Long weekend to Adelaide

So, this week was a short week for me.

We flew to Adelaide on 4th October at 9pm to go and see my little sister.

The flight was slightly delayed, so we ended up getting to Adelaide around 10pm.

It was quite a smooth journey from the airport to Kerri’s, we picked up a car straight from the airport and got to Kerri’s about 30mins after arriving.

Her place was super cosy. And Rosie the dog is the sweetest dog ever. I miss her more than Kerri I think (haha). We had a quick cuppa tea upon arrival and hit the sack ready for adventures the next day.

Barossa Day 1

To my surprise, my amazing boyfriend had booked a surprise trip to the Barossa for a one night stay in Bethany. Bethany is a small village about 2 km south-east of Tanunda in the Barossa Valley (one of my favourite wine region in the world, famous for their big, bold Shiraz style wines).

We stayed at the Barossa Vineyard Cottages. A small family run business, offering 4 cosy, completely private cottages offering spectacular views over the vineyards and farmlands of the Barossa Ranges.

We got to the cottages around 11am, dropped the car off and picked up some mountain bikes for our cycling tour of some of the Barossa’s finest wineries. On our hit list for the day was the following:

1.Taste Eden Valley: their tasting room brings together artisan winemakers from the Barossa’s beautiful high country to showcase the region’s most impressive wines under one roof.

2.Artisans of Barossa: A group of six like-minded producers with a common goal to protect and promote small batch, sub-regional wine making.

3.Rockford Wines: A boutique winemaker, who work with some of the oldest vineyards in the Barossa. They have a great rustic cellar door with tons of character and history.

We must have cycled about 43km by the time we had finished for the day. That evening, we relaxed in our luxury pad with a couple bottles of vino and cooked up some delicious food.

Barossa Day 2

After an epic cooked breakfast of fresh bacon and eggs, we headed off on day two of our Barossa tour. This time, by car. So, we managed to cover off much greater ground. Today, our hit list included.

1. Pindarie Wines: Premium wines and panoramic views of the Barossa, this was a great spot for some early wine tasting.

2. Gomersal Winery: I have brought of few of their wines in the past (they happen to be among some of my favourite) so I was excited to visit the vineyard and try their lineup. It didn’t disappoint with its relaxed atmosphere and rustic charm.

3. Kalleske: Kalleske is a new kid on the block. They only started his own label in 2002, after farming grapes for over 7 generations.

4. Izway: A small boutique, slightly quirky winery. Each of their bottles has a back story. With names like ‘Rob and Les’, ‘Bruce’ and “Brian’, the majority of wines are named after their friends and family members. The whites are females, the reds, male (quite sexist if you ask me, anyhow!!). Their most premium bottle (at $150 a pop) is called ‘The Don’. It earns its name.

5. Seppeltsfield: Among the Barossa’s famous wineries is Seppeltsfield, which dates back to the 1850s, famous for its fortified wines. Unlike the other wineries, you had to pay A LOT for most of the tastings. You were looking at $100 for a 25ml of their 100-year-old Vintage Tawny. They did however have a tawny from by birth year, so I had to try this.

6. Charles Melton Wines: Awarded the Barossa’s ‘Best Small Cellar Door’ in 2016, specialising in the production of limited release, premium red wines.

We headed back to Adelaide about 5pm to see Kerri and chill out for the evening.

McLaren Vale and Beach’s

McLaren Vale is probably my favourite wine region. Still famous for their Shiraz, but its slightly softer than Barossa. The scenery is just as beautiful, rolling green hills, dairy pastures, orchards, farms and vineyards.

Here we visited:

1. Wirra Wirra Vineyards: Our first stop (at 10am, haha). We didn’t stay for long, as their lineup was a bit to ‘light’ for our tasting, but they recommended some must viists based on our palate, including Samuals Gorge, Coriole Vineyards and Mollydooker.

2. Samuals Gorge: a boutique winery specialising in small batch red wines including Shiraz, Grenache, Tempranillo, Mourvedre and Graciano. Housed in a mid 1850’s built farm shed, their award winning cellar door offers sweeping views of the Onkaparinga River National Park.

3. Coriole Vineyards: Coriole Vineyards is a family owned and operated winery that was established in 1967. It is situated in the beautiful rolling hills of the McLaren Vale wine region and boasts the most picturesque courtyard, garden and cellar door.

4. Mollydooker Wines: A alternative wine maker with a vast lineup of BIG Shiraz blends (The bold wines come with bold alcohol levels of 15.5% and higher). The lineup includes labels such as: The Boxer, The Violinist and Carnival of Love, each with their own character which could easily fit in with the cast of Popeye of Disney. Their tastings room (nicknamed ‘The Giggle Room’) is filled with life-size versions of their ‘Dooker’ characters.

We managed to cover these all off before lunch (I did feel very tipsy after the Mollydooker tasting) and then headed down to a little village by the coast called Middleton to meet Kerri. Randomly, as we drove out onto the motorway she actually drove past us – talk about good timing. The drive down to the coastal town was so picturesque. We had lunch in a café called Pipi.

After refueling with an epic avocado and toast brunch, we headed to the beach. First stop on our list was Second Valley Beach, a beautiful small beach, nestled in a rocky bay. We explored the rugged shoreline for about 30mins, skimming stones and then headed off to Carrickalinga for some R&R.

Carrickalinga was voted ‘Best Beach in SA’ by Lonely Planet, a beautiful long stretch of beach with squeaky white sand and transparent (albeit slight freezing seawater). Kerri and I put our brave face and ran straight into the ocean, where we remained for a total of one minute before getting mild hypothermia.