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Published: November 22nd 2010
Lyndoch
A rose garden in the town.What a fantastic day (again!). Today we drove to Barossa Valley to check out some wineries. We had a newspaper section reviewing Australian wines but managed to leave it in our room. Probably worked out even better for us without it because we happened upon some amazing wineries and some great people we might not have otherwise encountered.
We arrived in the town of Lyndoch with the hope of finding an area winery map. A beautiful little place with many restaurants and roses everywhere but no visitor center. So we went into the Post Office to ask where we could find information. The woman there sent us to the Kies Family Winery for a map. At the Kies winery we found a charming Cellar Door (tasting room) and a very friendly tasting hostess. Tastings are usually free at the wineries, like they USED to be in Napa. This nice lady talked with us for quite a while, then gave us an area map and marked a few of her favorite wineries for us. We liked her (and the wines) so much we followed her suggestions. We were the only people at all but one of the wineries we visited, and
Kies Winery
Roses, flowers and gardens abound in the area. were able to have long conversations with the owners/vintners at each winery. At Stanley Lambert Wines we were greeted by a young man who said he liked Mike’s Chargers cap, saying he is a fan. Turns out he grew up in Carlsbad and Encinitas and came to Australia to work on his parent’s winery (the Lamberts) after getting bored with his engineering job in the states. Later in the conversation he calls his mom out of the office and it turns out she and her husband hail from Wisconsin, not far from where Mike grew up. It was too crazy! What a small world it can be. Our other favorite of the day was our last stop at Sieber Wines. It was off the beaten path and we arrived 10 minutes before closing. The owner came out to greet us, obviously just in from working in the vineyard. He poured the wines and sat down to join us, drinking and talking about the wines, his life as a vintner, climate change, politics… It was an incredible experience to have the opportunity to have these personal exchanges. We also loved most of the wines we sampled at the various wineries, so
Kies Winery Hostess
The adorable staffer who chatted us up and directed us to her favorite wineries in the region, our purchase selections were difficult. We can only bring back 2 bottles each without tariff, and we’ll be going through more wine country on our way to Melbourne. Oh well, we figure we’ll just have to drink some between now and when we head back home.
Back at the apartment we a dinner of beef stew, French baguette and red wine. Life is good.
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