If we were at home the De would be making lunches, I would
be heading back to work and the boys would be heading to school today, but we
aren’t at home...we are on holidays! Instead we packed up and headed for the
McLaren Vale and some wine tasting, with the reasoning that today’s lesson is viticulture
101.
We have tried out a lot of Visitor Information Centres since
we left with the majority of them being, errr how can I say this without
seeming a touch ungrateful, completely useless! However the quality had really
increased since we have been in SA and McLaren Vale really had their stuff
sorted! Maps and lists that had opening times and what wine varieties could be
sampled BUT they also had a listing of child friendly wineries!!! Is there an
award out there for the best visitor centre as I want to nominate these guys!!
After a half hour planning session we hit the road.
First stop was Pirramimma. After all of our effort to include
our children interests in our wine tour I was pretty worried as we walked in
the first cellar door. A massive shed, surrounded by a gravel road and inside
was very bare with not a thing to interest kids in site.....hmmm...had I put
that nomination in I would have found a way to retract it....until after our 2nd
tasting the lovely lady offered the boys some cordial tasting. It was the old
style stuff she used to have when her Grandparents (as she was old enough to be
the boys grandparents) took her to the pub on the way back from the races! They
were stoked!
Second stop was Fox Creek Wines which was in a cute little
cottage and around it they had set up a treasure hunt. 15 minutes later the
boys came back with the required code to get their treasure while we had sipped
our way through half a dozen samples!
Next stop was Wirra Wirra and it is a must visit if you ever
make it down here. It is a massive cellar door that has been set up with more
than just wine tasting in mind! The owner is obviously a touch eccentric having
built a set cricket stump and bat two stories tall and a massive catapult that
launches watermelons 100m. They had a ‘minature’ catapult inside that worked as
the kids entertainment and I was amazed that De didn’t walk out with half a
barrel as the young fella behind the bar was doing a great job in smoozing her
while I tried to ensure the boys didn’t put anything other than a cork in the
catapult!
After lunch we moved onto Gem Tree which was interesting if
for nothing more than the story of how they fertilise their vines. Each year
they stuff cow manure into the shell of the horn that has been removed from a
lactating cow. They then burry it underground for six months in a hessian lined
hole and then it is emulsified and spread after 3pm on a certain lunar cycle as
that is when the earth is breathing in. All the time I was waiting for the
punch line....but there was none....they were deadly serious! The funniest part
was that apparently the lactating cow isn’t hurt when their horn is removed!!!!
I am guessing that the lass telling the story hasn’t de-horned to many calves
let-a-lone yearlings in her life!
We moved onto Hugo’s winery where Pam was such an awesome
host. She took the boys under her wing and they really did viticulture 101! Why
nets are used, how many grapes to a bottle, different berry and bunch sizes as
well as leaf shapes and vine methodologies...I learnt more about plants in the
30 minutes we spent there than I did in a whole semester of Horticulture at
Gatton waaay back when I was there!
After a very tough day on the road we rolled onto Clarendon,
which is about 30 minutes out of Adelaide, and set up for the night by the
Onkaparinga River.
Awesome - very jealous...
ReplyDelete