Wine Country South Australia.

Ready to pick.

Barossa Wine Country

There is something really nice about being in a wine region during harvest time. There is an energy in the air, and everyone seems excited, looking forward to the rewards and expectations of a new vintage. We have come back to two of South Australia's premium wine regions, to further explore and to meet up with friends. And we all know, that there is no where better to catch up with friends, than in a wine region where great food and wine abound!! Our first stop is the world renowned Barossa Valley, and the lovely little town of Nuriootpa, or as the locals prefer, Nuri.

Lunch with Cheryl & Phil.

Phil does a mean BBQ.

Our caravan friends from Figtree, Cheryl & Phil have this year decided to head to WA, and as luck would have it, we were able to coincide a short visit with them in the Barossa. They surprised us by putting on dinner for the night of our arrival, with great steaks to take advantage of some of those incredible Barossa Reds. Incredible Shiraz from here! We are staying at the Barossa Tourist Park on the edge of Nuriootpa, and right beside the main town sports grounds. It is a lovely little park, and has new owners since our last stay, and quite a few improvements. When booking, we had asked to be next to our friends, and they said they would do their best. Unfortunately, their best was inadequate, and we were allocated a narrow site, between a cabin and a tree, so narrow we couldn't even put our awning all the way out!! When we asked if we could change, as there were empty sites on both sides of Cheryl & Phil, they went through the process of politely staring blankly at the computer screen, before telling us how busy they were, and that those sites were prebooked for part of our stay, and they couldn't do a reshuffle. We accepted their word, and then got really pissed off as one of the sites remained vacant for the duration of our stay!! 

So many samples.

St Hugos winery.

The day after our arrival, we enjoyed a leisurely day touring the district with Cheryl & Phil, the highlight being a long lunch at Salter's Restaurant at the Saltram winery. They had a couple of days head start on us, so had already done their share of wine tasting and stocking up the van for the trek west, so a long lunch made the day fly by! Beautiful platters of local cheeses, meats, olives, pickled vegetables and home baked bread, followed by delicious wood fired gourmet pizzas and their delicious wines, made for a memorable lunch. From lunch it was back home for a snooze!! 

Church in Tanunda.

The Co-Op Supermarket, Nuriootpa.

The Barossa is not only famous for its wine, it is a food haven too. With all the old German influence, there is bacon and cold meats, and cheeses to die for. The breads and pastries just top it all off!! In the centre of Nuriootpa, a brand new shopping centre has opened. its major tenant is a new Foodland store called "The Co-Op". Enterprising retailers have banded together to form a cooperative of stores covering food, electrical, hardware and a department store. Once joining the members enjoy special loyalty discounts at all member stores. The new supermarket is spectacular!! The Cheese Store, The Deli, The Cafe, The Fresh Fruit & Veg and The Bakery within the store, are absolutely amazing! Woolies and Coles should be ashamed!! It is the best supermarket we have seen in Australia!!

Angaston Farmers Market.

Hard to argue with the logic!

Those German bacon's, sausages and cold meats are everywhere! It seems that every cafe and produce store sells someone's different bacon!! Wood Smoked, Hand Cured, you name it, they sell it!! We tried many different types and couldn't find a bad one!! If I lived here for long they'd be treating me with bacon poisoning!! On the Saturday, we headed out to a small Food & Produce Market out near Angaston. We were early and hadn't yet had breakfast and by the time we finished walking the aisles, we didn't need it, as we had tasted so many bacon's, meats, sausages, sauces, nuts and fruits!! We well and truly restocked the caravan before we left!!

Carol, the Cook & the Chef!

Maggie's Pheasant Farm Shop.

