Tuesday 10th March, 2015 - (AS10) A Taste of the Barossa and Hahndof
Transfer Type: Seat in Coach
Duration: 8.50 hour(s)
Pick up: 8:45am Adelaide
Drop off: 5:15pm Adelaide
You will be picked up and dropped off at Stamford Plaza (located one block from Miller Apartments)
Travel through the city of Adelaide northwards to the world renowned Barossa wine region.
Enjoy the change of scenery as you make your way into the vineyards of South Australia's
premium wine district.
Barossa wine tour – great tour. We have to meet around the
corner at the Stanford hotel ten minutes before 8:45. It is Tuesday morning
after a long weekend. Traffic is hectic.
A bus approaches and the hotel doorman suggests we approach
the driver to see if it is our tour. I feel the driver should have come into
the hotel. Again we are taken to the bus terminal for dissemination to the
various tours. There are three or four different tours going out. Ours was
Adelaide Tours and we are only thirteen people on board, us and the rest were
Aussies. Oh, and the witch!!
Our guide is John and he is very knowledgeable. We get going
around 9:15 amid all the confusion of who is on what tour. Traffic gets in our
way but we are on our way.
We go through an area that was devastated by careless action
two months ago. Someone decided to light an incinerator on a sunny day when it
was 40 degrees C. A piece of paper caught fire and floated through the air.
Ergo devastation.
The native trees are incredibly resilient in bush fires and
have already started reblooming. But the American and European trees don’t
stand a chance and have to be cut down.
One doesn’t realize how much more is lost, the kangaroos,
koalas, snakes, emus and other animal life that is part of the environment.
No human life was lost thanks to the valiant efforts of
everyone. All the horses were moved out
.
Views of the vineyards as we drive to our first stop.
After establishing the South Australian Company, philanthropist and entrepreneur George Fife Angas employed Johannes Menge, gifted linguist and mineralogist, in the late 1830s to explore the local colony. After his expedition, Menge wrote to Angas detailing the Barossa as "the cream, the whole cream and nothing but the cream".
Your first stop is at the multi-award winning Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre where you will have the opportunity to sample their famous wines in a structured tasting, take a tour of the surrounding vines and cellar door and enjoy morning tea as you overlook the vineyards.
Jacobs Creek (formerly Jacob's Creek) is a small creek that runs through the wine-producing region of the Barossa Valley. The creek itself is only several kilometres long and flows westwards from its beginning in the Barossa Ranges, eventually meeting the North Para River. The watercourse is studded with ancient and picturesque River Red Gums.
It was first discovered (but not named) by Europeans in December 1837 by an expedition led Colonel William Light and was surveyed in 1839 by his assistant surveyor, William Jacob (1814–1902), as part of a wider survey of the Barossa region. Jacob settled here in the early 1840s, whence the origin of the name. In the local aboriginal dialect it is called "Cowieaurita", meaning "yellow-brown water", in an area known to them as Moorooroo, which became the name of the Hundred.
I snap a few photos as we wait for the guide.
This old lady looked like a witch she even had a goatee!!
The creek lent its name to the famous wine brand Jacob's Creek, which is produced by Orlando Wines, located 2 km southwest along the Barossa Valley Highway in the small town of Rowland Flat. Johann Gramp, the founder of Orlando Wines, first planted grape vines on the banks of Jacob's Creek in 1847.
Our guide is pointing out that in this container of bottles which represent the first bottle of each vintage that someone recently stole the first bottle. They likely thought it was valuable, but it has been sitting in the sun in this cabinet for years, some of the other bottles show that the wine has evaporated and some corks are beginning to swell. so the stolen bottle will likely be off.
Now the fun part we get to try six or seven different wines, mainly white.
Our group begins to get real chatty!!
And if you wanted to try something different you just had to ask!
We were then treated to coffee and pastries.
Leaving Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre, travel to Mengler Hill Lookout for sweeping views over the
valley
Our guide insisted on taking our photo and manages to capture the "witch"!!
Then onto Saltram Wine Estate at Angaston. Here you will learn about Saltram's 150
year history and taste some of the wide selection of quality wines from the stunning cellar door.
This is a local winery, they only sell in Australia and the UK.
After a memorable cellar door experience, journey to the South Australian Company Store and
Kitchen for a delicious lunch. The Company Kitchen draws on ingredients and traditions that are
distinctly from the Barossa regional producers. You will enjoy a scrumptious 2 course lunch
(including a tasting plate) along with wine tastings from two boutique Barossa wineries.
In 1834, the South Australian Colonisation Act was passed in the United Kingdom, leading to the British colonisation of land that is now the state of South Australia. The colony was designed for migrants, not convicts and was to be funded by the sale of land to the wealthy and to investors. This money in turn would partially fund the transport of labourers and other workers to the colony.
The South Australian Company, formed in London in 1835, made a significant contribution to the foundation and settlement of South Australia. It was founded by George Fife Angas and other wealthy British merchants. Its immediate purpose was to encourage the purchase, in advance, of land in the planned colony. The company continued until 1949 and contributed various infrastrucure as well as establishing the Bank of South Australia.
This was the best meal provided on a tour in Australia. This was the appetizer plate and two wines were served.
We had selected our main courses on the tour bus and the orders were phoned in. I had the kangaroo pie - absolutely delicious!
John chose the bratwurst since the area has a strong German influence.
In the afternoon you will journey your way through the picturesque Adelaide Hills where you will
have a short stop at the Herbig Family Tree at Springton. This hollow tree trunk provided a 'home'
for Friedrich and Caroline Herbig and two of their 16 children until 1860.
On arrival into Hahndorf (Adelaide's oldest German settlement), you can choose between wine tastings at the boutique RockBare Cellar Door or free time to explore Hahndorf's main street with many shops and galleries full of local arts, crafts and produce and pubs where you can sample some German beers.
It is so odd to realize that it is almost autumn here and the leaves are starting to turn.
Back on the bus for a quiet drive back to Adelaide. Since we were dropped off near the Hertz office we went in to straighten out our reservations. We decided to keep the 4X4 and Jill worked us through the paperwork. This way we don't have to come back tomorrow morning and return that car and get a smaller one. She can't complete the paperwork as it wasn't time for the new contract to begin but promises us that she will take care of it and e-mail John with the details.
I had spotted some murals in town so we went for a walk to find them.
I googled this theatre hoping it had an interesting history, but no, it was opened in 1992 by The Queen.
As a child my mother would say "Lion's make custard", referring to the brand Lion. The old Lion Factory on the corner of North Terrace and Morphett Street is where the custard powder was manufactured and packaged.
Of course I had to check out the church - more to come on inSPIREd Sunday.
Dinner was a mediocre (to me) pizza with an excellent bottle of wine purchased earlier.
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