Month: March 2018

Henschke

The Henschke family have been making wine in Keyneton in the Eden Valley in South Australia for 150 years. Their wines include Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone, two of the most sought after Australian Shiraz wines. In this post we concentrate on some of their other wines tasted at a recent visit.

The wines of Henschke are superb, reflecting the care and attention in both the vineyard and winery. They are well worth searching out.

You can view the Henschke website here

Julius Eden Valley Riesling 2017

Pale lime in appearance. Fresh and zingy with bags of lime citrus fruit and great minerality. A nice weight and a good finish. Excellent.

Eleanors Cottage Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon Adelaide Hills/Eden Valley 2015

Aromas of gooseberry, fresh grass/nettle and stone fruit. Palate is full and fresh. Nice weight, lovely balance. Delicious.

Louis Semillon Eden Valley 2015

Aromas of pear, apple and camembert. Palate has nice weight and balance with stone fruits and lime citrus on the finish.

Archers Vineyard Chardonnay Adelaide Hills 2016

Lemon citrus with a touch of vanilla and almond, crisp and fresh. Has spent 8 months in oak and no malolactic fermentation. Very nice, very drinkable

Giles Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills 2015

Very pale but bursting with aromas of cherry, strawberry and cranberry. Palate has these red fruits with lovely touch of spice and savoury flavours. Excellent.

Henry Seven Eden Valley/Barossa Valley 2015

65% Shiraz, 20% Grenache, 10% Mataro, 7% Viognier. Aromas of red berry fruits and cherry. A medium bodied wine with lovely peppery, spicy red fruit on the palate. Easy drinking king style. A good all rounder.

Johann’s Garden Barossa Valley 2015

70% Grenache, 25% Mataro, 5% Shiraz. Ruby red in colour. Medium bodied with red fruits and spice. A lovely finish of red fruit with white pepper.

Keyneton Euphonium Barossa Valley/Eden Valley 2013

45% Shiraz, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Red/garnet in appearance. Full bodied with ripe, plummy fruit. There is a savoury note and chocolate along with a touch of mint. A rich wine with tannins beginning to soften. This is excellent.

Marble Angel Barossa Valley 2012.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon and is the first vintage of this wine released on to the market. Still youthful in appearance. Nose is black fruits, green pepper and eucalyptus. Palate is full and rich with tannins that are beginning to integrate.

Cyril Hanschke Cabernet Sauvignon Eden Valley 2013

88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot. Youthful with hints of maturity beginning to show. N one is black fruits, plum and vanilla. Palate has depth nd is complex with nice balance and weight. Finish is dry with blackcurrant and a hint of cooling mint. A long life ahead of it before peaking. Excellent.

Tappa Pass Shiraz Eden Valley/Barossa Valley 2015

Youthful appearance. Black fruits, farms and peppery. Palate is smooth with plummy black fruits and chocolate. Tannins still firm. A complex wine that delivers a big punch and has great balance. A very good shiraz that will benefit from cellaring.

Noble Rot Semillon Eden Valley 2015

157g/l residual sugar. Pale yellow gold in appearance. Aromas of apricot and peach with orange and caramel. Palate is rich with tropical pineapple and honey and great balance. Very nice.

 

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon is in the Watarrka National Park and is 280 miles from Alice Springs and 180 miles from Uluru. It forms part of the western end of the George Gill Ranges. There are three short walks in the canyon and by far the most popular is the 6Km rim walk.

The rim walk is closed to walkers from 9am on any day that the temperature is forecast to be 36 degrees or above so it pays to start the walk early. Our guide advised that we start the walk at 6.45am which was just at sunrise. It can be completed in 3 hours or so which means that you have finished before it gets too hot. It is also recommended that you carry between 2 and 3 litres of water.

The most difficult part of the walk is the first section which involves climbing 500 steps to get to the top of the canyon.

The ascent is steep and there are no hand rails but it is not too difficult if you take your time and once you have reached the top the hardest part is over and the walk is fairly strait-forward for the rest of the way.

The canyon is made of two types of sandstone, a top layer of Mereenie sandstone with much softer Carmichael sandstone underneath. Over time cracks in the Mereenie layer were widened by the action of rain and wind and eventually these cracks reached the softer layer underneath. This layer eroded much quicker and undercut the top layer causing it to collapse in and form the canyon. A process which probably took millions of years to complete.

The Garden of Eden at the head of the canyon can be reached by a short series of steps. It is a permanent waterhole surrounded by trees and palms and it is a wonderfully tranquil spot and a good place to take a break as you’ve completed almost half of the walk

The canyon is still subject to rock falls and where this occurs it can leave sheer cliff faces with expose the most remarkable patterns on the sandstone surface.

There is evidence in places that this whole area was once sand covered by water. Ripples have been left on the surface which have been incredibly well preserved. They almost look as if they were laid yesterday.

The whole walk is well worth the initial effort in getting to the top of the rim. An amazing experience in a most beautiful of locations

Sunset at Uluru

As the sun sets in the western sky the atmosphere acts like a giant prism and splits the light from the sum into its spectrum of colours. It is light from the red end of the spectrum that hits Uluru and is reflected off it. Hence it will appear redder as the sun goes down. Usually in the last fifteen minutes or so. The changes are subtle and not as bright as you see in some photographs. The following sequence was taken at sunset on March 22nd.