tasting room. It was light and bright with a modern vibe. It’s a family winery with all of the wines grown on the property. Although the vineyards were planted in the late 1960s the Lynn family have a history that spans five generations; members of the family have been blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and storekeepers before becoming graziers facilitating the planting of vineyards. Again while the region is famous for its Cabernet, Shiraz grapes were planted first. Our favourite wine was The Musician which my favourite person and I quickly saw as a great wine to accompany sitting on our beach house verandah looking across the hills to the sea and beyond.
The view from our beach house verandah
From Majella, it was a short drive to lunch upstairs at Hollicks winery. Everything is a short drive in the Coonawarra!
I knew a little about the winery and nothing about the restaurant. We had a traditional three-course lunch looking over the vineyards. The meal was excellent, it was served by the manager who made us feel welcome. Of course, the Hollick wines accompanied our meal except for dessert which was accompanied by the Wynns Pedro Jimenez. If I’d been asked before we arrived what our mains I would have said Beef and fish and would have been correct except instead of my favourite person having the fish it was me while she had the beef! They were delightful as was my Peking Duck Rolls entree and the Popcorn Sundae desert was stunning. This is a five-star restaurant in a five-star location and one not to be missed if you are in the mood for a leisurely lunch in a picturesque location – let’s face it who isn’t?
As we sat relaxing at lunch we wondered whether we should have made lunch a little later and called it quits as our 2 days of looking after our grandchildren were catching up with us. Simon our host from Coonawarra Experiences could see we were flagging altering our afternoon tasting to Brands a long-term favourite of mine and to Whistle Post.
His initial plan had been that we finish the day with a formal side-by-side tasting at one of the region’s iconic wineries. He quite rightly identified that this would have been a bit too much. Such a shame, it will definitely be on the agenda for next time.
Brands Laira was a winery I’d been aware of for many years but hadn’t visited. The vineyards date back to 1893 and the name stems from the family who bought the wines from the vineyard founder Captain Henry Stentiford in 1950. Wines were produced under the Brands Laira name in 1966.
Brands Laird remains in family hands however not its original owners and is part of Casella Family Brands. Casella as well as being proudly family is one of Australia’s largest wine companies. It was busy so Simon stood in and showed us around taking us to Eric’s Shed, the historic cellar door now enclosed within the modern bright and light tasting room. We left with the two flagship wines under our arm, again at a not insignificant cost, the Stentford Shiraz and One Seven One Cabernet will make for a lovely reminder.
As the tasting notes accompanying the Stentiford say, these two wines very much embody the history of Brands Laira. The Stentiford is picked from the original vineyard which dates back to 1893.
Our last stop was as mentioned, a change to our original plans, a leisurely tasting on the lawns at the very relaxed Whistle Post wines. Perfect. We chatted to the son of the owner on the lawns on a relaxed Sunday afternoon. They are a family with a long connection to the region and relatively recently opened their winery using grapes from their own vineyards. We made our final purchase of the weekend, the Cabernet Sauvignon. Nice wines made by delightful people. It’s a winery we hadn’t heard of and probably would have driven by and that would have been our loss.
With that our tour was done. It had been fantastic and with a shared plate of flathead and chips in the beer garden of the Royal Oak our Coonawarra visit was complete.
At Whistle Stop – I’m not asleep!