Category Archives: Wine

I’ll have another glass of Pinot Noir, please

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What is your favorite drink?

I have written more than once about my growing interest in wine. These days it’s somewhere between a passion and obsession.

As a young adult, I had friends who were wine lovers. One of my friends got his first job as a winemaker when visiting my home. My relationship with him has opened up many opportunities to sample some great wines as well as chat about wine more generally. Then through business living in South Australia, Australia’s largest wine producer, I had a number of clients in the wine industry. All of these contributed to an interest, but it really was my PhD that investigated the non-financial characteristics of family wine businesses that moved wine to the forefront.

Through my PhD, and before that my Honours project, I had the opportunity to visit a number of wineries, both in South Australia and Australia. I also took the opportunity to meet and discuss wine with families in Italy and the USA. Their stories were fascinating. Their connection to the land, a sense of place, a connection to their community, as well as an emotional connection, led to the title of my thesis – The story is in the bottle. The title was borrowed from an interview I conducted in my Honours project with the managing director of a multigenerational family business which sadly no longer exists.

My PhD gave me access to family stories as well as, the opportunity to go back stage at a number of Australia’s family wine businesses. Some of these family wine businesses are household names with generations of history, while others are early on their journey.

The result was a desire to learn more about wine itself.

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An ode to my grandfather – Soldier Settler Vineyard

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I posted recently about my natural mother and her struggle with dementia. I mentioned in that post that I was privileged to have wonderful adoptive parents; however, in that post, I did not mention my grandparents, who on my father’s side were truly the kindest and most generous people you could ever wish to meet. As grandparents ourselves, their example is one we can only hope to match as to surpass them would be impossible.

My grandfather, who to this day remains the person I most admire,  was a World War 1 veteran, who took the opportunity to be part of the soldier settler scheme in the Riverland of South Australia. It was a vexed scheme with stories of true hardship and few of success. I am pleased to say my grandfather’s was one of moderate success. In part, I am sure, his pre-war education at Wagga Agricultural School was the major reason for this. Continue reading →

A few days in the Coonawarra – Day two wine tastings and lunch

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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.  Continue reading →

A few days in the Coonawarra – Day one tastings and lunch

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Our apartment in Penola

This post follows on from A few days in the Coonawarra – getting there 

Our day started with a check of the weather. 

Despite it being the middle of Summer, it seemed the weather was going to be mild, so I was glad I’d packed for both hot and mild weather. With a decision on suitable attire for the day made, the next decision was where in Penola would we find the best coffee?

Penola offered 2 choices for coffee as well as 2 bakeries. We chose Moss and Wild, which was on the list of recommendations from our tour host. The coffee was excellent; however, the food choices were toasties or baked goods, which didn’t fit our needs. They did, however, look tasty. 

With a coffee under our belts, we headed back to our apartment and met Simon, the co-owner of  Coonawarra Experiences. Consistent with our earlier dealings in arranging our tour Simon was ready to answer all our questions, including a last-minute request to visit Penley Estate.

Unfortunately, Penley closed their tasting room during Covid and not reopened it. It seemed I would have to settle with a purchase of a couple of bottles of their Cab Sav from the Royal Oak Hotel. Penley is the family wine business of the Tolley sisters, a famous South Australian wine family. I’d been a fan of their wines for a while, so I was disappointed that we couldn’t make a visit. Penley offers a range of traditional varieties made in a contemporary style.

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A few days in the Coonawarra – getting there

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Our daughter’s involvement in a wedding in the South East of South Australia and our offer to look after her children while she and her husband were at the wedding and surrounding events gave us just the excuse to visit The Coonawarra, one of Australia’s most famous wine regions. In my case, it had been about a decade since I had visited and, for my favourite person, much longer.

The Coonawarra is about 400kms from Adelaide, making it about a 4 hour 30 trip assuming a short break somewhere like Tintinarra or Keith.

Tintinara

The road to Keith is well travelled as it’s the main highway to Melbourne, and just short of Keith, there is a turn-off for the Riddoch Highway that took us through Padthaway past Naracoorte and onto our destination of Penola in the heart of The Coonawarra.

The Coonawarra is a designated wine region that was hard fought for in the late 1990s, finally getting its own designation in 2003 as part of the Limestone Coast Region. There are just over 20 wineries in the region. It is a mix of the big corporates such as Penfolds, Treasury (owner of Wynns) and large family wine companies such as Casella (owner of Brands Laira) and Yalumba, along with smaller concerns such as Whistle Stop and Raidis.

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