Adelaide - Barossa Valley wine-tasting

Prost!

On a windy and rainy morning in Adelaide (is this a normal summer here?) I got picked up at 9am (good time!) by The Taste of Barossa Valley Tour for some great wine tasting! Absolutely everyone who has done a wine tasting in Barossa Valley was completely raving about it and recommended this tour as a Must-Do while in Adelaide. After picking up 17 guests in total all around the CBD of Adelaide we headed to the Adelaide Hills through rain. Our guide Russell told us about his love to this valley and the history how this area has become a famous grape-growing and wine-producing area in Australia.

 

 

Our first stop was however something that has nothing to do with grapes or wine: The Whispering Wall! I expected something more exciting than a dam wall but anyway. Because of the perfectly curve-shaped wall you can speak along the wall with the person on the other side.

Then we finally headed off to our first winery for tasting at the Chateau Yaldara. This is an impressive building and reminded me rather of France than Australia.

 

And another thing that surprised me: we got to taste about 8 different wines! Of course only little sips of each. It was a structured tasting, so we started with light white wines, then continued to stronger red wines and finished with fortified wines and dessert wines. Each wine was really nice in itself and so different to what I expected in Australia. I already felt a bit tipsy after this first tasting. Some of the guests bought several bottles at the cellar door. Some of the wine we tasted can only be bought there and nowhere else (except maybe some selected restaurants). So very special indeed!

Then we headed off to the second wine tasting at Peter Lehmann’s and again a structured wine tasting starting with white wine, then onto red wines with one wine that costs 100 AUD the bottle (Stonewell) and then fortified wines and dessert wines. Again 8 different wines.

After that it was time for lunch to soak up some of the alcohol. I felt really tipsy by then. The platter was full of products from the Barossa Valley and tasted really good.

The third winery tasting was just a five minute walk away and we walked along the grapes. This time is was an unstructured tasting at Langmeil. This means we got a list of the available wines and chose which ones we wanted to taste. I think I tried about 5 or 6 wines. Not exactly sure…

At 2:20pm we drove to a lookout point to see the beautiful Barossa Valley and where we drove from and which wineries we have already visited.

After that it was already time for our last wine tasting at a small winery called Murray Street Vineyard. Again a structured tasting with 9 different wines. And some ice cream (at own expense) afterwards.

All wines were really nice. Of course wine taste is something very personal. I think I only did not finish two very heavy red wines. I drank everything else. The guide told us on the way back to Adelaide that we have drank about a bottle of wine in total over the day. Nice! I slept on the way back. In the evening I went out with two Sydney girls and an Italian guy to have a beer (local Cooper’s beer, not really my beer) and some food nearby. Then we got back to the hostel and talked about what Daniele (the Italian guy) should see of Australia in his last two weeks before he goes back. Of course we had some wine while we discussed this ;-)

By 10pm I was really nagged of all the wines and got to bed. My next stop for the next day: Haigh’s Chocolate Factory!

Yours wine-tasting Stefanie