The cellars below the tasting rooms of Seven Hill Cellars, Clare Valley South Australia

The Jesuits, (Society of Jesus) migrated to Australia from Austria in 1848 seeking a life free from religious and political persecution. They settled at Sevenhill in the beautiful Clare Valley and established Sevenhill Cellars, which is the oldest existing winery in the Clare Valley in 1851. Initially the main purpose of the cellars was to provide sacramental wine for religious use and this has been ongoing. Sevenhill Cellars now produce white, red and fortified wines as well as sacramental wine. … from the Sevenhill Cellars web page – history

Twenty varieties of grapes are grown yielding an average annual crush of 450 tonnes. (This is a far cry from the pioneering days of the first Jesuit winemaker Br Schreiner. He and Br Schneider built a wine press in 1863 capable of pressing a formidable load of 4 buckets of grapes at a time!) The wine is completely processed on the property including the bottling of the finished wine (35,000 cases per year). … from the Sevenhill Cellars web page

My favourite wine on the day – was the 2004 Grenache. A slightly lighter red than I would normally choose, however summer-time in Australia, this, slightly chilled, goes wonderfully well with a lunch of quality local cheeses, cold meats and few perhaps “European” finger foods such as dolmades, giant beans, etc. – all consumed under the shade of an old pepper tree.

Ahh…isn’t life wonderful.

3 image HDR/tone mapped

f1.8 ; 1/8 sec +/-2ev ; ISO100

Canon 50D / 50mm f1.8 Canon lens