Hardy's McLaren Vale #wine #hardys #McLarenVale #Australia

Another of the McLaren Vale wineries I often stop at is Hardy's, the number one wine brand in the United Kingdom (according to Wikipedia).

The winery is a collection of buildings, including cellar door, storage and the wine making plant itself.

The range of wines is often named after members of the Hardy family, starting with Thomas Hardy who founded the winery in 1857.  The range includes Thomas Hardy, Eileen Hardy, HRB, William Hardy, and Nottage Hill. Others are named after vineyards such as Tintara and Oomoo. Oomoo means 'good' in the Kaurna Aboriginal language.

And rather than paraphrasing the history of Hardy's, wikipedia has outlined the guts of it:

"At 20 years of age, Thomas Hardy arrived in South Australia after sailing from the English county of Devon in 1850. He spent three years working at Reynella Farm for John Reynell, as a gold miner in the Victorian goldfields and driving cattle. Hardy used the money he had earned to purchase a property on the banks of the River Torrens, which he named 'Bankside'.^[1]

Vines were planted on the Bankside property and as soon as they were bearing fruit, wine making commenced. The vineyard became so successful, with its wines sold both locally and in England, that Hardy was able to purchase the Tintara Vineyard Company in 1876.

Hardy steadily expanded the company over the years, purchasing a bottling plant at Mile End, champagne cellars on Currie Street in Adelaide, and a disused flour mill in McLaren Vale. The company established extensive vineyards in the Padthaway area in 1968. In 1976 Thomas Hardy & Sons made its first corporate acquisition by purchasing the London-based Emu Wine Company, which included Houghton (Western Australia's largest winery) and Morphett Vale. The company purchased Chateau Reynella in 1982, where Thomas Hardy had commenced his employment some 130 years before, and converted it to its headquarters.

Further expansion came in 1992, when Thomas Hardy & Sons merged with Berri Renmano Limited to form what then became Australia's second largest wine group, BRL Hardy Limited. In 2003, the brands of BRL Hardy and those of Constellation Brands were merged to create the world's largest international wine business.^[2] BRL Hardy Limited was renamed The Hardy Wine Company. In 2006 Constellation Brands acquired Vincor International, adding the West Australian brands of Amberley and Goundrey to the Hardy portfolio.

On 31 March 2008, The Hardy Wine Company changed its name to Constellation Wines Australia.^{[citation needed]}

On 31 January 2011 Constellation Brands Inc divested 80% of Constellation Wines Australia along with its sister company, Constellation Europe, to the Australian private equity company, CHAMP. On 27 June 2011 Constellation Wines Australia and Constellation Europe were jointly renamed Accolade Wines, which retains its 50% share in Matthew Clark, in joint ownership with Punch Taverns."

The winery has majestic Morton Bay trees in their grounds.  My daughter and her bestie Tom used to climb these trees when they were children.  Coincidentally, they will both be at our house tonight for dinner.  I'll break out a bottle of William Hardy Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.  They are now yin their twenties and are getting to know the joys of good wine. In moderation of course.

The Big Issue Lunch at the Central Market #theBigIssue #CentralMarket #Adelaide #thebiglunch

Yesterday I joined 300 others to raise funds for The Big Issue, an organisation that helps homeless and disadvantaged Australians. The Big Issue says it's purpose is to provide "opportunities for people from all walks of life to earn an income, build confidence and re-engage with their community in a meaningful way."

One of the major fund raising events is The Big Lunch held at the Central Market.

Most people know of The Big Issue through seeing the Big Issue magazine for sale.  Disadvantaged people buy the magazine for $3 and sell it for $6, keeping the difference.

According to their own literature, they also run "educational workshops for school and corporate groups, a street soccer program for homeless and disadvantaged people and a magazine subsription iniative providing work opportunities for vulnerable women."

At the Big Lunch, local artists were tasked with creating a scene from the lunch to be donated as part of a silent auction.

Artists, Fran Callen, Andrew Clarke and Laura Wills created these pieces over lunch.

