G'day for the grape
BAROSSA | Drink in the beauty and hospitality of Australia's premier wine region
BAROSSA, Australia -- "If you drink too early in the day, you're a drunkard. But if you combine it with food, you're a gourmet."
This explains the box of crackers Ralf Hadzic is toting as we tour Australia's premier wine region, the Barossa.
(Courtesy)
LIFE IS A CABERNET: Private full-day tours of the wine country include a gourmet lunch and cost about $200 a person; www.lifeisacabernet. com.au/
WHERE TO STAY: Nightly rates at the Louise start at $250 (tax included); check Web site (www.thelouise.com.au) for packages.
Another option is Jacob's Creek Retreat, a secluded, country-manor-style B&B with five rooms, some dating to 1845. Rates start at $180; www.jacobscreekretreat.com.au/
MORE INFO: www. australia.com, www.southaustralia.com and www.barossa.com/
German speakers from Silesia, now part of Poland, settled this delicious slice of South Australia -- famous for its flagship shiraz grapes -- more than 160 years ago. The 19-mile-long region brims with rolling vineyards, old Lutheran churches made of stone and inviting hamlets populated by butchers, bakers and talented winemakers.
Some 60 percent of Australia's wine exports hail from the Barossa, home to roughly 500 grape-growing families. Some go back seven generations.
The Barossa's tally of wineries comes to an impressive 120 -- about half of which have tasting rooms, or "cellar doors," as the Aussies call them. Good thing Hadzic brought those crackers.
Driving in his silver Chrysler 300C, we started the morning with a trip to perhaps the best-known winery in the area: Penfolds, maker of the much-sought-after Penfolds Grange, which sells for $375 a bottle. (Hadzic told me wealthy Japanese folks are fond of mixing Penfolds Grange with Coke -- a foodie felony, in my book.)
Penfolds lets you play winemaker with its "Make Your Own Blend" program offered at 10 a.m. daily. Feeling smarter than usual as I buttoned up my white lab coat, I began carefully pouring barrel samples of shiraz, grenache and mourvedre into a series of beakers, hoping to happen upon a palatable combination. After three tries, I came up with something along the lines of Two Buck Chuck and bottled it up to take home.
It's the only bottle I bothered to cart back to the States because Australian wines are often cheaper in U.S. stores than in Australia, where the government tacks on a whopping 39 percent tax. But cost-conscious oenophiles will appreciate that almost every tasting room in the Barossa happily pours its products free of charge.
"My North American guests especially are surprised -- and happy -- they don't have to keep reaching for their wallets," said Hadzic, whose tour company is called Life Is a Cabernet. He and his staff chauffeur people around the Barossa and other Australian wine regions on customized tours lasting from an hour to a full day.
Turns out Hadzic, an Australian who grew up in the United States, used to have a very different job. He played a children's television show character called Fat Cat -- think the Aussie version of Big Bird -- until 1986.
"I used to put the kids of Australia to bed at night," Hadzic said.
Bed was sounding pretty good after a day of drinking my way through the Barossa. Hadzic shuttled me to half a dozen wineries, where I sampled everything from chardonnay to zinfandel, not to mention plenty of fruit-forward shiraz, including Langmeil's "Freedom" blend. It's made from some of the world's oldest shiraz vines, planted in the Barossa 167 years ago. I pretended not to understand the concept of a spit bucket as we dropped in at one charming cellar door after the next, in this wine region dubbed one of the world's 10 best by TripAdvisor.com.
In Hadzic's quest to keep me a gourmet instead of a drunkard, he made sure my final tasting -- Grant Burge sparkling shiraz -- was accompanied by sinfully good chocolate Tim Tam cookies. "Australia" star Hugh Jackman had Oprah and her audience drooling when he handed out a few hundred packages of these beloved "bikkies" on a recent show. Actually, I'll bet my Tim Tams the drool had more to do with the clip Oprah showed of Jackman's outback shower scene.
The Barossa is only a little more than an hour's drive from the South Australia capital city of Adelaide. But for the true wine country experience, you'll want to spend a few nights among the vines. Accommodations range from cute B&Bs to the 140-room Novotel Barossa Valley Resort.
The most romantic spot to stay is the Louise, a relatively new, ultra-comfortable property where all 15 of the spacious suites come with vineyard views.
The San Francisco husband and wife who founded the Louise wanted to bring a top-notch destination restaurant to the region. The result is the award-winning Appellation, a casually elegant, 28-seat eatery in the hotel. Locavores love it.
"At least 80 percent of what you see on the menu comes from within 30 kilometers of here, and all the seafood is from South Australia waters," said the Louise's general manager, Penny Rafferty. "It's all about what's fresh now."
Order the South Australian snapper or Hutton Vale lamb a la carte, or indulge in the 10-course tasting menu, paired with six wines, for about $130 a person.
Just make sure to follow Fat Cat's sage advice and eat something, because the Barossa makes it way too easy to become a drunkard.