Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/131975
food&wine Below: Enjoy a history-filled tour and fine wines at Wirra Wirra winery, where French oak barrels are stacked up to the ceiling. Nearby, at Hugh Hamilton Wines, fifthgeneration winemaker Hugh Hamilton is the 'black sheep' of the family that planted the first vineyards at Glenelg in 1837 soon after European settlement in SA. Hugh Hamilton Wines' mascot is a black sheep and there's a well-stocked gift shop selling 'black sheep' baseball caps, T-shirts and other quirky paraphernalia. Amusing wine names include The Mongrel (a blend of three red grape varieties), The Rascal (shiraz), The Scallywag (chardonnay) and The Villain (cabernet sauvignon). Although the names are entertaining, Hugh Hamilton Wines is serious about winemaking. Reds are casked in French oak and the winery also produces a unique blend called Black Ops Shiraz Saperavi. Saperavi is a native red wine grape of the post-Soviet state of Georgia. Only a handful of winemakers in Australia produce saperavi. For a break from wine-tasting, the Vale/Inn offers an introduction to beer-making and a tasting platter. There are four craft beers: newworld lager, dark lager and a couple of pale ales. My favourite stop is Wirra Wirra winery, which produces popular wines such as Church Block and Scrubby Rise. When I arrive at the cellar door the place is abuzz. Some of the wines here – such as the Sparrow's Lodge and Sexton's Acre labels – are available only from the cellar door. My tour includes a history lesson about the winery, which is home to the angelus bell. The bell, which used to hang in the Jesuit church at Norwood, SA, was brought here in the early 1970s. It has become a tradition for the region's winemakers to gather around the bell and ring it to celebrate the first harvest of the season. The Wirra Wirra vineyards were established in the late 19th century by the eccentric Robert Strangways Wigley, who played cricket for SA. His pranks as a young man – which included towing a pie cart down King William Street in Adelaide – caused embarrassment to his family, so in 1893 he was sent to McLaren Vale. Wigley planted the vineyard in 1894 and made his first wine in 1897. By 1901 he was the owner of one of the best wineries and vineyards in the district. The winery prospered and produced many wines, including a much-acclaimed shiraz, which was exported to England. A behind-thescenes peek at the winery reveals hundreds of 35