The wines of South Australia

Ted. One of the discoveries we have made in our travels is that great wine is being made in many, many countries around the world. Sure - we knew about Chile, South Africa and many countries in Europe. We did not know about the good wine in British Columbia, Mexico and Turkey. 

Of course we were aware that a lot of wine is produced in Australia. As it turns out, the country ranks fifth in the world listing of wine production by country. While we have had great wine from New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, we did not know that more than half of the country’s wine is produced in just one state; South Australia. That is why we decided that we had better check out some of the wineries before we left the region. 

We began our "research" at the National Wine Centre of Australia in downtown Adelaide. We learned about the many different wine regions around the state and the country. We also visited a tasting room featuring over 100 wines. 

National Wine Centre

Wine Centre tasting room

By the time we left Adelaide, we had driven through four wine regions; Clare Valley, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Glen and Barossa Valley. Each is famous for the production of wine from well known grapes like Pinot Gris and Shiraz but we found that the wineries are continually experimenting with less well known grapes such as Touriga. 

The famous Barossa Valley

The grounds at legendary Seppeltsfield

Tasting room at Wirra Wirra in McLaren Glen

We also discovered that Australia currently has a surplus of wine due, in part, to China closing it’s border during the pandemic. Our friendly local liquor store was actually buying up surplus wine from well know wineries around Adelaide and private labeling it at crazy low prices. We have done our best to reduce the glut but don't worry, there is still plenty of excellent wine to be had!

Excellent Seppeltsfield bottle for $31 US

Darned good liquor store bottle at $6 US