Smashable Stuff in SA!
Since returning home to Australia it has been nice to remove my sommelier hat for the first time in a decade and really just be a true consumer for a moment. Drinking wine without thinking about which restaurant it would go well in, what the consumer perception of it would be and at what price point it would be listed. Ive always believed that the golden rule of being a good sommelier is to never write a list with only wine you like to drink on it, you certainly don’t list wines you dislike, but you have to curb your own personal preference to a certain extent and look at wine with an unbiased eye, appreciate it for exactly what it is and understand that every consumer is different, whilst staying true to your own personal philosophies and knowing that there needs to be something on your list for everyone. I have always said that if I was going to write a wine list just for me it would be full of just Riesling and Pinot and that would be it, one day I secretly hope I get the opportunity to write that list…
After 10 years overseas, one of the most exciting things about being back in Australia is getting to try the wines of the producers that have emerged during this time, many of them producing such small quantities that they are not available outside the state they are made in let alone overseas.
Tom : Shobrook Wines
I recently spent the weekend in South Australia, where there are some seriously exciting wines being produced. From Shobrook’s Tommy Ruff, a blend of Syrah and Mourvedre from the Barossa that wine maker Tom suggests is the perfect thing to drink whilst riding your bike home. To James Erskine of Jauma’s various incarnations of Grenache from McLaren Vale and a Chenin that I could deadest drink for the rest of my days and not complain.
James : Jauma Photo Credit: Julian Kingma
Yes, these wines can be classified as natural and receive all of the adoration and or wrath that ensues, but for me, when considering the final product and what is in the glass first and foremost, before how it is made, these are wines I simply just want to drink. Guzzle in fact. They make me thirsty just thinking about them, and they are kind of wines I can’t wait to show and share with my friends. If that is not the purpose of good wine then I don’t know what is.
Gareth – Gentle Folk
From the Basket Ranges enclave I am also loving the wines of Gentle Folk, who whilst at dinner I found myself reaching for time and time again. At less than a 1000 cases in total production, good luck getting your hands on some…its first in best dressed at there. The one producer of this special collection of humans that I did encounter towards the end of my time in Asia, were the wines of Lucy Margaux in Tokyo, where Anton the wine maker is seen as a demi-god to the natural wine drinking community with bottles of his wine selling faster than tickets to an ACDC concert in Adelaide. With their anime inspired labels, drawn by Anton’s daughter Lucy, their Japanese importer – Wine Diamonds – says they could sell 10 times the small allocation they receive, as I am sure could most sommeliers in Australia.
Anton : Lucy Margaux
Speaking of wines idolized in Japan, just down the road from Lucy Margaux we also visited Ochota Barrels who make my favourite Gewurztraminer in the country and seriously good Pinot Noir amongst many other delicious treats.
Tarras : Ochota Barrels
Wine maker Tarras is such a legend that when the Rolling Stones came to town there was only one place they wanted to go after their ‘gig’, his place! Mick Jagger playing the piano in the winery…is next level. And that’s exactly what the wines being made from this awesome group of individuals are – next level.
I want to drink them all day, everyday and that’s that.
Cheers!
Kx
To buy these wines online (if you there is any left) head to their various websites:
http://www.shobbrookwines.com.au/
http://www.jauma.com/
https://gentlefolk.com.au/
http://www.lucymargauxvineyards.com/
http://ochotabarrels.com/
