See below for what happened.........

A Tasting of Australian Wines

Come and join  the Draganskis and Nelsons for a tasting of great Australian Wines.

We will be comparing wines from the Margaret River area (SW corner), with wines from the South Australia area (Adelaide).

Aperitif

Australian Sparkling-Yellowglen Vineyards

Chardonnay

McWilliams 2004 Hanwood Estates

Spires 2003  Barossa Valley

Shiraz

Alkoomi 2004 Frankland River

Yalumba 2004 Barossa Valley

Riesling

       Leasingham Bin 7 2004 Clare Valley

       Rocky Gully 2004 Dry Riesling Frankland River

The tasting will include bread and cheese with coffee and dessert later. Please bring your own glasses and recognize that you will be consuming alcohol and do so in a responsible manner.

Members  $19.00            Guests   $21.00

What Happened.........

This tasting was organized and presented by Ed and Betty Nelson and Dick and Betty Draganski.  They supplied us with a very enjoyable tasting with maps, a dictionary of Aussie expressions and authentic Australian foods.

Ed described the wine regions, located in the southern coastal region near the cities of Adelaide and Perth. He noted that grapes have been grown there since 1828, but only in the last 20 years have become widely distributed around the world.  The region is at the 35^th parallel which is a relatively warm latitude. The featured regions were Margaret River and Frankland River in the west and, in the central, Clare Valley and Barossa Valley.

The sparkling aperitif was Yellowglen’s Pink, which was a very pleasant and economical rose, well balanced with a touch of sweetness.

The Spires Chardonnay, which comes from the Barossa Valley Estates, that began as a growers cooperative, bested the McWilliams.

The Yalumba Y Series Shiraz was very good, much favored over the Alkoomi.  Interestingly, each had a little Viognier in them.

The Rocky Gully Dry Riesling was found better than the Leasingham.

Very good breads and cheeses were served with the wines. The cheeses were Manchego, Norway Swiss and Australian White Cheddar.

We closed with coffee and two Australian cookies, chocolate biscuits from Australia and home baked Anzac biscuits made by Betty Draganski.  The latter are made of rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup, and go back to the first World War, where a similar cookie was made for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).