The Yarra Valley

Alright I ate kangaroo for dinner tonight.  I had a filet - pan seared with a red wine sauce.  Kangaroo is said to be the most healthy red meat you can eat - hi in protein and very low fat.  So I bought a couple of filets at the store prepared them for Graham and I.  Susan won't touch it.  It was quite good, tender, mild, and full of flavor.

On a less adventourous note (or perhaps more adventure, I'm not sure) this past weekend we spent a couple of days in the Yarra Valley - yet another wine region.  This is the best known in Victoria and best of all it is a 40 minute drive from our apartment.  For my money it may be the best area in Australia.  This is the 4th we have visited (Barossa, Hunter Valley, Heathcote).  There are still a couple more I hope to get to (King Valley & Mornington Peninsula) but this area was by far the most attractive, the vineyards and cellar doors weree beautiful and the wines some of the best I have tasted.  It was alot like being in northern California - Sanoma in particular - except did I mention it is only 40 minutes from my front door!!

The Yarra Valley is a cold climate region and is known for spectacular Chardoneys but also some great Pinots and Cab.  They also do some great things with Sauv Blanc - more like a fume blanc where they oak a small percentage of the wine.  There are also some Italian varieties grown there like Sangeovese and Nebiolo.  I tasted a cab/sangeovese blend that was spectacular.  To top it all off they do some great sparkeling and fortified wines.  They also do alot of hard cider here so ontop of the beautiful vineyards (made that much more colorful by the onset of Autumn colors) you have huge orchards full of apples and pears.

The valley is at the base of the Dandenong mountain range and is a beautiful rolling landscape.  One immage that will stay with me from Australia is the roses.  The most spectacular roses I have ever seen and they are everywhere.  This is particularly striking in the wine country where they have a rose bush at the end of each row of grape vines. They are the "canarie in the coal mine" for the vineyard.  If there are problems in the soil it will show up as problems form the roses first.

Coldstream Hills was started by James Halliday - he is the Dean of Australian wine - his books are what everyone goes to for info and ratings of the vineyards & wines. He lives in the Yarra Valley.

 

Di Bartoli Wines is a bigger operation but an absolutely beautiful vineyard and has a great cheese shop as well.

 

 

 

Domaine Chandon chose the Yarra Valley to locate a vineyard.  Some of the most beautiful grounds anywhere.  A good example of the roses.

 

 

Dominique Portet is a small operation but the 10th generation of wine makers.

 

 

 

Mandala is a newer operation but doing some great things.  We had a Chardoney here that was amazing.  They were also tasting a couple of new releases that my mouth loved but my bank account - not so much.

 

Oakridge had one of the most impressive views from the tasting bar.  It reminded us of Chandon in California

 

 

 

Punt Road was an imtimate and fun cellar door.  They also had great orchards along the road.

 

 

We stopped for a picnic on the grounds of St. Huberts.

 

 

Tarra Warra had magnificant views and some of the best Pinot you could imagine

 

Going into the cellar door at Yarra Yering was like walking into someone's home.  A marvelous, very expensive home mind you but very intimate.  And I tasted perhaps some of the best wines I have ever had anywhere.  All grapes are grown on the property most of the wines are single vineyard.  Just amazing.

 

Yerring station was as much an art museum as it was a cellar door.  Except you got to taste some great wines while you looked at the art.  They had several Itallian varieties which were wonderful.

ANZAC Day & the Laneways

This past Thursday (25 April) was ANZAC day.  A national holiday here similar to our memorial day.  It is always celebrated on April 25th at 6:00 am which is when the ANZAC (Australia, New Zealand, Army Corps) landed at Gallipoli and entered WW I.  It is a very serious event here - 40,000 people gathered at the Shrine of Rememberence in Melbourne at 6:00 AM for the dawn commemorative service.  Schools and businesses are closed and of course there is the big afternoon footy game.  The US has nothing on the Ausies when it comes to connecting sporting events to major hollidays.  A big difference here however is that they do not move their holidays around for convenience (to create a 3 day weekend whenever possible).  The holiday here is celebrated on what ever day it lands. 

