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Adelaide Hills

Shaw and Smith Wines, single handedly responsible for the misconception that the Hills are all Savignon Blanc

Book now as the local's have a serious love for The Lane Bistro at the Lane Cellar Door

Shaw and Smith Wines, single handedly responsible for the misconception that the Hills are all Savignon Blanc

Perfect for a long lunch on the waterfront

Book now as the local's have a serious love for The Lane Bistro at the Lane Cellar Door

Shaw and Smith Wines, single handedly responsible for the misconception that the Hills are all Savignon Blanc

The Adelaide Hills must be the only great wine region in the world where you can pick up a take-away coffee in the CBD and still be sipping as you pull into your first cellar door of the day. Written by Nick Ryan. The region’s accessibility is matched only by its diversity. The Hills stretch some 70km at a minimum altitude of 400m in a narrow band through the Mt Lofty Ranges book-ended by the Barossa to the North and the higher more inland parts of McLaren Vale to the south.

In a region of this size, with drastically different sites and aspects just a bend in the road away, pigeonholing the Adelaide Hills is a risky proposition, if not impossible.

This is a region capable of producing opulent vintage port styles on the warm dry north-western slopes near Paracombe and fine, lean sparkling base in the higher, wetter, very occasionally snow dusted vineyards towards the peak of Mt. Lofty.

"to take out the Hills trifecta of great food,
exceptional wines and a view that cheers the soul
as much as it seduces the eyes,
make your way to The Lane Vineyard…
But be warned, this place has a following so fierce
it would make the Taliban look like the local CWA
so make sure you book ahead."

It produces some of the finest chardonnay in the country and has helped to redefine Australian shiraz with wines that are silky, spicy and beguilingy elegant. Which makes it all the more baffling so many people think the place only produces sauvignon blanc.

Part of the blame for that, if indeed blame is the right word, can be sheeted back to the brilliant, and very bald, cousins Michael Hill-Smith and Martin Shaw at Shaw + Smith. They pioneered sauvignon blanc in the region and it’s the fame of that wine drawing devotees to their stylish cellar door, although personally I’d be lingering longer over their fine M3 Chardonnay.

I’d also be making a pilgrimage to one of the most thoughtful, considered and inspiring winemakers in the country, the very Zen Stephen George at Ashton Hills. The man makes pinot noir so far ahead of any one else in SA it’s not funny.

And to take out the Hills trifecta of great food, exceptional wines and a view that cheers the soul as much as it seduces the eyes, make your way to The Lane Vineyard, near the leiderhosen-kitsch plagued town of Hahndorf.

But be warned, this place has a following so fierce it would make the Taliban look like the local CWA so make sure you book ahead.

You’d be well advised to do lunch, mainly because they only do lunch, at the brilliant Bridgewater Mill. Long one of South Australia’s finest restaurants, it doubles as the cellar door facility for the region’s most famous producer, the pioneering Petaluma.

There’s more B&B’s up here than you can throw a copy of Country Life at, but if you’d rather the anonymity of a biggish hotel, head for Mt Lofty house, now part of the Accor juggernaut under the Mercure brand where no one can hear you scream.

The Details

Ashton Hills //
Tregarthen Road, Ashton (08) 8390 1243

Shaw And Smith //
Jones Road, Balhannah (08) 8398 0500
shawandsmith.com

The Lane Vineyard //
Ravenswood Lane, Hahndorf (08) 8388 1250
thelane.com.au

Bridgewater Mill //
Mount Barker Road, Bridgewater (08) 8339 9222
bridgewatermill.com.au

Grand Mercure Mount Lofty House //
74 Mt Lofty Summit Road, Crafers. (08) 8339 6777

mtloftyhouse.com.au

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Adelaide Hills

THE DETAILS

Where // SA, Australia

Australian Traveller

Adelaide Hills

Shaw and Smith Wines, single handedly responsible for the misconception that the Hills are all Savignon Blanc

Book now as the local's have a serious love for The Lane Bistro at the Lane Cellar Door

Shaw and Smith Wines, single handedly responsible for the misconception that the Hills are all Savignon Blanc

Perfect for a long lunch on the waterfront

Book now as the local's have a serious love for The Lane Bistro at the Lane Cellar Door