Towards the end of Carolyn’s visit, Marc arrived in Oz as well. The question for Greg and I became what can we do that everyone in this group can enjoy, as different as we might all be. The answer: eat and drink.
We had decided to rent a car for our final week , so we piled everyone into the car and headed up to the Hunter Valley for a round of Christmas Eve wine tasting. We cobbled together a slate of wineries by looking up websites and articles and factoring in the convenience to our route.
Our first stop was Tyrrell’s Winery. They had some really lovely wines here . . . and they poured quite generously. A lot of their wines don’t make it over here, but three that we liked that they told us can sometimes be found in the U.S. are the Vat 47 Chardonay, the Vat 8 Shiraz, and the Vat 1 Hunter Semillion.
With all the hefty pours, we were all a little tipsy by the end of round one, which made it necessary to fill our tummies at the Smelly Cheese Shop. When we were there the last time, a bunch of people snuck in an extra tasting next door at Tempus Two. Since we’d heard positive things from their experience, we decided to do the same. Sadly, our experience was not as good. Not bad, just ok. The exterior is kind of cool though.
The one thing Greg and I had not counted on when planning this day was that we’d be beaten down by intolerable heat. This stands out in my memory as one of two most oppressively hot days of our entire stay in Australia. (The other was the first day on the Grand Pacific Drive.) The air was heavy with humidity. The intense heat amplified the effects of the wine and did both Carolyn and Marc in. Neither of them was able to pull through for the third winery.
I admit, I too had to take a step back and had a scaled back tasting, but I’m glad I was able to taste a bit since Brokenwood had some nice wines too – and these are easier to find in the US – and quite a few at decent prices. I remember enjoying some of their dessert wines and this 2007 Brokenwood Shiraz Estate Blend.
Sadly, with everyone down for the count, we had to call it a day early, which was rather disappointing, especially since this was Carolyn’s last day in Oz. However, once everyone had recuperated later that night, we headed down to Circular Quay and Marc got his first glimpse of the Opera House. His excitement was definitely infectious.
Feeling sentimental that our time in OZ is drawing to a close, I get sentimental.
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