34:31.263 S  139:08.968 E

Barossa Valley

17^th-18^th August 2007

The vines were just beginning to show their shoots as we arrived. The almond blossom on the trees in the garden of the cottage we had rented, with the vines growing in the garden behind all showing the signs of Springtime.

It is Australia’s best known wine producing district, just N.E. of Adelaide.  The rolling landscape is dotted with modest Lutheran churches and old cottages that date back to the original settlement of 1842.  Fleeing religious persecution in Prussia and Silesia, these first settlers weren’t not actually wine, makers, but came clutching vines that are the origin of today’s full and silky red wines. 

The bedroom and living of the cottage we stayed in belongs to the family who originally lived there, in Lights Pass.

  The owner’s grandfather was the Lutheran pastor of the small church, and played the organ for 38 years!  It was a little like living in a museum, only the heating and wiring was up to date!

Very modern and slick wineries like this one at Wolf Blass

David trying to look knowledgeable as we try the Hensche’s top wines, which were simply wonderful, specially the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon 2001’s

To lovely old ones like this one at Rockfords. 

Their bubbly made from Shiraz is so wonderful, they are sold out as soon as it is released!

These photos are taken of the old fashioned wine making procedure used at Rockfords.

Penfolds have the most enormous expanse of aluminium wine storage tanks I have ever seen in the Southern Hemisphere

Mediterranean style wineries with palm trees, show how the climate is suited to lovely wines.