Saturday 12th April

We’ve had another day enjoying the delights of the Barossa, starting with the Farmers Market, which is held just opposite our motel. We didn’t bother getting washed and dressed (well, we did actually put on some clothes – yesterday’s) but just went straight over there to sample the local produce. From our point of view it was a little disappointing, but if you live here, you would certainly enjoy doing your weekly fresh food shopping. I bought some bread and beautiful lettuce and resisted the temptation of hand made chocolates, lovely plump olives, flavoured oils and vinegars and interesting looking plants. The prices were very good and everyone was so friendly, so it was a good experience. We’d been told that the egg and bacon rolls were good, but they didn’t look very special, so we gave them a miss and returned to our room to have our standard brekkie and get dressed properly for the rest of the day. Our plan was to take the laptop and post the blogs in Angaston so you wouldn’t have too long to wait between entries! (And for those of you who have read all the blogs, you’ll be pleased to know that with those posts now online, you’ve seen over 500 pictures.)

In January, there was an article in the Mail about the Barossa wines and the one that the writer raved about was the Tin Shed – literally a tin shed just outside Angaston where he reckoned that the Shiraz was the best he’d tasted. So we set out to find this phenomenon. It wasn’t easy as no-one seemed to know where it was – they all knew of the Tin Shed label and who owns it, but couldn’t pin down the actual location. One lady in the Eden Valley Taste shop knew the vintner and promised to text Tom with his phone number so while we waited, we had a wander round Angaston – a pretty little town. The buildings are very different in this region of SA or certainly the older ones are. They’re stone built with bull-nose canopies decorated with very ornate wrought iron balconies so have aged rather well. We found an Op shop so bought some more books to keep us going.

The place where Tom is able to access the net is the Angaston Gourmet Foods and is a café as well as delicatessen and Tourist info. Having built up an appetite, we went in for coffee, but the owner recommended the soup – pumpkin and vegetable – so I was persuaded and it was yummy! Tom had a boring baguette! Just as we were about to eat the phone rang and it was the Wine Tour company confirming our trip for Monday – full day, including lunch, sightseeing, history and 5 or more wineries – great stuff. As you’ll have found, Tom got the blogs posted OK, and having heard nothing about the Tin Shed, we set off to try to find it ourselves. The area here is quite easy to search as it’s on a grid system, so we searched systematically! 45 minutes later we still were no closer to finding it, despite having stopped and asked at 2 houses, so temporarily gave up and drove to Tanunda to find Norm’s Coolies – a pack of Collie-like dogs who perform 3 times a week. Norm Keast is an old time sheep farmer who bought his first Coolie, Happy, in 1970 as a working dog. She was such a sociable dog and loved performing that he bought another, Ben and started to breed with the idea of training dogs for sale, but then thought he’d train them as a tourist attraction. Since then, he’s continued to breed from the same strain and at present has 30. He uses all in the show starting with the young ones who’re learning how to herd the sheep, up to getting all of them to lie down to “sleep” with their front legs round the next dog in line (we only had 15 “sleeping” today). Some of the dogs can walk on their rear legs too. They have the body shape and size of a collie, but have much paler, patchy coats and very light eyes. We’ve seen better demonstrations of sheep herding with one or two dogs, but seeing him keep such a large number under control was quite an experience. He’s quite a character.

By the time that was over, it was 3.00pm so it was back on the trail of the Tin Shed and after another half an hour, when we were on the point of coming back to the motel, I spotted a tin shed and, lo and behold, it was the right one! Nathan Norman, who works with Peter Clarke, was working and we then spent nearly 2 hours with him learning about the process he uses to produce Tin Shed wine. It’s all fermented naturally, not filtered or chemically enhanced – just like the wine my mum used to make, using the natural yeasts in the grapes, with nothing else added. The smell alone was quite intoxicating as we were surrounded by vats of fermented grapes waiting to go into the press. We then got to taste several types and ages of red, from some that had only been in barrels for 2 weeks to some from last year’s pressings. The aromas were quite different from grapes produced in certain areas and even separate fields – most were not to my taste but Tom enjoyed them, even though he tasted and spat rather than swallowing! We came away with 3 bottles of wine – a lovely light Riesling for me and 2 reds for Tom, although I might get a sip or two, if I’m very good. The Rieslings are made elsewhere as they don’t have the capacity to bottle everything in the tin shed. Nathan does all fermenting, pressing, barrelling, cleaning, and even the blending if the grapes won’t stand alone for a vintage. (in that order – all the fermenting is done to the whole, crushed grapes, and it is only after fermentation that the wine is pressed from them, unlike most where it is the pressed grape juice that is fermented) It was a brilliant afternoon.

We asked Nathan if he knew of anywhere we might see some wild kangaroos and he suggested we go to Mengler’s Hill just above Angaston so we left him to the last of his pressing and drove up the hill. As a bonus, the sun was setting so we got some pretty pics and just as we started to leave the viewpoint, a kangaroo hopped into sight. The timing couldn’t have been better, he even stopped and posed for us! It was a perfect finish to another day’s experiences.

When we returned to the motel, we found that our room hadn’t been touched and the receptionist was so apologetic and emptied our rubbish, got us fresh towels and filled the tea caddy (she got us extra biccies too). Tom says she reminds him of Hyacinth Bouquet – I think she fancies Tom as she rushed out to meet us when we got back! Or maybe she knew our room hadn’t been serviced and wanted to check our reactions. Anyway, here we are, enjoying another relaxed evening after our cold meat and salad dinner with lovely fresh bread – Tom’s watching Aussie rules football while I do the blog – THAT’LL change when I finish this. I am NOT learning yet another kind of football rules. I don’t think I’ll be awake for long as my eyes are drooping already so night, night to you all.