We are going to be in western and Southern Australia (Perth and Adelaide) in early August. We are looking for recommendations in Barossa and Margaret River, as to both wineries that are good to visit as well as organized wine tour companies. Any suggestions appreciated!
In Margaret River I would definitely hit Vasse Felix, Deep Woods and Leeuwin Estate. Cloudburst are stunning wines and Will Berliner is a great chap, not sure if he accepts visits though.
The Barossa is really exciting at the moment. So many great cellar doors including David Franz, Seppeltsfield, Hayes Family Wines, Flaxman, Yalumba, Henschke, Tomfoolery, Rockford, Langmeil, Bethany, Izway and Elderton to name a few. The likes of Standish. Sami-Odi and Yelland and Papps are appointment only but if you can jag an appointment are terrific. Vino Local in Tanunda now houses the Artisans group of winemakers and is a great place to pop in for a drink and check out wines by Sons of Eden, Hobbs, John Duval, Spinifex, Schwarz.
I think it was these guys I did a wine tour with in early 2017 https://cellardortours.com.au/
It was fun but I wouldn’t say all of the places were high quality. Some were though.
I did a brewery tour too which was also good fun.
If you want to cover some of the better ones you are probably better to hire driver for the day and go where you need to although this one looks like it runs a little higher end https://www.margaretrivertours.com/
Some of the places I like that won’t necessarily be on the radar - Juniper, Amelia Park, Lenton Brae, Flametree, Windows. There are lots of options so yo might want to pick and choose depending on where you are staying. (It’s about 3 hours drive from Perth to Margaret River so its a long day to drive down, look around then come back).
If it is a nice day, Eagle Bay Brewery is a pretty nice place to go for lunch although it is in the top western corner. There are plenty of other breweries around that area too if that is of interest
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the Barossa so I’m not that much help here. When people ask me, I’ll tell people to go to Turkey Flat. Jeremy has some great suggestions there too. There’s some pretty special fortifieds at Seppeltsfield if that’s your thing.
If you are in Adelaide, you’ve got other options besides the Barossa too. McLaren Vale is practically in the 'burbs and you’ve got the Adelaide Hills right there too. Clare is only a little bit further away too.
Just spent 3 days in the Barossa
My standouts for cellar door experience would be:
Charles Melton - Tastings are sit down around a table - generous pours and often conducted by the winemaker himself or his wife
Kaesler - Great shiraz including several single vineyard offerings so a great way to compare parcels from the same vintage
Tscharke - Small family owned winery with some european varietals in addition to the Barossa usuals. Amazing value for money
Kellermeister - Great views over the valley. All their wines are well made. Wild Witch was my pick of the lot
I’d also suggest:
St Hallet
Rockfords
Langmeil
Two Hands
I’ve heard good reports about David Franz but not visited myself
I would recommend trying Sparkling Shiraz while you’re there. It’s an oddity almost exclusive to Australia, particularly the Barossa. I really enjoy it personally.
If you’re into fortifieds then Seppeltsfield should be a can’t miss on your list
Rather than tours - I’d suggest looking into driving yourself. Obviously you need to be more restrained on how much you actually drink. But the difference in how much attention the staff are able to provide to a couple of people vs a group makes a big difference to the experience in my opinion
I’ve also found it reasonably common for bottles of their premium “not for tasting” wines to appear from under the counter or tasting fees are waived if they think you’re there from a genuine interest in the wine and not part of a group.
That’s the approach my wife and I take - and alternate days of one of us sipping sparingly and handling the dricing (Note it’s 0.05 BAC in Australia)
There are Icon wineries which may be worth doing from a tourist perspective - Penfolds and Wolf Blass for example. Having been to the cellar doors once I’m happy not to revisit. Far more corporate experience than the smaller wineries.
Many thanks for the responses! They present a number of good ideas we will look into. We are leaning towards a tour (group or private) because of local knowledge and the combination of right hand steering wheel plus left hand side of road driving plus alcohol consumption plus strict DUI laws seems a recipe for potential problems that we don’t need on vacation.
Wineries we enjoyed (there are many good ones, the following are just ones we enjoyed):
Cullen
Credaro
Amelia Park
Stella Bella
Xanadu
Fermoy
Juniper
Ashbrook
Moss Wood
Fraser Gallop
McHenry Hohnen
Also in your further research, numerous wineries have restaurants that make great stops for long lunches.