Adelaide’s Wine Region with TrailHopper

The only reason, I’d probably ever come to Adelaide again… THE WINE. We booked two days of wine tours and it was the absolute best experience! It gave us a break from driving as we did our wine tours with TrailHopper.

TrailHopper is a hop on hop off wine bus tour. They can either pick you up from Adelaide CBD (which is what we did) or within the specific wine region. And it’s super affordable. One day cost anywhere between $49-$69 AUD per person, depending on the region. We enjoyed two days of wine touring, one day in Barossa and the other in McLaren Vale. Both were amazing and very well organized.

Within each wine region, the bus would make anywhere between 15-20 stops at different wineries. You can choose to stop at 3-4 wineries for wine tasting and lunch. Both days we opted for 4 wineries.

We explored the Barossa Region with our first stop being St. Hallett, which not only comprised of delicious wines but amazing views of the vineyard surrounding lawns. As red wine drinkers, we focus on the premium reds they had to offer. We tasted about 6 wines, bought our bottles and hopped right back on the bus to the next stop, Grant Burge.

What is wine without some cheese! Here, we ordered the cheese platter for two to have with our tastings. Included were some variety of cheeses, some dried fruits, and almonds. I was delighted and my tummy was spoiled! Again, we tried a couple of reds and our hearts settled on buying an Old Tawny Port. I’m not normally a sweet wine drinker, but having the cheese with the port, enabled us to get one. Not going to lie, but at this point, I was becoming a bit wine drunk. The cheese was not enough to coat my stomach. They do warn you before the tour to have a big breakfast and definitely choose a place for lunch. Unfortunately, a  lot of the wineries in Barossa didn’t offer sit down lunches on Thursdays. Specifically all the ones we’ve selected. At this point, water would have to be my savior.

From Grant Burge, we hopped on the bus and headed to Lambert Estates – a beautiful venue with stunning views, boutique wines and an art gallery. Unfortunately, I was just not prepared for this one! While the other wineries offered between 6 or 7 wine tasting selections, Lambert took the cake! We did 16 tastings. Sixteen! This included whites, reds, and rose. Well, first things first, white wine makes me a bit sick, but I was committed to these tastings. I progressed on with tastings and enjoyed most of them. However, my favorite was The Black Sheep. I guess I also related to that one as I see myself as somewhat of a black sheep. Finally, the last wine we tasted was the Chocolatier. Yum! What girl doesn’t like chocolate, especially in the form of vino?!

By the end of the tasting, I was wined out and now craving a big bowl of pasta to coat my stomach, but there was still one more stop. We headed off to Maggie Beer Farm, not just known for wines, but also ciders and an array of spreads.

So instead of doing a wine tasting here, we opted to walk around and taste the many spreads. I also found a basket of bread and quickly devoured some to keep my stomach strong as I was still recovering from Lambert’s.

Overall, it was a great day of tastings and enjoying the view of each vineyard. I’d definitely say as far as the views and wine, St Halletts was my favorite.

After a much rested night (I slept like a baby), it was time to embark on our next region, McLaren Vale. Unlike Barossa, we were not as familiar with the wineries here, but we picked 4 from the 15 and decided we’d definitely need to stop for lunch.

The first stop in McLaren Vale was Alpha Box and Dice. Not as picturesque as the Barossa wineries, but it had an interesting atmosphere. Think of Alpha as a hipster winery. Inside, there were many different antiques, even a Buck Rogers pinball machine. Alpha’s concept was to introduce a wine for every letter of the alphabet. They also mix traditional wines with some experimental wines. Here we tasted about 8 wines, but the most interesting was this particular white wine, that really didn’t taste like white. The process to make it was similar to that of a red, where the grapes were left to ferment on the skins longer. You can tell as the color was much darker and a bit cloudy and had a saltiness to the taste.

Next stop in McLaren Vale was the Beach Road Winery. Here we ordered some Woodfire pizzas for lunch. As we waited for those, we did a tasting which included an array of whites and reds. We definitely had a lot more whites this day than the previous day. With our pizzas, the sommelier was able to pair the proper wine as a complement. Not only was the meal and wine delicious, but the views from where we sat at lunch, was spectacular. I couldn’t recommend this place more and would have gladly spent more time here.

From Beach Road, we headed off to Chapel Hill, which you need to make a reservation for tastings before you go. Chapel Hill is an old chapel that was converted to a winery. The winery includes an art gallery so if you’re an art lover, then it’s definitely a must. By this point in the day, I passed on all of the white wine tastings and just went straight to red. We were later invited into another room to taste 4 of their more premium wines. The portions sizes were a bit bigger than what we’re standardly offered at the other tastings. With the wines, we were offered some cured meats and cheeses, each to be paired with a specific glass of wine. If you’re a vegetarian, ask them and they can bring you extra cheese. 

The last stop on the wine tour for the day was Maxwell Wines. We tasted a few wines here, but nothing really stood out for me. I think once you get to the 4th place, you become a bit wined out and your palate grows tired. I’d recommend choosing the 3 best wineries on the list, one where you can enjoy a 2-hour lunch and just relax and enjoys the vineyard views.

If you’re in the Adelaide region, check out TrailHopper. They’re a new company that’s currently only located in Adelaide, but looking to grow into the other regions across Australia. If you’re looking to enjoy your day and not worry about drinking, driving or even planning, this is definitely the company to look out for.

 

Tell me, what did you think about this post? Would you give TrailHopper a try?