Barossa Valley: Exploring Alkina Wines cellar door

Barossa Valley is where good taste meets great company. Photo / Supplied

There are more than 150 wineries in Barossa and about 90 cellar doors. Newstalk ZB host Roman Travers heads to one for an afternoon of leisure and learning.

Being told to stand still, draw in a deep, diaphragmatic breath, and to allow your senses to fully take in where you are, sounds like an instruction given at a yoga retreat. But here I am, standing in the Barossa Valley, only 50 minutes from the city centre of Adelaide, and my senses are exploding with that warm, fragrant, tranquillity that only rural Australia can give you. Why aren’t more of the world’s soaps and scented candles based on the mindfully cleansing aroma of eucalyptus trees?

I’ve arrived at Alkina Wines, on the cusp of Greenock. The wee village is so close, a popped cork from a bottle of bubbles may well hit it from their cellar door, if the wind was right. The courtyard setting is stunning and peaceful. Permeated occasionally by the arrival of new groups of people excited to be sharing each other’s company with good food and excellent wine. There’s a very relaxed atmosphere here that instantly makes me feel welcome, with the staff warmly encouraging you to rearrange the chairs around the courtyard in order to form the tables you need. A group of six women have just arrived and as they laugh and cackle away like early-morning magpies, I listen and watch with interest as they decide upon their lunch selections.

Some cellar doors, like Alkina, let you form your own group tables for a social experience. Photo / Supplied

My waiter, Sarah Castle, casually leaves photo albums and books about the owner on my table as she goes about describing the wine and food to me. I’m happy to be led by her recommendations, which are just divine. Sarah moonlights as a food stager and photographer and she’s genuinely engaged with me as a customer and the products that she lovingly presents and serves. I watch the easy way she floats from table to table, checking preferences, topping up glasses, taking food orders and introducing the next varietal. Sarah works like a happy octopus, with bottles, platters and plates flowing easily along with her light laughter. When you come to somewhere as delicious as Alkina, be happy to be inspired and led by those who love their work and the products they create.

The Old Homestead at Alkina features two en-suite bedrooms and a woodfired pizza oven. Photo / Supplied

I’ve noticed no one is here to push you into buying wine. Instead, they want you to come back and recommend their vineyard and cellar door to everyone back home. And you will, once you’re made to feel adequate with your inadequate wine knowledge. Some cellar doors take the price of the tasting off when you do buy their product. I’m very much learning on the hoof and I’m not keen on spitting my wine into the large spittoon, adorning every table. “Just sip a smaller amount of wine, then tip what you don’t want to drink into the spittoon” Sarah tells me as she returns to the table with a lunch that would be fitting in any Mediterranean climate. They’ve had no substantial rain here since November.

I’ve claimed a large table under a covered area with an open fire and a pizza oven, perfect for any season. Slowly, I work my way from bubbles to rose, crisp, light whites to delicate, then robust kick-you-in-the-toolbox reds. At one point, a woman wanders past my table to study some antique French cheeseboards stacked next to the woodfired pizza oven. “You might fit one or two in your handbag,” I remark and she reveals she is from the south coast of South Australia, visiting with her friend and their husbands. The two couples have spent the past 15 years having annual holidays in Wānaka. We got chatting about why I’m here and the gorgeous accommodation that I’m staying in – The Old Homestead.

Many cellar doors open from 11am, making wine tasting a leisurely midday affair. Photo / Supplied

“Would you like to come and see the villa?” I ask. Within seconds, they’re all up and ready to march the short distance across the limestone gravel courtyard to the huge two double bedroom homestead that’s mine for the next two nights. This is the kind of accommodation you dream of having when you’re away on holiday. A huge kitchen, an enormous lounge with a log fire, and copious amounts of tinder-dry gum, split and set to go. There are also two double bedrooms with enormous en-suites. I feel like a real estate agent, showing off a home for sale that isn’t mine, just like any real estate agent.

“You’ll need a bigger handbag,” I tell Sharon as they eye up all the exquisite pieces of furniture that make Alkina’s Old Homestead feel like a proper home. I’ve only been here for a few hours and already I’ve met locals and other tourists like me, all as happy as a flock of galahs to share their expertise and stories.

With great food, warm hosts and fine wines, Barossa is a delight for the senses. Photo / Supplied

Making the most of a tasting

Slowing down and learning how to live in the moment and enjoy everything can take some time, so give yourself plenty of it. If you love a good yarn and you’re willing to ask questions, you only need to plan a day with two or three cellar door visits. Talk to those in the trade and to those who organise wine tours. They all want you to enjoy your time here, and too often they speak to tourists determined to have four-six tastings in a day. The cellar doors don’t swing open until 11am and that first one might be your first meal as well.

The people of Barossa love what they do, and they love the product you’re heading up their vineyard driveway to see. Whether it’s a random drive with you at the wheel or a strategically planned expedition, there’s every chance that you’ll meet sommeliers, vintners and a cast of Barossa people who are warm, authentic and filled to the top of the glass with great stories. If you’re not on a well-thought-out mission, talk to the staff where you are. Ask them what they’d recommend next. Towards the end of the tasting, they’ll have a great sense of what you like and therefore, where to send you to next in your dusty rental car.

I know it’s an added cost, but I recommend having transport booked. Whether that’s Barossa Taxis or ‘Door To Door’ in a chauffeur-driven Land Rover, Mercedes or Jaguar, you won’t have that fear rolling around in the back of your mind of “have I swallowed more than I’ve spat?”

New Zealand Herald Travel visited courtesy of Tourism South Australia.