{"id":1767,"date":"2021-02-25T19:32:16","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T19:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2021-02-25T19:39:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T19:39:40","slug":"memories-of-the-barossa-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1767","title":{"rendered":"Memories of the Barossa Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are sections of Wine Country that we return to over and over: California, France, Italy, Long Island among them.\u00a0 We suspect that many wine tasting enthusiasts focus on these and other popular destinations.\u00a0 And then there are the wine making areas that are near cities where life just happens to take us.\u00a0 It has been many years since we visited Australia\u2019s Barossa Valley, because we had some work in nearby Adelaide, only 45 minutes away.\u00a0 We\u2019re sure that much has changed in the interim, but some things have remained the same.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Barossa Valley, among the most beautiful wine-producing regions in the world.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of TrailHopper<\/em><\/p>\n

We are certain that they still drive on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car.\u00a0 If driving while wine tasting concerns you, then doing everything backwards won\u2019t ease your worries.\u00a0 Maybe this is the occasion to take a tour. (We were hosted and chauffeured by a business colleague, so as they say there, \u201cNo worries, mate\u201d.)<\/p>\n

A distinctive feature of the Barossa Valley is its German heritage.\u00a0 Many of the wineries there sport Germanic names and a lot of the restaurants are the wurst places to go.\u00a0 (Sorry about that.) \u00a0Of course, there are many people of British extraction there as well.<\/p>\n

Barossa is famous for one grape: Shiraz.\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s called Syrah in France and America, but Aussie Shiraz is really distinctive.\u00a0 The first time we were served it by Australian friends, we thought the wine had gone bad.\u00a0 Then we realized it was just different from anything we\u2019d ever tasted before.\u00a0 Of course, Australian wines are better known these days but be prepared for some eye (and mouth) opening experiences.<\/p>\n

Wine tasting in Barossa is familiar to many Americans.\u00a0 The people are friendly and welcoming and if possible even more casual than the servers in Sonoma or Paumanok.\u00a0 Being Australian, they are hearty and bold, and the same can be said of their wines.\u00a0 If you like power hitters, you\u2019ll be in heaven here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Henschke winery tasting room.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

They are intensely proud of their wines, as they should be.\u00a0 Their wineries were little known outside Australia when we were there but wines from Seppelt, Peter Lehmann, Torbreck and Wolf Blass (note all the German names) can be found in wine stores around the world.\u00a0 Of course, what we get at home are the mass production wines.\u00a0 You can taste some of the rather spectacular wines they keep for themselves if you visit Barossa.<\/p>\n

Two Barossa wines can hold their own with the best in the world.\u00a0 The most famous is Penfolds Grange.\u00a0 Even greater, to our taste, is Henschke\u2019s Hill of Grace. These are massive wines, 100% Shiraz and sought after by wine lovers everywhere.\u00a0 Of course, they come at quite a price, north of $650 American dollars at the winery.\u00a0 To give an idea how long ago we visited the Barossa Valley, we were able to pick up bottles of both at $25 American dollars, equivalent to $63 today.\u00a0 Here\u2019s to the memories.<\/p>\n

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There are sections of Wine Country that we return to over and over: California, France, Italy, Long Island among them.\u00a0 We suspect that many wine tasting enthusiasts focus on these and other popular destinations.\u00a0 And then there are the wine making areas that are near cities where life just happens to take us.\u00a0 It has … Continue reading Memories of the Barossa Valley<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1770,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767\/revisions\/1770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}