The 2006 Grenache Shiraz ($20) was smooth, and would be almost unrecognisable to anyone who’d cut his teeth on the big grenaches of yesteryear. They were on the last stocks of the 2005 Shiraz ($25) which was excellent but you’d need to be quick.
The 2006 Sangiovese ($25) was excellent with a lovely velvety mouth-feel and every inch the 94-point wine that Halliday rates it as while the 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon ($25) was summed up very nicely in the cellar notes as not shy in any way. At the same time it’s not an aggressive wine, making its presence felt without trying to knock your block off.
By this stage it was about 11:45 with the next planned activity being a circuit around the Spring Gully Loop for a photo opportunity at the Spring Gully Lookout before visiting one (or possibly two) wineries before lunch at Skillogalee, where I wasn’t planning to do any tasting. The Lookout wasn’t quite what we’d been hoping for (I’d thought we’d be looking east across the vineyards whereas we ended up looking over towards the sun would be setting in a few hours’ time.
The time factor, after we’d spent much longer than planned at Jim Barry (not that I’m objecting, mind you) meant that it was a case of one winery before lunch so we headed over to the old stone apple shed that houses Mitchell Wines. Once we’d finished there it wasn’t quite time for lunch, but at the same time there wasn’t time for another, particularly when the next stop was going to be Kilikanoon.
Lack of something to scribble on close at hand means that I’m relying on memory to describe a relatively hurried visit to a winery where I liked everything on offer very much. The 2006 Watervale Riesling ($22) was another in a succession of fantastic wines. The 2004 GSM Grenache was excellent, with the S originating from Sangiovese rather than the usual Shiraz. The quality continued with the 2006 Peppertree Vineyard Shiraz ($25), the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon ($25) and the stunning 2000 McNicol Shiraz ($40).
If that seems to be giving the place short shift, when I asked Madam for her impression of the place she suggested that it was probably the best winery we’d visited that day and when we met the foursome we’d seen at Jim Barry over lunch I was quite emphatic. They had to visit Mitchell.
Getting to Skillogalee and lunch meant a slight slice of backtracking, and since were there slightly before the time we’d booked I tried some of the range on offer - just, you understand, to fill in some time, but it was enough to suggest that a glass of the Riesling would go well with lunch.
From the time we were seated under the old olive tree the reasons we’d been told that lunch at Skillogalee was a must do were obvious. It’s a lovely spot, the views across the vines were divine and the food was superb.