I've just spent two days in Barossa
Friday: Tscharke, Rockford and Lou Miranda
Tscharke was a nice family run winery, it had a very nice cellar door, and some good range of reasonable priced wines, I was driving so I skipped this one, but enjoyed the wines as a 'drink now' style.
Rockford: Sigh, arrived just before 3, and well, it was full, 4 of us tasting but there was room for 2 people on the bench, I said we were happy to wait until more space freed up, but nope, they pushed us in, so we went 2 on bench and 2 behind.
Wines were good and had a knowledgeable staff member at the start, but then after a group moved on we had a bit more space but our staff member moved on and we had a brand new staff, only their 2nd day (we all need to start somewhere) but definitely felt like a number, when we were told to make more room (from our already limited area) two of tasters tapped out. I enjoyed the GMS but overall a bit disappointed with cellar door experience.
Lou Miranda: One of our crew was keen to get a sparkling, and since we were 1 week too early for the Rockford, we landed accidently here, when we arrived the place was empty, Staff was very friendly and gave us some generous tastings of all wines, including some great tawny. Looked like a great spot for lunch.
Saturday: Henschke, Maggie Beer, Two hands & Kellermeister
Time certainly got away from us today, I was keen to check out
henschke, it was about 25mins out of barossa, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, staff were excellent, generous pours, and a stunning drive through Eden Valley. Paid an extra $20 for wheelwright and Mount Edelstone, we received generous pours, I received a few henschke over the years and the staff had good knowledge of when to drink etc, and really enjoyed the experience of the day. Arrived at 12 and left 1.30 or so.
Drove to
maggie beer eatery for lunch, which was thoroughly enjoyable. Would recommend.
Next on to
Two Hands for what was the best of the weekend, staff grabbed us a private table and she stayed with us the entire time, poured us the days tasting and whatever else that was open. Really enjoyed my time here, it was nearly all Shiraz, but from various single vineyards, it was great to taste a Clare Valley and a McLaren Vale side by side to compare. 'Charlie's garden' and a drink now 'Angel's share' shiraz were my picks.
I think we tasted close to 12 wines (8 on the flight and 4 extras) Tasting cost $10 and received a free wine glass.
Bought some wines to be shipped here and some to drink that night. 2.45 - 4.30 ish time really flew here
Original plan was to go to Charles melton, but since time got away we went on to
Kellermeister (as it closed at 5.30) This was a bit rushed due to our slow day, but the spot was beautiful, a couple of tables outside were full with people having a bottle enjoying the view. Tasting fatigue was on show here since it was close to closing, but enjoyed the limited wines, although staff were pouring out of a ridiculously large riedel decanter, which took several turns to actually get wine out of. (
Riedel - Eve Decanter | Peter's of Kensington I think) I felt the black sash was my wine of the weekend.