A vine time
You learn a lot on a wine tour in Australia, but remembering all that information can be quite a challenge.
AS part of a work trip to South Australia recently I had the opportunity to visit some lovely wineries and vineyards, stay at gorgeous hotels, and eat exceptionally good food.
At least that’s what came to mind when I first saw my itinerary about a week before the trip organised by Tourism Australia. I was to travel with a small group of journalists from around the world and we were to go on guided tours of South Australia’s famous wine regions: the Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.
I had imagined that we would be whisked away in a fancy convertible car, and we’d be driving through vineyards with the sun in our sunscreened face, wind in our hair and wine glasses in our hands.
Well, we actually did experience most of that. Except it was less romantic ... but still memorable.
I have been to the Napa Valley, California’s wine region before, but we only managed to visit one winery there (the Domaine Chandon, ooh la la!), so technically, this South Australian wine tour would be my true first-time experience.
And what a tour it was.
We visited a total of seven wineries in three short days. If you were to go on actual wine tours, you probably would not want to go to that many but since we were there for work, we had a whole variety of places to check out. This was a good thing as the Barossa and Adelaide Hills are homes to many wineries and each one seems to offer something different from the next.
Our visits were handled by two companies – Barossa Unique Tours and Rich & Lingering – so our activities were quite diverse. Barossa Unique Tours took us around the valley in a restored 1966 Mustang convertible and a trike, a big threewheeled motorcycle that carries two passengers in the back seat.
Sitting in the convertible with my hair down was not a good idea as it went flying everywhere, covering my face! By the time we stopped, my hair was badly tangled and out of place. Our guide Tony handed me a hair tie and said that he keeps a whole bag of them in the glove compartment because “it always happens”.