So Sea and Vines was about a month ago now, and I’ve had a few photos sitting on my computer itching to go up. This was my first Sea & Vines, a pretty poor effort for someone who has lives 5 minutes from McLaren Vale for half of their life. I can’t compare it to previous years, but I believe the format changed a bit this year. There was a structured day on the Sunday, where you booked yourself into three wineries, and then a casual day on Monday where you could hop along for free to any that took your fancy.

To be honest we were there for one reason, and it wasn’t the wine.

As soon as I saw that The Vendor were serving up food at Coriole Vineyards for Sea & Vines I knew I had to be there. I don’t actually know the connection between these guys & The Happy Motel, but they worked together serving food at the Vinteloper Urban Winery Project (which I didn’t get a chance to see), and when we rocked up at Coriole half of the guys serving food were the same ones who wowed us at the SOMEONE IN NEW MEXICO LOVES ME (a dinner of heart and hand) night with the Adelaide Mag & Happy Motel. Basically I think the gist is that people who make good food in Adelaide like to get together, and I like to eat their food.

Check out the menu:

Chargrilled Squid w/ chickpea, fennel, & olive salad, crispy wood-fired potatoes, & aioli
Barbequed Chicken Wings w/ garlic & jalapeno sauce, radish & corriander, & crispy wood-fired potatoes
Oven Roased Mishrooms w/ goats cheese & herbs, w/ fennel, chickpea, & olive salad, & crispy wood-fired potatoes
Choripan DIY Chorizo Sandwich w/ chimichuri, salsa creole, & red cabbage slaw

Meals were $20 each, and between the two of us (Vic & I) we ordered the first three. Our only disappointment of the day was that we didn’t order the chorizo sandwich as well. We told ourselves we might come back for it, but after getting half way through the walk to Rosemount Estate we knew we weren’t walking back.

Rosemount was a completely different atmosphere from the laid-back casual time we’d had at Coriole. For starters it was packed, and people definitely seemed a lot drunker. Neither of us were driving, but we weren’t really drinking that much either. As we made out way through Rosemount we decided to grab some more food, and settled on some croquettes & of course pork belly (can I ever say no?).

After our first lunch, it was a bit of a let down, but the food was still nice. We decided to each have a glass of their Rosemount Botanicals range. I went for the lemon & elderflower sauvignon blanc and Vic for the blood orange and rosewater pinot grigio. I actually liked them, they were the type of drinks that I can imagine wine snobs looking down their nose at (perhaps the same way I see Cruiser’s attempt at beer), but I found it fresh and a bit fun.

Finally our last stop of the day (After trying to check out Alpha Box and Dice and finding out they were closed) was Leconfield & Friends hosted by  Leconfield Wines. A huge building was decked out courtesy of a whole bunch of smaller wineries. Highlight of this was coming across Vinteloper and getting a chance to sample their wines. Vinteloper is a small winery headed by David Bowley, brother of the utterly fabulous Monique at the Little Van that Could. He was fascinating to chat to, and he gave us the low down on all of his wines. There was even one made specially for Sea & Vines. Mum and dad had joined us by this stage, and we left with a box filled with Vinteloper wines.

We also finished off the day with some more food (of course). I opted for a pizza & some oysters, but I dare say these pictures were on one of the 5 SD cards I managed to lose a few weeks back.

Any excuse to explore McLaren Vale is a good one, but adding in some good food really made the day.