Visit Penfolds winery in Barossa Valley and drive to Halls Gap.
We graze the rolling hills down to a flat plain that is baked into submission by the sun: Shiraz country. Home to Peter Lehman and Penfolds. Birthplace of The Grange.
When that wine was first introduced to international oenophiles in the 1970s, its maker and chief vintner were told it was one of the worst wines ever made and never to make it again. But persistence and knowledge and faith and, probably, no small amount of ego and plain ol’ Aussie cussedness eventually have their day in the sun.
We taste a number of wines at Penfolds cellar door. They are yummy. David thinks the vineyard’s Chardonnay is like a Cotton-Charlemagne, perhaps his favorite white wine. We taste a fifty-dollar 50mm pour of The Grange against a St. Henri Shiraz, which goes for $125 a bottle. The Grange is, actually, better. But it’s still $750 a bottle. We debate. Cynthia offers it as a birthday present. Sooooo tempting. But ….
We push on. And on. And on. And arrive at the Pioneer Cottages in Hall’s Gap in the Grampians, where Wayne and Myra have finished celebrating their son, Ian’s marriage to London-based Sarah, and have bangers and broccoli waiting for us for dinner.
Another day of ‘sick juice” in Oz.
Two Tramps 