Barrels, Bottles, Beards & Bubbles

Since my discovery of The Wine, there have been many a Grand Adventure, but never one quite as great as this, despite a mildly slow start. 

The slow start being due only to us setting out initially in what we can only assume was the failed prototype of The Magic Tour bus. We were sated by the presence of the prerequisite Bavarians in hand. 
A brief pit stop was made en route to allow our very own Picasso to brand the team with original artworks designed especially for the occassion. Also, having sensed our distress at the notion of perhaps missing even a minute of wine-related festivities, The Magic School Bus appeared on the horizon & whisked us rapidly to our destination. 
One last change of vehicle later, we arrived at the Land of The Bearded Maker of the Wine. 

Here we were swept up in a wave of wonderful wines of the new vintage, wonderful wines of older vintages & wonderful displays of facial hair.

Glasses filled & t-shirts stained (mostly intentionally), we were herded to our tables, to enjoy  the Parade of the Facial Hair of the manly Makers of the Wine - we were treated to bikers, barrels, gingers and more - which, while rather impressive, were no match for the wines. Or the dinner after for that matter. A true feast of local fare which we were all too grateful to devour with gusto along with numerous more glasses of The Wine.

The evening passed quickly in a Wine scented cloud of good humour and good food. Our jolly team of Lovers of The Wine embarked then on another adventure - for some of us this dusty road led quite directly to bed, for others the road was a little more winding - bypassing a particularly appealing potted plant ideal for nesting & what is rumoured to be a rather pleasant bar.

Morning brought beautiful views & bacon - the best way to start a day, I thought. We then improved upon this by being herded once again over the the farm next door to sample more of The Wine. We were thoroughly spoiled with samples of recently fermented Chenin & Viognier right from the barrel, and Shiraz at various stages of fermentation directly from their shiny silver vessels.

Thereafter, the real wine feast began with a selection of the most beautifully finished wines - a first-time Chenin which was sold out before it had even been bottles, a vertical vintage tasting of Shiraz finished off with a new-release red blend.

All too soon The Wines were drunk & our gracious host herded us one last time back onto The Magic Tour bus to carry us safely to the nearest farm stall for freshly baked pies & then home.

A jolly good time was had by all on the Biggest Wine Adventure to date.