We love this wine region in South Australia on the Fleurieu Peninsula, which somehow seems to fly under a lot of radars, staying unspoiled and uncrowded and yet it’s less than an hour from Adelaide.

It is full of small friendly cellar doors and has a great community which produces world class wines and food. It’s also one of Australia’s oldest wine regions, which you can see in the gnarly stumps of the vines.  It’s an unusual wine region as it sits on an ancient natural floodplain with fertile soil.

When the region floods, the water is put to use to deeply irrigate the vineyards with a series of gates used to control holding and releasing the water. The region enjoys a mild maritime environment and it receives natural cooling air from the nearby Lake Alexandrina.

There are nine cellar doors to visit which all offer wine tastings led by friendly staff, and some of the best restaurant food and platters going around. A few of our favourites that I can guarantee will leave you wanting to return are:

Bremerton Wines

The cellar door is bright and welcoming and incorporates an old stone barn where you can dine and view art exhibited on the walls. There’s an alfresco area on the back verandah and a spacious lawn area for picnic rugs and lawn games for the whole family to enjoy. They do terrific and extensive wine tastings of a large variety of wines.

Lake Breeze Wines

Another great cellar door with beautiful views over their vineyards. There are dining area upstairs, downstairs and outdoors, and the food is absolutely top class. It’s the perfect destination for a long relaxed lunch.

Rusticana Wines

A winery that is also the home of Newman’s Horseradish products which you can enjoy by creating your own platter to go with your wine tasting. Their wine range includes alternative varieties including Durif, and Zinfandel and you can relax outdoors on the balcony which overlooks the vineyards and the horseradish field while you indulge in a glass or two.

Kimbolton Wines

A one of a kind architecturally designed cellar door made using shipping containers, where you can have a wine tasting and generous platter, nestled in the middle of the vineyard. There are seating areas indoors, outdoors and on the rooftop deck of the shipping container with far reaching views.

The platters here are enough to call lunch and the wines absolutely delicious too. They have a great value for money deal that includes a wine tasting, generous platter, a bottle of wine and a cheese wedge to take home in a cooler bag, all for $90 per couple.

The Winehouse

Next door to Kimbolton Wines is The Winehouse which is a cellar door for smaller batch wines as well as Meechi Brewing. The rustic dining room is something to see with a brick paved floor, old stone walls and a hessian ceiling. The décor is quirky, rustic and very interesting.

When you visit Langhorne Creek wine region caravanners can stay at a low cost park across the road from Kimbolton Wines, which is called Frank Potts reserve. The Potts name is well known in the area as the winemakers at Bleasdale Wines. Frank Potts arrived in South Australia in 1836 and he purchased the first two sections of land for sale at Langhorne Creek in 1850 where he established Bleasdale vineyards and cellars. Today the reserve in his name is a comfortable off grid campground which only costs $5 per night to stay.

There is a clean flushing toilet on site and it’s a convenient and peaceful spot to stay amongst gum trees for up to 72 hours. It does tend to get extremely busy from Fridays and over weekends so a midweek getaway would be the best tip to avoid the crowds.

From the reserve it’s only a short walk of around 750 metres to the historic 1850 built Bridge Hotel, and on the way you’ll pass another small reserve which contains a headstone with a tragic tale to tell. The headstone was relocated from its expired plot in a Mount Barker cemetery, to where it now sits near the Bremer River.

The stone memorialises three sisters who tragically drowned in the river in 1878. The children were aged 9, 8 and 6 and were three of seven children whose father, William Burley, was the proprietor of the Bridge Hotel, a role he’d taken on only about a month prior.

The headstone also has the name of another one of their children who died in infancy a couple of years later. A plaque at the foot of the headstone has the story of even more tragedies the family experienced, a stark reminder of the tough times that earlier generations endured.

Continuing on to the hotel, you can toast your good fortune with a local wine and enjoy a delicious pub meal in comfortable surroundings. The hotel is extremely popular with locals and visitors, so make sure you book to reserve a table if you plan to dine in.

Cheers

Glenys