OZtralia.tv Blog

South Australian Wine Part Two

By: Phoenix Arrien

The origins of Coonawarra is based on the humanitarian efforts of a Scotsman called John Riddoch who subdivided his large estate to stimulate employment and immigration in the 1800’s. Fruit was grown until after World War I when only the Redman family were able to keep up table wine production. Samuel Wynn is attributed to boosting the renaissance of the area after World War II when the winegrowers of the area combined their efforts to create a unique and thriving community of specialized branding.

The history surrounded us as we walked up to the sculptured horses at the entrance to the Rymill Winery. The two fighting stallions are all power and glory as they reared up, hooves trying to get a hold on the other’s metal skin, teeth bared as they threw their powerful necks towards each other for a bite on a neck or ear. It’s the time honoured tradition of fighting for supremacy and while the competition is very low key in Coonawarra, almost non-existent in a carefully cultivated environment of mutual support, each winery strives to produce the best wines it can in a competitive market.

Rymill is on part of the original Riddoch run and you know you are tasting long tradition and generations of careful grape cultivation here. Rymill’s tasting room is a grand affair, all chrome and glass, spacious and airy. Apart from their trademark Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlots, on offer are exclusive cellar door sales of a Pinot Noir Chardonnay and a rich red intriguingly called Bees Knees.

With the red wine man, Andrew Rymill himself, pouring the drops, the rich red and sparkling white fluids swam around our mouths, teetered on the edge of our throats for one extra tastebud explosion before falling down into our stomachs with the ease of a professional Olympic diver. An especially nice 2000 Pinot Noir Chardonnay cleansed the pallet with its crispness just nicely to allow the passionfruit characters of the unoaked Sauvignon Blanc to roll around the mouth unhindered.

Our limbs tingling, we went upstairs for an appreciative view of the green shagpile carpets of leafy vines stretching to the horizon. The 100 hectare property baked in the sun and you could almost hear the grapes crying out for the coolness of the oak barrels inside.

A quick run in the limo and were inside the pretty triple gabled stone building on the Wynn’s estate. We were welcomed into the large tasting room where exposed beams held up the roof under which we settled in for a glorious session of wine, humour and titbits of grape information.

Starting with their Shiraz’s and finishing nicely with their very drinkable and well known Samuel Port, we chatted with the friendly staff and I contemplated how important the whole experience becomes when you undertake a winery tour: the wines, the transport, the scenery, the staff, the atmosphere in the tasting rooms….and so far Coonawarra had not disappointed.

Tomorrow it will be time to look at other things than wine (is there anything else in life?)

A Taste of South Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

It did look a bit like a cigar, I wondered as we neared Coonawarra in the east of South Australia. The vantage point I had was special, for I was being flown in a light plane to taste the best reds in the country after deciding to search for the ultimate ‘good life’. Being flown in a private plane is a good start.

The ‘cigar shaped’ strip of soil splattered with the rich greens of leafy grape vines, emerged from the broCwn South Australian landscape more distinctly as we decreased in altitude, the little Piper Warrior II thrumming it’s little engine like the little red caboose; ‘I think I can, I think I can make it to the ground.’

The distinct color of this slice of soil comes from the rich ‘terra rossa’ soil which lends itself to the growing of the grapes perfect for the rich full bodied red wine, which people come from far and wide to taste. Highly oxidized iron in the soil gives this 20 kilometre long and two kilometre wide area its reddish colour and at $100,000 per hectare (when you can get land here) it is a highly prized piece of soil.

Reaching the Mecca of Australian Reds our winery tours could not be carried out in a light plane. Ground vehicles are required and we decided to keep to our pact by touring these wineries in nothing less than a stretched limousine.

I never realized how fitting it is to climb out of a private plane and into the mighty purring leather clad comfort of one of the luxurious stretched limousine’s owned and driven by Ken Rucioch, from the glorious stable of Mt Gambier based Barron Limousines. It works! They go hand in hand (or wing in wheel)!

Ken’s sleek white car purred down the road to the airstrip, stopping to wait for us as we tucked Piper away for the weekend. Ken’s neat suited form welcomed us to the Coonawarra region and smiling with anticipation we climbed into the car and sunk into comfort and style.

It’s useful to travel with a local and Ken told us about wineries, people, places and events which characterize the area, filling the region with personalities and stories. The wineries he took us to were all individual in their atmosphere, wines and people, making it a different experience fronting up at each cellar door.

This is the reason I love boutique wineries. You get drawn into the winemakers’ passions (and all small winemakers I have met exude a passion spilling over into obsession) and become absorbed in quiet explanations about the fruit they grow and the wine they press, as the precious drops of their creations are carefully poured into your glass.

It makes the wine taste better…somehow more personal…then just opening a bottle of red at the kitchen table back home. You feel you are part of the creative process, which started as a tiny seed in the soil, nurtured to a green plant, carefully pruned, watered and fed.

The fruit, picked, pressed and then stored in the cool oak barrels of the cellars has reached its final resting place - your stomach - the final step, the ultimate goal for the whole long careful journey of the grape. And you can feel the journey as you drink!

I shall contemplate on this further over a slow glass of red and get back to you tomorrow.

Storm Boy Outside of Adelaide

By: Phoenix Arrien

An iconic film was made in Australia decades ago. Storm Boy is an endearing and enduring film about a boy who befriends a pelican. It was filmed on the Coorong, a system of lakes stretching along the South Australian coast east of Adelaide.

