Wine tasting in Langhorne Creek

Last time we Skyped with Vicky's parents, they were concerned that the blog kept referring to boozing. So we decided that in for a penny, in for a pound, and went wine tasting in Langhorne Creek, South Australia.

Vicky kept making noises about going hiking, which I pretended to ignore until I realised that we were going hiking around wineries, sampling the produce along the way. Then I couldn't get my sensible shoes on fast enough. We drove over to that evenings stopover, Cleggett Wines, the home of white Cabernet Sauvignon, which has a huge studio room for overnight guests, and a cellar door for tastings. We met the delightful owners, Anne and Mac, and Anne poured us a couple of their wines to try - they make a fantastic 2011 white Cabernet Sauvignon and a really good sparkling bronze (rose) Cabernet Sauvignon. We asked for a bottle of that in our fridge for when we got back from our winery tour of the area.



The Cleggett winery - www.cleggettwines.com.au




Anne and Macs beautiful back garden (vines in background), which our room looked out over.

We then headed over to Newmans, which is mainly a horseradish farm, but has also branched out into selling wine. I love horseradish and they produce a pretty spectacular dip, so ignoring the fact that fridge space wasn't always going to be forthcoming and it was going to be 30 degrees, I bought some of that, as well as a charming Pinot Gris.



The cellar door at Newmans www.newmanshorseradish.com.au


At this point, we agreed it was sensible to pop back to Cleggetts to drop the car off so we could carry on with our quest, then wondered down to The Winehouse, where the lovely Deb let us sample several of their wines, including a great party sparkler and a lovely Gypsy Jack Shiraz, which we bought a bottle of and were SO grateful for when we arrived in a wet and miserable Apollo Bay a few days later. The people in Langhorne Creek are so friendly, Deb dropped our wine back at Cleggetts for us and Kate at The Winehouse gave us a lift to the next winery, Bleasdale.




With the delightful Deb at The Winehouse www.thewinehouse.com.au

At Bleasdale, we were introduced to Robbie, and ended up having a good chat with him about wine, Australia, the UK, and inexplicably, bread sauce. Several samplings in, and with it being so close to Christmas, we wrote out a bread sauce recipe for him, which I hope is actually legible. They make a really good sparkling Shiraz, so we got a bottle of that, and some of their Verdelho, which was also excellent. www.bleasdale.com/au



Still standing!




Robbie (holding bread sauce recipe) with British accountant and non bread sauce connoisseur, Anthony.


We then hike-staggered back to Ann and Mac's place, where they'd left a huge plate of cheese in our room. We cracked the sparkling rose, and made noises about going to the pub for dinner. I went for a 'little lie down' only to awaken at 9 30pm. Damn that daytime drinking. Needless to say, we'd missed dinner.

We left Langhorne Creek after breakfast the following day having had an ace time, an amazing nights sleep, and with a car full of wine. Bonza. The Great Ocean Road awaited us.


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Location:South Australia