"Wine is the most civilized thing in the world." - Ernest Hemingway
It is hard for me to imagine a trip to the Barossa Valley without paying a visit to Kabminye. Like the ‘morning star’ after which it is named, Kabminye has been something of a navigational beacon during my travels through the valley. Richard and Ingrid Glastonbury have designed and built a cellar door that no wine enthusiast should fail to experience.
But, as David Attenborough always asks – ‘why?’ Well, unlike the mating rituals of the mudskipper, the answer is quite simple. The Glastonbury family have made a winery that is the perfect example of cellar doors in South Australia should be like. The first and arguably the most essential component of any cellar door experience is the wine itself, which Kabminye certainly delivers on. Something that I have always been certain of upon my numerous returns is that Ric will have either a vintage available for tasting, a wine made in a style that I’ve never heard of or an entirely different variety that I’ve never heard of. The Schielbs Block 2004, for example is a beautiful rich red wine made from Carignane, Cinsault and Mataro grapes. With the exception of Mataro, I have not seen these varieties used anywhere else in South Australia. The more sceptical may consider the reason that such grapes aren’t used more commonly is because they simply aren’t as robust or potent as Shiraz or Cabernet grapes. But they’d be wrong!
As I said before, its arguable that the most important thing a cellar door presents to its customers is the wine. I’ve been to some wineries with phenomenal wine that I’ve never visited again. This is either because I was treated dismissively by the cellar door staff or I was subjected to a more textbook approach to marketing by some inspiring business graduate who fancied themselves a wine buff. However, all one needs do is to show just the slightest hint of interest in wine to be able to engage Ric in rich conversation. The fact that he both makes and sells the wine means that there isn’t a question you can ask that he won’t have a response for. Unlike some of the programmable automatons you may encounter at some cellar doors, Ric has a passion about what he does that comes through in both the taste and presentation of his wine.
The wine list itself is more complex and extensive than most others. Only several wineries that I have visited over the last few years have a comparable number of wines available for sale. The benefit with having such a variety of wines available is two fold. Firstly, it has provided a chance for Kabminye to be creative with their wines and to try things that other wineries haven’t. Secondly, it provides something for everyone. I have been to Kabminye with over twenty different people now, some of whom are white lovers, others are red loves and one who only drank fortified and dessert wines. Everyone of these people found multiple wines that they enjoyed. For my own part, I surrendered for the first time in my campaign against Semillon and admitted that I’d finally found one that I enjoyed. That was harder for me to do than it was for Napoleon to admit that maybe Waterloo wasn’t such a good idea.
But at the end of the day, my words alone aren’t enough to sell this winery to anyone. You’ve got to experience it for yourself. And honestly, you can make a very fine day out of Krondorf road. Kabminye is situated amongst Grant Burge, Charles Melton, Rockford Wines, Villa Tinto and Saint Hallet. My only advice is that you start with Kabminye – it’ll set your tasting day off on a high and your palate will be firing on cylinders.
Henry Suggests
Kabminye Semillon - if only so you can actually see what a decent one tastes like
Schliebs Block - A beautifully constructed red wine created with some varities rarely seen in Australia
Hubert Shiraz - A powerful and full bodied red which represents what the Barossa is famous for
VLH Muscat Blanc - a lovely dessert wine, perfect for a hot summers day or finishing off a nice meal
Kabminye Wines
Krondorf Road
Tanunda
8563 0889
