2012 KI Gruner Veltliner, 2011 KI Arneis, 2009 KI Cabernet Tempranillo

I was on the deck of the cellar door of the K1 winery, Kupito (pronounced ky-po), on the margins of McLaren Vale, SA, late 2012. On the table were two platters of local food – relishes, cheeses, meats, crackers – and around the table were friends and friends of friends. Also on the table, or coming to it, were a bottle of NV Sparkling Salmon ($28), a 2012 Gruner Veltliner ($28), a 2011 Arneis ($22) and a 2009 Cabernet Tempranillo ($20).

Smells of pomegranate said one friend of the Salmon, while another said strawberries. Salmon red in colour, it had deep red roses on the palate. A third friend said it brought to mind one of the best descriptions of wine ever: it slipped down like a baby Jesus in red velvet jeans. That third friend said the Gruner was like embroidered lederhosen. But for me Gruner Veltliner has a clear, cold-water quality. Another friend said it was like gold kiwi fruit, and edelweiss too. He also noted the misspelling of terroir (as terrior) on the bottle, which reminded me of the misspelling of daiquiris (as daiquiri’s) on the federal parliamentary Liberal Party’s Christmas party invitation displayed on The Insiders (ABC TV).

Like the GV, an Australian-produced Arneis is still pretty rare, but K1 are doing both. A beautifully pale gold in colour, the wine looks particularly attractive in the long, slim K1 bottle with its elegantly understated black and gold label. The Arneis had apple and fig in the perfume, finishing with citrus. Largely no fruit on the palate, with the exception of peach, rather it tasted of almonds, herbs and flowers.

The Cab Temp is undeniably good. Spicy as well as chocolately, it has a satisfying but not daunting medium body and went well with the salted caramel chocolate two of the friends had brought with them from America. We had this wine on blankets on the grass around the pond, still in the beautifully big Plumm wine glasses (the full-bodied red wine ones).