Love your Melbourne lane ways!

4.23pm, Monday 6th May, Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Afternoon folks, and we couldn’t ask for a better Melbourne Autumn sunshiney day to start our Yalumba Rare & Fine Tour around Australia – celebrating 15 Years of ‘Virgilius’ Viognier, and featuring the release of the new 2009 The Signature Cabernet Shiraz.

So this morning we had a breakfast meeting with the boys in charge over here in Victoria – Rohan and Rob – and walking back to the hotel down Little Bourke Street, I happened to look down the side street and saw this … octopus looking thing!

Now Little Bourke Street is the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown, and seeing as the streets were already humming with delivery vans and people on their way to work, I wandered down what would normally be a fairly gritty alley way, to have a closer look.

And wow! How lucky was I – Paynes Place dog legs off Little Bourke Street into Croft Alley – home of The Croft Institute – apparently a ground floor cocktail bar set up like a high school chemistry lab! But that’s a whole different story for another time! Croft Alley is part of an initiative of the Chinatown Laneway Improvement Plan, started back in 2011. The idea is to have a planned program to improve 11 identified lane ways in the area, and Croft Alley has basically become an open air gallery of street art. Welcome to the ‘Love Your Laneway’ world.

Now it looks like the locals hold an annual ‘street artfest party’ each year, and Croft Alley gets a complete new set of ‘paintings’ – and this happened just recently across the weekend of the 23rd and 24th March. I don’t know anything at all about street art or graffiti, but apparently these artist folks amongst others were there – Makatron from the ‘Everfish Crew’ (that’s his octopus, with his tag in the middle), Itch from AWOL crew, Jaw from DMV, Choq and Shida.

So, see what you think. Here’s the Croft Alley bricks and steel canvas – just goes to show you that you never know what’s literally around the corner!

Morning Tea via Dubai, UAE!

8.11am, Tuesday 9th April, under the Clocktower, Yalumba, Angaston, The Barossa, Australia

Morning folks, there’s a chilly morning happening out there, but it’s going to be a beautiful clear Barossa day, about 26 degrees C expected. That means a t shirt for now, hoodie for later on this afternoon. But we’re in for a treat today at morning tea time! When I came back from the United Kingdom the week before Easter, it was on the big A380 Emirates bird, via the quick one hour change planes in Dubai. That’s a very skinny changeover, but I still managed to buy a stack of the fabulous local UAE and Saudi dates. So with the dust settling after a massive Barossa Vintage Festival week, I bought in a couple of kilos for the Negociants International (they make sure Yalumba goes safely to the rest of the world) crew. We made a serious dent in them, but with a considerable amount left over, our resident proper chef Lauren took them home, added brown sugar, green apple and coconut and whipped up a Lumberjack Cake for morning tea! Just like that! You have to love teamwork – here’s Lauren with the ‘before’ and ‘after’. If it tastes half as good as it looks, we’re laughing! Thanks Larry!

The Breakfast Rave pops up in Lyndoch

10.13am, Sunday 7th April, Murray Street, Angaston, The Barossa, SA, Australia

Morning folks, and it’s a sensationally sunny day out there to finish off what’s been a massive Barossa Vintage Festival week. So where would you want to be on such a magic morning? At the pop up Breakfast Rave of course……… amongst the peppercorn trees and palms down there on the red dirt at Charles Cimicky wines, southern end of the Barossa, Lyndoch. This is a seriously excellent community event – thanks very much Cherie Hausler for starting the whole thing – that shows exactly what can be achieved when you do things simply because you can……and should. So here’s how it works. The pop up location and date is broadcast on The Breakfast Rave Facebook page, the Rave team organises the menu, the cooks, and then the ‘friends’ of the Rave do the rest. Word of mouth gets the event out there, and people just turn up for breakfast.

