Barossa & McLaren Vale

The week before last I took some time out of the office to head down to South Australia to visit the Barossa and McLaren Vale wine regions.

We started at Penfolds with the "Make your own blend" session where we donned the white coats and headed in to the lab to learn a bit more about the art of wine making and how the blends are created. That night we stayed at the Novotel Barossa Valley Resort in a two bedroom apartment and had dinner in the restaurant and then breakfast the next morning.

Day 2 was a big one as we visited Grant Burge, Rockford, St Hallets, Langmeil, lunch at Maggie Beer's Farm Shop, Kalleske, Torbreck, Tscharke and Seppeltsfield. We then headed back to Adelaide Airport to pick up a couple more friends and then headed to McLaren Vale and our house at Aldinga Beach where we were staying for the rest of the trip.

Day 3 I took one for the team and drove but the wineries visited were Hither & Yon, Leconfield, Wirra Wirra, Alpha Box & Dice and finished at Samuel's Gorge where we enjoyed the sunset over the hills.

Our final day included d'Arenberg, Coriole and Shaw & Smith.

Yes, way too many wineries in the short time but when we go back we'll definitely no which 3 or 4 we're leisurely spend our time.