Weeks 4 & 5

I've been slacking on my blog game, so I have a little bit of catching up to do on here from the past two weeks. When I last posted, I was just about to head to the Adelaide Cup for some horse racing. It's pretty awesome being in a place that gives you a state holiday because of a horse race, and we had a great time. The atmosphere was like that of the Kentucky Derby, where everyone was wearing their Race Day finest. The women were wearing their enormous hats and drinking sparkling wine while the men were looking sharp in their suits and ties. The race was one of those events where it was fun to watch the horses and make bets, but the best part was the people watching.

The races were entertaining, but my usual formula for betting wasn't working out. Usually, I like to take a look at how the horses look when they take their warm-up trot in front of the stands. Then, after picking a couple favorites, I pick one based on which one has the best name. For some reason though, my instinct didn't translate to Australia and I lost in all races I bet on. It hurt my pride a bit, but it wasn't enough to ruin my day. Here's a picture to show the track:

At the Adelaide Cup, I had decided that it was too hot to have a full beard. The week following the race was pretty slow at work, mostly filled with us helping out in the vineyard to take out as much Botrytis as possible, so I decided it was time to have some fun taking my beard off.

Here is the first style I went with. The most frequent comparison for the facial hair I heard for this one was Wolverine from X-Men. I kept this for one day:

Next, I trimmed up the mutton chops into more of a line going from the sideburns around to the moustache. It was more of a transitional stage and another one that I only kept for a day.

Next, I went with the Fu-Manchu. I enjoyed the Hulk Hogan comparisons I was getting with this one. In fact, I enjoyed them so much I kept this look for about a week:

This past weekend, I went out to the Barossa Valley with my roommates Ben and Chris and with another American we work with, Scott. Barossa is sometimes compared to Napa Valley in that it is the most prestigious wine region in the country, and there were some really nice wines there. One upshot of the rain that we've been getting this season is that the drive out there was beautiful with lots of rolling green hills and kangaroos bouncing about. I was driving otherwise I'd have some pictures on here for you.

The first place that we went was Henschke. It's one of the oldest and most-well known wineries in the area and home of Hill of Grace, a $550 per bottle Shiraz. We didn't get to taste the Hill of Grace, but what we did taste were really good quality. Their style was more towards an old-world, elegant with really well balanced wines and their Pinot Gris was the best white wine that I've had down here. Here's a picture of their cellar. The holes in the ground are actually underground tanks, a relatively unusual set-up that works really well for keeping cool and consistent temperatures for the wines within. I'm glad I don't have to get in their and clean them though. 

The next winery we checked out was Yalumba, a larger producer that made some pretty decent wine. It wasn't quite as exciting of a visit, but their Shiraz Viognier co-ferment was good. 

Next, was my personal favorite of the trip, Two Hands. We had a few connections at the winery and were able to get a tour through their facilities from their winemaker. They've had wines in the top 100 in Wine Spectator each of the last couple of years, so we were really lucky to get such good treatment. Here's a shot of Scott and Chris tasting some of their younger wines out of the barrel:

After the tour, we got to try their current releases in their cellar door with some bread, cheeses, and meat. We got to try all of their wines, all the way up to their high level, single vineyards wines. My favorite actually was one of their mid-range Syrahs though, Lily's Garden. I might have to buy a couple of bottles to take back.

After staying the night, we hit up four more wineries the next day. We went to Torbreck, Kaessler, Langmeil, and Jenke. Torbreck was the stand out of this day, with some great Shiraz, Mouvedre, and Grenaches. They actually had the most expensive wine I saw that weekend, with a $700 bottle of Shiraz. Again, no luck in getting to try that one. It must have tasted like liquid gold for that price, so I would've liked to try it.

The past week at work was similar to the week before, but things have been picking up since we're finally about to get in fruit. We've been told that the first grapes are finally coming in tomorrow, and I've actually shaved off my moustache in anticipation. Hopefully things pan out and we can have some action at work.