Spent the weekend in the Hunter with my girlfriend and some friends. I’ll put up a list of some of my pics during the week but wanted to vent now. I thought i got marketing from the cellar door – it’s a chance for people to spend the weekend seeing where their favourite wines come from and finding new ones. Half the fun is feeling involved. You’re putting in the effort, so you expect to be served by someone that had a hand – however slight that may be – in the wine you’re tasting. Fair enough this is not always possible but it shouldn’t be too much to ask to run into such an experience in at least 3 of the 10 cellar doors you visit in a day.
This struck me most this morning when i ticked a few wineries off the list on the way home. Visited Krinklewood and was served by none other than the wineries’ owner – Rod Windrum. Lovely chap who obliged an interview about biodynamic growing practices. I’ve admired their wines for a while now, they guarantee the phrase “oh this is good, where’s this from” at social occasions. Next i stopped in at De Iuliis Wines and it couldn’t have felt more different. The tasting room was as sterile as a NASA lab and I think smiles were out of season. They had a decent Semillon though but the romance of the experience was totally gone.
I guess the equation for a visit to wine country is; the bigger the sign and more modern the surrounds, the greater your chances of being a number.
It was a great weekend though and the good wines far outweighed the lifeless cellar doors. The Krinklewood interview is in the pipes.