Mark Maxwell thanks drunken Vikings for setting his family winery in South Australia on the road to prosperity.<\/p>\n
The Vikings couldn\u2019t get enough of their \u201cnectar of the gods\u201d, the honey wine they quaffed before heading into battle.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t wine at all, of course, but the alcoholic fermented honey drink known as mead.<\/p>\n
Intrigued by the stories he read about the Viking’s love of mead, Mark\u2019s father Ken Maxwell, a McLaren Vale farmer, began experimenting with different honeys and different yeasts to produce his own.<\/p>\n
He sold his first bottle in 1966. The profits helped underpin the Maxwells’ move into wine grape production.<\/p>\n
Mark Maxwell expanded the business in 1987 buying vineyards and building a winery, cellar door and an award-winning restaurant in cream-coloured sandstone blocks.<\/p>\n
He designed it with large windows to capture the views.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking and selling natural mead in four varieties is still an integral part of our business,\u201d Mr Maxwell, 73, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving goblets of mead is Game of Thrones stuff. No wonder the Vikings liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He makes the traditional honey mead with golden hues and with sweet floral beeswax and nutty and marmalade characters.<\/p>\n
He added to his mead repertoire by creating a mulled mead with cinnamon and cloves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe then evolved that one into another mead where we added brandy and more spices and put it into oak barrels to make a liqueur mead with 20 per cent alcohol,\u201d Mr Maxwell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we have just released a fourth mead containing ginger from Buderim in Queensland. We fermented that with honey to make a sparking mead in a can.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s an easy summer drink with five per cent alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maxwell Wines benefit from a cooling maritime influence with some vineyards just 15km from the sea.<\/p>\n
Maxwell Lime Cave Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 has aromas of red currant and cassis with flashes of \u201ccigar box\u201d and herbal aromatics.<\/p>\n
There is more cassis on the palate enlivened with cedar and spice.<\/p>\n
The fruit was harvested from a vineyard that sits atop limestone cave dug in 1916 to grow mushrooms.<\/p>\n
Maxwell Four Roads Grenache has spicy raspberry and floral aromas with hints of pomegranate.<\/p>\n
It has vibrant red fruit flavours with raspberry and cherry and savoury undertones.<\/p>\n
There are rich blackberry and dark cherry fruit flavours in Maxwell Silver Hammer Shiraz 2023, an attractive and complex wine with a gentle natural acidity.<\/p>\n
Maxwell Wines offers a decent set of whites. I especially enjoyed tasting the Maxwell Estate Fiano 2025 a creamy, textural wine with waxy apple flavours with hints of honey and pears<\/p>\n
Travellers’ tips<\/p>\n
Maxwell Winery at 19 Olivers Rd, McLaren Vale, is 39km south of Adelaide.<\/p>\n
Under the guidance of chef Fabian Lehmann, Maxwell Restaurant was last year named South Australian restaurant of the year.<\/p>\n
He offers a tasting menu with up to 14 courses including oysters and caviar, chicken, squid, marron, wagyu beef and venison.<\/p>\n
There is a less formal tapas-style snacks menu in the winery tasting room.<\/p>\n
The winery also offers a 30-minute helicopter tour of McLaren Vale across the vineyards with spectacular views of the cliffs, the ocean and the white sandy beaches.<\/p>\n
The deal includes lunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Maxwell thanks drunken Vikings for setting his family winery in South Australia on the road to 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