Touring the wine country

Today we are going on  a private tour that Dave and Colleen arranged of the Barossa wine country which is just north of Adelaide Hills. Scott was our driver and tour guide. Our first stop was to Linfield Road Wines. At 200 feet above sea level, it is cool enough for this vineyard to grow grapes for white wines as well as red. This vineyard was started in 1860 by Edmund Major Wilson and his son, who is now in his 90's, is still out  amongst the vines supervising the operation.

The next winery was Tscharke's Cellar. The owner is Damien Tscharke and he opened especially for Dave - one of his best customers! He took us down into his cellar and had us do vertical tasting which is tasting this year's wine and then tasting the same wine that was bottled 1 to 3 years earlier. It is amazing to smell and taste the difference. Damien is so passionate about wine making and his knowledge about the science that goes into the process is fasinating!

Much needed solid food was provided by the third winery called Saltran's. We didn't do any wine tasting there but Don purchased a tawny that he wanted.

The third and fourth wineries are kind of a blur - not because I was drunk but because I had hit my fermented grape saturation point! We visited Gibson's and then Penfeld's. The entire area is beautiful and it definitely would be a serene life to live amongst the vineyards. Scott had a quiet ride back to Adelaide as we all conked out from our day of tasting!