We spent a week in Adelaide with a few friends, and our trip had been a tremendously wonderful experience from start to end. While the rest of the world approaches summer in May, Australia is starting to get nice and cool.
We also dropped by Hedonist Wines after a restaurant sommelier recommended their Grenarche to us. It’s a small winery, and dropping in unannounced surprised the staff there. He seemed pleasantly chuffed that their Grenarche were recommended by a sommelier in a restaurant that we went to the previous night. We left with two bottles, and opened one at dinner a few days later. (It was alright, done in a rather light and simple style that allowed for accompanying dishes to shine).
It’s helpful to visit other attractions in the area to pace ourselves between each winery. We stopped the skincare/fragrance company Maine Beach to browse and pick up a few things. (In my case, a few bags' worth of products.) They run site-specific sales here which are substantial enough to worth a stop, even if you, like me, are learning about this brand for the first time.
Adelaide Hills
We made a quick stopover by the picturesque Beerenberg Farm. They’re a strawberry farm. In summertime, you can pick strawberries in their fields. In autumn, you have to content yourself with eating lunch in their restaurant, and buying some of the excellent jams.
Many other ingredients in their products are also grown here, which are quite interesting, even if not as photogenic as their roses. One of the most memorable one is the Spilanthes flower, otherwise known as the toothache plant. Rub away the florets to expose the green, slightly sticky inner portion of the flower - that secretion is numbing! I rubbed it over my tongue and felt the effect set in immediately.
We went to Jacob’s Creek as well, the more-renowned sibling of St Hugo. Like all the others, the wine tasting was a paid event. The wines weren’t much to write much about, and the tasting was um… really restrained with their pours. We’re not winos, but receiving a pour that’s a couple of standard deviations less than the other wineries we’d been to had raised eyebrows. I’ve attended free wine tastings with more generous pours.
I had a yearning to visit ever since learning about the wines of South Australia, and we finally made it here. To be fair, any season is a great season for the purpose of visiting wineries, but for certain heat-sensitive individuals, autumn is an absolutely smashing time to visit and enjoy the cool air with a glass of wine (or two, or three).
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| The aroma of the wine attracting a wino bee |
McLaren Vale
We took turns driving around to each of the wine region. Being the designated driver for McLaren Vale, I didn't really sample much. My notes of this region were a bit sparse, but in the other regions where I had partaken, my recollections were also rather sparse ... see how that all worked out?
Our first stop in McLaren Vale was Down the Rabbit Hole. Sitting in the open air at the top deck of a refurbished bus was a surprisingly comfortable affair. Also a delight: when the aromas of our wines bamboozled a confused bee into joining us. We didn’t end up buying any bottles here, though afterwards we ended up chatting with the server. We mentioned our next stop to her, Oliver’s Taranga Vineyards, and her solid approval was just the endorsement we needed.
The reds from Oliver’s Taranga were delightful and good as promised. We were also served a warm loaf of bread, alongside their olive oil, and sweet almonds from a nearby farm.
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| Props to Bram who hosted us, and had been so hospitable, we could recall his name days after our visit. |
We also dropped by Hedonist Wines after a restaurant sommelier recommended their Grenarche to us. It’s a small winery, and dropping in unannounced surprised the staff there. He seemed pleasantly chuffed that their Grenarche were recommended by a sommelier in a restaurant that we went to the previous night. We left with two bottles, and opened one at dinner a few days later. (It was alright, done in a rather light and simple style that allowed for accompanying dishes to shine).
It’s helpful to visit other attractions in the area to pace ourselves between each winery. We stopped the skincare/fragrance company Maine Beach to browse and pick up a few things. (In my case, a few bags' worth of products.) They run site-specific sales here which are substantial enough to worth a stop, even if you, like me, are learning about this brand for the first time.
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| Realistically, there’s only so much wine one can drink over half a day. We skipped d’Arenberg’s wines, opting instead for just a leisurely walk around their compound to clear our heads. |
At sunset, we stopped by the Sugarloaf on our way back up to the city. (Bram was slightly concerned/confused/impressed that we were attempting a trail after our flight of wines, until we explained that it’s only to the Sugarloaf.) It’s a short walk around the rock formation, and a mild climb besides, and was very doable even for those of us who were on the tipsier end. If anything, the exertion in the cold air sobered us up. Although if you're looking for a restroom after drinking all that wine, you might not have an easy time of it after all...
Adelaide Hills
It was kind of a serendipitous even that we came to Adelaide Hills, but nonetheless, we spent a lovely morning enjoying the autumn colours in Hahndorf, a town settled by German immigrants in the 1800s. The architecture remains largely European over the centuries, and is one of the best places in Adelaide to see the autumn colours.
We made a quick stopover by the picturesque Beerenberg Farm. They’re a strawberry farm. In summertime, you can pick strawberries in their fields. In autumn, you have to content yourself with eating lunch in their restaurant, and buying some of the excellent jams.
Because my friend was rather focused on wines, we gave the beer houses a miss and honed in directly to Shaw + Smith. We were quite taken with their vineyards and their lake, which we could see from the tasting room. The Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were excellent. HOW does fermenting grapes produce sweet notes of peaches and honey?
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| Jurlique rose |
A tour of Jurlique Farm was the highlight of Adelaide Hills. It’s a skincare company based right here: out of these 100+ acres of farmland, grow all the botanicals that they use in their products.
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| Golden Celebration Rose |
As we walked into the rose fields, we could smell the floral scents from all the different types of flowers mingling in the air. I’ve never seen roses quite so large as the ones that they had cultivated here, nor smelled roses quite as fragrant. One section grew the Jurlique rose for which the brand is named after: large, fragrant, and bred to be thornless. Another section grew Golden Celebration Roses that smelled curiously like bright citrus. Parts of the fields sprouted vividly-pink Benjamin Britten roses. and another the Gertrude Jekyll.
