DAY 23: The Barossa Valley

Whilst we have not sought to make our journey one of visiting vineyards we thought as we were in one of the most famous and prodigious wine producing areas we would take a tour of the Barossa Valley and go to one of the oldest German inspired towns in the region, Hahndorf.

We were picked up from a nearby hotel just after 0900, somewhat later than many of our tours, and the driver gave us a fairly informed and interesting commentary as we drove out of the city into the Adelaide Hills which were beautiful and strewn with vineyards and orchards. Our first stop was at Jacob's Creek where we were given a very brief and speedy history of the family who started the winery and invited to taste a selection of wines. We have often drunk Jacob's Creek wines at home but apart from the sparkling white we were not very impressed with any of those sampled. I guess they were very much at the cheaper end of the range or perhaps after so many years of wine consumption our palate has become more sophisticated or else we are used to drinking cheap wines and these were too subtle! However, the savoury pastries and mini muffins, tea and coffee provided were very tasty and then we made our way to the next vineyard stopping as we climbed out of the valley to take in the view.

Our next stop was a smaller producer linked to Wolfblass called Saltrams where we sampled 7 wines ranging from $25 - $75 AUS per bottle! I found some of these much more palatable than those at Jacob's Creek and especially liked the Resiling, Grenache and Tawny.Bynow we were all feeling in need of some food and the next stop was for lunch at a small country cafe who provided us with some very tasty canapés made from local produce and main courses that were also very tasty. Most folk reckoned the lamb shank to be the best and it certainly looked delicious as did the Baramundi but my Kangaroo and Shiraz pie on creamy mash was very good and had I not been told, I would have believed the meat to be good quality beef as it was rich, succulent and dark and very well cooked.We made one or two photo stops en route and the driver continued to regale us with local knowledge and stories and then we spent some time in the village of Hahndorf that was about to celebrate its 175th anniversary with a festval and celebrations in one of their three parks. Many of the shops catered for tourists but many of the buildings were original with intricate ironwork and pretty gardens and there was much evidence of German inspired arts and crafts which extended to some of the cafe menus including bratwurst.Our return journey to Adelaide was very quick and I visited the Apple store for help with my replacement iPhone purchased yesterday then we dined in the apartment and enjoyed some more sparkling wine and a local Shiraz.

 

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