20 Jan: Melbourne (VIC) --> Rutherglen (VIC).
After the fun from the birthday festivities, we got off to a slow start for our planned overnight trip to Rutherglen. Unfortunately our friend, +Michael Z., fell ill and we weren't going to be able to see him. Z. was a huge help to us with Purple Teeth Cellars and he repatriated back to Australia working as a GM for Campbells Wines.
I managed to squeeze in a good 5 mile run around "The Tan" (aka the Melbourne Botanical Gardens). On both of my runs in Melbourne, I was able to smell eucalyptus from the trees which was really, really nice. Wonder what Mare thinks I am thinking at this stage? :-)
We headed off for the 3+ hour ride to Rutherglen up north. Rutherglen is known for making "The Stickies" - dessert wine. When you pour those wines, you always up with a little on the bottle and yep, you guessed it, they make the bottle sticky as a result.
[NOTE: I am keeping wine notes separate from these updates, so if you want to see those, let me know. Most people don't, so I am only sticking to general observations here.]
We tasted at Campbells and Chambers. While they had dry wines to taste, Marc and I generally stuck to the sweet wines in both places. At Campbells, they had topaques (no Tokays anymore due to wine classification reasons) and muscats, along with a couple of ports to taste. The gentleman helping us was very nice and explained a bunch of things about Rutherglen, which is experiencing record heat. And as usual, Marc and I differed on our respective favorites. It was fun, but wasn't the same without "Z" being there.
We then went over to Chambers. At dinner the other night, we had an awesome Grand Muscat from Rosewood Vineyard, so we were hoping to taste that. Well when the 4 of us walked in, we saw an "older" gentleman there who ended up being the legendary Bill Chambers (his family has owned the winery since the mid 19th century). Chris and Shelly informed us that he is a "true Australian", and boy, was he a kick!
Bill told us about the wines - actually between the reds, the whites and the sweet ones, probably 40+ wines were available to taste. Again Marc and I stuck to the sweet ones, which still had 15 (!!) wines. We probably each tasted 10 along the way (spitting some out, etc.). And Bill keeps it old school. You pour yourself. Wow. Fortunately that led to me pouring a little less for myself, but it was funny.
Bill would inform us when a wine was "hitting its straps" and had some other gems. All in all, a very funny guy who has seen plenty. I believe his children oversee the day-to-day operations of the winery now.
After tasting, we had some dinner at the respected hotel restaurant where they had a way you would sample other local wines, so we opted for that. Nothing really stood out, but it was good to try some of the other local labels. A very fun day with our hosts and we learned a bit as well.
I managed to squeeze in a good 5 mile run around "The Tan" (aka the Melbourne Botanical Gardens). On both of my runs in Melbourne, I was able to smell eucalyptus from the trees which was really, really nice. Wonder what Mare thinks I am thinking at this stage? :-)
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| These were the SWEET wines to taste - not pictured: another 25+ dry wines |
[NOTE: I am keeping wine notes separate from these updates, so if you want to see those, let me know. Most people don't, so I am only sticking to general observations here.]
We tasted at Campbells and Chambers. While they had dry wines to taste, Marc and I generally stuck to the sweet wines in both places. At Campbells, they had topaques (no Tokays anymore due to wine classification reasons) and muscats, along with a couple of ports to taste. The gentleman helping us was very nice and explained a bunch of things about Rutherglen, which is experiencing record heat. And as usual, Marc and I differed on our respective favorites. It was fun, but wasn't the same without "Z" being there.
 |
| Something tells me Bill Chambers wrote the above |
Bill told us about the wines - actually between the reds, the whites and the sweet ones, probably 40+ wines were available to taste. Again Marc and I stuck to the sweet ones, which still had 15 (!!) wines. We probably each tasted 10 along the way (spitting some out, etc.). And Bill keeps it old school. You pour yourself. Wow. Fortunately that led to me pouring a little less for myself, but it was funny.
Bill would inform us when a wine was "hitting its straps" and had some other gems. All in all, a very funny guy who has seen plenty. I believe his children oversee the day-to-day operations of the winery now.
After tasting, we had some dinner at the respected hotel restaurant where they had a way you would sample other local wines, so we opted for that. Nothing really stood out, but it was good to try some of the other local labels. A very fun day with our hosts and we learned a bit as well.