McLaren Vale

A great Sunday drive!

Our goal for the day was to check out one of the premier wine producing regions.  I chose this tour because it started in downtown Adelaide and finished up right near where we were staying.  

Victoria Square, downtown Adelaide

We started in Victoria Square, the center of the city.  North to south, the main street is King William Avenue, after the king who authorized the settlement.  The German who designed the city, said no man should cross the king, so all the streets to the west have different names from the streets going to the east.  

The entire center city is surrounded by parks, with plenty of sporting facilities for everyone to enjoy.  We even saw where they hold a Formula One race on the east side. 

Adelaide is the driest city in the driest state in the driest continent in the world.  They only get about 20 inches of rain per year.  What saves the city is the hills to the east... rain fall there comes down into the Adelaide basin.

Our route went up into the hills on a freeway, but soon turned into narrow roads.

 

We saw signs for kangaroo and koala, but the only wildlife we saw were farm animals (including alpaca).

Our first winery was Shingleback.  It is named for a local lizard.

statue of the winery's namesake

We tasted seven wines from this award winning winery, including three of their new Bio Project -- they have brought in and cultivated birds and insects that feed off the pests that harm the vineyards, so much so that they don't use pesticides on those vineyards.  We were about a week away from when they will be picking some of these varieties.

a refreshing white wine

the Bio Project Rose

almost ready to pick - covered to keep the birds away from the grapes

Everywhere you look, are vineyards.

Our second winery started out as a church.  When the winery got the property, they expanded the chapel into a great tasting room.

The building in the center is the original chapel.

When you walk into the tasting room, you are greeted by stained glass windows that have grape vines.

We tasted 5 wines here.  By the time we finished, everyone was telling stories and enjoying themselves.

2 couples from Sydney, 2 fellows from Newcastle, and many stories

From here, we headed down the hill to the beach, getting some spectacular views of the entire Adelaide area.  

the coast south of Adelaide

downtown Adelaide on the horizon

Brighton Beach, south of Glenelg:

life saving boats

the Brighton jetty

too bad, these are not real