Your experience at Coriole is not complete with just the information from last weeks post.  Remember the web site is www.coriole.com.

The final wine related experience awaiting you at the winery is called “The Wine Room”.  By pre-booking (2 to 15 people at a time) you can enjoy a hosted tasting, in a separate room next to the cellar door.  You are treated to a total of 4 wines from the Reserve Range (including the icon Lloyd Shiraz) some special aged releases.  This flight of rare wines is also accompanied by a tasting of Coriole Olive Oil, Woodside Cheese and wood fired bread.

The cost of the tasting is $15, however if any wine from The Wine Room tasting is bought on the day the tasting cost is wavered.

Ring Rachael (+61 8 83238305) to organise one of the best wine related experiences in McLaren Vale.

Your experience at Coriole is not restricted to wine, they also produce Verjuice, Olive Oil, Olives, Red Wine Vinegar and Vina Cotta.  On top of this they also sell Wrights Woodhouse Cheese!

The verjuice is made from unripe Barbera grapes and has so many uses.  You can use it instead of vinegar as a salad dressing, use it to de-glaze a pan to produce a memorable sauce or just drink it – either on ice or mixed with some soda water.  In Australia Maggie Beer from the Barossa seems to have put Verjuice on the map (she sells her own brand), but I believe this one is better.  An interesting fact – Verjuice combined with mustard seeds is considered the oldest condiment known.

The Kalamanta Olives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the Red Wine Vinegar are all of high quaility and consistently win local area awards.  If you like strongly flavoured cheese then the “Ediths Goats Cheese” is highly recommended.  All the goats and cows milk cheeses are worth trying.  One or two of the cheeses maybe open for tasting at the cellar door.  If you would like to try these cheeses I would recommend visiting the Willunga Farmers Market (willungafarmersmarket.com) where most Saturday mornings the Coriole Condiments and the Wrights Cheeses are sold with cheese tastings.  

The last gem from Coriole is the Vina Cotta.  This was once described to my by a cellar door host as Semillon grapes, crushed and the must boiled slowly until 1/3 its starting volume remains.  This thick mass is then made into vinegar.  You can substitute the Vina Cotta where you would use balsamic vinegar – mixed with olive oil and verjuice as a salad dressing, as part of a marinade or sauce or just drizzled over ice cream.

Other Information

Dogridge has just opened a cellar door – I have been told it is open on weekends and public holidays only.

Graham Stevens who retired in the late 1990’s (when he sold Cambrai Wines to what is now Kangarilla Road Winery) has decided that retirement was not for him and will be opening his new cellar door on 23rd May on Ingolby Road.  I will attend the cellar door on the opening day and I will report on this in the coming weeks.