Okay, bad me. My quest for wine soul in the Riverland was a little half-hearted, as half-hearted as my blogging in fact. I started out full of gusto and positivity but was then quickly side-tracked like a small child. There are indeed some nice wines here, Omersown Petit Manseng was proof to me that this variety can do very well here, Mirabella Shiraz has the type of rich fruit and instant appeal of this region backed up with some decent structure and spice. The Spook Hill Grenache was a pleasant surprise, hiding it's alcohol exceptionally well. But that was as far as I got, vintage and more exotic fair caught my eye and beckoned me away. I will re-focus though, as a believer in terroir it would seem counter-intuitive to ignore the product of the lands surrounding me.
Not that I have been doing that in any other category, an endless supply of beautiful peaches, nectarines, strawberries, oranges, mandarins, tangelos, lemons, pumpkins, courgettes and tomatoes has passed across our table having been plucked from as close as our backyard and as far away as down the road. Add to this wonderfully fruity, green olive oil from Markaranka and local mettwurst, salami, dukkah and you have a pretty well stocked table. Oh, and the rib eye, the wonderful, sweet rib eye - now I see what the fuss is about, good steak is as far from ordinary steak as great wine from plonk. Only a decent sized freezer has prevented us from investing in a side of local saltbush lamb - damn you whitegoods phobia.
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