Definitely found the right place. It’s going to be a top turnout – daylight savings time change and all. This is looking both ways from Cimickys front gate

Everything on the day is about non profit and sharing, and this is how the ‘giveaway’ table started. Folks with green thumbs potted up herbs and succulents, and you just helped yourself. Now it’s become the ‘trading table’, and whatever extra ripe fruit, herbs, plants that people have got – ends up on the table, and you just help yourself! I know……it’s very old school, good karma, and just downright neighbourly! Remember that? I couldn’t help myself – grabbed one of the figs, still cold from last nights chill, and ate it on my way down to order breakfast.

When I arrived at 8.30am, there was already a fair crowd parked on benches, blankets, and milk crates, and local olive oil producer and balladeer Johhny was knocking out a better than average acoustic version of Lou Reeds Sattelite of Love. Don’t you love it when you can actually hear the words! It’s going to be a great day.

Follow the crowd down to the kitchen and coffee bar set up under the huge old peppercorn trees, then make your choice. Rosti or Beans, blackstrap treacle cookie or choc muffin, Sumatran or Byron Bay coffee….

And local heroes Barossa Coffee Roasters – not supposed to play favourites but gee they’re good! – were in full flight. It’s always a good option to use a winery for the Breakfast Rave site, as they’ve always got a solid supply of three phase power, and decent water pressure – all really helpful when two coffee machines are both flat out. Here’s Paul & Pete keeping the caffeine flowing.

Check out the new ceramic cups on top of Petes machine – made especially for the Rave. You use them, and leave them in the crate afterwards to be washed, packed, and used at the next Rave. There’s also the bio degradable take away cups, but everything is geared to RE cycled, reusable, low impact, sustainable, minimal rubbish……and it works.

Oh, nearly forgot. I went with the Rosti, egg and avocado relish….

Also new at today’s Rave was local artisan Susanna Brown with her Really Useful Pots, and her ‘how to make a seed bomb’ sessions. Good way to get the place greener, should we actually get any breaking rains this season!

So keep an eye on The Breakfast Rave Facebook page for the date and location of the next pop up event, and do yourself a major good morning favour and go along. It’s a really nice thing. Oh….and watch out for those peppercorn trees in flower around the place, the bees love em right now!

Thanks very much to the Rave crew and Charles Cimicky – see you next time!

Barossa Vintage Festival Parade 2013

5.19pm, Saturday April 6th, Murray Street, Angaston, Barossa, SA, Australia

Afternoon folks, and it’s a warm sunny afternoon to finish off a perfect Parade day – the second last day of the 2013 Barossa Vintage Festival. It’s a very big day for Yalumba, as we’ve always put a red hot float into the Parade, and there’s always been some healthy competition for the prize in the Wineries section. Weeks of work and planning go into the event, and here’s your story of this years ‘Part…..Y’ float from Yalumba – featuring all the Y Series wines.

Yesterday, the Yalumba Nursery truck comes up to Rolf’s Carpenters Shop at the winery, and there’s still work to be done on all the ‘bits’ that go onto the truck tray. Plus the big bottles that will ‘walk’ alongside the float.

Then there’s the ‘support’ ute and trailer, which has all the elium for the balloons, and the refreshments for the Part…Y team walking the 6 kilometres of the Parade route from Nuriootpa to Tanunda.

8.15am this morning, and the convoy has made it safely to position 14 of the Parade marshalling area, and the float starts to come together.

The big bottles are last off the truck, and then it’s into warm the mini pies for breakfast – remember….. every successful army marches on its stomach!

Things are really starting to take shape. This is the easy way to get grapes onto a vine…..

The sandwich boards get fitted to the walking advertisements, led by our fearless chief winemaker Louisa Rose….thanks Warren

The balloon team gets started….

Would you buy a balloon for your child from these blokes? Broady, Jason and Matthew…..getting colourful

Busy, busy, busy…

Be careful out there…..

10 minutes to go before the Parade starts, and the group photo….

5 minutes to go – Judy gets everyone into their spots…..

Broady and the boys go fishing with the whiting from the Y Sauvignon Blanc label…….helped out by the youngsters on the back of the truck (Dad was right there with them!) “when we grow up, we’re going to work for Yalumba”….

Kirsty in charge of pruning those vines on the back of the truck…

One minute warning….

