Barossa Valley wine trip: how to plan a weekend

A Barossa Valley wine trip works well as a two day drive from Adelaide. Plan on three or four cellar doors a day and one person who stays sober. The Barossa is about 70 kilometres north-east of the city. The drive takes about an hour to an hour and a half. You can leave after breakfast and be tasting before lunch. This guide covers how to pick stops, when the grapes come in, and how to get home safely.

Sources for this section: barossa.com, About Barossa; Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Welcome and Wine.

Where the valley is and what it grows

From Adelaide, take the road to Gawler and then the Barossa Valley Way into the valley. Lyndoch is at the southern end of the valley. The 2008 Barossa visitor guide says early Lutheran settlers first settled the valley along its creeks. English pioneers also played a major part in early winemaking at the Angaston end, 13 kilometres from Tanunda.

Shiraz is the flagship wine. The guide says it is grown from some of the oldest Shiraz vines in the world. For white wine, ask about Eden Valley Riesling. Eden Valley is the cooler region next door.

Sources for this section: barossa.com, About Barossa; Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Welcome, Wine, and Trails and Scenic Drives.

How to pick your cellar doors

The guide counts about 120 wine companies and more than 60 cellar doors across the Barossa, so you cannot see them all. Plan by style, not by name.

• Pick one big name. Big-name visitor centres include Jacob's Creek at Rowland Flat and Wolf Blass near Nuriootpa.
• Pick one or two small producers. The 2008 guide lists the Barossa Small Winemakers Centre in the Chateau Tanunda, with about 80 wines to taste.
• Pick by grape. If you like white wine, ask about Riesling. If you want reds, ask for Shiraz and Grenache side by side.
• Keep the stops close. The guide suggests one area, such as Seppeltsfield Road with its 14 cellar doors, or the small group of wineries on Krondorf Road.

Opening hours differ. The guide's listings show weekday openings from 8.30am to 11am. Some cellar doors open later on weekends, and at least one is closed on Sundays. The listings also show several cellar doors closed on Good Friday, which is 10 April this year. The festival's visitor page says the Tanunda visitor centre is closed that day too. Phone ahead before you plan a long day around one name.

Sources for this section: Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Wine; Barossa Vintage Festival, History, Downloads and Visitors.

When to go: harvest and the Vintage Festival

One Barossa grower, who kept a public vineyard diary, wrote that they usually start picking in early February and finish in April. They began picking earlier in 2007 and 2008, on 23 January and on 29 January.

Autumn is a pleasant time to visit. The Barossa tourism site, barossa.com, says March and April bring mild days with chilly evenings. The guide gives average highs of 29°C in February, 26°C in March and 21°C in April. Pack warm clothes for the evening.

The Barossa Vintage Festival is held every second year and opens on Easter Saturday. This year it runs from Saturday 11 April to Sunday 19 April, nine days. It began in 1947 as a Thanksgiving Ball to celebrate the vintage. A 2007 announcement for the festival says wineries are busy picking, crushing and fermenting at festival time. The festival says its events hosted more than 50,000 people in 2005, so book your bed early.

The festival says advance bookings are essential for many events. Some tickets go through Venue*Tix, and a $2.80 booking fee applies to all tickets bought there.

Sources for this section: Barossa Grapegrower blog (three posts); barossa.com, About Barossa; Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Welcome; Barossa Vintage Festival, History, Downloads and Visitors.

A simple two day plan

This is one way to split the weekend. Change it to suit your own pace.

1. Saturday morning: leave Adelaide after breakfast and start at Lyndoch. Gawler to Lyndoch is 15 kilometres, about 20 minutes.
2. Saturday midday: eat lunch in Tanunda. Lunch is a good break between tastings.
3. Saturday afternoon: visit one or two more cellar doors, then settle into your bed in Tanunda or Nuriootpa. The two towns are 7 kilometres apart.
4. Sunday late morning: drive to Angaston. It is 13 kilometres (12 minutes) from Tanunda and 6 kilometres (10 minutes) from Nuriootpa.
5. Sunday afternoon: buy a few bottles, then drive back to Adelaide. Angaston to Adelaide is 90 kilometres, about 1 hour 30 minutes via Springton. The guide warns against leaving wine in a warm car. It says many wineries can send wine home by specialist transport.

Sources for this section: Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Welcome and Wine.

Getting around safely

South Australia's blood alcohol limit for a car driver on a full licence is 0.05. It is zero for learner, provisional and probationary drivers. It is also zero for some vehicles. Examples are buses designed to carry more than 12 people including the driver, and vehicles used to carry passengers for hire. The safest plan is simple:

• Choose a driver who tastes nothing.
• Let someone else drive. The guide says the most relaxing option is a tour where a guide chauffeurs you from cellar door to cellar door. The tourism site lists a daily coach from Adelaide. It also lists a dial-a-ride bus linking Tanunda, Nuriootpa and Angaston on weekdays.
• Sleep in the valley so you never need to drive home after dinner. The tourism site says the Barossa has more than 100 places to stay.

This is general information, not legal or medical advice. The limit is the law, not a target, so plan your ride home before your first tasting.

Sources for this section: Law Handbook (Government of South Australia), Alcohol, drugs and driving; Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Wine; barossa.com, About Barossa.

Sources

1. barossa.com, About Barossa: archived 20 July 2008
2. Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Welcome: archived 20 July 2008
3. Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Wine: archived 20 July 2008
4. Barossa Visitor Guide 2008, Trails and Scenic Drives: archived 20 July 2008
5. Barossa Vintage Festival, History: archived 22 January 2008
6. Barossa Vintage Festival, Downloads: archived 24 February 2009
7. Barossa Vintage Festival, Visitors: archived 6 January 2009
8. Barossa Grapegrower blog, Events page with the festival announcement of 4 February 2007: archived 19 April 2007
9. Barossa Grapegrower blog, Our story part 2 (11 August 2006): barossa-grapegrower.blogspot.com
10. Barossa Grapegrower blog, Start of Vintage 2008 (30 January 2008): barossa-grapegrower.blogspot.com
11. Law Handbook (Government of South Australia), Alcohol, drugs and driving: archived 4 September 2007