Golding in the Adelaide Hills

As a youth I had spent a good deal of time riding my motorcycle through the Adelaide Hills like the hoon that I was, and I spent a fair amount of time coming and going from the little town of Lobethal. While taking a drive through memory lane in the area on a recent visit I saw the sign and realized that I had not visited the Cellar Door of Golding Wines on any of my trips here. This family vineyard was established by Darren Golding, together with his parents, Connie and Greg, in 1995. Darren and wife Lucy launched the first Golding Wines vintage in 2002 and have by all accounts been going strong ever since.

The family property includes over 50 acres of vines, including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Savagnin varieties. Over the years, they have supplied fruit to some of Australia's most recognized wine brands. To name a few, Hardy's, Tatachilla, Petaluma and Yalumba. They also use this beautiful property for weddings, birthday parties and other special celebrations.
So on what was a cold wet day I pulled in and not only enjoyed some lovely wines but also the fire and some great conversation with Lucy. Lucy had walked in moments after I arrived and had just come from swim lessons with the oldest daughter who was still a little blue.

The tasting started off with a lovely sparkling, The Last Hurrah. This  sparkling has strawberry and green apple on the nose and palate, which makes sense as its a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The mouth feel is bright and fresh with a nice clean citrus acidity. Tasting and talking my way through the lovely range of wines was just a very nice experience and I found I was done before I was ready to be. A nice solution to the problem was to sit back and enjoy a revisit by way of a glass of the very nice 2009 Rocco Shiraz.
This is a great drinking Shiraz that has nice complexity, exhibiting both cool climate characteristics but also with some of the heft of a warmer climate style. Purchased a bottle to share. Rated as a 7-8 and ***, this is a beauty. A thoroughly enjoyable range of wines in a beautiful setting, Golding is a great place to visit any day of the week, so go on by and tell em WineWalkabout sent you!

Happy Tasting Adventures,

Cheers,

WineWalkabout

Kiwi & Koala