And they’re off…..

What was that fabulous Part…Y float that just went by?

Other good mates of ours in the Parade were James Lindner and the folks from Langmeil, celebrating 150 years of Freedom Shiraz…

Dave Kalleske and the crew from Rockford with the ‘it takes a lot of old Bedfords to do vintage’ convoy…

The Ashmead boys from Elderton with their Arabian Nights take on ‘your wish is our Command Shiraz’ …

And last but not least, Stuie Blackwell and the crazy crew from St Hallet with their graveyard stompers doing ‘Hallet O Ween’ …..

So there you have it, and I’ll let you know which winery took the 2013 Parade honours. See you when it’s Sunday, and most folks head for the long lunches that mark the end of the Festival. I’ll be heading to the Breakfast Rave early – they start at 8am tomorrow morning, and rumour has it they will be setting up down at Charles Cimicky wines, and you’ll find them on the Adelaide side of Lyndoch.

***News Flash – Monday 8th April – Langmeil took First Prize in the Wineries section of the Vintage Festival Parade for their 150 Years of Freedom Shiraz. Well done!!

You may call her Baroness

Congratulations, Jane!

It’s the editor here, taking control of Jane’s blog for today and for good reason. Jane Ferrari last night was inducted into the very special group known as Barons of the Barossa. This select group of men and women are chosen for the important roles they play in the Barossa wine industry and community. Jane joins true legends of the Barossa, a rare privilege and one well-deserved!

So there she was last night, up on the stage in full robes, giving an acceptance speech that had the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. But that’s nothing new. She is known around the globe for her storytelling, and that’s part of how she came to be a Baron.

You’ve probably heard Jane telling tales about Yalumba at a tasting, a dinner or just over a cup of coffee early one morning. You might have been too busy laughing to notice that you were receiving a solid education about Yalumba, the Hill Smith family, and all things Barossa.  Jane does all that tireless travelling and talking to serve a purpose: letting the world know that the Barossa is home to many treasures of the wine world, from the soils under our feet to the characters in the street to the special bottles Jane pulls out from time to time.

Now the world is getting to see what a treasure we have in Jane. Australia’s Wine Communicator of the Year in 2012. Baron of the Barossa in 2013. Congratulations again, Jane!

How do you reckon those robes would travel in Big Blue?

Back into London….and it’s snowing

12.53pm, Saturday 23rd March, St Thomas Street SE1, London, England

You have to love the daily weather reports in this town – “continuing cloudy, windy and cold with the rain occasionally turning to sleet and snow”. Much the same tomorrow I believe……and with any luck, throw a few clear patches into those snow flurries there and you’ll have Monday. Thats when I’m scheduled to be on a big Emirates bird, taking off from Heathrow on the first 13 hour leg of the run back to the Barossa. To be honest, I’m right into the ‘layers on layers off’ winter thing over here now, and would be more than happy to stay on! Most of the folks that live here are thoroughly sick and tired of the weather, and I’m loving it. So much water, flaming logs and coals in pub fireplaces till closing, tanks of hot home made soup left right and centre, and really it’s just when there’s too much snow and everything grinds to a halt that it gets a bit dramatic.

Any rate – it’s been a very welcome change to the heat wave season back at home. But back to the Barossa it is come Monday, a short week at the winery for me, and then from Easter Monday we’re into the Barossa Valley Vintage Festival.

For today, most of my wine mates are off to Germany for Prowein. Me – I’m catching up all my reports and going out to see one of the greatest actors that’s ever worked the boards and screen – Judy Dench. She’s on at the Noel Coward Theatre this evening with young Ben Whishaw in “Peter and Alice”, so should be top notch. One more wine event tomorrow, and that’s it for me this trip – and it will be back into short sleeves for a couple of months.

I did sneak out this morning into the sleet and snow because Westminster is three stops away on the Jubilee Line, so I went and did a couple of touristy hours before the crowds got too heavy. So much stone, so much history – you can never spend too much time tracking it all down.