Celebrity chefs Callum Hann, Simon Bryant, Lloyd Cremer and Bree May all donated their time to make a course each.

We started off with canapés by Callum - roast pumpkin and blue cheese with toasted pecan, and roasted medley of beetroot, horseradish creme fruit, vanilla and chervil.

The soups by Simon were cheddar and parsnip soup with oven baked wake, crispy mushroom bits and sour dough; and dirty sunset red masoor dal spiced sambar with fried okra and peppered pappadam.

Main courses by Lloyd included Seafood platter with spinach, poached celery, saffron potatoes courgette ribbons, fennel and sauce Jacquelin.

Roast beef with pan gravy served with roasted root vegetables and mustard with creamed horseradish and Yorkshire puddings.

And for the vegetarians, Barcelona vegetables paella with smoked almond gazpacho, kale, sugar snaps and piquillo mix.

Desserts by Bree included upside down quince and semolina cake with honey and orange labneh; and dark chocolate custard tart with earl grey and thyme poached pears.

Triple cream brie, cheddar and piccato.

The lunch has raised more than $100,000 over the past 5 years. Please consider buying a copy of the Big Issue next time you see it being sold on the street.  Selling the magazines brings hope and dignity to people.

Federation House at 90 Northgate Street, Unley Park. #FederationStyle #UnleyPark #90NorthgateStreet #architecture

The house that has caught my eye this week is an Edwardian turn of the century return verandah Federation Villa at 90 Northgate Street, Unley Park.  "Brinkburn Estate" sits on 3,552 square metres of land.

Following the Victorian era, Federation Villas were sans lace work on the verandah posts and were often symmetrical in style. Bluestone was out and rock face sandstone or free-stone was in. Moulded render and bullnose verandahs became fashionable. This was the era of Queen Anne, Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, moulded to an Australian sensibility.

I like the simplicity of the entrance hall.

 Isn't this a beautiful outlook?

Formal areas.

Functional kitchen.

Casual family and dining areas overlooking the pool and tennis court.

At the rear of the tennis court is a two bedroom cottage. Bonus.

It is close to King William Road, the local shopping strip.

You'll find out more here

Penny's Hill Winery #Penny'sHill #McLaren Vale #Wine

On the way home from Lady Bay, I often drop into a few of my favourite McLaren Vale wineries to  stock up.  Penny's Hill Winery is one of them.

"Ingleburne" is an iconic building acting as a sentinel to the Penny's Hill vineyards and winery.  It was built in 1846 for Thomas Overton and was formerly known as Gedney. It was even a school for a short period of time. Thomas Goss purchased the property in 1884, after doing well on the goldfields and named the property "Ingleburne".

Tony and Susie Parkinson started buying up land in the area in 1988, beginning with 32 hectares of grazing land and planted it to vine in 1991.  Further land purchases followed in 1993 and 1996 and finally the homestead "Ingleburne" was purchased in 1998.

The property has a number of outbuildings, including the more recently built cellar door and restaurant complex.

Sculptures by Rod Manning are dotted around the property. These sculptures are for sale. You can check out his website here for more information.

There is a indoor gallery called Red Dot Gallery, with all the art work for sale.

The cellar door is inviting with a slow combustion fire and comfy chesterfield lounges. You have a choice of tasting 7 reds, 2 whites a fortified and an almond liqueur.  There must be a racing car-driver enthusiast among the family as the winery also does a limited edition Stirling Moss range to commemorate the English racing car driver's wins over 60 years ago.

This time around I came away with a dozen of their 2013 Edwards Road Cabernet Sauvignon. Edwards Road is a premium 5 acre block planted to cabernet in 1993. The vines are hand tended and low yielding. 

From Thursday to Monday from 12pm the winery serves lunch at The Kitchen Door or more casually at Drew's Verandah.  The Kitchen Door offers a la carte or the degustation, matched with wines.

The outbuildings even include a chook house.... and chooks of course.

Aren't they beautiful.

(Most of the information was sourced from the Penny's Hill website, which you can find here

All the photos are mine, except the photo of the bottle of wine, which I sourced from their website).