Today we spent the day in the Barossa Valley just north of Adelaide in South Australia (SA). During our research in planning this trip we found a private guide, Steve Clifford of Cellar Door Tours in Adelaide.

We arranged for Steve to pick us up at the ship’s pier in the morning and take us up to the Barossa Valley for the day. We envisioned wine tasting, a lunch, and some sightseeing. We were not disappointed. 

The most photographed wine region (and vineyard shot) in Australia: the Barossa Valley

Steve was right on time and we loaded ourselves into his roomy van and took off. We had originally expected to share the van with a couple of other people but it turned out that we were alone for the day – great luck! Steve asked us what type of visits we wanted and we discussed several possibilities; but we had to include Penfolds. Penfolds is one of Australia’s flagship wineries and is HUGE in terms of production, variety of wines offered, and scope of distribution. So…why on earth would we want to visit a giant wine factory rather than another boutique winery that might have wines that we could get nowhere else? Grange is why. More on that in a little while.

Our final decision was to leave it up to Steve to pick a few really special boutique wineries and to include Penfolds.

Our first stop was Murray Street Vineyards (MSV). What? You’ve never heard of them! Neither had we, but it turned out that they have become one of our new favorite wineries. MSV only produces about 100,000 bottles a year. That is small by Aussie standards. They specialize in, what else, Shiraz! We met Paul, the cellar door manager (in Australia they call them “cellar doors” rather than “tasting rooms”). Paul proceeded to taste us through all nine of their wines beginning with the whites and proceeding to the single vineyard reds. Mmmmm good… We would up with an assorted six-pack for the trip home. 

View from the tasting room terrace at Murray Street Vineyard

Yours truly and better half enjoying the view as shown above...and a few of the wines on offer.

After a good hour and a half taking, tasting, learning with Paul, we mounted up and proceeded to Penfolds.

Penfolds is a giant among giants in the Barossa Valley (think Jacobs Creek, Wolf Blass, Yulumba, etc.); however, upon arrival at the cellar door it was a surprise to see a rather ordinary-looking warehouse building – rather dowdy for a Grande Dame.

Penfolds - hmmm...are we really at the right place?

Actually a nice tasting room - for busloads at a time...

 Once inside, we found a tasteful tasting room - large enough for several busloads at one time. Since this is a Tuesday, it was just about deserted – eureka! The one other couple was just finishing up and the delightful Gemma came over to begin our tasting. Gemma was indeed a gem. She was quite knowledgeable about both Penfolds history and its wines. She tasted us through several of the “lesser” wines, that is those that are available in a lot of wine stores and supermarkets (and Costco) in the US and prepared us for the flagship tasting for which we had made the pilgrimage – Grange.

Before we tasted the Grange, she poured us a 2010 RWT. RWT is Penfolds’ shorthand for Red Wine Trials. That is a Shiraz (the Aussie pronunciation of Syrah) that is used to determine how the Penfolds’ style of wine will evolve. It varies from year to year, but must carry what Penfolds considers to be its style from year to year. If that sounds confusing, consider how we felt after having been tasting for two hours or more…

We are with our new best friend, Gemma at Penfolds

Bonnie with one of her new friends - RWT

Here we are with our new "baby"

A closeup of the "baby"

Needless to say, RWT was magnificent. It was fruit forward, but not jammy. It had both tannins and softness that will evolve over the next decade or so into a soft full-bodied wine suitable for any red meat dish. Having had the RWT, we moved to a 2010 Grange. Grange has been produced for over 60 years and is the flagship wine of Penfolds. It is one of those wines that, if you have to ask the price, you cannot afford it. I was told the retail on our tasting bottle was over $300. It will go up as the wine ages. Our tasting was the cap on the day. The wine was BIG, full-bodied, heavy tannins, but still fruity. The recommended drinking period is from 2018 through 2060. That is not a typo – 2060.

After Penfolds we went to lunch at the Vintners Bar and Grill in the middle of the vineyards. We walked in and there were two other couples from the ship that we knew! They also had a private guide and were doing the “big boys” rather than the boutiques. 

Our lunch was only two course with wine, but WOW! Our first course was a scallop tartar on a bed of tiny diced cucumber with a vinegar and dill dressing and a dollop of cauliflower cream. Delicious! This was followed by an asparagus, goat cheese and chick pea salad for Bonnie and a spiral pasta with mushroom and bell pepper in a light cream sauce. Bonnie had a light Semillon and I had a – what else – Shiraz. Again, delicious!

After lunch we made it to another boutique winery – Two Hands. Two Hands is not a large winery, but they are slightly larger than MSV and they do send some product to the US. We met the lovely Katelin who tasted us through several of both their whites and reds. Another delicious tasting that found us with a bottle of one wine not available in the US, a single vineyard Shiraz. As we were paying for the bottle, Katelin told us she had had such a good time tasting with us and talking (we had been there over an hour), that she wanted us to have a small gift and included a bottle of their artisanal olive oil in the package!

View from the tasting room terrace at Two Hands

With our new friend, Steve Clifford of Cellar Door Tours

The lovelies, Ellen and Katelin, Cellar Door Managers at Two Hands

The Aussies have a wicked sense of humor as seen on this back label from the Two Hands bottle of "The Wolf" Semillon

We proceeded back to the ship (Steve driving and we napping…). 

A good day for all and a chance to try some really good wines that will never see their way to the states. It also gave Bonnie another check mark on the Bucket List: a tasting of Grange.