The Lakes District cross country to Cheshire

7.59am, Thursday 21st March, next to the Swan And Two Nicks pub, Lymm, Cheshire, England

Morning folks, and it’s all sunshine and frost out there this morning…….top day in Cheshire here we come! Here you go, this is for all the sunshine starved Englishfolk!

Yesterday we started out by saying goodbye to Chris and the team at the Rothay Garden hotel up the top of the Lakes District in Grasmere, after doing the Tuesday night Yalumba dinner as part of their in house residential Wine and Food Festival. Yep, that would be the one with the grand finale of the unforgettably fluffy Sticky Toffee Pudding.

And then when we found out that the village of Cartmel was on our way to our first call of the day, and happens to be the Home of Sticky Toffee Pudding – minor detour and away we went. It turns out to be an old Norman town that has a lot more going on than just Sticky Toffee Pudding – the locals put me straight there!! In fact, I was introduced to a bloke that you’re going to hear a bit more about – William Marshal. He’s the chap that was responsible for raising the Cartmel Priory back in 1190, and goes on to become the First Earl of Pembroke.very interesting chap, and he had to go on a serious search for the location of the priory, because he had to find a site that was “between two rivers, one flowing south, one flowing north”. True story.

So, just a whirlwind stop, but a good one. What else will you find in Cartmel? The two Michelin star restaurant L’Enclume, the Cartmel Cheese shop and bakery – magnificent jam donuts!! Then theres the Kings Head pub complete with stream and ducks, and a proper stone arched village square, and of course – the village shop groaning under tons of Sticky Toffee Pudding and Kendal Mint Cake. I’ll definitely be back!

Oh yes…..don’t worry Cartmel – we’ll be back!! You can never have too much Sticky Toffee Pudding!!

Then it was on to our first call, to Windermere and the Lakeside Hotel. But I’ll have to leave it there – we have to get cracking as we’re heading over to Clitheroe and more trade calls today before finishing up this evening with a Yalumba Dinner near Macclesfield. See ya then

OK folks – we’ve criss crossed Cheshire and Lancashire most of the day, and I’ve made it to where we’re doing our last wine dinner for this tour – at The Windmill Pub at Whitely Green, near Adlington. There’s 64 hardy souls going to brave the ice solidifying out there in the air, to come and have a look at what we’re up to 9000miles away on the other side of the world. It’s the Windmill Pub’s Wine Lovers Club night, and it’s going to be a bit of fun – featuring the 2006 The Signature Cabernet Shiraz. So this is where I’m at right now, about to put a bowl of Potato soup away – the calm before the storm that’s going to start at around 7.30pm for an 8pm kickoff.

But to finish off the ‘what we did with our travels yesterday’ section, here we go. After meeting Marcus at the Lakeside Hotel in Windermere, we nipped down to the village of High Newton with Jannette – our EWGA (that’s our local wine distributors looking after us up in The Lakes district) gal, and we grabbed a bowl of tomato and bean soup at The Crown pub. I can honestly say I’m going to cheerfully volunteer for all the work up here in The Lakes and surrounding areas – the pub, country house, restaurant and hotel folk that we’ve met so far are just tops. Yep – I’m definitely free those days!

After the late lunch – off to EWGA headquarters for the introductory tasting of all the Yalumba wines that they have on their books before making tracks to Hale (in Cheshire) and our masterclass…..with canapés….at Simon Rimmer’s “Earle”. This was our first event with Paula and the folks at Portland Wine, and I’ll be truthful – they gave me a serious wine workout! Not just the usual stelvin closure vs cork questions here – we got into the Barossa and terroir, the comparison of brandy spirit and svr with respect to the difference between making port and muscat styles of fortified wines, and the characteristics of the last 3 Barossa vintages compared and contrasted – you get the picture! Happy to report that we’ve been booked for the same time next year, and the class is full! Thanks a million Paula, and to young Charlie at Earle – great canapé combinations with the wines.

And then it was back to Ash Farm in Lymm……lights straight out!!

So there you have it – that was Wednesday, and that was us county hopping from The Lakes in Cumbria to Cheshire.