Maclaren Vale

I finally succumbed. Having travelled through innumerable wine districts over the last few weeks (think Hunter Valley, Tamar Valley, Coonawarra, Adelaide Hills, Limestone Coast, Mornington Peninsula, Padthaway and Clare Valley) I finally did some serious wine tasting. Before I could do that I caught up with an old buddy who I had let slip through the cracks. David Bolton, or DB as he is known, owns a company here is Adelaide called Maximum Gaming. He and I, along with selected others, had an annual ritual of catching up every year at the Gaming Expo in Sydney. Needless to say it was lots of good food, food wine and good company. He kindly took a day out of his busy life to play tour guide to Maclaren Vale. Together we drank lots of wine, talked about the old days, caught up on the new developments he has going (he will be king of LED lighting in Australia of that I have no doubt) and took is some magical wines accompanied by some fabulous vistas. A better way to spend a day I cannot think of.

DB had no idea I was in town, I'd lobbed up at his office on Friday morning and ran into his wife Liz asking if he was available. He wasn't and I left him my number in my copperplate handwriting and asked him to give me call. Well he tried to call all day, but my handwriting is that bad he had misread one of the numbers. Fortunately Liz saved the day and could decipher my hieroglyphics. The correct number was called and a day in Maclaren Vale was planned.

Some serious wine makers are represented here, with the likes of Tatachilla, Rosemount, Wirra Wirra, Angoves, Leconfield, Geoff Merrill, Marienberg, Pirramimma, d'Arenberg plus many others (about 70 in total) are all to be found. While 70 seemed like a noble if unrealistic goal we ended up seeing the more modest number of 5. There were two issues at play here, firstly it was a question of quality. Having a little local knowledge in the form of DB helped enormously, he chose the wineries to visit and I can say hand on heart and glass in mouth that he didn't put a foot wrong. Secondly there was the matter of lunch. No winery, no matter how good, was going to get in the way of us chewing the fat and solving all the world's problems over something to eat.

First port of call however was DB showing me his new business expansion, Maximum Lighting. We called in at a number of venues he was working on or had recently worked on to show me his stuff. It was great to see and share his passion. He has developed a product that can cut your lighting bill in some cases by over 70%. He can retrofit existing installations or design a new setup. What's really cool is that if you are from NSW a significant proportion of the initial setup cost can be offset by a rebate from the state government.  There are also maintenance savings to be had as well, with much of his product warranted for more than 3 to 5 years. With power bills going up the way that they are, his clients are seeing a return on investment with just power and maintenance savings in under a year. This really is the future. One of the venues he was working on was the local visitor centre in Maclaren Vale where of course we could try some local wine. What a convenient place to start. 

From there we headed to Penny's Hill, an unknown winery to me and sampled some of their reds. They also made and excellent Muscat that I availed myself of.

From there we headed to quite an eclectic winery named Hugh Hamilton (the black sheep of the family, every family has one). His wines had names like "The Rascal", "The Villain" and "The Mongrel", all fabulous stuff for which I can personally attest. Have a look at the tremendous cellar door they have below. Now that's an office I could come to every day.

From there it was on to lunch at the local Maclaren Hotel where we gorged ourselves on haloumi, chorizo, shoulder of lamb and kangaroo fillet. Then it was on to some more wineries.

Next stop on the tour was Wirra Wirra, home of the famous church block family of reds. 

Finally A Bottle Even I Am Scared Of

Another great venue that had some fabulous wines, many of them only available from the cellar door in particular a fabulous Monastrell based wine that well worth the trip on its own.

In His Natural Habitat

They also had an excellent muscat so I will be coming home well stocked for the Muswellbrook winter. 


Last on the list was Angoves, known mainly for their brandy and bulk wines. I thought the mighty DB may have put a foot wrong here, my previous experience with the wines from here had not been pleasant, so I entered with some trepidation. DB was on the money again, what can I say but things have changed. Excellent wine and a well set up and elegantly appointed tasting centre. We met with a 4th generation member of the Angoves family who talked with knowledge and passion about the wines and the winery. In fact this guy was so good he was still talking to us 20 minutes after he should have been shut. They also had an excellent port that may or may not make it back home.


So its a big thank you to Mr & Mrs Bolton, their kindness was greatly appreciated. I picked DB's rather overflowing brain and he suggested I check out the Flinders Ranges so I will make my way at a leisurely pace out through the Clare Valley and stop somewhere interesting along the way. Then it will be time to hit the Nullarbor via Port Lincoln. I know it seems crazy but I may very well run out of time and not make it up to Darwin and Kakadu at this point. Another couple of weeks holidays should do it.