We couldn't come to the Barossa without a visit to Maggie Beer's Pheasant Farm. We love Maggie and her home style cooking. The Farm Shop is a lovely place to visit. You get to taste all Maggie's goodies, you can watch a cooking demonstration, you can have a coffee and cake, or you can head next door for a sit down meal. We did the tasting thing, and decided to have a coffee and cake. It was called a Bitter Orange and Almond Meal Cake with Orange Syrup. It was sensational. We added a few of her new products to our shopping list, along with a couple of wines. The only down side to visiting Maggie's, are the tour buses! Go early or late to avoid crowds pushing & shoving and cramming samples onto paddle pop sticks and spoons to be devoured during a ten minute frenzy!! It really doesn't fit the laid back ambience of the place.

The Old homestead is now Elderton's
tasting rooms.

Tsharkes Cellar Door.

We have to taste wines when in the Barossa. We avoid the big names and concentrate on finding quality small producers. A long time favourite is Torbreck. They have been making quality wines for decades. They aren't cheap but they are good. We were the only ones at the Tasting Room, and the guy in charge was most accommodating. Wines available for tasting included some with retail prices up to $290.00 per bottle and he didn't mind splashing it around! A new winery for us was Tsharkes, where we were pleasantly surprised to find quality wines selling from just $10.00 per bottle at the Cellar Door! We also called in at Elderton Wines, whose reds are high quality, and Kellermeister which we found on our last Barossa visit. We have added some serious weight to the caravan, and still have another region or two to visit!!

Lunch at the American Diner.

Carol at Kellermeister Winery.

A fun lunch was had at an American style diner that has opened in nearby Tanunda. It is very authentic with a feel of the 1950's and '60's. The waitresses dress accordingly, and the food is straight out of Happy Days. We enjoyed great hot dogs and french fries,(no chips here!!), washed down with a shake. Didn't find any German bacon on the menu!! There is no shortage of good food cafes and restaurants in the Barossa Valley. Most wineries now offer food of some kind, from platters to Pizzas to 5 Star restaurants. It is easy to understand why the region has grown so much since our last visit. Hard to knock a lifestyle like this and just one hour from Adelaide! 

Back with the WA gang.

Coastline south of Aldinga Beach.

From one hour north west of Adelaide to one hour south of Adelaide. We moved from the Barossa Valley to McLaren Vale, a wine region we have only fleetingly visited in the past. This time we are staying for a while. We booked into the McLaren Vale Lakeside Caravan Park, a short walk from the village of McLaren Vale. It is a lovely park set among the vineyards, with large grassy sites. With the ground staff keeping up the watering the place is a green oasis. We had a few days by ourselves, awaiting the arrival of our West Aussie friends, Moira & Geoff and Di & Graeme. This year we had no plans to get to WA, so they decided to meet us half way, flying to Adelaide and hiring a car to join us, firstly at McLaren Vale, then on to Kangaroo Island. We can't thank them enough for this unexpected visit!!

Sellick's Beach.

Rapid Bay.

This is a lovely part of SA, and less than an hour from Adelaide. The coastline is a series of white sandy beaches, and there are some gorgeous little bays and coves. Noarlunga, and Aldinga are fast growing regions, as the railway runs down here from Adelaide. The rolling hills run right to the coast, and stretch inland, covered in vines. This wine region has been going for over 100 years, with Hardy's the oldest name. It is home to countless small names, some that most Aussie wine buffs will know. Names like d'Arenberg, Chapel Hill, Primo Estate, Fox Creek and  Wirra Wirra. But there are so many more. Most wineries here, now have a food option available as well, from fine dining to cheese platters. We will do well around here.

The Links Lady Bay.

Plenty of bunkers!

Before the WA guys arrived, I wanted to treat myself to a round of golf at one of SA's finest courses, The Links at Lady Bay. It is a true links style course, fashioned from the sand hills near Normanville, about 30 minutes drive away. We chose a day when the winds were supposedly light, as the place is very exposed. Thank God we did!! Even in light winds it proved a challenge with club selection. It is very picturesque, but was suffering from lack of rain along some

Great golf destination.

