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Thursday, February 24, 2022

Visiting South Australia; Home to one of Australia's Oldest Wineries

Penfolds wine has long been a favorite in this household so when our theme for this month's World Wine Travel was the Red Wines of South Australia, I naturally went right to this popular brand.

Penfolds Wine
Gwendolyn of Wine Predator is hosting this event and our twitter chat to be held on Saturday (2/26) morning at 11 AM ET.  You can learn more by reading Gwendolyn's invitation post.

We love having others join in our chats.  If you are a wine lover who wants to learn more about the wines of South Australia or have information about South Australian wines that you would like to share we would love for you to join us. You will find us by following #WorldWineTravel.   Here are some of the topics we will be discussing........


Wine with Australian Meat Pie

It is not surprising that Penfolds is such a popular wine.  This winery, started in 1844 by Christopher and Mary Penfold from vines brought with them on their voyage to Australia.

Christopher was a very busy doctor so most of the wine making and the running of the vineyards was left to Mary.  When Christopher died in 1870, Mary assumed total control of the winery that was producing very popular Clarets and Rieslings.

Mary retired in 1920 and her daughter, Georgina, took over the business which, at this time, was producing a third of the wine in the area and was South Australia's largest winery.

In 1948 winemaker, Max Schubert was hired by Penfolds and began experimenting with long-lasting wines. Bin 28, the Shiraz that I am sharing with you today was first introduced in 1959.  Made with grapes from the Barossa Valley Vineyard the bottling was named for the area that stored the bins where the wine was aged.

Penfolds has been featured on the list of 100 Top Wineries, found in Wine and Spirits Magazine, 29 times.  That is pretty dang impressive.

I learned all of this and more by reading the information provided on Penfolds' website.

Slice of meat pie with wine

It was a happy coincidence that my Eat the World group was assigned Australia during the month of February.  While researching for recipes I kept in mind that I wanted to pair my meal with this bottle of wine and settled on making an Australian Meat Pie.  This meat pie was like a giant sloppy joe, which along with grilled burgers, pair nicely with this wine.

Shiraz pairs very well with red meats and game meats whether they be grilled or cooked up in a hearty rich stew.  It can also pair nicely with chicken depending on how it is prepared and we really love it with our Favorite BBQ Ribs.

As I said this is a popular bottle in our house, both for it's medium bodied, slightly spiced deliciousness as well as it's medium price point of under $30.  Not what we spend for an everday wine but reasonable enough that I don't feel like I need a special occasion to open it.  I pick it up from Costco whenever they have it available and save myself a few dollars.

Hope to see you at chat on Saturday, have a great weekend.



12 comments:

  1. I cannot believe how close we were on our dishes. I had meat pie on the list, but with the snow storm my groceries were delayed so we made beef soup instead AND we did the Penfold wine, although I chose a lesser expensive bottle. Can't wait to try yours, we loved the one we purchased.

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  2. Such an iconic Australian producer and an equally perfect pairing of meat pie with Aussie shiraz! Penfolds is definitely a favourite in our house.

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    1. It was fun to explore the foods of Australia to pair with one of our favorite wines.

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  3. Let's hear it for Women in Wine! Go Mary Penfolds! The wine and the pairing sound delicious!

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    1. Thanks Robin, I, too, was impressed by Mary who made her mark so early in history.

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  4. I love a Aussie meat pie and I can see it pairing perfectly with the Penfold's Bin 28. It's very fun to read up on another of their bottlings.

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  5. So many excellent choices from Penfolds. That meat pie looks delicious and perfect for this Shiraz!

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  6. We went with meat pie too but hand pies aka "party pies" ...and they went so well with the So Aus wines we had so I'm sure your pairing was tasty too! Thanks for participating!

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    1. Yes, I saw...your meat pies were adorable and I noticed that you decided to use both kinds of pastry. Kudos.

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