Australia's Barossa Is the New Napa Valley You Haven't Heard of Yet

Apr 6, 2015

(YahooTravel) - If you love wine, Napa Valley may be the first place you think of for full-bodied reds. You can fly halfway around the world, though, and find a still largely undiscovered wine region. Just get ready to trade Cabernet Sauvignon for Shiraz.

Barossa Valley, home to Australia’s oldest surviving wineries and vineyards, is emerging as an international wine destination. A record-breaking 509,000 Americans visited Australia last year, spending $2.7 billion, and the country’s wine capital, South Australia, saw the biggest increase in international visitors. Barossa is just an hour’s drive north of Adelaide and has enough to tantalize the taste buds that you could spend a solid week exploring the nature, food, wine, and down-to-earth hospitality.

Several wine regions surround Adelaide, including Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley, and McLaren Vale, but Barossa is the star. John Baldwin, of Barossa Daimler Tours, who has been giving bespoke independent tours of all four regions for more than 20 years, says that 80 percent of his guests are flocking to Barossa’s 150-plus wineries and 80 cellar doors. The region gets approximately 220,000 overnight visitors a year, a small fraction compared with Napa Valley’s 3 million for an area roughly the same size, but it’s the intimacy and connection with winemakers that makes Barossa special. “We would lose our charm if we got a million people a year,” Baldwin says.

In the last decade, Barossa has developed noteworthy culinary and lodging options to accompany its wine, and new generations of grape-growing families are starting their own boutique labels. It’s no longer just the iconic Penfolds Grange or Seppeltsfield tawny that international visitors seek out. A vanguard of food artisans, chefs, and winemakers are cementing Barossa’s status as Australia’s premier gastronomic tourism destination.


Share: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Furl Facebook Google Yahoo Twitter

Comments:

 
Leave a comment





Advertisement