Barossa Wine Tasting Tour

With the famous Barossa Wine Region right on our doorstep, it's one of the first places we take visitors. However, that means that despite several visits, I've always had the driving responsibility, and never been able to fully taste and test in the past. Decided to reward myself for 'keeping the fort' while OH was away with family in the UK, by organising a small tour of the wineries - with driver and minibus - for some of us expat girls, so yesterday, on a glorious sunny day after a week or grey and rainy ones, 13 of us and a dog set off to eat and drink our way around a few selected wineries.

The minibus company (Des's Minibus) was a great choice - not only for their prices, but also because Valerie in the office there was such a great help with sorting out the itinerary, suggesting venues, and making all the calls to book us in. We had a vague idea of where we wanted to go, but she pulled it all together for us. Our driver on the day, Sue, was also great - very experienced and knowledgable - and fitted in with the group just fine.

We started with coffee and cakes at Lyndoch Bakery, and then visited Rockford Wines, (love their 'Alicante' rosé) Turkey Flat Wines (great artwork on the walls, and another ex-pom - from Reading - to serve us!) and Langmeil Wines (fantastic sparkling shiraz!) before a lunch stop at the Tanunda Hotel, and then more winetasting at Seppeltsfield (woonderful range of fortified wines), then food tasting at Maggie Beer's. The day just flew: great company, some interesting wines, fantastic weather and scenery - just great fun! And we didn't even get banned from anywhere!! Brontë, Guide Dog in Training, was a hit everywhere and the quietest of all the girls!

Hopefully nobody had a headache at the end of the day - although for the first time in ages, when OH offered me a glass of wine with dinner, my response wasn't quite as enthusiastic as normal (but I still had one....)