MUSING WITH EMMA BOWEN
Yesterday I suddenly had it a little bit in Coonawarra. The wines are great, the weather has been fine, but I thought it was time to move on. But then I had not yet met Emma Bowen.

Emma is the winemaker of Bowen Estate, the company that her father started in the early seventies and they now run together. Since Emma has taken over the winemaking Bowen Sr. is to be found out among the grapes mostly – something, according to his daughter, always liked more. Emma, who in a very charming way, has something dreamy, walks with me through the production area which is so compact she is able to keep everything under control on her own and along the beautiful wide hanging vines.

Then we start tasting. But not in the normal cellar door. No, Emma, put in a table with her port folio at it in the storage room where the three high oak barrels are lying on their sides. That is to say the least modest: the Bowens make (a little) chardonnay, a shiraz and also a cabernet sauvignon. That's it. No blends, no trendy varietals, no dessert wines. Three wines a year. There is no ‘horizontal tasting’, as it is called, but of 'vertical' even more.

The 2007 Chardonnay has some toast and vanilla in the smell and for a moment I fear for a fat, buttery glass. But no: the wine starts full, but then gets a lovely fresh, citrus flavor. Then the Shiraz 2004, '05 and '06. Always fun, to taste the differences. The first smell of candied fruit, the sweetness of the second seems even to surprise Emma, '06 is cool and fruity and has a little more tannin. I think all three are superb. Cabernets from the same years: '04 smells of green asparagus and a little mint, in the smooth '05 I detect some coffee and I think the '06 is remarkably smooth and refined. My main conclusion from this set of wines is they are full of character yet elegant, sleek, refined and not a mouthful of fruit and tannins. The Cabernets have something of that delicious Coonawarra 'substance'.

We also try the wines from '08, which now lie next to us in the barrels. We sniff, slapping and smacking and there are pleasant silences. Emma seems a dreamy type and that makes me abandon my role as an interviewer. I just look in front of me to the vineyards, with the Bowens golden retriever at our feet. I feel to empty the glass for a change and sit down gloomy. I believe Emma is in the same mood.

We scurry between the barrels and Emma shows up with a sample from a barrique. “Because yes, or no, this is yet another plot of vineyard and what do you think of this (and yes, that is a different thing)?” Just when I decide to leave Emma alone to do her important job again, she thinks it is time to go inside, in the Bowen residence, to taste the Shiraz '90 and '91 next to each other . Mom and dad Bowen are also, in the kitchen. I do not want to leave. Then, at half past 7, the Bowens family have an appointment. Thank goodness, otherwise I never left.

To pick a favorite 'Coonawarra', is hard, after four days of tasting. But this tasting will definitely not be outdone soon.

Opening hours
Daily from 10.00 to 17.00 except Christmas, Boxing Day, Good Friday or New Year's Day