Wining and Dining in Adelaide and the Barossa Valley, South Australia
2023 HAL World Cruise
Wednesday-Thursday, February 15-16, 2023
Adelaide is not only the capital city of South Australia, it is also Australia’s first National Park city. And for good reason. The city was designed in 1836 by a founding father, Colonel William Light, who chose the location close to the Torrens River; decided to use a grid layout for the city center square and four complementing city squares encircling it, all interspersed with wide boulevards, and surrounded with parklands. In 2021, Adelaide was designated a National Park City by the International National Park City Foundation making it the first city in Australia and the second (after London) to be so honored. Today, Adelaide is known for its coastline and hills; its excellent defense and manufacturing sectors; its many festivals and sporting events; its high quality of life; and, of course, its food and wine!!! It has been said it’s Australia’s most liveable city!!! But even more noteworthy, it is the food and wine capital of South Australia!!!
Interestingly, Barossa Valley takes its name from the Barossa Range which was named by the same Colonel William Light who designed Adelaide!!! The Barossa Valley is famous for its red wine, most notably the Shiraz. The first Shiraz vines were planted in the valley by Johann Frederick August Fiedler in 1847. Those vines are still in commercial production and the Barossa Valley is noted as a rich source of some of the oldest Shiraz vines in the world!!!
So, naturally, we set out to eat and drink our way through this 2-day port-of-call!!!
We began on day one in the city proper and moved on to the Barossa Valley for day two.
Here are the photos:
We docked in Adelaide in the mid-afternoon …..…..and simply walked across the street to the railway station!!! This is really convenient and the station master was prepared to expeditiously sell us AU20.00 roundtrip tickets. (Please forgive photo quality–taken from the ship thru a dirty window!)In just over 1/2 hour we arrived in Adelaide’s city center.
Exiting the railway station…..
…..we walked over to the Rundle Pedestrian Mall….…..bypassing the shopping available in the Regent Arcade…..…..also bypassing the Adelaide Arcade.…..to seek out the Marguerite Derricourt 1999 sculpture, “A Day Out”.Love this display!!! The Rundle Mall Pigs. All 4 have been named. Oliver is hunting up the goodies for a picnic!!!!Moving past this eye-catching elephant sculpture, we started looking for our first stop of the afternoon:…..…..Hellbound, a wine tasting room.
We started with the shop-labeled Shiraz: quite nice as are most Shiraz’s in the Adelaide area. David bought this one. (Try to ignore the pink hue to these photos; we are sitting under a red neon sign!!!)
We also tried an orange “rose”….Grapes in rosé wine have minimal skin contact with the red grapes, which is why the wine is pink. Grapes in orange wine have more skin contact with the green grapes, which is why the wine is orange. Who knew?!?!
Then we tried the 2022 Gruner Veltliner. Crisp and a bit fruity. We bought this one.
At this point, Sandy went off to take some photos of Hellbound, the wine cellar…..…..starting with a tasting room…..…..then a cozy niche under the stairs…..…..and ending with the proprietor, Julian, who recommended our next stop…..…..Amalfi Pizzeria Restaurante which was just down and across the street.Here we met Frank, one of the owners of Amalfi. The restaurant has been in business since 1981; Frank’s ownership since 2002 in partnership with chef, Brenton.This is a small, cozy, neighborhood type of place.It filled with patrons while we were there, most of whom appeared to be regulars.These gentlemen were here to share and taste wines from different areas of Australia. Notice the white labels covering the bottles. Obviously a blind tasting!!! Unfortunately, we did not stay long enough to find out which won!!!!We started with the black olive, pesto, tomato, and basil Focaccia.Moved on to Calamari…..the fresh local squid dusted with flour and salt & pepper, fried, and served with salad and mayonnaise. Very tasty!!!!Our final course was a Margharita Pizza. This was a very good meal and a nice end to our day.At this point, we decided to call it a day…..we headed back to the railway station passing businesses….…..memorials…..
