Friday, June 17, 2011

The Barossa Valley

Situated between Grote and Gouger streets is the Adelaide Central Market and ChinaTown in the centre of the city’s square mile.  Around this market , in arcades, plazas and laneways you will find an array of fruit and vegetables, Chocolate, Breads, Cakes, Cheeses, Nuts and dried fruits, poultry, seafood and of course the German sausages and butchers.  It is truly a gourmet’s delight, and most of the fresh fruit and vegetables are grown within an hour’s drive from the market.  We spent most of yesterday in this market enjoying the great food and admiring the market stalls.   The aromas were very delectable.  Today we visited the Barossa and after a quick drive around Gawler, our first stop was on the Sturt Hwy and it was to visit a friend who owns a stock feed mill in the area.  To those who may not realise the Barossa Valley is one of the world’s great wine regions where a rich European heritage lives on.  The rolling hills of the Barossa Ranges overlook a colourful patchwork of vineyards and picture book villages.
The Wheat Store Brewery in Greenock
Next was Greenock and a visit to the Wheat Store Brewery, a small boutique brewery and then on to Nuriootpa (which is the aboriginal word for “meeting place”).  We probably went the long way round but we drove over to Angaston and again to the Angas Park Shop, if you remember we visited their sister shop in Mildura a few weeks ago.  Here we found a few brochures so that we could work out some sort of program.  Halfway between Nuriootpa and Angaston was the Barossa Valley Quilt shop where I managed to purchase some material depicting the Holden cars in Australia.  I can envision a quilt on Australia and possibly the places we have been coming up. 
The Wolf Blass Winery
  Back through Nuriootpa and again up the Sturt Hwy we visited the Wolf Blass Winery and then back towards Tanunda to the Penfolds Winery, both are outstanding wineries and I am pleased to note for future reference that Wolf Blass have a lovely tasting Moscato, which seems to be my flavour of the month.
Wolf Blass Winery
Up the road a short way and we called into Maggie Beer’s Farm Store and Pheasant Farm.  This was packed full of her products and tastings were available. 
Cooking up a storm in Maggie's kitchen
We were just in time for a cooking demonstration, and this was held in a replica of her kitchen studio from which she filmed her segments for the TV.  Unfortunately Maggie didn’t do the cooking demonstration  but the demonstrator was very informative and the food tasted very nice.  A quick bite in the Tanunda bakery and then up towards Rowland Flats to the Jacob Creek Winery. 
The Jacob Creek Winery
 The view from inside the winery
Then it was off to Freeling to visit the town where some of the TV show McLeod’s Daughters was filmed. 

The Gungellan Truck Stop and Gungellan Hotel that featured in the segment are still there plus many other significant heritage buildings including the Eudunda Farmers building and old State Bank. 

 I must apologise to everyone, we are very close to Adelaide but because we are in the Tram Museum and next to a very large tin shed and because of all the wires around our internet connection is not very strong, so we haven't been able to use skype or send many messages.  I also have a lot of trouble uploading photos to this site so please bear with us we will move on in about 2 weeks.

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