Yesterday I went for an overnight trip into the country with the wife. We stayed overnight at Kangaroo Valley, about 2.5 hours drive from Sydney. It’s doable in a day trip, but we figured we have some time off over the Christmas/New Year period so why not stay overnight and give ourselves time to explore at leisure, rather than rush. We drove down via Bowral and the Southern Highlands wine region, though we didn’t stop in at any wineries along the way. The weather was hot and we spent most of our activity time wandering around Bowral itself, then taking a walk through the bush at Fitzroy Falls to see this 82 metre waterfall plunging off the sandstone escarpment into the rainforest valley below.
At Kangaroo Valley, we had dinner at Jing Jo Thai Restaurant – one of the few options open on the day. We ordered a garlic and ginger squid dish, and spicy stir-fried battered fish pieces. To go with this we chose this Yarraman Road 2000 Semillon. A young waiter poured glasses for us, then a minutes later the owner came out and asked if we’d tried the wine yet. He said that this was a particularly unusual Semillon, being extremely dry in style, and he’d had several diners return bottles of it, thinking it had been corked. So he wanted to check to see if we were happy with it, or if we didn’t like it he offered to replace it with something else for us. We tried sips, and thought it was okay, so we stuck with it.
I can see what he meant though, as it was very dry, with a gooseberry tartness that reminded me of Sauvignon blanc, and also a hint of something earthy, slightly truffly or musty. It wasn’t unpleasant or very strong though, and the cork itself seemed perfectly fine, so we were happy to keep it. The aroma was strongly citrusy, with lime dominating over lemon, and the flavour likewise, with that gooseberry tartness on the finish. It was actually very nice with the spicy food. The earthiness was very much a background note – not something that dominated the flavour at all. Overall I’d say it was decent, and matched the excellent food well.
We finished our trip by driving back a different route, taking the coastal highway via Berry and Kiama, getting home in time for New Year’s Eve!
Tags: semillon, vintage 2000, yarraman road