Wine Trails - Barossa & Clare Valleys

Autumn colours at Seppeltsfield
Barossa Valley.

There is something about being in a wine producing area. Driving through the rolling hills on dirt roads, winding through the vines, and past those beautiful little boutique wineries. It is a wonderful experience. At this time of the year, the vines have done their work for the vintage, and are now showing their glorious autumn colours, waiting for the arduous job of pruning to commence.


The Barossa Valley has come a long way since families of German immigrants arrived in the 1830's, escaping religious persecution back home. We stayed at Nuriootpa, at the Barossa Valley Holiday Park, which is an easy walk into town, and set in park lands beside the local playing fields. We liked it a lot. A little further down the road, are the equally, in fact quainter villages, of Tanunda and Angaston. We spent most of our time in and around these three towns. The big wine companies have a strong presence here. The wineries are huge. Jacobs Creek, Penfolds, and Wolf Blass, would be the biggest of the big. What a story is the life of Wolf Blass, and it is extremely well told at the Wolf Blass Visitors Centre, just off the main highway, and well worth a visit. From poor, immigrant wine technician, to Australia's most awarded wine maker, his life has been without peer in the Australian wine industry. He is still going strong, peddling the virtues of his wine, around the world, as a wine ambassador for the company. Is it a sign of the times, that we are the only visitors at the centre, for the duration of our visit?

Home to some great Barossa Shiraz.

We favour trying the wines at some of the smaller boutique wineries. Our favourites from this visit to the Barossa, were Elderton and Kellermiester. Elderton have been producing wonderful, award winning reds for years. A few bottles are now travelling with us! Kellermiester was new to us, started by a young family who appear to have a flair for marketing. We spent a fascinating hour or so chatting with a family member, tasting their products. They are a 5 Red Star Halliday rated winery,  so know a thing or two about making red wine. Beautiful, big fruit flavours. Again, we have a few new travelling companions.

Historic Seppeltsfield.

The mausoleum at Seppeltsfield.

For us, no trip to the Barossa is complete, without a visit to the historic Seppeltsfield Winery. What a place. The huge avenues of date palms herald your arrival at the estate, passing the Roman inspired mausoleum perched on a hilltop, surrounded by palms, and the final resting place of 27 family members, you enter the winery precinct. It is an amazing collection of stone buildings, that are both the winery and the family homestead. As the country's premier producer of fortified wines, including the iconic Para Port, the huge stone cellars house hundreds of huge vats of maturing ports and other fortifieds. There are also picnic grounds, a cafe, and it is just the most wonderful place to walk around and soak up the history.

The Chef & The Cook (Maggie)

Maggie Beer's Pheasant Farm Shop.

Another place we can never go past, is Maggie Beers Pheasant Farm Shop. What a remarkable lady she is. Without a doubt our personal favourite cook. From a humble start farming pheasants in the Barossa with her husband, they have created a huge international food business. Her food isn't fancy, just bloody good! Wonderful flavours, her terrines and pates, puddings and roasts, are legendary with most (except the Heart Foundation!). Today, she has the Farm shop, not far from Nuriootpa. Sitting beside the lake, it is a wonderful setting to showcase her produce. You can buy her entire range, or sit and enjoy some of her signature dishes, overlooking the lake. I had to have the warm game terrine, in a pastry case served with fresh green salad and her home made relish, washed down with a Barossa Shiraz. WOW! Carol had the Minestrone Soup with Chicken and a crusty roll, another wow! We walked around the lake, came back through the shop, and left with a bag full of goodies that included pates, jams, relish and her renowned verjuice. A delightful lunchtime experience.

Huge Vats full of Port at Seppeltsfield.

Other little places worth a mention, were the cafe in Tanunda called Nosh, that does excellent coffee and home made cakes. The quite amazing Wohlers Department Store at Tanunda. It is a step back in time. Two levels of giftware, kitchenware, furniture and toys and good old fashioned service. It even has a cafe, hidden away behind the stairs. Over in Angaston, is the lovely Clouds eatery, that does great coffee and lunch, and on the way stop up at the Mehngers Lookout to check out the expansive view and way out sculptures. Angaston also has some great old stone buildings and parks.

Camped at Clare. 

Carolyn & Steph.

