The Wine Country of South Australia

The Barossa, Australia's most famous and largest wine producing region is located in a stunning Australian landscape of rolling hills, manicured vineyards, and closely linked towns and villages. It is the only Australian destination on the New York Times list of 53 places To Go To in 2008. With over 50 cellar doors there are plenty of wine experiences to be enjoyed including sparkling new wine centers and cellar doors in original farmhouses and cottages. The Barossa is especially famous for Shiraz, Eden Valley Riesling, Viognier, Rhone style-reds, Semillon and Cabernet

30 minutes drive from Adelaide, this is a region of rapidly growing importance for the production of super-premium table and sparkling wine. It is a very beautiful area, particularly in autumn, and is still a largely undiscovered treasure. Twisting and turning, rising and falling, the roads throughout the Adelaide Hills offer cameo vistas with bewildering frequency. But no one should venture into this region without a detailed road map, for it is impossible to navigate by simply using one's sense of direction.

McLaren Vale is one of the most richly varied and highly developed wine regions in Australia, producing intensely flavoured and coloured red wines and similarly powerful whites. The landscapes of Mclaren Vale are invariably beautiful, with the Onkaparinga River and its tributaries a highlight. Rolling hills, olive groves and forests all co-exist in this most attractive South Australian wine growing region.

Explore more than 30 cellar doors and taste the mouth-watering Rieslings of the Clare Valley. Visit the heritage village of Mintaro and the nearby magnificent Georgian mansion Martindale Hall. With a continuous history of winemaking dating back to 1852, the stone buildings and wineries of the Clare Valley add to the region's striking and varied beauty. It is a high quality producer of long-lived, intensely flavoured and strongly structured table wines, virtually all of which are made in limited quantities.

The Limestone Coast is halfway between Adelaide and Melbourne - a four hour drive from either city. This area is called the Limestone Coast in honour of the bedrock that provides a natural filter for its vineyards. In decay, the limestone also gives the region the unique terra rossa soil of the Coonawarra, which produces some of the world's best red wines. In this unique region you can sample some truly great red wine and local rock lobster; see migratory birds that have flown from as far away as Siberia, walk in national parks or four-wheel drive through mallee dune country. World-heritage listed caves are a special feature.