Departed Adelaide this morning for the drive down to McLaren Vale, only about an hour drive. Today’s adventure is the Blessed Cheese Wine Tour. Blessed Cheese is a local cheese shop in downtown McLaren Vale, they have hooked up with a few of the many wineries for a self-guided wine and cheese pairing.
They have a prepared picnic basket with ‘courses’ and a choice of 2 different wine trails you can follow. We elect to follow trail 1, as the wineries were more to our taste. So, at winery 1, you have your ‘starter’ paired with a wine. The cheese was a lovely brie and the wine was a sparkling Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blend (from Doc Adams), there was also dried fruit and nuts as well.
Stop 2 (the entrée), was a Gouda, paired with a Chardonnay from Dog Ridge, also with some smoked salmon and dried fruit and nuts.
Stop 3 (the main), was a vintage Cheddar, salami, crackers and dried fruit and nuts, paired with a Kay Brothers Basket Press Shiraz.
Stop 4 (the ‘dessert’ course), was a lovely blue with dried cranberries and chocolate, paired with the Lloyd Brothers Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.
So, we got to spend 4 – 5 hours munching our way through McLaren Vale, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Later, we head down to Maslin Beach (the first authorized unclad beach in Australia) to watch the sunset. Yes, we stayed on the part of the beach that clothing was not optional.
Dinner at the Barn Bistro, Dick is eating Skippy again, I had a pan seared chicken breast.
Mary
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Adelaide was nice, but it’s time to move south. We picked up the rental car at Budget – 2 blocks from our flat. An upgrade to a small SUV. Honestly, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing – roads are narrow and parking tight so smaller is better. We’ll make do.
It’s a beautiful drive down to McLaren Vale where we’ll be spending a single night. The roads are good with no construction and views of the coast for most of the ride.
McLaren Vale is one of those places you want to return to. The ‘downtown’ is nothing – a few strip shops with basic services. But, the surrounding area is very nice – rolling hills, vineyard views everywhere. If you blink, you’ll missed a dozen cellar doors. This is a world-class wine region. We’ve arranged for a self-drive wine & cheese pairing tour through ‘Blessed Cheese’. It’s great – they give you a picnic basket to carry along to a series of wineries for wine pairings. Mary’s description nailed it – a perfect afternoon.
Maslin beach is a 15-minute drive away and is noted as one of the top 5 beaches in Australia. Beautiful and not crowded at all. This is a really nice part of the planet.
Dick