Wine & Food

The Fleurieu Peninsula eats the way McLaren Vale drinks: Mediterranean, with respect for good ingredients, short distances from field to plate, and no unnecessary fuss, much like the wine grown from the same earth. Olive groves run alongside the region's vineyards. Coriole has been pressing its own oil for decades. On the town's main street, a converted 1920s railway carriage, the Almond Train, sells locally roasted almonds.

The sea is just minutes away from most wineries, and at Port Willunga you'll find King George whiting, a delicate white fish, alongside squid, which one well-known local spot serves as salt and pepper squid, fried crisp with plenty of lemon and little else.

A heavy red wine doesn't suit this pale fish. Better to reach for McLaren Vale's cooler, saltier side: a Vermentino or a Fiano, whose citrus freshness echoes the sea breeze, the very same breeze that cools the grapes during the day. Pour an old Grenache alongside it instead, and things go wrong fast. The heavy wine all but swallows the delicate fish, leaving little of its fine flavor behind.

A robust Shiraz or a GSM, on the other hand, calls for something from the land, lamb shoulder, say, slow-cooked over charcoal. Or kangaroo, hunted in the region for generations and cooked over open fire. Both bring enough character of their own to stand up to tannin and fruit. That's exactly what makes this cuisine special.