Mark's Blog: Sau Straya Part 3: Mclaren Vale and the Fleurieu Peninsula

On our wine tour were two other couples - one English couple who now lived in Adelaide, and a girl and her mother (Scots) making Gill the only Aussie.

We went to five wineries:
D'Arenberg: One of the top boutique wineries in Australia and possibly McLaren Vale's most famous - distincitve for its red stripe labels. We picked up a couple of awesome bottles of 2005 Shiraz ("Sticks & Stones") as well as some very drinkable cheap bottles of shiraz.
Rosemount Estate: One of the well known corporate identities on the wine trail - although their regular wines were nothing special and they're obviously very commerical, they did an excellent Muscat and Port.
Coriole: A shame it was so busy at this great Italian-style winery. Every wine here was a winner, so being selective was tricky! Did lovely bottles of Barbera and Sangiovese; consistent right across their range.
Primo: probably the pick of the day (perhaps because we'd been to four wineries by this point?!). A very new winery, with outstanding whites and a mix of Italian and Australian red blends (and an amazing Italian shiraz).
Can't quite remember the name of the last one, but they did great table wines (though they were a bit of a tourist bus outfit).

Whilst we spent a fair amount, it works out economical over time (I have convinced myself) and almost all the wine we purchased was cellar door only, too.

Some highlights from our winetasting tour of McLaren Vale....

D'Arenberg