Darrin & Matthew

Gorgeous Little Hayley

We took a call from our friend Stephanie, who lives in that other great wine area, the Clare Valley. She has called to tell us to come early to Clare, as the weekend is the annual Gourmet Food and Wine Festival. So we pack up a couple of days early and head for Clare, just over 130 kms away to the north of Adelaide. Here we are staying at Steph and Darren's property. They have 13 acres just north of Clare. The property has an olive grove and a few sheep, and we set up beside the shed, surrounded by their little farm and the next door vineyard. Very Nice indeed. Carolyn met Steph at Balmain, as her hairdresser, and became friends. Steph also does all the beauty treatments as well as massage. She has plied her trade on cruise ships, and took on the role aboard Orion, the amazing small adventure cruise ship that travels places like The Kimberley, New Guinea, and Antarctica. She met Darrin, who was, and still is, an Expedition Manager on board Orion 1, and the rest, as they say, is history! Steph grew up on a farm at nearby Auburn, so has returned to be near her family, and Darrin's family is currently relocating to Clare, from Western Australia, so most of the family will be together. They now have two little children, Matthew who is two, and Hayley who is 4 months. They are lovely kids. Life threw Steph and Darrin a real curve ball, when little Hayley was born with Down's Syndrome. Time will tell the extent of the challenges they face, but they are so determined to ensure the best possible outcome, that we know they will. Hayley is the most gorgeous little girl.

Soaking up the atmosphere at
Seven Hills Winery.

Seven Hills Winery.

Sunday was a fantastic day, as we joined Steph, Darren and the kids, and many of their friends, touring the wineries and enjoying the wine, food and entertainment being provided. This is a huge event for the Clare Valley, and the area is packed with visitors. Lucky we didn't have to be at the caravan park, it was full and overflowing into the nearby showgrounds and racecourse. We started at O'Leary Walker with scrambled eggs & smoked salmon, plus some bubbly to wash it down. There were people everywhere, being entertained by some good country rock singers.  From there we headed for Seven Hills Winery. What a change of pace! This winery is run by the Catholic Church, who have taken alter wine to a new dimension! Sure they still send some wine to the Vatican, but a lot more goes to the heathens! Lovely wine too! The setting is wonderful, with the beautiful large stone church and other buildings, set among the tranquil gardens and vineyards. This is my kind of religion! Next stop was Kilikanoon. This is another Halliday 5 Red Star winery. It has the distinction of producing the "World's Best" red wine, as judged by an International Wine Show in Paris(2009 I think). The Oracle Shiraz, was not on the free tasting list! Here we enjoyed a great lunch of Soup and Pumpkin & Feta Tart, plus some lovely wines. Last stop was Knappsteins, where the music was very loud and the crowd was very young. Yes folks, we are noticing these things these days!

The vines around Skillogalee Winery.

We had some lovely times with Steph and Darrin and the kids. Lovely family times, with home cooked meals and lovely local wines. Carolyn & I explored the region. It is Australia's leading Riesling area. The lovely Clare Valley Rieslings are legendary. There is the "Riesling Trail", an old railway line, that has been converted to a cycle and walking track, and winds it's way for miles through the entire valley. We visited a number of great small wineries. Pikes, which is not really small, Paulette's, Claymore, Mitchell, Greg Cooley ( who is a true extrovert and made us feel like part of the family!), and Skillogalee, where the restaurant is probably more famous than the winery, and based on the lunch we enjoyed, rightly so.

Dust storm between Clare and Adelaide.

Carolyn had a lovely girly day with Steph, complete with massage a hair cut, and the time went all too quickly. Our weather had been mixed. The nights were very, very, very, very cold, with frost most mornings, but the days were mostly sunny. Our little heater worked overtime to keep the caravan warm, and the electric blankets have been wonderful. The time really flew by, and it was all too soon to set course for Adelaide. We said our goodbyes, on a really windy day. Thankfully it was a tail wind. We headed out of the Clare Valley and started to cross the plains, towards Adelaide. This area is in the grain belt, but at present is almost in drought. Farmers are waiting patiently for rain, so they can sow a winter crop in those ploughed, dry, dusty paddocks. The further we drive, the windier it gets, and soon we are driving in a dust storm! Boy what this country can throw at you. We can now add dust storm to the wind, rain, hail and snow we have seen so far!


Adelaide for a week, before Robyn arrives from Sydney, to join us for the trip up through the Red Centre. We have decided to be lazy. John has a bit of a cold which he has now shared with the sexy voiced Carolyn, so some recuperation is necessary. The weather has been wild, with strong winds, and lots of rain, and very cold. The good news is that those dry areas where we had dust storms, have now had 40mm of rain, so the farmers are madly seeding the paddocks.

Our long lost Adelaide friends,
Carmel & Geoff Williams

Our only task was to track down Carmel & Geoff, a couple who Carolyn met on her round Australia odyssey in 1974. We have since seen them twice, once when we came to Adelaide for the Australian Grand Prix, and once when they called in on us at Illawong. Both visits were in the early/mid 1980's. So a get together was long overdue. We have enjoyed a lovely casual meal and evening at there home, and last night they came down to our place for dinner and drinks. It has been fantastic reminiscing and catching up on all that has happened in those almost 30 years that flew by. Catching up with friends is undoubtedly one of the highlights of our journey.