2022 South Aust – Day 12 – Rob's "Beats Working" Blog

I think I’m beginning to remember one of the reasons I was happy to move back to Brisbane in 1998 and it had a bit to do with the weather. We woke up to another rainy day as the showers kept blowing through. As it is our last full day in the Barossa today, we had a bit of a list of things to get through. The first was to drive to Nuriootpa for the now obligatory church photos.

Nuriootpa is the third and largest of the major towns that make up the Barossa and it seems that it is no stranger to hosting an event, having hosted the Australian Grand Prix in 1950, a visit from the Queen in 1977 and the Tour Down Under bicycle race in 2014. Today though, the only event in town was our visit, which was only noticed by one of the parishioners at the Anglican Church who shared with us that the congregation was now about 30 people because the young people either go to the ‘new style’ churches or don’t go to church at all (like us).

There were a couple of wineries on our list for today, but neither was opening until 11:00 so we reshuffled the list to visit the Lyndoch Lavender Farm. This is South Australia’s largest lavender farm that has been run by the same family for the last 30 years. Over that time they have cultivated over 90 different varieties of lavender. The farm is set on a hill that offers good views around the surrounding valleys. The on-site shop has a lot of lavender products for sale.

We then made our way back to the wineries we’d intended to visit starting with the renowned Rockford Winery. The wines are made by winemaker Robert O’Callaghan and are made from 60 to 140 year old vines. In the 1980s O’Callaghan became a champion for old vine shiraz at a time when many of the vines were being pulled up. The cellar door site itself has been wonderfully restored and the tasting room offers a very personal experience due to the small space. Unfortunately, my favourite wine they produce is all gone for this years vintage.

Just up the road is the Charles Melton winery, which was another recommended destination. Like Robert O’Callaghan from Rockford Charles Melton also recognised the value and tradition of the Barossa’s old vineyard Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro grape varieties. So when others were pulling out vineyards of Shiraz to plant more fashionable varieties, Charles was convincing farmers to keep their historic vineyards. He was one of a small group of winemakers who helped Barossa wine industry to develop into what it is today. His wines are impressive and he’s not afraid to challenge traditional blends. The Grenache – Shiraz – Riesling blend is surprisingly good.

Fino, a restaurant in The Seppeltsfield Winery was the venue for today’s lunch. This winery is a sprawling site that pays homage to it’s history well. Wine was first made here in the 1850s when Joseph Seppelt acquired 100 acres of land to establish his wine business. The new section where the restaurant had more of a 1990s Gold Coast feel and the public toilets dated back beyond the redevelopment, so were a little on the nose. More importantly we were free to watch people and there were many different people to watch as the busloads and private tours came through. See the man with the biggest white shoes I’ve ever seen.

The restaurant itself was excellent and we had a multi-course option on the menu. The service was excellent, food was amongst the best we’d had. The only downside was a loud lady at the next table who was intent on being the ‘life of the party’.

With the showers continuing to blow through we decided it was time to head back to Tanunda. We passed the Seppelt Family mausoleum which sits on a hill overlooking the original 100 acres they owned.

Around the next corner and found another church, but this one had a bonus – a church sign. Not only have we been surprised that there were places where there were no churches, but there was also a distinct lack of church signs.