Winos hit McLaren Vale

Sunday was spent with the University of Adelaide Wine Club on a mini-trip to McLaren Vale. It was a gorgeous, crisp fall day, the vineyards are turning golden yellow and the sky was that aqueous light blue that makes you want to be a bird so you can go swim in it.

Our first stop was the cellar door (tasting room) of Samuel's Gorge, a rustic old stone home set on a hill overlooking vines. We tasted through their current offerings, including a stellar 2008 Grenache and one of the most restrained, structured, and elegant Shiraz's (2008) I've had from this region. Really atmospheric all around, and a great way to kick off the morning. Plus, they had a dog! I'm a huge proponent of animals at cellar doors. They give such life to the place, and I for one remember the pet long after I forget the taste of the wine. The Samuel's Gorge dog will forever stick in my mind because he perfectly resembled my childhood family dog, incidentally named Sam....


Those of you who knew and loved Sam appreciated his innate ability to turn a tennis ball into a slobbery sponge, smiled when you heard about his adventures at the local construction sites, wondered why he so liked banana bread... you would have been smitten with the winery's big hairy Retroodle. What a dog.

Next stop was Alpha Box & Dice, whose winemaker Justin Lane is famous for being edgy and innovative. The decor of the cellar door certainly fit the unique character of the wines. There are a couple working pinball machines, kitsch from all sorts of antique sales, modern art clearly created during a drunken all-nighter, black and white with accent colors, '60s furniture, a ladder in the rafters, and so on.

Justin challenged us to a blend-off. We split into groups and used 15 or so red wines to make our own blend. Choosing from different styles of Shiraz, Cab Sav, Barbera, Sangiovese, Durif, etc. we put together a wine meant to be a result greater than the sum of its parts. I must say, the final wines were pretty impressive and cool. Hard to go wrong starting from such strong bases, but it was a cool experiment. Our mouths were uniformly purple, and the competition got a little rowdy. I perhaps wasn't my best behaved. I'm a vicious smack-talker when I get excited.

After a bbq lunch, we tasted through the Alpha Box & Dice portfolio... totally impressive through and through... I broke down and bought a couple bottles. Sadly, that was the end of the day, due primarily to the 4pm closing time of most cellar doors. I feel highly motivated to get back out to the wineries ASAP. That is, after all, why I'm here!