Straddling the centre of the Australian continent, South Australia is the wine industry’s powerhouse State, producing most of the nation’s wine and boasting some of the oldest individual vines in the world.  The venerable old vines found in South Australia’s Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills, through their isolation, survived the great phylloxera plagues that wiped out the vines of North America and Europe, and somewhat later, devastated Australia’s eastern vineyards.  Quarantine restrictions were introduced, saving South Australia’s vines from phylloxera, and ensuring the State retained its grape growing status.

The south-eastern part of the State includes the Limestone Coast zone and the “terra rossa” soils overlying limestone which give rise to distinct elegant reds of the Coonawarra region.  The “Limestone Coast” zone - which also includes the Padthaway, Wrattonbully and Mount Benson regions - is building its own reputation for wines that are not only influenced by the region’s eponymous limestone but the tempering breezes of the nearby Southern Ocean.

You can visit nine distinct wine regions within an hour and a half of the Adelaide city centre - Barossa and Eden Valley, Adelaide Plains, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Southern Fleurieu, Currency Creek, Langhorne Creek and Clare Valley. And it's just a 30 minute flight to the Kangaroo Island wine region.