Lunch at Normanville Beach Fish Cafe.

fairways, but we very much enjoyed our day, having the course almost to ourselves. We had a great chat with a couple of the local members doing some volunteer maintenance work, who told us that the course has a Slope rating of 139/140 depending on the tee used. The golfers will understand, that that means tough!! The locals also told us to have lunch at the Fish Cafe over at Normanville Beach, which we did, and were very thankful for the advice. A great spot right beside the sand on a beautiful day. The garfish special was excellent!!

Great friends, Great wines.
At Woodstock Wines.

Happy travellers.

Moira & Geoff, Di & Graeme arrived from WA, and we caught up firstly over coffee, then over drinks and dinner at Oscars in McLaren Vale. The wood fired pizzas were delicious, and we enjoyed a long dinner catching up on news. We planned our next couple of days around McLaren Vale, including some sightseeing along the coast and down as far as Victor Harbour, as well as taking in some of the great wines and food of the region. A casual Thai dinner at Langs Kitchen was good, and a highlight dinner at Hortas, a well known establishment, right at the pier at Noarlunga Beach was great fun. Coffee in town was mostly at Mulligrub, where the coffee was excellent and the breakfast also pretty dam good!

Keeping the girls out of the gift shop!!

Interesting Bronze sculture at dÁrenberg.

We wandered around the wine trail, firstly stopping in at Scarpantoni Estate Wines whose Merlot we had sampled at the restaurant the night before. Also we couldn't resist their ad in the local tourist brochure. Three beefy boys, arms folded across chests, "Buy our wine or else"!! The wines were good and very well priced. From there we went to Woodstock wines, who do an excellent rose. Boy did we get the royal treatment here. Two guys sat us at wine barrels, and gave us the entire history of the place including every grape ever grown!! We sampled most of the wines, the pricing of which was at the higher end. 

The d'Arenberg Cube.

Tasting at d'Arenberg.

Next stop was the amazing new Wine Cube at d'Arenburg Winery, which has only been open a few weeks. It is a four story building, built to look like a black & white Rubik's Cube!! It costs $10 to get in at the ground floor, from which you enter a theatre to be entertained by a colourful video presentation, after which you enter the lift to be whisked up to the tasting room on level 4. There are amazing views over the hills of McLaren Vale in every direction, and there are outside viewing decks

Finding the Ladies loo!

Crazy men's urinals!

on each side of the cube. Tasting is done from fine crystal glasses and the place was very busy indeed. After the tasting we were told not to miss the art gallery and the loos on level 1! We were glad we didn't, especially the loos which were quirky to say the least. We stood guard while the girls took a look at the urinals in the men's loo. Never seen anything quite like them!! The corridor is  like a maze, and you have to search to find door handles and lift call buttons!! The whole place was a lot of fun, with the art gallery including both modern and comic art. Levels 2 & 3 are still under construction. Can't wait to see what they look like!!

Willunga Farmers Market.

Just add chopping!!

On the Saturday, we all headed up to nearby Willunga for breakfast at the famous Willunga Farmer's Market. We beat the crowds and had a lovely time sampling food from all over the region. Fresh fruits, cheeses, chutneys & pickles, breads and pastries, coffee. You name it we tried it. We couldn't really stock up, as we were getting ready to go to Kangaroo Island, but Carol & I would return next week on our return, and do it justice! It was approaching lunch time, so we headed out to Wirra Wirra winery, where we had read they did a great lunch of local produce. We were not disappointed! The setting was impressive and the food matched. We didn't try any wine as we are familiar with their products, and they are a lot cheaper at the Bottle Shop!! Last stop for the day was at Fox Creek, Graeme's favourite. We did a nice tasting here in a small private room. They do make excellent wine at Fox Creek! We headed back for a rest after too much food & wine, and to prepare for our night out, at Hortas Restaurant at Noarlunga Pier.

So, our time at McLaren Vale was at an end. It had been most enjoyable, and definitely won't be our last visit here. There are so many food and wine places left to visit!