Last Thursday I joined a group of other travel agents and spent the day in the Barossa Valley.
I am a regular visitor to the Valley but this day out provided two new experiences I did not know about. Driven to the valley in a very comfortable AAT Kings coach driven by the wonderful Ben and guided by Victoria also from AAT Kings we stopped first at the South Australian Company Store just outside of Angaston. But it is off the main route and unless you know where it is, like me, you will not have found it before. A typical country building with long shed like interior, the store has produce such as jams and chutneys along with all sorts of other goodies. I picked up a recipe and the jam for Pear and wattle seed friands. Watch this space!
The Store provided our lunch and that was plentiful, healthy and delicious.
After lunch we headed to the new building at Lamberts Winery on Long Gully Road, not far from Angaston. Opened in 2015 by Jim and Pam Lambert, with their son and his Peruvian wife being the winemakers, we were treated to great hospitality, a warm welcome, a tour of the beautiful winery cellar door and function space and learned about the energy saving and efficient design. The local cheese platter and local produce platters were really good, and the fact that the tomatoes and the grapes on the platters had been picked that morning by Jim and Pam just demonstrated their commitment to fresh, local and if at all possible, grown on their land produce.
A word of warning – the flight of stairs up to the tasting room is a test of sobriety. They are steep. If you can manage them okay you deserve a taste of the wines, and if you taste a few too many there is a lift to get you safely to ground level again. The Chocolatier port is their best seller worldwide-and with very good reason. A large number of bottles enjoyed the ride back to the city with us.
Whilst the rain the night before made the grass at the South Australian Company Store a bit squelchy underfoot and there was a light sprinkle or two on the day, we had a great day. Thank you to Oz Focus who organised the day to show case Australian wholesalers.
travelwithcheryl 