Fancy a drop of decent Coonawarra cabernet? About twenty dozen bottles from a fabulous vintage? If so, then scribble in a rendezvous at the Coonawarra Community Hall, winedate Sunday 24th October. That’s the date for Coonawarra’s third annual Barrel Auction. Bid successfully for one or more of the eight barriques of cabernet to go under the hammer and you’ll end up with a little piece of modern wine history – 240 bottles, to be precise. Furthermore, the maker of each wine will specially label each of the twenty dozen with your name and its maker’s signature so you’ll have plenty of the right stuff up your sleeve for the next time the Olivers drop round for lunch. Coonawarra is the enigmatic wine region found a mere stone’s throw to the west of the lower South Australian border with Victoria. Any closer to the border, in fact, and Victorians would claim it as theirs. It’s a long, narrow cigar-shaped region distinctive for the sought-after ‘terra rossa’ or red soil on which virtually all of its better red wines are grown. And while its fame for distinctive and long-living cabernet sauvignon could only be rivalled by the Margaret River and the Yarra Valley, it could claim to produce substantially more top-class cabernet than either region put together. The Coonawarra Cabernet Celebration is an exciting wine weekend over October 23-24 which welcomes visitors into the area for a series of events whose focus is both educational and indulgent. It’s a thoroughly worthwhile and enjoyable means for you to gain more enjoyment than ever before from the prized combination of cabernet sauvignon and the Coonawarra region. Given the sheer indulgence of the concept, it’s hardly a surprise that the Barrel Auction is a major highlight. Most of Coonawarra’s cellar doors are staging their own events over the two days, while a series of masterclasses will highlight the perhaps under-estimated contribution of Bill Redman to the making of red wine not only in Coonawarra but in Australia at large. A grand dinner inside the Hollick winery on the Saturday night also promises to be a major event and offers members of the general public the rare opportunity to test their own stamina against that of Coonawarra’s seemingly ageless winemaking fraternity. With only eight barrels on sale at the auction it’s little wonder that there’s some fairly fierce competition amongst the twenty-four local wineries to gain a place on the starting grid. Katnook Estate’s Wayne Stehbens and Rouge Homme’s Paul Gordon are the winemakers charged with the responsibility of seeing that the selection process, which includes representatives of each of the participating wineries, unearths the best eight wines available. Naturally enough they’re all cabernet, but they’re also from Coonawarra’s excellent 1998 vintage, of which so much is expected. It’s an understatement to suggest that the panel’s results will be keenly anticipated, for friendly competition naturally breeds quite acutely in this region, where winemakers only have to look over their fences to see what their neighbours are up to. Even if you’re not about to bid for a barrel of wine you’re able to sample the eight wines to make it to auction on the Sunday morning of the sale at the old Wynns cellars. This superbly preserved building is jewel in the region’s crown and the original winery built last century by the founder of the Coonawarra Fruit Colony, John Riddoch, whose name today graces several labels in the region. After the tasting there’s brunch nearby at the Community Hall, a bright and breezy affair interrupted only by the auction itself. If you’re thinking of placing a bid, my advice is to bring plenty of money. At last year’s auction the average price per barrel, filled with the best wines of the lesser 1997 vintage, was $13,000, or just over $54 per bottle. The most expensive wine on the day was from Brand’s, which fetched $15,000, but this rather pales against the price of $23,000 paid for the barrel of 1996 Katnook Estate Cabernet Sauvignon at the sale of 1997. Many of the events associated with the Coonawarra Cabernet Celebration require are limited in number and require booking in advance. To find out more about the happenings involved and to make certain of your place, call Terry Inglis on 08 8737 2392 or 0418 816 316. Tasting Australia 1999, October 3-10, Adelaide. Now gearing up for its second year, Tasting Australia is a week long festival in and around Adelaide whose kaleidoscope of diverse and interesting events has been thoughtfully assembled to showcase Australia’s emerging culture of regional wine and food. Directed by popular TV Chef and author Ian Parmenter, the event’s highlight is the City of Adelaide’s Feast for the Senses which is sure to attract a keen and active crowd to the city’s Botanic Park over the weekend of October 9-10. The Feast of the Senses offers the chance to sample and purchase some of the best foods, wines and beverages from all over Australia at the Australian Regional Food and Wine Expo, which will feature a range of regional dishes created and prepared by the leading chefs from the regions themselves. The Wine Tunnel created by the South Australian Wine and Brandy Producers’ Association offers an interactive opportunity to get to grips with wine flavours and varietal characteristics, while the wine courses conducted by the South Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation present a more detailed opportunity to unravel some of the many mysteries of wine. Another series of food and wine masterclasses which features some of Australia’s leading chefs, winemakers and gastronomic personalities is to be held at the Hilton Adelaide on Friday and Saturday October 8-9. During the Feast of the Senses the Seafood Pavilion will showcase Australia’s wealth of diverse seafoods. This event also incorporates public and personalities cooking off at the Aussie Barbecue Challenge, a Wine Waiter’s Race, the Pernod Australian Petanque Tournament, Beer Taverns with our finest ales and lagers and an Expo of cookware, packaged gourmet goods, appliances and kitchen accessories in the Pavilion. One of the highlights of Tasting Australia is the second judging and presentation of the World Food Media Awards on Saturday October 9, which has attracted entries from thirty countries. In other events an entire sent of Penfolds Grange, including signed bottles by Max Schubert from 1951 to 1986 inclusive, is up for sale at Oddbins 25th Anniversary Premier Wine Auction. Courses in fish and seafood handling will be held at the Australian Fisheries Academy at Port Adelaide, where in a unique exhibition at the Maritime Museum a taste of life on migrant ships to Australia is also on offer. Tasting Australia also features the Royal Adelaide Wine Show and its associated tasting and dinner, a Festival of Fish in the Gouger St and Chinatown precinct, olive oil courses and tastings, opportunities to explore Adelaide’s Central Markets plus a focus on Tudor life and culinary customs at the Art Gallery of South Australia. For more information on Tasting Australia, contact the South Australian Travel Centre on 1300 655 276.
