Wednesday, 5 November 2008
We were heading south on the East Side of the Road Day in the Clare Valley chasing lunch, aware Kirrihill Wines houses Salt ‘n’ Vines (our preferred option though we hadn’t booked). As it turned out we were early, and a diversion into the Cellar Door seemed to be the way to go.
Kirrihill is an interesting operation, owned bya company that manages a substantial chunk (1300 hectares) of South Australia’s vineyards which would, one suspects, have certain advantages when it comes to sourcing high quality grapes for your wines.
The Cellar Door had an extremely informative attendant and, since we were her only customers for most of our stay there we benefited from detailed information about the wines on offer. That was handy, since there were three ranges available for tasting - the $15 Companions (mostly blends of Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills fruit except for the 2008 Clare Valley Rose), the $20-$25 Single Vineyard Series and the $29 Kirrihill Estates 2004 Clare Valley Riesling, a five-star wine which appears in my notes with a single word (”Buy”) beside it. So we did, and there were half a dozen waiting for us at the Post Office when we got home.
Of the Companions Range, the 2008 CV/AH Riesling Pinot Gris, the 2006 CV/AH Cabernet Merlot and the 2007 AH/CV Tempranillo Garnacha were particularly memorable, though everything on offer was much more than merely acceptable.
At the price point the Single Vineyard Series were, I thought, particularly outstanding with my preference going to the 2008 Pinot Noir Rose Brut, the 2008 Watervale Riesling and the 2006 Clare Valley Baile An Gharrai Shiraz.
Having tasted virtually the entire range on offer the prospect of a break over lunch was particularly appealing so we headed upstairs to Salt ‘n’ Vines where my Trio of Game Meats and Madam’s Smoked Atlantic Salmon may well have gone down very nicely with a glass of something other than water but She was driving and I was temporarily tasted out.