Day 1: Adelaide and The McLaren Vale wine region

We arrived from San Francisco after our 15 hour flight in the early morning, just as Sydney was beginning to stir. As we made our descent, the sun was a milky glow, wandering rays twinkling across the water across the bay, glistening on the white tiles of Sydney’s iconic Opera House. Our lovely niece’s Wedding was the reason we’d come to Australia, but that was a week away. We had an exciting itinerary planned before and our first stop was Adelaide to visit our nephew, Adam. It was a seamless transition from the International terminal to the domestic and when we arrived nothing could have prepared us for the wonderful weekend Adam had arranged. We left the airport in style in a ‘4 x 4’ Adam had rented, big enough for all our luggage and bags brimming with gourmet breakfast items, local cheeses, olives and everything one could possibly need for a sumptuous cocktail hour. Adam, had thought of everything, we felt very spoiled. As the city fell behind us we headed for one of Adelaide’s several wine areas just a 30 minute drive away.

Lunch by the shore of Brighton Beach

We soon discovered that Australian place names are a fascinating mix of indigenous and British cultures, our lunch stop was by the gently lapping Pacific Ocean on Brighton Beach.

Shortly afterwards we were in the wine area of ​​​​McLaren Vale and arrived at Secret Cottage, a delightful airbnb which was to be our home for the next two nights. The house was a charmingly restored property, it’s tin roof intriguing, but not uncommon, apparently many Australian houses have tin roofs!

The garden was particularly pretty.

The Star of Greece

Dinner had been arranged by another beautiful beach at Port Willunga in the Fleurieu Peninsula, not far away.

The Star of Greece sits on the cliffside above a sweeping, golden shore line, reminding us of England’s Dorset Coast. The restaurant, a former seaman’s cottage, is named after the Star of Greece , a cargo ship which sadly came to a perilous end and sunk just below where the restaurant now resides.

We had a spectacular view, watching the golden sunlight dip below the Pacific Ocean. A few surfers were cresting the waves above the remains of where sometimes, at low tide, the ghostly wreck of the ship emerges from its watery grave.

The story of The Star of Greece

Built in Belfast in 1868, The Star of Greece is one of the best known wrecks in South Australia. Before its tragic demise, the ship had held the record for the round trip from England to Calcutta, via the Cape of Good Hope, of 80 days outwards and 83 days for the return, a time that was never beaten. In 1888 the ship was transferred to the Australian trade. At 6.30pm on 12th of July 1888, under the charge of its 29 year-old Captain, H.R. Harrower, the Star of Greece left the port of Adelaide bound for England, laden with 16,002 bags of wheat. It was soon struck by strong south westerly winds which swept it off course by over 15 miles. Early in the morning of July 13th she was wrecked in a violent storm off Port Willunga, just 200 meters from the shore. It was several hours later before the alarm was raised but a combination of poor communications, bad roads and an inability to get the necessary rocket gear to the site meant it was 4pm before a rescue was attempted. By then the mountainous seas had taken 18 lives and battling the perilous surf, all remaining survivors had to come ashore.

Day 2: Exploring the wine region of  McLaren Vale

After a leisurely morning and walk through the town of McLaren Vale, we drove through the lush, rolling countryside, resplendent with its endless rows of vineyards. This award winning wine region, dating from the 1838, boasts some of the oldest vines in Australia. Famed for its innovative viticultural techniques it produces the trio of Australian reds: Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. It’s also known as a foodie’s heaven, which we were about to discover.

Wirra Wirra Winery

We stopped for lunch at Wirra Wirra Winery where we were greeted warmly with friendly, cheerful smiles. Adam assured us this was the normal, Aussie welcome, which proved to be true everywhere we went.

The McLaren Vale Wirra Wirra winery was established in 1969 when Greg Trott converted a few crumbling, ironstone walls into a place to make wine.

At the entrance we admired the sculpture of a cricket ball, created in memory of Trott. Made from the same local Kangarilla stone as the winery it seemed a fitting memorial to a man who adored not only wine but cricket too.

Surrounded by vines and eucalyptus trees at the winery’s restaurant, we looked over the extensive wine list, some of which was interestingly on display.

We ordered a rosé, curious to see how it would compare with its distant Provence cousins. We decided they must be closely related, it was delicious!

As we munched our way through a sumptuous sharing platter we were intrigued to read the fascinating story of another beloved local, Harry Kilaitis, for whom the restaurant, Harry’s Deli was named.

Harry’s story

Like Greg Trott, Harry Kilaitis was another much loved, local character. Harry came to Australia from Lithuania after World War II. He didn’t actually intend to immigrate so far, along with some friends he was actually bound for Canada to join the Royal Canadian Mounties. However the night before their ship left Harry and his friends celebrated a little too much and missed their ship. The next available passage was for Australia and so his Australian story began. Harry’s Deli was built by Harry, a skilled carpenter, originally as part of the winery, and called ‘Harry’s Library ‘. When it was transformed into a dining place it became ‘Harry’s Deli’ to cherish his memory for ever.

A printing label machine

Known as a Pony labeler, this label printer on display in the winery, dates from 1900. Bottles were placed on the horizontal brass plate and an operator would then depress a pedal to apply glue from a brass reservoir to the back of the label. The label was then applied to the bottle via the rubber flanges operated by the handle.

Aphelion Winery

Our afternoon stop was close by at Aphelion which we learned means, quite appropriately we thought, ‘from the sun’. Coming from California it was rather fortuitous to be greeted by words from Robert Mondavi.

The charming Italian lady that subsequently both tempted and educated us proved just how much of an art wine is. She was generous with both her knowledge and her pours as we relaxed overlooking the vines, warmed by the sunshine that shone both from above and in our glasses!

The tasting list, with not only food, but also music parring suggestions made us smile.

Adam valiantly found each song, each seeming increasingly more appropriate as the afternoon wore on.

Sat beside the vines we chatted with our charming hostess and our conversation spread from the local wines, to those of Italy, California, and France.

When we returned to our cottage we thought it only right to indulge our nephew with the beauty of our favorite wine area in Provence. Sipping one of the lovely wines we’d sampled earlier, we watched (yes, probably for the hundredth time) Russell Crow fall in love with The Luberon and a beautiful French girl as he grasped what ‘A Good Year’ can truly mean… Fighting our jet lag we dined and finally our wonderful day came to a close, replete and happy knowing more wine adventures beckoned the following day.

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