We spent a day last week walking the laneways and arcades in Melbourne.  This the soul of Melbourne - it's unique character that sets it apart from other cities in Australia.  In particular it is a contrast to Sidney which is more glittery and so perfect as a tourist destination.  This side of Melbourne is rich and pulsates with energy.  It is textured and alive when you walk through and sit at one of the hundreds of tiny cafe's for a coffee or glass of wine.  The lane ways are narrow alleys and streets between the major streets, some winding between buildings and not wide enough for a car.  Yet they are full of cafe's some so small you can barely get in.  The arcades connect many of the laneways and are full of shops and all mannor of businesses.  The Royal Arcade is the oldest shopping arcade in Australia. 

Many of the outside walls along the way are painted with street art (grafitti to many) - I've included a sampling of some of my favorites below.  You will find all sorts of painting, some quite good.  Yet they get painted over regularly so it is an ever changing canvas.  The next time you go back that work you liked so much may not be there.

A great doorway in Niagra Lane

 

 This old warehouse in Niagra Lane has been converted to some very expensive office space

 

A marvelous old escalator & cafe in the Manchester Uni Arcade

 

Unique seating for a coffee at a different Cafe in Manchester Uni Arcade

 

The entrance to Block Place

 

 

 

A great assortment of cafe's along Block Place - a great spot to have coffee

 

 

The view from my seat along Block Place as I sip a Yara Valley pinot

 

Block Arcade

 

 

What an inviting scene along the outside of the Block Arcade

Beautiful glass in the Royal Arcade

Glog and Magog - with the clock in Royal Arcade which has struck on the hour since 1892

 

The Hunter Valley

Our latest wine excursion took us to the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.  The Hunter is particularly known for growing Semillon which everyone there makes.  It is popular to blend semillon with Sauv Blanc here and it does some wonderful things.  They also do oaked and unoaked version of the semillon. I really learned to like this white. What is amazing is that this is a white variety that ages quite well.  Tasting a semillon a year or 2 old is very nice - tart with alot of citrus.  Great for a hot summer day.  However when we tasted one that was about 8 years old it was a world of difference - smooth and rich.  Most of the acidity had gone away.  Of course my pocket book tended to like the tart citrus flavors - go figure.  They also do shiraz and some cab there as well.  The shiraz was particularly interesting.  Shiraz from the Hunter was medium body to light even.  More like a Pinot that the dark bold Shiraz we tasted in Barossa and Heathcote.  It was actually quite good.  The other thing they do in Australia is a sparkling shiraz which I found to be very unique - a bit sweet and the bubbles are creamy and not sharp (like the difference between a beer carbonated with nitrogen vs co2).

We had a great day as always eventhough it was grey and a bit rainy - what better thing to do on a rainy day than go around tasting wine?  We had a marvelous lunch and visited a great local cheese manufacturer.  It all made for several great evenings eating sharp cheese and drinking wonderful wine.

A couple of the big boys - Lindeman's & Rosemount to name 2 are in the Hunter.  But we found out while there that Rosemount is now owned by Fosters which was rather dissapointing.  We stayed with smaller boutique wineries often getting to meet the owner/wine maker.

Our first stop was Iron Gate Wineries - a marveous oaked Semillon and beautiful grounds

 

 

Next was Savannah Estate.  Not terribly impressed with the wines although they had an amazing 20 yo tawny that I fell in love with.

 

 

 

And of course outside of the celler door were Kangaroos in the field.

 

Brokenwood was an interesting place making single vineyard wines from the property around the winery

 

Lunch at the Cellar Door restuarant

 

 

 

 

Ernest Hill Wines was an interesting place.  As a family member dies they spread their ashes across one of the vineyards and subsequently name the wine produced from that plot after the person who's ashes are there.  A little creepy when you think about it.  But a beautiful cellar door just the same - and a really nice shiraz.