The Islander Estate Vineyard – secret wine address from the Island
Not a surprise to many experts travelling to the Kangaroo Island every year, The Islander Estate Vineyard has for the third time in a row been named a five star winery with James Halliday. Consequently their star labelling in Halliday’s wine guide has now reached top status being five stars in red colour.
A Rose of The Islander Estate Vineyard
To tell you the truth, I have not been aware of The Islander Estate Vineyard before and tried to find their premises on a map of Kangaroo Island. A mere 45 minutes on a ferry away from South Australia’s mainland, this Island proves to be worth a trip for many food and drinks connesseurs, the Island becoming more of a green and healthy food addict kind of place in the past years.
The Islander Estate Vineyard provides no cellar door for tasting or buying purposes, so you have to rely on locals pointing you to the right bottle shop. Finally I find their wines in the bottle shop in Kingscote, the Islands main but ugliest village. The bottle shop provides a wide range of beers and a few bottles of the local winemakers.
Asking for a bottle of the Islands treasure wine, I receive a secret look saying: yes they are great but we don’t really get a lot of their stock. So I leave happily with a bottle of their Rose, nicely chilled (remember: 90% of Australian White and Rose gets drunk within 60 minutes after purchase here downunder – so the bottles have to be in the fridges – of which there are not many) – and ready for a sun-downer on our beach, a mere 5 minutes away from our house.
My first impression: not really great, though Rose was most likely not the style, Halliday tried while making this winery a 5 star winery. The varieties include Grenache, Sangiovese and Cabernet Franc, a little too sweet for my personal taste, but the owner Jacques Lurton stems from a prominent French winemaking family. The alcohol content of 13.5% is a little on the upside for a summer quoffa, the bottle comes with a screwcap which comes handy, when we open the bottle on the beach.
I will try more of their wines in the next days, to find out, where the 5 stars come from, no worries.
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Das Islander Estate ist der grosse shooting star der Winemaker Szene des Kangaroo Island, die Winery gehoert Jacques Lurton, welcher aus bekannter franzoesischer Weinfamilie stammt. James Halliday hat der Winery 5 Sterne verliehen, und das bereits zum dritten Mal hintereinander, so dass in seinem jaehrlichen Weinfuehrer die Sterne nun rot erleuchten.
Ich selbst hatte vor meinem diesjaehrigen Besuch vom The Islander Estate Vineyard noch nicht viel gehoert, und so machte ich mich neugierig auf die Suche nach einer der Flaschen. Leider hat das Estate keine Cellar Door und in den lokalen Bottle Shops musste ich letztlich in die groesste aber eben auch haesslichste Kleinstadt der Insel Kingscote fahren, um hier ein Exemplar zu erwerben.
Mein Eindruck ist durchwachsen: mit 13.5% ist der Rose relativ hoch alkoholisiert, die Mischung aus Grenache, Sangiovese und Cabernet Franc ist nicht gerade mein Lieblingsfall, aber der Wein ist sauber und ohne Fehler. Keine Frage: ich muss mehr Weine aus diesem Hause probieren, um mehr uber den wahren Charakter dieser Winery erfahren zu koennen.
Mit sommerlichen Gruessen
Ihr Michael Brecht
Related posts:
- South Australia – a wine lover’s paradise downunder
- Cool Climate vor den Toren von Canberra: Lerida Estate
- Moorooduc Estate – irgendwo auf der Mornington Peninsula
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