…..and statues along the way.
Returning to the ship, we prepared for the nest day’s adventures in the Barossa Valley!!!Our guide and driver, Gerry from Bums on Seats Tours escorted us on a fun-filled and tasty excursion.We drove thru Adelaide before heading up to the Barossa Range.We crossed a park lake…..…..the Torrens River…..…..and one of the boulevards intersecting the city center.We saw fountains…..…..and then climbed into the hills…..where we saw wildlife like this Wallaby!!!And then we arrived at our first tasting—the Kersbrook Hill Wines Cellar Door.This is a family run vineyard and they are willing to try new and different techniques for their wines.So we sat down and tried several!!!!Starting with the unexpected Cider made from the local apples. We learned that many Barossa Valley vineyards have a house cider.
Because Sandy prefers white wines, she opted for a 2021 Riesling and liked it so well, we bought a bottle!!! Ahh, the day has really begun.
We continued. And along the way, we learned you can tell the age of grape vines by the size of the trunk. The older, mature vines have thick trunks and may even have been grafted.Our second tasting occurred at the Chateau Yaldara, founded in 1947 by Hermann Thumm. It was purchased by the company, 1847 Wines, in 2014.they have an extensive selection.Roger took a fancy to their 20 year old Tawny and it will, in fact, be coming home with us!!!
Sandy selected the Sauvignon Blanc.
Moving on…..…..we stopped at Kies Wines for lunch and a tasting.Another pleasant and tasteful event…..…..great charcuterie…..
…..a really good plate of “Drunken Chicken” with a tasty glaze over the skin…..
…..all accompanied with Kies’ late harvest Heysen Gold White Frontignac made from white frontignac grapes. Yeah, this one is coming home with us, too!!!!
The day ended with a stop at the Barossa Valley Chocolate Factory…..…..where we watched the chocolate being made. Notice the chocolate high heels on the rack.
As the sign says, “hand finished”…..
…..and all ours for only AU24.90!!!! Ahh, no, we passed on this one and bought some Rocky Road dark chocolate and Nut and Marshmallow instead. YUM!!!
We left the Barossa Valley, with a wave to the chocolate Koalas, and returned to the ship.
And now we are on our way to Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island.
2 thoughts on “Wining and Dining in Adelaide and the Barossa Valley, South Australia”
Lovely post, so engaging! The question is: how much weight have you two gained so far? Any hints and ideas on how you manage would be much appreciated 🙂
Thank you, Patricia!
So glad you asked!!! We try to watch our food consumption. Not so much calories; more frequency and portion size. We have a cappuccino and biscotti for breakfast; we usually skip lunch, but almost always have a mid-afternoon snack (usually French Fries and our always anticipated afternoon libation!!!). Then we have a great dinner in one of the many venues on board the ship or a good restaurant in port. And, of course, we will often walk miles when in port and sometimes even aboard the ship on sea days!!!
That being said, over the last 57 days, Roger has gained 2 pounds; Sandy lost 4!!!
(We weigh ourselves every port day to monitor our progress.). So far, so good!!!
RovingRaconteurs.com 
Lovely post, so engaging! The question is: how much weight have you two gained so far? Any hints and ideas on how you manage would be much appreciated 🙂
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Thank you, Patricia!
So glad you asked!!! We try to watch our food consumption. Not so much calories; more frequency and portion size. We have a cappuccino and biscotti for breakfast; we usually skip lunch, but almost always have a mid-afternoon snack (usually French Fries and our always anticipated afternoon libation!!!). Then we have a great dinner in one of the many venues on board the ship or a good restaurant in port. And, of course, we will often walk miles when in port and sometimes even aboard the ship on sea days!!!
That being said, over the last 57 days, Roger has gained 2 pounds; Sandy lost 4!!!
(We weigh ourselves every port day to monitor our progress.). So far, so good!!!
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