The Wineries

First things first.....we had a possum tear into our garbage bag last night and grab out the apple core we had discarded so Alvo was up taking photos of it, it was very cute. I phoned Seppeltsfield Winery this morning to inquire about their Centennial Tour, they were very helpful and although had a large group through this afternoon were able to accommodate us. We headed off with the intention of calling into a couple of wineries on the way to Seppeltsfield (we needed to be there at 11am) but found that most don't open until 10.30am so we headed straight there to sort the puppies out before our tour. Mal was our guide for the tour and was a lovely bloke with a lot of information. We started with a history of the winery which in itself is very interesting. Seppeltsfield has the biggest cellar in the world, it is three stories and mostly filled with fortified wine....mmmmmm. We headed for the trophy room for a rare tasting of some of the oldest fortifieds on offer at the winery and it was very special. From there we headed to the cellar which holds port from every year dating back to 1878....and yep you guessed it, my birth year was the first release a hundred years on as this is the tradition of the famous Seppeltsfield Tawny and I was feeling quite special by this time. There are rows of the beautiful liqueur and the walk to your birth year is a special one. On finding your year, Mal dips in and pulls out a tasting for you to wallow in and I must admit there was something very special about this for me and photos were taken to cement the memory. We then tasted the Centenary Port which of course is 100 years old and was very thick and toffee like in flavour but it wasn't all about that, the experience was the thing I was looking for and I got it times 10. When the tour was over we tasted some of the table wines and vintage ports and couldn't leave without purchasing a couple. We needed some lunch by this time so headed for the Barossa Valley Estate Winery for an Estate Platter which consisted of some meats, cheese, crackers, chutney and gluten free bread all washed down with a glass of their sparkling shiraz. Next stop was the Seppelt Family Mausoleum which is quite large and overlooks Seppeltsfield as that was the wishes of Joseph Seppelt (founder of Seppelt Wines). From there we called in at Two Hands Winery who do an extensive wine tasting called a flight and we decided that we would have some fun and do a blind tasting there. We guessed most of the types of wines but struggled a bit when Jonathon asked us to name the regions, it was great though and we left there with a lovely moscato. On arriving back to at the campsite it was time for a nanna nap and I woke up to more lovely weather and just in time to start dinner which is Lentil Dumpling Curry and Rice....mmmmm. Alvo is not that hungry tonight due to our big..ish lunch so we are satisfied with this and then by the time we finish it is time for a read before bed so....goodnight.
Tanya
p.s. We were a bit disappointed to discover that the couple of ciders we left in the communal fridge (in a bag with eggs & labeled) last night were pinched....I guess not every camper is a nice one :(