Yesterday we went on an all-day wine tour in the Barossa Valley. The area is best known for Shiraz, which happens to be my favorite wine. If you drink wine, you’ve probably heard of Penfolds, which is located there.

We enjoyed our day chatting with (or chatting to, as they say here) our other tour members (a family and a couple from New Zealand, two sisters from Perth, and a couple from Brisbane). It was different from the other wine tours I’ve been on in that the views were not an emphasis; the area is beautiful, but the tasting rooms (which they call cellar doors) are not set up to have nice views. As with any wine tour, we enjoyed some of the wines and did not care for others. This tour came with a tour guide, Holly, and her dog, Mike.

Our first stop was Chateau Yaldara, which had a nice little museum about their long history and their wine collection that is said to be worth $30 million AUD. It was founded by a man who was sent to Australia as a prisoner of war during WWII and was allowed to stay in Australia after the war as long as he found employment. He went to work at a Barossa winery and ended up founding his own winery. I also found it interesting that they used to call their sparkling wine champagne and then at some point were told they could not do that, given that it is made in Australia, not the Champagne region of France. They refer to their sparkling wine on the sign below as being “formally known as ‘Champagne.’” (I think they mean formerly, but perhaps not.)

Our next stop was the Seppeltsfield winery. We did not actually have any wine here–apparently, their tastings take two hours. Instead, we strolled around the gorgeous, Mediterranean style grounds. I enjoyed a hand treatment at the olive oil shop and Rich enjoyed a gin tasting at the distillery. During the Great Depression, the founder employed locals to plant 2,000 palm trees along the road leading to the vineyard, which is now called the Avenue of Palms or the Avenue of Hopes and Dreams, because the employment meant that families could stay in Australia.

Next up was Hemera Estate, which had the wine we enjoyed the best but was not very photogenic, and then the Kies Estate, where we had a great lunch, but where we did not love the wines. Finally, we went to the Ubertas winery, which is a fairly new winery started by two brothers from Thailand. They had a nice balcony overlooking what might be the world’s lowest hedge maze, and the vines, where a kangaroo was hanging out. (You can’t really see it in the photo, but it is there!)

We ended our day with a really great dinner in Chinatown at a restaurant called Concubine. Of course, despite my best efforts to avoid soy, I got hives, so we stopped by a Chemist to get Benadryl. Benadryl is not sold here, but they sell Phenergan (also an antihistamine) without a prescription, although you do have to talk to the pharmacist to get it. It worked just fine and definitely knocked me out for the night.

Today is our last day in Adelaide. We are going to relax this morning and then see a couple of museums this afternoon. Tomorrow we head to Kangaroo Island. I was a bit skeptical of Kangaroo Island, fearing it would be too touristy, but several people we’ve met on tours have told is it is their favorite place in Australia, so now my expectations are pretty high.