Review: Adelaide’s Top Food & Wine Tours {Not just another wine tour!}

Oh my! I totally want to tell you about what I did on the weekend. This blogging job may be the coolest job ever! I am part of Gift It Now, who sell amazing experiential gifts. So, I went on a wine tour. I know you think that a wine tour could be crap or boring. Yeah, I thought that too until I went on this awesome wine tour!! Yes, awesome. I think it’s kinda all about the tour operator and Danny from Adelaide’s Top Food & Wine Tours rocked my world! Fathers Day is coming and if you want to rip your guy away from the footy or that gaming console – this is the thing. Or if you just want the guys off doing so you can have some peace with the girls – this is the thing. Or any occasion, or no occasion or whatever. Do this!

 

Normally the tour will pick you up from the city or Glenelg (although you can charter your own tour and start where you like) but Danny kindly picked us up near our house, on the way into town. Danny was just lovely when we met the bus and gave us an enthusiastic greeting and a bottle of water each (to keep hydrated with all that wine to come). Once in the city we picked up four more passengers hailing from Sydney, Canberra and Victoria’s Yarra Valley. Danny asked us if we would like a bit of history on the way and got a resounding Yes from everyone. He expertly gave us historical info on how Adelaide was founded, why it looks like it does, the traditional owners and lots of quirky facts. As a history freak, I just loved it and felt it gave such context to my little town. Danny also made lots of Adelaide jokes that were spot on and educated us on South Australia’s wine regions. Dorky as that all sounds, it really made me want to get out and see more of my state. I’ll talk later about other tours Adelaide’s Top Food & Wine Tours do but I’m certain we will be heading out on more of them. All that info is great for those from out of town or overseas and even as a local I learned something but I could see Danny was gauging the crowd and would have expertly changed conversational tracks if the historic chat wasn’t hitting the mark. The weather was uncharacteristically foggy and grey, so there was less ocean to be glimpsed on our drive. As we were running a little ahead of time, Danny cruised us past Moana beach, just near where he lives. I loved the oohs and ahs of our interstate companions, very much worth the brief detour! Meet Danny –

We then picked up our last couple from the McLaren Vale visitors centre. Then we were off to our first winery, Rosemount. Danny asked us to leave our pre conceptions at the door as even though Rosemount has it’s popular and easily available Diamond Label, they have cellar door only wines. He was completely right, I’ve harshly judged Rosemount before but I really enjoyed their bubbly and Mr Ask bought a red there. Danny pointed out that we were under no obligation to buy and didn’t rush or worry at us at all. I love that he pointed out the location of the bathroom (hey, I needed to go!) and was glad he did that for each stop on the way.

Next stop was d’Arenbergs, a McLaren Vale must. They were quite busy and have 40 wines on their tasting list but I never once felt rushed. Danny pointed out the interesting parts of each winery, the hands sculpture and stables are part of the history at d’arenbergs. I bought Mummy Ask a book called Wine Dogs, featuring pics and bios of vineyard dogs here and we also picked up their delish Rose wine.

Off to Serafinos (or a locals may know it, McLaren on the Lake) where we ordered our included lunch. I ordered a vego linguine with buffalo mozzarella and Mr Ask had the duck. We then headed to the cellar door to sample their wines before coming in for lunch. As you would know, we dine out often and this was no crappy cafe lunch, this was a lovely meal. That was another lovely surprise.  A glass of wine was included with lunch and Mr Ask and I both has a glass of their peppery BDX.

Having hit the bigger producers, we then wandered into McLaren Vale III Associates, home of Squid Ink, a much smaller boutique winery. I admit that much had been imbibed by this time and the girls got into a fierce discussion of shellac nails! We were all getting more chatty at that point. Mr Ask picked up a vintage red here but the real talk in this winery was chocolate! They had some rather amazing chocolate combinations to match with wine and Mr Asks sweet tooth kicked in and he bought two amazing blocks of chocolate here.

Danny picked up on the vibe of the crowd here so decided to take us to the Menz chocolate factory for some good old South Australian Fruchocs! And boy did he make a great choice, they chocolate factory was a total hit. So no rigid and fusty wine touring here, Danny was giving the crowd what they wanted without a single outright request. When have you had that sort of superb service?

We were then whisked to our last stop, Paxton’s. I was fascinated to hear about the restorations to the old stone building where they hold tastings, it is partly built from local shipwrecks. Danny was quite knowledgeable, it felt like every winery and it’s wine maker were his friends. There was a ‘my town’ pride and a genuine wish to show off South Australia’s bounty in Danny – even though Adelaide is not his original home town and he has lived all over the world!  I fell in love with a sauvignon blanc here and bought a couple. There was also much sharing of animal pics here and we were a merry bunch!

I’ve done stuff like this before and never had so much fun! Danny doesn’t rush you and he’s a font of local knowledge, he really made me feel at home. If I wasn’t a local, I’d love to be able to tell my friends at home about what I’d learned – I’d feel like I really knew my stuff. But as a local, you never do stuff like this at home but you should!! No driving and if you love a cellar door only wine, you can get it! And go with these guys, I always feel weird drinking and trusting my care to someone but Danny is awesome and I can only guess that his partner Innez is too. Why not send all the guys in your family on a tour for Fathers Day? And if wine isn’t their thing, what about a chocolate tour or even photography tour? You can see the fantastic range of tour on the Adelaide’s Top Food & Wine Tours website xxx