Brothers in Arms (Barossa Valley)

Apparently there is a thing over here dear reader called sunrise over the vines. Jayne is uncertain about sunrise and thinks it might be fake news, because whenever she sees the sun it is high in the sky. I had intended to do the sunrise over the vines thing to prove her wrong, but sadly our unit is not well positioned for such pursuits. Therefore, you'll have to enjoy a photo taken by someone else (cheers Chris).

Sunrise over the vines.

The Barossa stay was meant to be a time to slow down and enjoy the area. Today we set the lofty target of two wineries and a late lunch. I am pleased to report, dear reader that we nailed our brief, although not in the time frame we thought. We were out of the apartment before 10:30am and were in Tanunda for coffee pre wine tasting.

Nosh was a deceptively large café. It's on Murray Street and is in the old mill building. A simple doorway gives way to a series of tabled spaces (rooms of the original house), all of which were occupied with people enjoying the fare. The end space was larger again with more tables, all occupied, and a counter and fridge cabinet, filled with delectable treats. Bravely we passed up the pastries and opted for a couple of long blacks to be enjoyed on the street in the sunshine. Yes, my Sydney friends, in the sunshine.

What? You expected a caption?

The breeze was a little challenging at times, but otherwise it was quite pleasant. Even amusing, as a dad on a blade scooter, showing off to his kids, came a cropper on a driveway across the road, and was sent humiliatingly to the ground. Smile. Smirk.

Caffeine craving sated we walked the short distance to the Brothers at War tasting rooms. Also in Murray Street, although their winemaking facility is in Lyndoch, 15 minutes down the road. Hence today's title, an offering by Dire Straits from 1985. I'm not a huge Dire Straits fan but the song seemed to balance the name of the winery. 

Not originally on our list of wineries to visit, we needed to replace Standish Wines because they had already exhausted their stock and had nothing to sell. Sometimes you just luck things and have an awesome experience, other times things fall flat. Today was the former, it will go down as one of our gold wine tasting experiences. Given we started visiting wineries in 1979 and can count one hand the number of golden moments you can be guaranteed dear reader that this place is worth stopping by.

We walked in just after 11am and left at 2pm. We tasted some excellent wines, I joined the wine club (I know, I know), and spent time talking with Lee and Sanna. Both are former Sydney people and Lee spent years living around the corner from us in Erskineville. He knows our favorite French Bistrot owner. We talked Sydney, we talked wine, we talked holiday experiences, we talked and every now and then we tasted their magnificent wines and discussed them and their creation. We also talked about the Bunnies, Sanna is a long time supporter (current Bunnies sticker on the cellar laptop). 

To quote from the book The Wine Producers A Taste of the Barossa, "The brothers take their wine seriously, but at the end of the day, it's about conviviality and connection." They certainly got that right. All in all, one of those golden afternoons of wine tasting that you experience from time to time and long remember.

We were due at our second wine tasting at 12:30pm. I phoned to let them know we would be coming but couldn't put a time on it. Emma was most gracious. At 2:30pm we opened the door to the tasting room and apologised for our tardiness. Kaesler, another winery suggested by our wine man at United Cellars, had some very curiously named wines: Bogan and Old Bastard amongst them. They also had the only Semillon we've seen so far and a rare straight Viognier. Another winning moment. Wine ordered for dispatch home, we walked to the car for the 500 metre drive to the pizza place.

Bought a bottle to share with a friend

Now dear reader, I would be one of the first people to accept that 4pm is an unusual time to be arriving at a pizza place for a meal. Is it lunch? Is it dinner? Well, for us it is both. The young women who showed us to our table was most helpful and re-appeared shortly to take our order. The pizzas at Ember, situated in the Penfolds complex in Nuriootpa, have a fermented sourdough base, and a good range of toppings. They also offer some interesting entrées. They are well worth a visit for the pizza alone.

While the pizzas were very good, the service was a little, um, disinterested. We must have arrived at the changeover of shift because the person who showed us to the table was nowhere in sight when we wanted to box our leftovers. And no-one else seemed particularly interested in us at all. Jayne, taking control, lifted our plate of uneaten pizza and delivered it to the counter herself. At which time the girl behind the register retrieved a box and handed it to me to sort out the rest. Talk about great service. We did - all the way home because that was the antithesis of great service. A pity really, the pizzas were great.

Lunch/dinner completed, leftover pizza boxed, we turned toward the Barossa Resort and our balcony.

And how to cap off an excellent day? The Bunnies smashed arch rivals Easts, Buddy Franklin kicked his 1,000 goal as the Swans put the sword to Geelong and the Australian Men's Cricket Team won the match and series in Pakistan.

Until tomorrow.

