A Visit of Australia Part 1

We, meaning myself and my wife Louise, arrived in Australia just under a week ago with a fab three part plan which involved time with our recently emigrated friends Richard and Emma and their son Sebastian in Perth, a trip with them to Busselton and the fabulous Margaret River wine region, and finally a few days in Sydney prior to our return to the UK. But let's not think that far ahead.

Since my love of wine began many years ago I have never really been into Australian wines, thinking it was all about heavy, oaked Chardonnay and full bodied spicy Shiraz. Now I do know that isn't the case and on this trip I am determined to dispel myself of that image.

Australia's version of Majestic?

I'm lucky enough to be staying in the very upmarket area of Applecross where there are many multi million dollar houses and in the village there is Vintage Cellars, Australia's answer to Majestic Wines in the UK, where better deals are offered for multi bottle purchases.

Vintage Cellars Applecross and my helpful friend in store

Once inside the store, which is pretty large, I was astonished by two things, firstly much of the Australian wine was quite expensive $25+ (£16+) and secondly the imported wine from Chile, Argentina and particularly New Zealand offered much better value. I asked one of the guys in store about this at the same time as asking if I could take a couple of photos. His answer was yes to the photos and a vague answer about importing in bulk. A great shame but so goes world commerce these days.

Fine Pinot Noir with soft tannins and cherry flavours

To the wine: I began searching for an appropriate red for us to drink that night. Now my wife does not drink red (rose for her) and my friends are only recent converts so I thought a nice Pinot Noir would be good. Ideally I wanted one from Western Australia so I asked my friend in store and he recommended a Bellarmine Pinot Noir from Pemberton, one of three WA Pinot they offer. The others were rather out of my price range. We drank it with some grilled chicken salad and it was rather good. Black cherries and subtle spice with soft tannins and my friends liked it. Indeed we moved onto another bottle of red, but I'll save that for another day.

Next time.....More Australian wine adventures.

Enjoy your wine.

Cheers
Simon