It is wet and cold here in Stanthorpe today so what better thing to do than a full day wine and cheese tasting tour. The tour started around 10am and finished at 4.00pm and all up we visited five wineries, one cheese factory and a delicious warming lunch at Blue Pot Pantry.
Our first winery was Whisky Gully Wines. I don't know whether it was just because it was first up or not but this winery was my pick of the day. There Piazza Red with its smoky bacon flavours was a winner as well as the Republique Red that was a nice blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. I am not normally a dessert wine drinker but the Entente Cordiale was quite a treat. The suggestion to serve it in a glass with 1 part gin, 2 parts Cordiale and topped with soda water and a slice or lemon, won me over. Can't wait to try this on a balmy evening.
Next was Ridgemill Estate where, once again we tasted some very good wines. We settled on a 2019 Riesling and Rose that satisfied our wine palate. We learnt a lot about wine tasting today but just can't quite master the drawback that sounds like a shoooshh sound. My sound came out more like a snort 😩....
Our third winery was Casley Mount Hutton. I loved sitting around the bar for our tasting and our young host was very knowledgeable . There were some pretty impressive wines to taste and it was here that we purchased our one and only bottle of Port aptly named Decadence. It has been a best seller for the winery and our host said that if they could go back 10 years they would have tripled the batch!
From here we drove the short distance to our lunch destination at Blue Pot Pantry. This little gem of a place had a nice selection of homemade sauces, condiments and jams. I decided on the Worcestershire Sauce and Fig Jam so stay tuned for the taste test. Once we were all seated at our table the meal came quite quickly as we had already pre-chosen what we wanted. I chose the Beef Steak Pie and Philip the Lamb Sausages. My meal was both delicious and filling whereas I think Philip could have had another sausage. I did share. This was all washed down with Green Tea for me and Cappuccino for Philip. No wine with the meal as we had already had our fair share prior to lunch 😁. We enjoyed our meal to the sound of the heavy rain falling on the galvanised iron roof. Is there any better sound? The rain did not let up all day so we patted ourselves on the back for choosing this activity today.
After lunch we once again piled into the mini van and headed to our third winery, Kominos Wines. The host was informative but the only wine that we both liked and purchased was an Unwooded Chardonnay and I am a little apprehensive about opening this wine because I think we may be disappointed. Anyway, we will have to wait and see.
Next place to visit was Stanthorpe Cheese. There was nothing wrong with the cheese here and I ended up purchasing four different types as well as Black Garlic and Lemon Butter. The presentation and tasting could have been a lot better. It was very rushed but as I was purchasing my goodies I realised that they were about to shut the shop for the day hence the hurry. I'm sure we are going to enjoy the cheeses with our wine purchases.
The very last winery for the day was the Heritage Estate Winery. They say you should leave the best till last and this was certainly the case here. This winery has won many gold medals and accolades must go to the winemaker, John Handy. John grew up on the property and has been making wine (solo) for 15 years. Heritage Estate Winery has been given the prestige James Haliday 5 Star award. Rightly so, as there wines are impeccable and I can't wait to open our first bottle. The cellar door was originally an apple cold storage facility and the renovation has been done very tastefully. The table that the 10 of us sat around was originally from Parliament House and we wondered at what stories it could tell.
We are going to have a quiet day tomorrow. The men want to investigate the nearby museum and the girls a little retail therapy. We will all meet for lunch at the RSL. You can't say we are not supporting the local economy.......
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