Cheers Theme (Paringa to the Barossa Valley)

Leaving The Frames was no easy thing, dear reader. Our time had been so occupied by the other experiences we didn't really have the opportunity to enjoy the retreat as we should. Hence we shall return. If for no other reason than to have a drink and a chat with Rick and Cathy, the owners. We met them in the first year of the plague (2020) when even interstate travel had been curtailed. We were restricted to NSW and ended up at Maramara Resort on the Hawkesbury River, an experience not be repeated (click here) . It was there we met Rick and Cathy, South Australians, who were stranded by their state as the borders "slammed shut" as media, devoid of imagination, have described it. Meeting them was probably the highlight of our time there because they told us about their luxury accommodation on another river.

Our last sunset at The Frames

Reluctantly, we drove out of the gate and turned towards the Heading Cliffs that we enjoyed from river level yesterday. There was a lookout structure on the cliff top and we thought that it might be interesting to see the other view. Great in theory. The view from water level is far superior. You get a much better idea of the structure of the cliffs and can see their colour change with the light. Not to mention getting up close and personal with the peregrine falcons. None of that was evident from the cliff top. The morning was quite fresh after the storm that blew through yesterday, although I was still dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. I thought I had seriously misjudged the weather when we arrived at the lookout to see two people walking across the car park in long trousers and puffy jackets. Queenslanders. Pfft. No idea of cold weather. It was 18°C.

The other most notable feature of the lookout was the proliferation of 'lovelocks' that had been attached to the wire fence around the top level of the lookout tower. Having initially experienced this phenomenon on the bridges across the Seine River in Paris almost a decade ago, we were amused to see the locks on the tower and can only assume the keys have been hurled over the Heading Cliffs, although they would have to have a good arm to actually get them into the Murray. Not such a Herculean feat to drop the key off the Pont Neuf into the Seine. Perhaps a metaphor for the strength and depth of the love that one can find in the Riverlands...

Heading Cliffs from the lookout

Back to the car for the drive to the Barossa Novotel Resort. I have looked at the word 'resort' with much suspicion for many years. Generally it means there is a pool and maybe a tennis court. It has often been used to upmarket something and turn into it something else. Two expressions come to mind: lipstick on a pig and you can't polish a ... decorum ensures I am unable to finish that expression.

The Resort is nicely situated on the side of a hill overlooking grape vines (I know, who'd have thought?) and the Jacob's Creek winery in the distance. A pleasant afternoon can be whiled away on the balcony with glass in hand. Local produce only, of course. The rooms themselves have been refurbed recently. New bathroom, carpet, drapes and appliances in the kitchenette, benchtop and so on. But (there's always a but isn't there, my astute reader?), the glass door to the balcony could only be moved with the greatest of difficulty and much noise. No not from my exertions, from the broken rollers clattering on the deeply furrowed track. The screen door wasn't much better. It's the little things that make a big difference.

Another room with a view

After having driven for a large part of the day, we decided for convenience, to eat at the Resort's Cellar Restaurant. It has quite favourable reviews. Once again, not quite on point. The menu we perused prior to dinner on their online compendium bore no resemblance to what we were presented with at the table. Nonetheless, a first world problem, if ever there was one. The menu wasn't as expansive as the wine list, well the red wines. Four entrées, two of which were vegetarian, another steak tartare and fish. There was the usual assortment of mains and only two desserts. The food was well cooked and tasty, no complaints there, but Jayne's lamb was on the insubstantial side while the predominant element of the dish was the sea of pea velouté, upon which the two small strips of lamb floated.

The oddity of the evening was the waitress who wanted to be Jayne's best friend. Which brings us to today's title, Cheers, "where everyone knows your name". Well, they're making a good fist of it here too.

It would be an exaggeration to say I was ignored, but, I was definitely an afterthought. That's OK, I've been there before in work settings. Apparently the Resort is heading into hyper-conference mode on Thursday and it is going to be very crowded, hence the waitress wanted to get to know us amongst a crowd of conference delegates. She suddenly introduced herself (she was wearing a name tag), asked for Jayne's name and then after a short delay, turned to me. Her eyes said, "oh, are you still here?" but from her mouth, with complete disinterest, came the words, "and your name?", stating she would look forward to seeing us over the next few days. I remarked to Jayne that if I heard banjos playing in the hills tonight we would be out of here. The dining room is a vast expanse with a high pitched ceiling and little sound abatement. For the teachers amongst you, think a dining room on retreat/camp with Year 10. Yes, dear reader, it was loud. It gave me a headache and sent me back to our suite and the balcony where a nice red wine awaited. Although not before we stopped at reception to suggest the balcony doors should be repaired while we were out and about tomorrow.

Tomorrow brings a new day, new adventures and new wineries.

Until then.