Legacy of a wine dynasty

Benno Seppelt’s house is as impressive as his landscaping. Picture / South Australian Tourism

Any street with a name such as the Avenue of Hopes and Dreams begs for an explanation.

The one offered is as unusual as unexpectedly finding a palm-lined oasis of an avenue in the middle of Australia's most famous wine region, the Barossa Valley.

It turns out that when every other winemaker in the area was belt-tightening during the Great Depression last century, the eccentric winemaker Benno Seppelt retained all of his vineyard workers and cellar hands and set about landscaping on a scale that had not been seen before in the Barossa Valley.

Seppelt was a member of a famous winemaking dynasty, whose legacy is best known today not only in the large winery still standing but also in the 2000 mature date palms that he planted as part of that landscaping project.

In keeping with the times, he named the street along which most of the date palms were planted the Avenue of Hope and Dreams.

It is more of a long road than an avenue, and the seeds were brought by the Seppelt family from the Canary Islands on their first journey to Australia in the mid-1800s.

This beautiful historic road is less travelled than in its heyday, with today's visitors making their way not to the old winery buildings that first gave Barossa its vinous reputation, but rather to their sparsely scattered homes, to visit friends or to stay at Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage, owned and meticulously restored by Peter Milhinch and Sharyn Rogers.

Milhinch and Rogers bought the property three years ago and found the dilapidated settler's cottage swarming with snakes downstairs (now cleaned out and offering perfect storage space and temperature for an extensive wine cellar) and in dire need of repairs upstairs.

But it is not just the mod cons they installed that make this vineyard cottage so comfortable. The restoration has ensured not only that this historic home offers all the creature comforts of top-notch accommodation but also that most of its original structure remains in place.

Original mud ceilings are supported by the same heavy wood beams and thick walls that first held it in place. Only the flooring, new windows and heavy curtaining change the ambience of the place from cold settler cottage into first-class romantic weekend accommodation. The bed is king-sized, the bedroom is dark in the morning and the vineyard views from the bathroom make a languish in the bath a morning must.

It is so good you could almost ignore the rest of what the region has to offer but that would be to ignore the iconic foodie, Maggie Beer's famous farm shop which is open as an all-day cafe serving much needed mid-morning coffee and scones and a range of open-to-sample takeaway goodies such as quince paste, tomato sugo and blood plum paste.

And then there is Barr-Vinum in Tanunda, owned by wine industry stalwart Bob McLean, who converted what was a relatively low-key cafe in a protected historic building into this stylish new restaurant. House specialties change seasonally, including McLean's own-farmed Barr-Eden lamb pie, among other local foods and an extremely broad selection of mostly local wines.

The best way to check out Barossan wines is with tour operator Mary Anne Kennedy, a wine marketing graduate of the University of Adelaide (known in the past as Roseworthy Agricultural College). Kennedy's focus is broadly on food and wine but she also takes the occasional wildlife tour, when demand calls for it.

The most popular winery visit is to big-namer Peter Lehmann's, which caters for everyone from busloads of wine drinkers wanting a general tasting served with a platter of famous Barossan German-styled meats through to wine fanatics whose tastes run the gamut of old and interesting wines through to what is available present day.

But for those intent on tickling their palate with hard to find Barossan wines, Kennedy takes tours of smaller wineries such as Henschkes and Rockford. If you are not constrained by time, you could take a tour to the north of Barossa, to the Clare Valley, known for its floral style of rieslings and the diversion of some different scenery to that offered on the picturesque but mostly flat Barossa Valley floor.

It makes for a weekend your taste buds will not soon forget.

CASE NOTES

Getting there

Qantas offers non-stop flights to Adelaide from Auckland. Economy Class airfares are available from $598 return. For further details on airfares and package holidays to South Australia, phone Qantas on 0800 767 400, or contact your bonded travel agent.

Getting around

Wine and food tours with A Taste of South Australia and Mary Anne Kennedy, phone (0061) 8 8271 7777, fax (0061) 8 8271 7500 or email: info@tastesa.com.au

Food

Barr-Vinum is at 8-10 Washington St, Angaston, phone (0061) 8 8564 3688.

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop is open seven days a week at Pheasant Farm Road, Nuriootpa, South Australia, phone (0061) 8 8562 4477 or email: farmshop@maggiebeer.com.au. Accommodation

Seppeltsfield Vineyard Cottage, contact Peter Milhinch and Sharyn Rogers, phone (0061) 8 856 34059, email: kooringa@ozemail.com.au

Further information

Contact the South Australian Tourism Commission's Auckland office, phone (09) 914 9848, email info@satc.co.nz