Tasting the Barossa Valley Wines

I'm no wine snob, but I do like to find great tasting bottles that I can share with friends and bring to social occasions. I know what I like when I taste it, but I certainly haven't refined my vocabulary to the connoisseur level. That said, I've been looking forward to venturing into some Australian wine territory to do one of their fun winery tours and when I arrived in Adelaide I knew this would be the perfect opportunity.

The area is well-known for several of its wine-making regions: the Adelaide Hills, the Barossa Valley, and the McClaren Vale. After a little investigation into different options, I chose a small group tour called Taste the Barossa that would take us to four different wineries, provide lunch, and pick me up and drop me off directly at the hostel I was staying.

That morning as we made our way across Adelaide, the 20-person bus filled up quickly with visitors from many parts of the globe -- the UK, Chile, New Zealand, and Brazil -- plus a few Aussies. While everyone seemed friendly, the level of frivolity and conversations seemed to go up a notch after each stop. People were making plans to meet up and a friendly couple from Sydney offered me dinner if I stopped by their lovely city again.

Our guide, Dallas, had a humorous and knowledgeable patter throughout the day in the bus in between visits and often encouraged people to ask questions. As someone who had grown up in the area and had worked in the wine trade, Dallas had a lot of interesting stories about the communities, the wineries, and the region generally.

I had a wonderful time sampling the many different styles of wine and was feeling tipsy after two wineries before we got to our lunch. Our second stop was at Peter Lehmann and it was there that we were treated to some truly special red wines plus a delicious port. We also had our lunch there so were able to choose what to accompany our meal after the tasting.

After lunch we definitely needed a little exercise and fresh air to clear the head, so we walked between vineyards under a gorgeous sun and got a closer look at some of the vines. The third winery, Langmeil Winery, had some of the old wine-making equipment they formerly used on display for visitors to peruse. The pourers at this vineyard were intent on taking you along for quite a tasting expedition. There was a long list of possible selections on offer and their task was to make sure you tried them in the best possible order. For me, the finest tastes here were the 10-year and 20-year-old ports, especially the latter.

Unfortunately for me (and for the vineyards too, I presume), I didn't feel I could purchase bottles of wine to carry with me during my travels. I'm keeping pretty lean on my luggage content and so could not bring home the bounty of the afternoon. Still, I've got the info about which wines I enjoyed and I know I can track some of them down when I'm back in the U.S.

Dallas shared a few more stories as the rest of us sat back contended and full. And a very good sign of the quality of the wines tasted that day -- no headache!