We weren’t the only ones admiring the flowers: kangaroos had been known to hop over the fence to nibble on the flowers. In fact, a few kangaroos were loitering along the peripheries in the shade of the trees just beyond the fields.
We weren’t the only ones admiring the flowers: kangaroos had been known to hop over the fence to nibble on the flowers. In fact, a few kangaroos were loitering along the peripheries in the shade of the trees just beyond the fields.
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| Kale |
As we walked through the fields, the tour guide started describing the processes to qualify for organic and biodynamic certifications, and how strategies such as crop rotation and companion planting help in sustainability.
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| Borage and garlic plants are some companion plants that are used to attract pollinators like bees while repelling pests. Others like dill and fennel attract aphid predators such as ladybugs, which rid the plants of aphids. |
We did get a little lost on some of the finer points of biodynamic planting, which included consulting lunar charts and zodiac charts to determine the exact date to plant new crops (I think she mentioned something about the elliptical orbits of lunar movements affecting the water content of the soil? I was even less clear about why constellation charts came into the picture. Perhaps something planetary movements something something.)
Manure isn’t just simply mixed into the soil, but first has to be packed in cow horns and buried with the horns in the soil during winter months, which apparently helps to fortify the soil further.
Manure isn’t just simply mixed into the soil, but first has to be packed in cow horns and buried with the horns in the soil during winter months, which apparently helps to fortify the soil further.
Some of the practices seem a little out-there, but what would I know? As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding… or, more specifically, in their fields filled with the lushest, most fragrant flowers that I have ever encountered.
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| A section called the Display Garden has their products in front of the botanicals within the product. It’s commercial-ready, no photo preparation needed. |
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| Spilanthes |
Many other ingredients in their products are also grown here, which are quite interesting, even if not as photogenic as their roses. One of the most memorable one is the Spilanthes flower, otherwise known as the toothache plant. Rub away the florets to expose the green, slightly sticky inner portion of the flower - that secretion is numbing! I rubbed it over my tongue and felt the effect set in immediately.
Similar to Maine Beach in McLaren Vale, the gift shop of Jurlique sells gift packs highly discounted rates, which we bought. They also sell certain products at full price, which you can purchase but might find cheaper at Adelaide Airport’s duty-free section.
Barossa Valley
Barossa Valley
And of course, Barossa Valley is a must-stop for anyone with a passing interest in wine. The first wine we had upon landing in Adelaide was from Barossa Valley: a wonderful Shiraz from Hentley Farm that was recommended by our server at Eros, which had knocked our socks off. We were attempting to sample as many different brands of wineries as we can in our trip, which was why we ultimately decided against visiting Hentley Farm (unfortunate!).
The gold rush of Barossa Valley may had ended in 1887, but we struck the proverbial gold over at St Hugo which had been recommended to us for their spectacular reds. The tasting sessions were already full for the day as we arrived, but we were welcomed to have a glass of wine and sit by the courtyard in the nice air.
The gold rush of Barossa Valley may had ended in 1887, but we struck the proverbial gold over at St Hugo which had been recommended to us for their spectacular reds. The tasting sessions were already full for the day as we arrived, but we were welcomed to have a glass of wine and sit by the courtyard in the nice air.
Each of us chose a different wine, and we struggled to choose which we liked the best because every glass on the table was terrific. This was perhaps my defining experience of all the wineries that we visited (I was the designated driver for Oliver Tauranga in McLaren Vale).
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| Also, look at the exceedingly generous pours from the warm staff. |
We went to Jacob’s Creek as well, the more-renowned sibling of St Hugo. Like all the others, the wine tasting was a paid event. The wines weren’t much to write much about, and the tasting was um… really restrained with their pours. We’re not winos, but receiving a pour that’s a couple of standard deviations less than the other wineries we’d been to had raised eyebrows. I’ve attended free wine tastings with more generous pours.
We also spent some time browsing in Lyndoch Lavender Farm. It isn’t lavender season (the peak of lavender season would be summer), but the gift shop is open and we left with several fragrant bottles of lavender essences. Try as we might, we couldn’t visit Vasse Virgin, a nearby skincare/fragrance company, before they closed for the day. (We spotted their diffuser in St Hugo’s restroom, and the fragrance was pretty enchanting. But we couldn’t make it there before closing - it took us a rather long time to get through all the glasses of wine.)
My friend did picked up a jar of Caramelised Figs Jam from Maggie Beer Farm Shop, which accompanied us on our travel and which was delicious spread on both Brie and sourdough. I spent more time stalking the birds in the carpark than in the shops.
My friend did picked up a jar of Caramelised Figs Jam from Maggie Beer Farm Shop, which accompanied us on our travel and which was delicious spread on both Brie and sourdough. I spent more time stalking the birds in the carpark than in the shops.
And that was it! All the wineries that we could fit in one trip. We missed out on a few regions: for example Eden Valley and Clare Valley, which are known for their riesling, and Coonawarra, which is (1) known for their Cabernet Sauvignons, and (2) known to be so very far away. Could we have gone for more? I suppose, but there’s only so much wine one can drink, and we wanted to remain relatively functional for the other parts of Adelaide which were all spectacular in their own rights.
We learnt many things about the wines of the region, and also some things about ourselves. For example, how trying to follow along what a sommelier is saying while tipsy gives all of us a headache. And how in those cases, relaxing with a glass of wine in one another's company instead of doing another wine tasting, could be just as (if not more) fun.
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