On to the Barossa Valley

The region northeast of Adelaide is a beautiful area. There are rolling hills and plateaus covered with small grains and sheep farming interspersed with the valleys filled with vineyards and olive orchards. There are tiny picturesque towns. We spent 3 days exploring the Clare and Barossa regions. We checked out a couple of art galleries, several restaurants and a bunch of vineyards! We wandered in to the studio/gallery of Murray Edwards. He is a great artist and a fascinating personality. After a long chat that covered world politics, religion and relationships we took home a print that will long remind us of the trip.

While exploring the Barossa we stayed in Tanunda; a small town in the center of the region. The area is the home to several large vineyards that export throughout the world – Penfolds, Jacob’s Creek, Seppelts, Peter Lehmann and Grant Burge’s (see photo on left) wines can be found on the shelves of liquor stores in the U.S. We hit a couple of those just to see the facilities. Grant Burge is worth the visit even if it's just to visit the gardens. Fortunately our adventurous spirits led us to spend most of our time exploring vineyards we’d never heard of. We used a great tool and marketing concept called the “Barossa Wine and Cheese Trail”. The first and only required stop on the trail was the Barossa Valley Cheese Company where we purchased our kit. It consisted of an oak cheese board, cheese knife, crackers, a small soft sided cooler, cold pack, four types of cheese and a trail map that showed 33 of the valley’s vineyards. On the back of the map was a cheese pairing for one wine at each of the wineries. The cheeses were all made locally and the kit was an instant conversation starter when we entered one of the cellar doors.

When we embarked on this trip, Dave was resolute that he didn’t really care for wine he’d sip a glass now and then but was a devote BEER drinker. By the end of the second day, Dave was the one to say “we will have 2 bottles of that one.” The good news is that we now another common interest, the bad news is that someone else is drinking all my wine!

Rockford Winery was by far our favorite. Entering the brick courtyard made me feel like I’d stepped back in time. The winery is picture perfect and the wines excellent. Some of our interesting finds was a semillon from The Willows Vineyard, the chardonnay at Kaesler Wines, any and all of the ports at Illaparra Wines and an amazing sparkling shiraz at St. Hallett. The other discovery we made in the Barossa was a salmon pizza at Vintners restaurant. It was a true gastronomic delight and fortunately for us the chef was happy to share recipe!

One of the most surprising places we discovered was an antique rose repository. European settlers came to the Barossa hundreds of years ago, bringing with them roses from their home lands. Roses of all varieties flourish in the climate there and will outlive the people that planted them and houses they are planted next to. As development occurs, the old home and roses were being bulldozed to make room for new homes. In an effort to preserve a bit of Barossa history and save the old style roses for generations to come, the Barossa Rose Repository was created. Cuttings from old roses were planted in a public garden in the town of Angaston for all to enjoy.

Next stop on the trip will be Kangaroo Island.