OZtralia.tv Blog

Third Installment of Coonawarra Wine

By: Phoenix Arrien

Lunch at a winery is always good and we happily stumbled onto one of those dining events to which I am happy to fly anywhere to experience.

In rare places in often secluded spots in Australia there are restaurants (such as Stephano’s in Mildura) where freshness, food combinations, superb skill and the right ambience are put together in a perfect balance which sends one off into an altered state; a place where happiness is no effort, the world is rosy and every sound, movement and taste becomes an endless moment of ecstasy.

As you can see food has a profound effect on me and I am forever on the search for its perfect form. To find a place like Hollick Restaurant, above the Hollick winery tasting room, is like surfing the sound waves of a symphony orchestra in perfect pitch.

That large loft overlooking green vines will stay stamped on my memory as one of the great food restaurants in this country. Kate Murray has created a fine restaurant where UK chef Ian Perry sends out his sublime dishes complemented by Hollick’s own fine wines.

My roasted duck breast came on a braised leg tartlet with a beetroot jus. I took in each tender morsel slowly, savouring the subtle flavours and juices. Companions murmured appreciatively over their chargrilled yellowfin tuna and aged scotch fillet and there was much dreamy eyed contemplation of going off to lie under a tree and watch the blue Coonawarra sky, but patient Ken of the limousine waited. After swiping into waves of chocolate mousse and letting out our belts, we left that oasis of fine food and drink to purr our way over to the cellar door of the Zema estate.

Zema’s tasting room was functional and simple. It stated: ‘we concentrate on wines not aesthetics’. This is serious stuff. While many wines have been lightened up to capture the ‘drink now’ market reflecting the needs of an ‘instant gratification’ society, Zema is for the wine connoisseur. Traditional full bodied reds, deep and dense, need to be holed up for a while in a cellar and pulled out of their cool, dark prison to be opened some years down the track.

“I am spending time watching the grapes grow,” reflected Bruce Redman of Redman’s Winery. Above him the walls were plastered with gold, silver and bronze wine awards, attributing to the fact that he doesn’t just watch grapes grow. The tasting room at Redman’s was small, intimate and cluttered. Bruce is knowledgeable about his wines and spoke in a laid back way that in no way inhibits the obvious love for wine that characterizes the winemakers of Coonawarra.

We leaned on the small counter and sipped his very drinkable Shiraz’s and Cabernet Sauvignons while gazing at family photos. Companionable silence filled the spaces between relaxed chats with Bruce and we walked out of there and into the limousine feeling complete.

We couldn’t of course head back to the plane and fly off full of wine, our pilot had that glazed happy looks reminiscent of Snoopy the cartoon dog on a slow day, so we chose to hire a house in Penola, a pretty little town at the southern end of the ‘cigar’. Townsend cottage is a 100 year old house ideal for a large family, several couples or a group of friends. Comfortable and offering all facilities, it’s perfectly situated at the edge of town where it was only a small walk to the shops and Petticoat Lane.

In this appealing part of town curio and craft shops like the Petticoat Lane Herb Garden and Shop share a wide heritage street, which harks back to when Mary Mackillop, the nun soon to be Australia’s first saint, walked her talk. I stopped to smell the flowers with Jenni Hinze at the Herb shop and farm where she creates wonderful foods, body lotions and potions as well as craftwork with the produce she grows. It’s a step into a slower pace, a creative and very different lifestyle and we wandered around her shop, the lane and the town in pure relaxed holiday mode.

I love Coonawarra, for me it provides an escape and a basis for some very worthwhile eating and drinking.