Up at Penfolds Winery South Australia and The Weekly’s country cook Maggie Beer is rushing around putting the finishing touches to her saltbush mutton, black pig leg of ham (from her daughter’s piggery) and Barossa chook as the royal cavalcade drives up through the vines.
It’s a perfect Adelaide day, warm, blue skies and lots of locally produced food and wine, and here just outside the cellar door is a veritable feast of produce lined up to show the Prince and Duchess — from wines, to meats, cheeses, fresh fish and seafood and even some Tim Tams.
Penfolds Winery was actually founded by a young English doctor who migrated to one of his country’s most distant colonies over a century-and-a-half ago.
Dr Christopher Rawson Penfold was born in 1811, the youngest of 11 children and with his wife Mary purchased the Mackgill estate, “comprising 500 acres of the choicest land”.
Initially the wines — made from grenache — were prescribed as tonic wines for anemic patients and the famous Penfold’s slogan ‘1844 to evermore’ harks back to its origins as a prescribed tonic.
Today, the Premier of South Australia, The Hon. Jay Weatherill MP, and Chief Winemaker of Penfold’s Winery, Mr Peter Gago introduce the Prince and the Duchess to their latest vintage “tonic” — actually a 1962 Penfolds Bin 60A Coonawarra Kalimna Shiraz reportedly worth a tidy $4000 a bottle and the looks on the royal faces say it all.
“Can I stay here,” pleads Camilla as she sups the vintage red swapping knowing nods of deep approval with her husband who is equally enamoured.
But Maggie Beer is eager for them to come and try her fare and from here on in it’s the Maggie and Charles show as the cook revels in sharing her food philosophies and the South Australian bounty on show to a very willing and fascinated Prince.
“It was absolutely amazing,” says Maggie after whisking the Prince on a culinary tour through her homeland.
“He was truly interested and he put his hand out to me and said ‘I’ve heard so much about you’. Can you believe that? We were excited and animated and so proud to do this,” she says.
With their jaws literally dropping open at the sight of a massive southern blue fin tuna presented by chef Simon Bryant and some truly mammoth Western King Prawns the couple move on to dessert and sample a humble Tim Tam to rapturous applause.
“I could see them eying those Tim Tams and they asked ‘Are they Tim Tams?’ The Duchess then said, ‘Do you know they’re named after the famous race horse’ and when Prince Charles was given one she asked if she could have one too,” says an amused Duncan MacGillivary from Kangaroo Island, who would have rather shown them something more exciting from his island display but nevertheless loved meeting the couple.
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“They were very very easy going natural people. It was wonderful.”
And with that they were off to the next meet and greet leaving Maggie Beer beaming and I suspect slightly in love with the pommie Prince.
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