McLaren Vale Wine Tour -d'Arenberg

A few weeks ago I awoke extremely early for a Sunday morning and headed out to McLaren Vale with a great group of friends to celebrate C's 33rd Birthday. Our first stop was d'Arenberg



d'Arenberg is located in a beautiful building, surrounded by vines. the Building is split in two, Restaurant on one side and most importantly the cellar door on the other. The cellar door is warmed by an open fire and has a very long bar to cater for the many samplers.


I've never seen so many wines on tasting in one cellar door. We did our best to try them all but with a whole day of wine drinking(ahem, Tasting) ahead after trying most of the whites I cherry picked a few reds to try.


I had a wonderful Idea that I would photograph all the really tasty ones and then I would have a record of which ones I liked!! The first to get photoed was the feral fox, Pinot Noir. Unfortunately my plan went out the window here as I took the photo before I tried it! The label was just so pretty.
It's strange, after years of buying cheap wine in bottle shops I had decided that the prettier the label the worse the wine (The worst wine I ever tried was in Edinburgh, I can't remember the name but it came in a metallic pink bottle and had a silhouette of a girl dancing, Very cool bottle very bad wine). If it's a good wine it doesn't need a fancy label to sell it.
I'm not sure if that works in Australia. This wine was tasty and the penguin wine guide gave it 91 points which is apparently a good thing.


Next up was The Wild Pixie, (95% Shiraz, 5% Roussanne) I'd never heard of the Roussanne grape before, I liked it. I also liked that the fruit are foot trod! just think of those purple toes!


This was my favorite from d'Arenberg The Derelict Vineyard, Grenache.
This was light and tasty with flavours that made your mouth watter. A vineyard was discovered overgrown and unattended, the vine was nursed back to life and this is the wine it produces. mmmm.


Lastly who can go past a bubbly red. Peppermint Paddock fills you with bubbles perfect on a summers day or in this case a cold autumns day warming up by the fire.



Thanks to Robyn's Southern Spirit Tours who were our guides and Drivers. Everyone had a great day definitely one to do again.

Ristorante Pinocchio, Unley Rd

Me and the boy headed out for Dinner the other night to Unley Road. I really fancied Asian food and there are a couple of nice restaurants there I fancy trying.

However the menu and fantastic atmosphere of Ristorante Pinocchio changed my mind and had me craving Italian instead.

The Restaurant is quite new to the Unley Strip (I think it used to be an internet cafe, but the renovations make it un-recognisable) The furniture is wonderfully solid, big heavy chairs selection of small and huge long tables make it perfect for couples or large groups. The fresh white walls are decorated with colourful Pinocchio paraphernalia of all shapes and sizes from days gone by.


It was a cold night so we started with a bottle of Italian red to warm us from the inside out! I think it was a Zinfandel although I can't quite remember, the Fruity blackcurenty flavours still linger strongly in my mind.


The menu was vast and so were our appetites! We ordered Antipasto 'La Fraschetta' for starter and both ordered Specials for main.


The Antipasto ($17.90) was a lovely way to start the meal, little tastes which left you longing for more. I'm not sure what the little fish were (Maybe sardines?) but the salty tang combined with the marinated mushrooms was fantastic! And the prosciutto was melt in the mouth but not wafer thin.


I tried an olive (which I thought was very brave!) and it wasn't as strong as others I've attempted but I'm just not an olive fan. I think the seeds are cardamon seeds? The boy likes them and did his best to eat our fair share!


The Salmon was a replacement for the Tuna special which had sold out (I liked that they had a replacement option available as often once it's gone it's gone...too bad!) The Salmon was grilled and served with a Truffle butter and steamed vegetables (we thought the waitress had said roasted veg so we didn't order a side of potatoes. and It was a little on the small side without ordering the side, next time we will know better).


I finally decided on the Umbricelli alla Bolognese ($24.00) Homemade pasta, like a thick spaghetti, tossed in a slow cooked veal and pork bolognese. mmmm. The pasta was quite al dente and had a really nice flavour to it, I'm not sure I've ever had homemade pasta before? The sauce had a lovely rich meaty flavour and not as tomato-y as I was expecting.

Definatly a place we will go back to.


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Pinocchio Ristorante
50 Unley Road (Opposite Boho)
Parkside
Tel: 0414157974
e-mail: edoterni@yahoo.it

Open Lunch- Tue-Fri 12.00 - 3.00pm
Dinner- Tue-Sat 6.00 - late