Barossa Things to Do

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Wine tasting is of course the foremost activity in the Barossa Valley. I must admit that I do not know anything about the art of wine making or different sorts of wine, and I do not drink much wine (it gives me a headache), so I just took part in the first tasting of the tour and left out the other three. But the other customers of the tour seemed to like it well enough and several people also bought wine that they liked.
The wine sellers were always very friendly and explained a lot of details about the wines on offer. Most wineries also ship their wine, even to other people than the cusomer (if you want to give wine as a present to somebody).

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The Barossa Reservoir was built at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries to supply the surrounding towns and communities with water. At the time, it was the highest reservoir in Australia and a real technical achievement. The water is stopped by a concrete dam that is 36m high and 144m long.

This dam is called the "Whispering Wall" and is very famous because it carries sound! If you stand on one end of the dam and speak to the wall, a person at the other end can understand everything!
We tried it and it really works! The story goes that this was discovered when two workers talked badly about their construction work boss during the erection of the dam - he was standing at the other end but could here every word and fired them. Hm, I don't know if this is true, but it surely is possible!

The "Whispering Wall" is a very popular tourist attraction and it is funny for sure, but I liked the reservoir itself much more. We did a short stroll there and I thought that it was very beautiful. It is a protected area because of its flora and fauna.

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This was the second winery we visited and also one I liked very much because it was quite beautiful. We also had a guided tour here and it was interesting to learn more about wine growing and making, about the history of the winery and the area in general. Langmeil means Long Mile in German.
We were guided around some of the buildings and vineyards, although we did not see any real wine making or processing, which disappointed the group a bit - the description of the tour had sounded differently.

While the others had their wine tasting, I strolled around the place and took some more pictures. This was nice because there were many small and cute buildings to discover.
During the tour, we also saw the small memorial that is depicted in picture 3. It commemorates Christian Auricht, a blacksmith who came to South Australia from Prussia in 1839 to be free of persecution in his homelands. He got this piece of land in the Barossa Valley in 1842 and planted his first grapevines one year later. The memorial stands at the site of the family's first pug home.

I always am fascinated by stories like that - they give history a name and a face, and I find it very moving to think of the hardships of those people, who undertook it to leave their homes and start a new life in a new and foreign continent that they knew nothing about and that was so different to all they could imagine.

Auricht's first vineyard is still in use and the winery claims that this is the world's oldest surviving Shiraz!

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Kaesler Wineries were founded in 1893 by the Kaesler family that had migrated to South Australia from Silesia in the 1840s. Over the decades, the family often struggled to make a living from the wineries and therefore also did some small scale cattle and fruit farming. However, in 1983 the last remaning Kaesler wine-grower sold the property to the local Toby Heuppauff who renovated the buildings, created the restaurant and also started to make his own wine - up to then the wineries had only grown the grapes and sold them, but not made own wine.
The wineries now have several owners and are 92 hectares wide.

This winery sticked out among the others because the area was larger and the buildings bigger. There was much more decoration, like the big barrels in the entrance area (see picture 2). We had lunch in the great restaurant and I really liked the atmosphere and ambience. I did not try any wine though.

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This was the last winery we visited, and the one I liked the least. This was mainly because there were huge industrial sites directly next to the vineyards (although they belong to the winery and it is where the wine is processed - at least that is what we were told), but also because the buildings looked very modern. Everything was constructed of plain material and strict lines. I preferred the traditional, pretty style of the other wineries much more.
The whole winery does not really concentrate on its heritage or local history, but on the person of Wolf Blass and his career.

Wolf Blass was born in 1934 in Germany and left school at the age of fifteen to take on apprenticeship in a winery. He studied in Würzburg, Reims and Bristol and then went to Barossa Valley where he stayed. He became Australia's first freelance wine consultant and founded his own winery in 1966, moving to the site where it is now three years later.

The winery has won countless trophys and awards over the years, including "International Red Wine Maker of the Year" in 2008.

As the Aboriginal name for the site where the winery is located is Bilyara, meaning Eagle Hawk, Wolf Blass adopted the eagle as the winery's symbol. It must have come in handy that an eagle symbolizes strength and power - I cannot imagine that he would have adopted a possum as his symbol ;-)

I did not try the wine, so cannot comment on the quality, but having won all those awards, it should be good :-)

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Kies Winery was the first winery we visited on the tour, and I think it was the most beautiful one. The reason for this is that in the distance, you could see the landscape of the Gawler Ranges. The grapevines looked very pretty against the backdrop of those golden hills!
Kies Winery is located in the village of Lyndoch.

At the winery, we got some tea and German cheese cake.

The Kies family originally came from Silesia and came to South Australia in 1857. They started to grow grapevines once they arrived and do so now in the sixth generation.
Apart from wine tasting and shopping, there is also a tea shop with a selection of many different kinds of teas, and a café. The winery also serves as Lyndoch's tourist information.

It was nice to stroll around the winery, and I also took part in the wine tasting. I don't know much about wine though, so I cannot comment on the quality.

In 2005 this wonderful 7 day festival will run from March 28th to April 3rd. The Festival is held in odd numbered years and always begins on Easter Monday.
The Festival takes place in wineries, vineyards, churches, on picturesque village greens and on the streets of Barossa townships.
The Barossa’s world-renowned wine and fresh, regional food combine with the traditions and culture of the region to produce an event that is an authentic showcase of the Barossa.

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Grant Burge Wines was established back in 1988 and it has grown to become one of the top 10 privately owned wine companies in Australia.

They produce quality wines for Australian consumers and has also pursued overseas markets in the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, the United States and Asia.