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Published: November 24th 2008
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Albert River Wines
View from veranda. Finally, I’m going on the wine tour that I have been anticipating for weeks. Our day begins at 9:00am when our tour guide Peter picks us up in front of Nick’s place. There are two young English people already in the van and with the addition of Nick and I; we had our group for the day. It is always nice to have a small group because you get more personalized service at the wineries…and we got just that. As we headed for the sub-tropical hills of Tamborine Mountain Peter explained how he and his wife had started their wine tour service and informed us that he was in the Australian Navy for 20 years before changing professions. He had an hour to feed us information about the region we would be visiting and the history of the Hinterlands that surround the area. Basically, the whole area had been created by a volcanic eruption and subsequent collapse of a huge caldera of magma that created a deep depression (bowl shaped valley) surrounded by a rim that was left well elevated above the valley below. The area is far enough away from ocean and ideally positioned to create a micro climate ideal
Old Ball Room
The old ballroom in the Tamborine House. for growing different varietals of white and red wines. The other spectacular quality of the region is that wineries are positioned at different elevations on the hillside and these geographical differences result in both subtle and sometimes drastic flavour differences arising from the same grape varietals. Not to mention that the composition of the soil was earthier at the top of the hillside and composed to a higher degree of granite as you travel downwards. We started our day at the top.
Albert River Wines is one of Queensland’s leading boutique wineries and is located at one of the State’s oldest and most historic properties - Tamborine House. The area was first settled in 1801 and the landmark homestead was built in 1858, which still stands today. The winery occupies 78 hectares and the cellars form part of the heritage dwellings and emphasizes the historic surroundings. I have some pictures of the interior and views from the surrounding veranda.
Tasting notes:
We started out day with a non-vintage Sparkling Red ($18). I’ve never had a sparkling red before but this blend of shiraz which was carefully aged in oak barrels, sparkled and then yeast added was bang
on the money. The nose had a little of that peppery flair that is characteristic of the Shiraz grape but it came off as a sweet-fruit, full-bodied young wine on the palette. It is a perfect young bubbly wine to take on a date with a young bubbly girl.
Next we had the 2006 Jacaranda White ($18) which is named for the jacaranda trees that produce beautiful and vibrant mauve flowers. The entrance to the winery is lined with these trees. This wine was a fresh and distinctive Semillon, Chardonnay & Verdelho blend made with full fruity aromas. I have to say that I’m usually not a big fan of chardonnays; however as a blended grape (with Riesling from Niagara) I find it quite nice. This was perhaps the best white of the day and it was so balanced in its honey sweetness with a crispy clean finish and best of all made for immediate drinking. Needless to say I bought a bottle.
The N.V. Chardonnay Viognier ($20) was a very easy drinking wine that provides a sweet citrus punch at the front of the palette and showing a great deal of peachy flavours and concentrated lime
and lemon toward the back end. This one did not blow me away, but like I said, very easy drinking wine and very versatile. This winery uses only hand-picked grapes and I can’t begin to tell you what a huge difference that it makes. Think about it, the wine maker gets to select each piece of fruit that goes into the bottle compared to a machine harvester that is not selective for damaged or lesser quality grape. Every single wine that we tried at this first venue was above average and they all got two thumbs up from me.
The Red Belly Black Tawny (Port) was the epitome of what port should be. Blended from several red grape varieties and aged in old barrels to take up its oak character and mature brandy spirit, this wine showed a masterful balance of sweetness. I could definitely detect the brandy coming through and I also noted hints of a jam and fig. I bought a bottle of this as well.
Okay, I’m realizing that I have a lot to say about the wines and we tried over 30 throughout the day, so I can’t talk about every single one. I’ll
leave this post here and pick up again a little later. In my next blog post I’ll talk about the Verdelho grape which is used to make the single varietal, signature-wine of the Queensland region.
A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine. -Louis Pasteur
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