If you want to experience this beautiful, bird-filled natural paradise you will have to go soon. The lakes are fed by the Murray River, the greatest river in Australia - that is not so great anymore.

Decimated by drought and irrigation, the lower Murray now does not have enough water to always reach the sea and moves are afoot to build a weir upriver from the mouth to save enough water for Adelaide’s drinking needs as well as saving the lower Murray from acidification.

This means that the lakes of the Coorong will be filled with seawater and changed from its natural condition.

Farmers have had a terrible time with prolonged drought and while the government is sporadically buying voluntary irrigation rights to put irrigation-allocated water back into the Murray, to save the Murray (the lower end problem is only the start) means some drastic measures.

Conservation groups talk about the need to buy back of a lot more water, making the irrigation systems more efficient (some estimates point out that most of the diverted Murray water is actually lost to evaporation on the way to the farms) and perhaps shutting down water guzzling operations such as cotton farms that a dry continent like Australia really cannot support.

Groups and governments are arguing, while the Murray dries up and the pelicans fly away.

OZ Blog Writer Experiences Lakes Entrance, South Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

The best way to explore the Lakes is by boat. Our boat, The Director, a modern 12 metre catamaran with indoor and outdoor entertaining areas and fully stocked bar,  picked us up at the jetty just outside our accommodation at the luxurious Moorings.

This accommodation is dazzling. The Moorings are a complex of apartments overlooking the pretty Metung Marina, a focus of the charming little lakeside village of Metung, which we found to be a quieter place to stay then the buzz at the Lakes Entrance township.

What is it about waterside accommodation that eventually finds one relaxing on a balcony with a glass of local wine, watching yachts bob up and down in calm water while gulls dance on the air waves?

The Director took us on a journey into the Lakes with history, nature and birdlife vying for our attention until the dolphins leapt alongside and everything else became secondary. The skipper had spent many years on the lakes and was full of stories, while he let kids, brimming with importance, take the wheel on the calmer stretches of water.

Afternoon tea satisfied everyone and a walk across a spit of land to see the wild waters of Bass Strait and hear about an epic walk undertaken by shipwreck survivors to Sydney in the 1800s let our imaginations run as wild.

Sadly leaving the Lakes area we headed along the highway to Orbost, a vibrant little place where walks, picnics spots and shops are the main attractions. The road from here is through forests and over rivers; a magnificent drive though nature and we sighted wallabies (a small kangaroo), echidnas (similar to a porcupine), a blue-tongued lizard and plenty of birds.

Try the south eastern coast of Australia - I am sure you won’t be disappointed.

Snow Me Kangaroo Down, Sport!

By: Phoenix Arrien

Snow, beauuuutiful snow! Yes the white cold stuff is beginning to fall on the mountains of southern Australia.

Cross-country skiing is my favourite type of snow play: out there in the bush, all that exercise, those gnarled snow gums frosted with ice, the sharp clear skies and invigorating cold air…I love it. However most visitors seem to go for downhill skiing so here is a wrap of the most popular resorts:

Falls Creek (upmarket, fabulous location)  www.fallscreek.com.au

Mt Hotham (own airport, something for all ages and abilities) www.hotham.com.au

Mt Buller (close to Melbourne, value for money) www.mtbuller.com.au

Thredbo (more remote than most other ski fields, serious runs) www.thredbo.com.au

Don’t forget if driving you need to use snow chains. Fuel is expensive but there are plenty of other options including public transport, groups and tours.

A Weekend With Friends In Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

We just spent the weekend with friends who live by the sea. Lakes Entrance is a lovely town on the south coast of Australia that offers both lakes and seaside tranquillity.

We arrived by train from Melbourne - took just under four hours - and headed to the beach where a long line of fisher folk cast their lines into the wild surf. Apparently it was a fishing competition.

Next day thirty vintage cars moved into the main street and parked in long rows so people could peer into their leathery insides, check out the motors and admire the ‘flaming’ paintwork.

The local market was on and people were swinging their clubs on the golf course. I joined the throngs browsing the bookstores, found an interesting book and settled into a cafe overlooking the waterfront called the ‘Six Sisters and a Pigeon’ (no sign of any pigeons but the sisters serve a bonza hot chocolate).

Yup, a weekend, in a small Australian town. Travelling Australia? Settle into a small town for the weekend.

The Oceans of Australia

By: Phoenix Arrien

Well, we passed 2008 Environment Day last week so I am peppering this week’s posts with a few environmental thoughts. Today may be the day to mention an organisation to which I belong. The Wilderness Society is dedicated to helping preserve Australia’s wild places and one of their most interesting moves at the moment is to “secure some of our marine environment in fully protected marine parks, reduce the pressure from over-fishing, and help our amazing marine life to survive into the future for our kids and their kids to enjoy.”

A worthy mission eh?

Beyond the sandy beaches and rocky coastlines of this vast continent is an amazing underwater world, brimming with life, kelp forests, sponge gardens, coral reefs, turtles, dolphins, crabs, sea snails, and fish.

The Wilderness Society (TWS) have already had some campaign success resulting in fully protected marine parks for Ningaloo coral reef in WA, in parts of the Great Australian Bight off SA and in the Southern Ocean. TWS is slowly growing its marine campaign team around the country with active marine campaigns in New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.

More information: www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/