Wirra Wirra winery

Rockfords

Charles Melton Winery

The wildlife!

South Australia

Our wonderful Southern Australia tour takes in the Clare, Barossa, Adelaide Hills and McClaren Vale.

We meet in Adelaide and start with two nights in the small rural town of Clare, which wine-wise is renowned for Riesling and elegant reds mostly from Cabernet. We get the tour off to an enjoyable start with dinner on the verandah at Skillagalee, then visit Tim Adams and Pike’s Polish Hill.

We travel the short distance to the Barossa, where we meet some great characters and world class wine makers. The wineries include most of the really important small firms that we know very well and have been visiting for many years. They include Charlie Melton, maker of 9 Popes and other Barossa greats, the welcoming Steve Hoff at the micro winery Heritage, the ultra-traditionalist Rockford’s, and new superstars Turkey Flat and Torbrek.

We have in depth tastings and leisurely lunches with two important Barossa firms, St Hallett’s (famous for their Old Block Shiraz) and the legendary Peter Lehmann, credited with saving the Barossa in the 1970’s crisis. The tasting includes such greats as Mentor, Eight Songs and Stonewell. Yalumba show a flight of great wines and at Penfolds one of the wine-making team shows us many of their top wines (the Penfolds visit is optional).

In the Adelaide Hills we have a superb tasting of the exemplary Petaluma wines before lunch at their Bridgewater Mill, one of Australia’s best restaurants (in 2009 this was with the wine-maker Andrew Hardy).

We spend two nights in Adelaide and have a day in the McLaren Vale famous for its big rich reds and exotic fruity whites. Our tastings are with Coriole, well known for Italian varietals, and D’Arenberg where Chester Osborn had everyone on top of the tanks ‘for the view’. That was before a tasting of 17 wines, including back vintages of the ‘Derelict Vineyard’, ‘Coppermine Road’ and ‘Dead Arm’!

This unparalleled wine tour of Australia is an extraordinary experience. You can build it into a longer trip down-under to escape our winter.

Dates and Prices

Our next tour to this region is planned for 2011, please register your interest in this tour if you would like to receive details.

The itinerary is likely to be Barossa, McLaren Vale and Coonawarra in South Australia, Western and Central Victoria, (plus Adelaide and the Yarra, and Tasmania. The tour will be about 18 days and will be available in sections.

As a guideline our last planned tour to South Australia prices and inclusions:

Price per person: £1999
Deposit: £500
Sole Occupancy: £400

The price includes:
7 nights in 4* small boutique hotels in twin/double
Full breakfasts (most touring itineraries in the New World do not include breakfasts)
8 meals with wines. These will vary from informal picnic lunches, to gourmet meals.
All visits and tastings.
A local coach for all itinerary and transfers